Unbreakable Bond

• Anastasia Kolotvinova, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2014

I don’t know how I got here. I recall my eyelids closing and I remember falling asleep. Suddenly I awaken into this strange room. I take some steps forward and examine the unfamiliar, intricate furniture and the gigantic walls. Nothing like the ones I remember back at my old home. The ceiling is so high up which makes me feel tiny. The smell of the house is new and exciting. I decide to go to the kitchen where I find two bowls. One contains something that smells delicious and the other one has water in it. I allow myself to eat the mouth-watering food.
The next day I get introduced to a friendly looking man, named Eric who constantly talks to me and takes me almost everywhere he goes. He shows me around the house, being cautious that my clumsy feet don’t knock over anything. I feel a strong connection with him, not like I did at my old home. Here I feel affection and there I felt like I was worth nothing.
Weeks go by and everyday excites me more. As overwhelming as it seems, waking up in a new house and starting a new life with a complete stranger, surprisingly I feel safe and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Eric comes home from work when it starts to get dark outside and I happily greet him. I know that the afternoon will be filled with joy because he always plays hide and seek, ball and tug of war with me. Over the past years I have formed an unbreakable relationship and that bond cannot be destroyed.
As the early morning awakens me, Eric is already up eating and getting ready to go to work. I wait sadly at the door knowing that I will only see him again when he comes home. He works long hours to support himself and me, as he likes to say with a smile.
Eric finally comes home and I say hello to him. He hugs me and I feel that we are inseparable.
Eric was watching TV that very night and I was sitting on the couch with him. Something felt unusual; out of place, maybe even mysterious. Eric hadn’t moved since he sat down to watch TV. I felt that something catastrophic had happened. I tried to wake him, but he was motionless. Tears ran down as I felt the universe was a lonely place without Eric. My heart started to beat slower and my breath became laborious. The darkness filled all the corners of the room.
Later the police reported that a man around his 50s died due to a heart attack with a dead dog lying beside him. Dogs have an amazing link with their owners. The dog was so stressed and sensed that she was going to be alone that she died with her owner on the same day.
The unbreakable bond was never broken; it was just reconnected in another world.