Struggles ✔

Chapter 26.

Alexa's POV

Cole and I were walking around town the next day. We spent the whole day yesterday inside the house, so we decided to go out and do something. Cole was inside the ice cream shop to use their restroom. I stayed outside waiting for him. In front of the ice cream shop was an animal shelter. This peeked my interest because I've never had a pet.

I found myself walking into the animal shelter. The bell rings from above and an old lady looks up from the counter. She smiles widely at me.

"Hello!! How may I help you?" She asks me

"I uhm-" I was cut off by the door ringing again.

I turn around to see Cole looking at me with relief in his eyes. He hugs me tightly and sighs.

"You scared me!!! I came back outside to see you were missing. I thought something bad hapoened to you! Don't ever go missing again holy crap." He says

"Sorry" I smile sheepishly

"Why are you in here anyway?"he asks curiously

"I just wanna look at the animals." I shrug

"Well if that's what you wanted to do then come with me sweetie!" The old lady smiles widely at me. I look at Cole, silently asking permission if I can. He chuckles and nods. I smile widely and hug him before following the old lady.

She lead me to a room full of animals. There were cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and so much more. I was overwhelmed. I so badly wanted to pet the little kitten that was looking at me with bright blue eyes.

"You can pet them you know..." the old lady looks at me amused. She didn't have to tell me twice.

I immediately pet the little kitten and awwed when it purred.

We walked around more and I got to pet so many puppies. They were all so adorable. Not just them but literally every animal here is adorable.

While I was petting a golden retriever, I noticed a husky. This husky didn't look like all the others. Instead of the normal black and white or brown and white fur, this husky had a blue-grey and white kind of fur. It was so pretty. I slowly walked closer to it. It immediately noticed me approaching and growled, making me stop in my tracks.

"He's been here for so long now. People don't want him because he's rude or because he's too old and big. He was dropped off here by some guy. He said that it was his neighbors dog. Apparently the dog is very special to his neighbors child. When the child died, his neighbors threw away anything connected to the child. They beat up the dog because it reminded them so much of the child. Once they were finished they tossed the dog outside and the man took him here." The old lady, whose name is actually Sam, explained

"Poor guy has trust issues now." Sam says

I look at the dog once more and saw it was standing tall. It tried to look fierce and intimidating. I slowly walked towards it. The dog growled loudly but I kept walking. I was a few feet away from the dog when I kneeled down in front of it. I put my hands up and then behind my back. I gave the dog a big smile, hoping it understood that I wasn't gonna hurt it. The dog cocked his head at me but I just smiled. He curiously came closer and my smile widen if it was even possible. I took my hands from behind my back and set it in front of me. The dog looked at me and then my hand. He hesitantly sniffed my hand. I slowly moved my hand from his nose to between his ears. I scratched the back of his ears and his tail starts moving up and down. I chuckled and remove my hand.

I start walking back to Sam when I felt something poke my leg. The husky was by my leg and looking up at me. I knelt down and continued petting him. He rolled over to his tummy and enjoyed as I scratched his belly.