mans best friend | nadia

Fiver years ago...


"Mum, why is it so still?" My fingers brush against the mattered pelt of the warm blooded creature. "Why isn't it moving?" I turn to meet mums gaze, my eyes full of questions. "Is it dead?" My lip begins to quiver, my heart begins to race. It couldn't be dead, could it? It was only so small, it had its whole life a head of it, it couldn't be dead. No, I wouldn't let myself believe it to be dead. I don't realise I'm crying till mum gently wipes away the tears that had begun to fall from the corner of my eyes, her own filled with a tenderness reserved just for me. 

"Let me have a look, honey." Gentle she take the small pup in her hands. She runs them along it tiny body. What was she doing? After a few moment she places it back on the ground. Quickly her fingers remove the embellished scarf that was tied around her neck. Then she returned her attention back to the pup in front of her. Ever so gently she wraps the scarf around its body. "Here look, Nadia," she reveals the puppies, encouraging her to have a look. She moves in closer, her teary eyes watching the animals chest closely

At first she see's nothing. She feels the frustration being to build in the belly of her stomach. But she fights it back, putting her faith in her mother. She is losing the fight. But then she sees it. A small squeal of excitement escaped her lips. "I saw it! Mum, I saw it! It's breathing." Relief washes over the small girl, her eyes alight, dancing with joy. "It's alive." 

Her mother cant help the smile the curls back her lips, that reaches her eyes. She wraps the puppy back up, tightly, before kneeling down to Nadia's level. "Do you want to hold it?" Immediately Nadia agrees, nodding her head enthusiastically. Throwing her small arms out in front of her, she was ready to hold the precious creature. "You have to be very careful, okay? This isn't a toy. It is very weak at the moment. You have to treat it with the upmost care, do you understand?" As her mother spoke Nadia's feature had slowly grown more and more serious. She would be gentle with it. She wasn't going to let it get hurt again.



"I'll be careful," she promises as her mother places it in her arms. She could feel its body quivers in her arms. She hated it. She hated that it hurt, that it was so scared. She wanted to make it feel safe. Like how her mother made her feel. Safe and loved. Peering down at the little bundle of life in her arms she made a promise. A promise to love and protect it for as long as it lived. "You are going to be so happy know," she whispered, hugging it tightly. "You don't need to be scared no more. You are safe now." She vowed.

*

Now...

She sat in darkness.

A silent tear ran down her cheek.

Had she broken her promise?

She had left him all alone.

He wouldn't understand that she had no choice.

He would think that once again he had been abandoned.


Just like her.

"You've given me everything that I will need

To make it through this crazy thing called life."