AAWC #4- Reunite

Hey guys! Here’s my story for AAWC #4! Sorry it’s a little late!

I put in

1 story

3 prompts

1 drawing

so total of

6 points.

Prompts:

1. “And they rode away in the sunset.”

“What’s a sunset?”

“I don’t know. But my Grandad saw one once.”

2.

via

3. “Sorry. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to in ten years.”

This is Komodo when he was younger

The night was cold. It was dark. It was lonely. The night I met him. The night I found my human.

I skidded around the corner, trying to find somewhere out of the wind. Out of the rain. I wanted shelter. I was scared and lonely. As I padded down the cement, I remember suddenly feeling … how would you say… refuge. I felt warmth for the first time in a long time. Nearly 10 years. And I felt dry. I looked up to see a young man, quite a bit older than my boy had been, hovering over me. He had deep, dark eyes, and dark hair. I smelled friendliness on him, and he had a kind look in his eyes. I knew I had found the one.

Now, let me rewind a little bit. If you haven’t figured out yet, I’m Komodo. I’m also a dog. Yes, I am. So why am I writing this? Because I learned how to speak English from my.. As you humans would say, grandmother. Not many of us could speak English, but my grandma had the secret, and she passed it on to me. There was only one time I had let a human know the I could speak it. See, this wasn’t just any human, it was my boy. We had been the best of friends. We were… you might say…connected. He was mine. I was his. We took each other on walks. I let him know my secret. He thought I was the most awesome dog in the world.

Then it happened. Someone’s fingers were snapped and suddenly he was gone. I didn’t know where he had went. I suddenly found myself in the middle of nowhere. No home. No warmth. No shelter. Nothing. I was alone. Bitterly alone for the first time in…forever. Now, here I am, ten years later. And I still remember all those years fending for myself, taking care of myself, only having myself to keep me warm. I was completely independent. Then it changed.

When I found myself under the shelter of another, I was happy. I felt true satisfaction and happiness again. I felt something about this boy, this young man. The one under the umbrella. He was different. He reminded me of my boy. He had strength, I could tell, but it also only took a whiff to tell that he had a good heart. That he was kind and loving. I could tell by how he treated me. I know I was stinky, I know I was dirty, yet he still reached down to pet me. I remember.

He leaned down and smiled at me, the look in his eyes reflecting the ones on my own face. He smiled and rubbed behind my ears. The same place my boy used to rub. I leaned into his leg and he kneeled down, still covering me with his umbrella. Keeping me safe.

Then he walked away. I thought it was over. That comfort, and safeness….gone. Then he turned around. He whistled softly and whispered the words I had wanted to hear for such a long time. “C’mon, boy. Let’s go home.” I remember padding after him all the way back to his place. It was a nice place, but it seemed rather empty. My boy’s house was full of people, especially young children. This one was vacant.

The boy- my new boy- sat down on the couch in their room and sighed. Then he stood up, swiping his hair out of his face, and grabbed a towel from the closet, wiping me dry. He truly cared about me. Then he sat down again, and I hopped up next to him. Then his phone started ringing. I still remember what that looked and sounded like from my boy’s phone.

I could tell by his words and voice that it wasn’t a happy person on the other end. I can understand English better than I can speak it.

“Hey baby. What’s up? Look, I’m sorry about earlier. No, please… we can’t do this now. Can we talk later? No, please…” then his phone came away from his face. I felt bad for him, but I wasn’t close enough to him to talk yet. Then he looked at me, and I smelled sadness coming from him.

“It’s been rough lately, boy.”

I whined, laying my nose on his lap. He looked away and sighed, and I could tell that there was something more bothering him than just his recent talk. He looked back at me, and then down at his lap. I tilted my head at him, asking a silent question.

“You see,” he started, “I’m part of a secret organization. One that works with dogs. I’ve never had a dog before. At least…that’s what my parents told me. But somehow I could always understand them better than other people. I was in an accident. One that took away most of my memory. But one of the things I remembered was my dog. You see, my parents told me I never had a dog. What made it even more crazy was that the dog could talk.”

My ears perked up and I started wondering.

“I know you probably don’t believe me…you probably don’t even know what I’m saying, but I never quite stopped believing that I really had a talking dog. My parents finally mostly convinced me that I’d never had a talking dog, and that while I was in the coma, I must have had a crazy dream. But then the agency found me, and they knew something was different. I still remember a connection with that dog. His name was Komodo. He was the most awesome dog on earth. Even if he was just a dream, I still miss him. You know, you remind me of him.”

I suddenly realized that this was the moment I had been dreaming of for those ten lonesome years. I was finally reunited with my owner. I couldn’t believe I had missed it before! He still had the same eyes, and same look. His voice had changed, but I knew for sure he was mind when he said that Komodo was the most awesome dog on earth. That’s exactly how he used to talk. He had less happiness than I remembered, but he was definitely the same boy.

