Unbreakable Love

• Maira Slaughter, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2018

It was just another ordinary school day for Jade as she walked home, eating a packet of biscuits, when out of nowhere a large, skinny red and tan dog appeared growling at her. Her first reaction was to back away, but the dog advanced. Jade had an idea. She chucked a biscuit in front of the dog making it jump. It sniffed the food before scoffing it down. Noticing that some of the aggression left the dog, she threw another and then another biscuit to the dog. Each time the dog would flinch before wolfing down the food. Then the dog approached her, its earlier aggression was gone and was instead replaced by a scared and timid dog.
Looking the dog over, Jade saw that it was an adolescent female Doberman. But what Jade then noticed made her sick. The dog’s sides were covered in scars showing where she had been beaten multiple times.
Emptying out her bag of biscuits on the ground, she sadly walked away. As much as she would have loved to have done something for the dog, she knew her parents would never allow it. She began to cry.
This was just another part of her miserable life. No friends. Bullied at school, but the worst thing was that their dog had died earlier that year.
Since then her parents had said, “No more pets.” Meaning the dog wasn’t welcome in their home.
Jade stopped at the little park down the street from her house. Sitting down on one of the seats, she closed her eyes for a moment. Suddenly she got the feeling something was beside her and she opened her eyes to see the Doberman sitting there looking at her. The dog sat there lovingly looking at her. She stretched out her hand and stroked the dog's red fur. It's tail thumped slowly in delight. The fact that anyone could hurt this dog was dreadful. And yet the dog still trusted her. She decided to call her Rusty.
Jade had a problem on her hands. What was she going to do with Rusty? She sighed and decided to go home. On the way home, Rusty disappeared and she thought that was the last she would see of her.
Once home, she said hello to her parents, before going upstairs to do her homework. She had just about finished her homework when she heard her mum shout. She rushed downstairs only to find Rusty coming up the stairs to find her.
Her parents stood at the bottom of the stairs watching as the dog walked up to her and leaned against her while she explained what had happened and begged her parents to keep her. In the end, her parents gave in and Rusty was allowed to stay.
Over the coming months, Jade worked with Rusty and their relationship went from strength to strength. They become inseparable. Rusty even slept on her bed at night.
Jade finally had a true friend.