'i am worried'
He stepped out the front door, two boys at his young age clumsily getting out the car and rushing to his side.
“Are you excited Troye?!” one called, throwing his arms in the air and hugging him.
“Yes!” he said back, hugging his best friend tightly and then his other best friend tightly too.
Troye’s mother walks out the front door then, greeting her son’s best friends then giving her son a tight hug.
“Now you behave yourself okay?” she says teasingly to him, but also with a slight bit of warning in her tone.
“I promise ma,” he says sweetly, hugging her once more. “I will miss you.”
“I will miss you too Tok,” she says giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Tell dad I will miss him too when he gets home,” the young boy reminds her.
“I will,” she promises with a fond smile, then giving one final kiss to his head and watching him run with each of his friends at his side, hurriedly making their way the car.
Laurelle gives a friendly wave to the mother of one of Troye's friends as she then drives off.
Troye’s POV
I gasp as I wake up from my dream, or more like the a memory my mind feels the need to replay over and over for me with no mercy.
I feel sweat trickle down my face, thank God I woke up before the memory went any further. I don’t need Bruno having to go fetch and disturb Jacob again.
Bruno
I tap my side but I do not feel his fur nor do I feel the warmth of his body against the side of my own. It occurs to me he must have got up for water or something, so I call for him.
“Bruno?” I call as calmly as possible.
Nothing.
“Bruno!” I call louder.
Nothing.
“B-Bruno?” I call again, my voice quivers and my bottom lip trembles slightly.
“Bru-” just as I am about to call again I hear his feet patter up the stairs and moments later he is at my side again, licking my face telling me he is right there.
Yes, he must have gone to get a drink of water since his mouth is damp on the sides. “God Bruno don’t do that,” my voice trembles again as I say this to him. I hug him tightly, allowing him to lick my face.
He settles once again at my side as I lie back down, my erratic breathing calmer now.
I wonder why he didn’t hear me calling him though. He always comes on the first call no matter where he is in the apartment or what he is doing.
It makes me shudder to think what I would have done if he didn’t end up coming back.
I don’t want any other dog besides Bruno and if I ever were to lose him I don’t think I would get another guide dog, he is just too special to me.
…….
“So, you finished those essays to the best of your ability I hope?” Lisa says to me, we just got to the library as we do every weekday afternoon.
“Yes, had all weekend,” I say quite exasperated, she might as well be my mother.
“I’m just asking, don’t get all huffy puffy with me,” she says with a light chuckle.
“I’m sorry,” I say shaking my head.
“Troye? Why do you look so tired? You also seem a bit distracted, what's wrong?” she asks, the concern is obvious in her tone.
“I uh,” I pay attention to the feeling of Bruno’s body by my feet to stay calm. “I am worried about Bruno,” I confess with a glum expression.
“Why is that?”
“He…he isn’t always coming to me when I first call him. The first time was after I woke up in bed on Saturday at about three am and he wasn’t by my side so I called him like four times.
"No matter where he is in the apartment he always comes on the first call. Then over the rest of the weekend there would be several other times where the same kind of thing would happen. They are very scattered instances and there are not too many of them but they are happening,” my throat almost clenches at my words; it pains me beyond belief to know something may be wrong with Bruno.
“Oh Troye,” she says taking my left hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe you should take him to the vet, see what is going on with him.”
“What if he is going deaf,” I blurt, my words falling quickly from my mouth, I don’t want to even utter them in my own toughts.
“Troye don’t jump to conclusions like that. He may just have an ear infection or something, calm down okay?” she assures softly. Lisa always know how to talk to me to calm me down, she has no idea how much that means to me.
“Okay, do you mind if I skip our library session tomorrow so I can make an appointment for him?”
“Go ahead Tro, besides there is only this week left. I’m sure your teachers aren’t going to give you too much more work to do, but I’m not going to jinx it,” she says.
“Okay yeah I guess so, thank you,” I say, my thoughts still stuck on who will always be a little puppy to me, my Bruno. “Does Bruno look okay to you though?” I can hear Lisa push out her chair a little bit to look at my guardian angel at my feet.
“I don’t want to worry you Tro but he does seem a bit down,” Lisa says sadly as my heart shatters a little bit more and I sigh sadly.
“Um, so it must be time to go right?” I asked wanting to change the subject.
“There is still half an hour but I don’t think you need it right now. Must I take you to the store as usual?” she asks, I can hear her gather her things and stuffing them into her bag as I now do the same.
“Yeah,” I say solemnly, I want to get Jacob’s advice as well. He always has Bruno’s best interests at heart.
I nudge Bruno gently and he scoots out from under the table quickly to stand back at my side. I pat his head, then I tug on the leash to get him to go and he does so with no problem, this time.
As we make our way to the store Lisa and I remain in a comfortable silence but my thoughts are anything but comfortable.
I know that if I don’t have Bruno with me I am going to have to get someone to live with me or something. The last thing I need to do is drag either my mum or dad out to New York. They deserve to live their own lives as do my siblings and friends. I can’t be so selfish. I have made their lives hell as it is; even if they love me too much to admit it.
