The Wings of All Things

Chapter 2

With the sun gone and the tree branches layering each other, Manny ran through darkness. Bruno's bell acting as a guide to his axe ahead of him. Manny should have out ran these dogs by now but seeing how they were not normal dogs with normal functioning lungs, he guessed it made sense to some degree. This weird game of Capture the Flag has gotten on his last nerve. With a pounce, Manny leapt up high in the trees. Leaping from one branch to another, he landed on the ground in front of Brutus with an inhumanly soft thud.

Brutus skidded to a stop, causing Bruno to run into his back. When Brutus flopped before Manny, he gave him a goofy smile. Manny squatted down to take his axe away from the green dog's sharp teeth. The smile on the dog's face refused to let go. Manny proceeded to hoist the dog up and was about to shake Brutus when he heard a growl radiating from Bruno. It was so deep it was close to seismic rumbles. The dark fur on the dog's back grew tall in a threatening way. Manny raised one hand up to show his surrender. Bruno continued growling. Lost as to what to do now since Brutus would not let go of his axe and Bruno saw him as a potential threat, he sat down on the ground, defeated.

He has never been this close to dogs before, only having one experience with them. It was not a good one. They were chasing him down with baring teeth. But today was different. Today he was the one who chased the dogs for a whole completely different reason. And surprisingly no teeth were shown other than the ones in Brutus's friendly grin. As Manny thought about his short life before being shoved into a chest, he did not notice Brutus drop the axe from his drooling mouth. Brutus had fallen asleep. A soft and restful grin still plastered on his face. Manny patted the green fur. "This is how she did it, right?" He pondered when remembering MABSOOT patting Bruno. Manny's numb fingers could not feel the weird textures of Brutus's fur. But if he could feel the textures, he would have felt the fur go from soft, to hard, to soft again. The softness was light green. The tough fur was dark. The stitches separated them both from each other. Manny looked at his hand. Bits of the green fur stuck on his glove. He studied Brutus's breathing patterns until he realized there none.                                                                                                                              

No breathing whatsoever. But Manny knew he was somewhat close to being alive because of the amount of drool that came raining out his mouth. A nonstop river of gross dead dog drool. Brutus's legs moving in the motion of running like he was chasing something in his dreams. Manny looked over to where the other one was.

Directly across from him, button eyes stared him down silently. Watching Manny for his next move. Manny tilted his head to the right. Bruno mimicked his head tilt by tilting his head to the left. Manny tilted his head to the other side. Bruno did the same. The dog prowled up to him a little before sitting down again. They stared at each other. No sound coming from either of them. Brutus was the only movement between them as he wiggled in Manny's arms like a caterpillar on angel dust. Manny lifted Brutus up a bit. Bruno's ears perked up slightly before relaxing once again. He rested his chin between Manny's shoes. The two stared at one another before Manny gawked up at the sky. He had forgotten what the stars and clouds looked like. But the moon was the most beautiful sight he has seen in so long.

A full, round, white sphere in the sky with stars glittered around it. The tops of the trees around him only added up the beauty as their branches gently danced to the musical sound of the wind gently breezing by. The grass joined the lovely dance as they added their own little tune. Brushing up each other in gentle sways. They moved like the waves of an ocean. Before then, more stars started to appear in the grass in front of him. Flying all around, the small stars looked for a partner to dance with. Bruno raised his head up to watch the stars pair up too. The stars blinking and sending signals to one another. A secret language Manny or Bruno could not understand. Manny felt like the more he sat there, that more small balls of flame that came.