No Regrets

Chapter 12

     We walked out of the shelter, I with my parakeet on my hand, being lifted up to see the world around him, and Ajax walking a few inches in front. He was carrying all the necessary items for my bird, his large cage that Ajax guessed would take up half my room, his bag of food, and some toys. He walked over to the car, carefully trudging and making sure he didn't fall. I thanked him when he offered to carry all of it for me but as I watched him bring all the things into the car, I wanted to help him. I didn't however, because he offered to carry all of it in one big trip and he looked to be successfully doing it. 

        In just meeting him, I learned that Ajax was really caring and always wanted people to feel happy. He wasn't a people pleaser, I could tell from the way he spoke, he was assertive. Wanting to help me move in with ease, knowing I used to be a human and had been living a lot more differently than him. It was kind and I was so thankful to have him help me that I decided to buy him something nice. I just needed to know what he liked to buy him a good "Thank you" present.

     "So, what are you going to name him?" He asked, turning back, watching me pet my little bird and already so in love with it.

     With a smile only a new pet-owner had, I decided that his name was going to be, "Morpheus!"

     "Like the God Morpheus?" He asked, setting the cage on the floor and opening the trunk of his car. He wore a short-sleeved and lose fitting shirt that showed off his bulging muscles and he wore black cargo pants alowing him to freely move around. He was a pretty guy, and looked to be a white hispanic but was hard to tell from the lack of hispanic features he had. I was guessing that his parents were mixed. 

     I kissed Morpheus on the head, him moving his head towards me and caressing my cheek, feeling safe and comfortable with me in a matter of seconds, "Yeah, like the God Morpheus." I then got into the passenger side of the car and let Morpheus fly up in the sky. His wings fluttered as he ascended to the sky, and already trained to follow the car, he made sure not to get too far.

     Ajax finished putting the cage inside the trunk, having a real hard time squeezing it in. After tossing the toys on top of the cage, he got into the car and began driving off. Morpheus began flying behind the car and chased it until he got tired. I watched him from the sideview mirror to make sure he continued following us. In awe of Morpheus, I couldn't wait to live my life with this beautiful boy. I just wished it would be my whole life... Morpheus would live for five to eight years and I began doing the math, already feeling like crying. He would die when I was anywhere between twenty-one and twenty-four. Since I lost Arlo, anytime I think of getting a pet, I think of how long they have with me before they die and leave me with the scars of mourning. How beautiful it is to love and be loved only to one day be tarnished with the loss of the love. 

     The demon who gave Morpheus to us explained that all pets were trained to follow the owner and to never escape, especially the ones that can fly away for good. All that would be needed was a bonding exercise and a training session to have them see the owners as their new demon to follow. It excited me to know that soon enough, Morpheus would be following me whenever I went on walks. I stared at his beautiful blue feathers and pet his head, rubbing my fingers against his feathers, ruffling them, and combing them back down. His eyes closed and he sat down on my legs before falling asleep.

     Ajax drove to the market and parked there, and without us getting out he explained, "Markets are owned by ogres and restocked by gnomes. When you go inside you do your shopping, grabbing things you want to eat. Pay with the ogre at the counter and you can leave. Sometimes you'll see the gnomes restock something, either because you pressed a button that every product has or someone else did. Those buttons alert the gnomes that something is empty, where it is, and what it is."