I jumped off the couch and yipped, bouncing in circles.

“What’s wrong, boy?” he asked, eyeing me strangely.

I’ll admit, I was kind of offended he didn’t recognize me immediately. But then, I was a cute tiny puppy when he had last seen me! I was scared to try and speak his language again, because I hadn’t spoken it for a long time. But I couldn’t remain silent.

“It is you? Brody, it’s me!” I said, trying to be as clear as possible.

Brody’s eyes got big and I saw a familiar smile spread across his face. I couldn’t help but jump on his lap and lick his nose.
“Komodo? Is it really you, boy? I knew you weren’t in my imagination! I knew you were mine!”

I yipped and barked, trying to form more words in my head to say.

“You were gone. Lone I in myself!” I told him.

He looked at me strangely, trying to figure out what I was saying.

“Sorry,” I said, “you’re the first person I’ve spoken to in ten years. I was just so alone without you!” I told him. He wrapped his arms around me, and laughed.
“That’s alright, boy. I’m just glad to know I have a friend now.” he said, looking at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked him

“See, ever since the CSOI hired me- the Canine society of information-, I can’t talk to anyone about my hobbies. Because I love working at the place, but it’s part of a secret development program. You know… you could help us so much, Komodo!!! You could help us know what the dogs are trying to communicate! It would not only help us further the intelligence of dogs and humans, but could quite possibly give CSOI limitless possibilities! It could provide the answers to questions no one has been able to figure out! This could help cure cancer…so to speak. Wow… You are coming with me to work tomorrow.”

Although I only understood about half of what he was meaning, I understood the last part well enough to know that it was not a question. I WAS going to work with him the next day.

He embraced me once more. “Komodo, thanks. Thanks for finding me.”

 

I padded across the street and into a dark alleyway. If I smelled correctly, I could tell it was the same one that we had been in the night before. Brody looked both ways and then said something quietly to the wall, pushing his hand into it. I tilted my head, unsure of what he was doing. The wall split and opened into a very small, dark room. We stepped inside and he turned around, closing the door. Then he pushed in on another unseen spot on the wall and a screen of glowing numbers popped up. He pressed number 6 and I felt the room shift. Down, over, up, over, and down. Then it stopped and the doors opened once more.

I was shocked as I saw the entire room. It was extremely bright compared to the moving room I had just been in, and I was surprised by the bustling people everywhere. I saw a few people nod their welcome or wave at Brody as we walked in, but most of them just continued with their work. There were small offices stationed throughout the room, and most of the people sitting at their desks were typing on computers, taking calls, or both. Brody nodded toward the right and we walked into a hallway. I peered through the windows and saw men and women taking samples, and mixing combinations of chemicals together. It seemed that everyone had a place to be and a job to do. No one was just sitting around. I liked that.

Then Brody opened another door, and I instantly smelled dogs. This room seemed more relaxed, a little less full of people, and I sensed more friendliness in here. Brody leaned down and whispered to me that this was the department he worked in.

A man from a desk next to him stood up quickly and walked over to Brody, smiling down at me.
“Who’s your friend?” he asked Brody.

I got a smell of friendship that was coming from both of them. It seemed to be rather strong.

“His name is K- Kyle.” then Brody whispered something else to the other guy about talking to him later. The guy looked confused, but didn’t say anything more. I wondered why he had told the boy a fake name.

“Kyle, this is Terrance!” Brody said.

They walked together into another hallway and I knew this is where the dogs were. They all seemed very happy and I could tell they were well taken care of. There were small pups, big pups, and older dogs as well. I heard a conversation between a mom and her pups. It sounded like she was finishing telling them a story.
“And they rode away in the sunset.” the mother said.

“What’s a sunset?” one of the pups inquired.

The mother paused, then answered “I don’t know. But my Grandad saw one once.”

I smiled, glancing from pen to pen and hearing their conversations. Most of them were talking about normal dog topics, treats, food, crazy dogs, and chew toys, but some seemed more caught up in very intelligent conversations. I thought I heard some even speaking Portedogian, which is the language spoken by dogs that live in Portuguese.

Others talked about scientific chemicals used in specific combinations. I’d never heard conversations like this, but these people certainly had a way of finding intelligent dogs.

I smiled up at Brody.

“I really like this, Brody! Thanks for bringing me here.” I said. Then, as I watched his partner’s face turn to shock, I realized I’d made a mistake. Brody smacked a hand over his friend’s mouth, keeping him from saying anything.

“Look, I was going to tell you later. You can’t tell anyone yet, but this is Komodo…the dog I’ve told you about.”

The boy took a deep breath. “B-but…I thought he was fake? Something you imagined?”

“Well… he isn’t.” Brody said.

The guy looked down at me with the biggest toothy grin I think I’d seen before. “Dude, I don’t know what your secret is, but you are awesome, Komodo.”

I smiled and looked up at Brody. I knew I liked this kid.