Days Gone By

Day 7

Jared's P.O.V

I wake up to the sound of rustling, slowly I open my eyes and look around at the others, seeing they're all asleep I reach up and tap Ashford's foot, then Oscar's, placing a finger on my lips before motioning to Rose.

As they wake her up I slowly stand, gripping a hunting knife before I kneel down, slowly walking past each aisle to find the source of the noise. As I reach the 5th last aisle I hear the rustling stop and a guttural growl sounds.

"Puppy!" I hear Rickie squeal, quickly silenced by the dogs barking. I run around the corner and grab the dogs collar from behind just as its about to lunge at my little sister, I instantly recognise it's breed as a bull mastiff but it must be crossed with a greyhound, judging off its size.

Rose runs up to Rickie and softly pushes her behind her back to protect her from the dog. I whistle and the dog stops growling, seemingly not yet noticing my hold on it's collar. I quickly read the name tag just as Rose speaks.

"Tank?" The dog sits and tilts its head, Jade being heard from the other side of the store.

"Tank!? What!?" I soon see her run around the corner, almost slipping over before she gains her leverage, the dog breaking free of my grip to run to her.

I instantly calm down as Jade kneels down and the dog licks the shit out of her hands and face as she tries to pet the obviously excited dog.

I see the others standing beside the shelf and I look down at the ripped open bag of dog biscuits, grabbing the bag and a bowl, pouring a few handfuls in, I then give it to Jade.

"Boy, sit." She whistles and holds her hand above his head so he looks at her. She then, keeping eye contact with him, places his bowl at his feet. After a few seconds she clicks and he instantly starts eating as she pats his back.

Rose and Jade hug for a minute before Jade brings over another bowl and a bottle of water, emptying the bottle into the bowl for when Tank is finished eating.

"Isn't this amazing..? First our cars and now the dog you bought me for my birthday 3 damn years ago." Jade smiles, getting a little tearful as they hug and Rose nods whilst giggling and wiping Jade's eyes.

"Yeah, babe. It's pretty awesome." They hug once again before watching Tank eat like he's their newborn baby.

Rose's P.O.V

After a few hours, we're all sitting around the fire, slowly adding fresh wood as the old planks burn out. Tank hasn't left mine or Jade's sides since we found him, and he hasn't stopped eating for very long. I guess 3 days without food isn't exactly leisure-like.

I look over at Rickie and stand up, walking behind her before I kneel down and undo her bun, letting her braids fall down her back before I put the hair ties around her wrist and I put the pin behind her ear before walking back to my bed.

"Best thing about braids.. You can have so many hairstyles with only one set of braids. The bun, a crown braid, normal braids, a low ponytail, I could even make a bow, you can take out the ends and tie them off leave them as wavy ponytails or you can take it all out and leave it wavy, you can take them out and tie the top quarter up, you can put it in a wavy ponytail, a wavy bun, anything. That's why I learnt how to braid at a young age." Rickie watches me in amazement as I list off all the ideas she obviously wants.

"Can you teach me?" She perks up and I grin.

"One day. But the best way to learn is self taught. When I do your hair, close your eyes and imagine what my fingers would be doing to create that feeling, the different directions of tugs and the tension. They're all important for the perfect braid." She nods as she listens and I grin.