4: 4

4

The vet said Buddy's body was covered in bruises, like someone had beaten him.

I held Buddy close, crying so hard it hurt.

He curled into my arms, so good about it, nudging the tears off my cheek.

He was always like this—taking every cruelty and still trying to comfort me.

By the next day, Buddy had finally recovered a little of his spirit.

Tail wagging, he led me home, happy the whole way.

I pressed my finger to the scanner and found my print had been deleted.

Donald was done with me. Completely.

I stood there holding Buddy's harness, lost.

The door swung open, and Sharon's voice cut out, sharp and mean.

"Freya, you blind little wretch, how are you this shameless?"

"If you weren't holding that whole saving-his-life debt over him, Donald wouldn't want to look at you for even a second."

She didn't have to say it. I already knew I was a burden.

Even though I'd tried so hard to live in the dark, to trouble no one.

Sharon reached out and stroked Buddy's head, light as anything.

"You know, I really didn't want to take it out on a dog."

Something in me went on alert, and I locked my arms around Buddy.

"Don't touch him!"

Her voice stayed flat, but the smile in it turned vicious.

"I won't touch him."

"I'm just helping Donald cut loose the burden. That's all."

The next second she screamed, and then came the sound of something heavy tumbling down the steps.

My mind went blank.

Someone rushed past me.

"Sharon, what happened?"

"It hurts, my leg hurts so much. Will I ever be able to dance ballet again?"

Sharon's voice was thick with tears.

"I opened the door for them out of kindness, and the dog held a grudge against me. He just lunged and bit me."

"I was so scared……"

I shook my head, frantic, the words spilling out.

"No. Buddy stayed right beside me the whole time. He didn't move."

Donald's voice came full of fury.

"And now you're lying?"

"Why would Sharon throw away her dancing career just to frame a dog?"

I groped helplessly at the empty air, my hollow eyes stinging and going red.

"I'm not lying. You have to believe me."

"Check the security camera. The camera will prove Buddy did nothing."

Sharon's sobbing drifted over in broken little pieces.

"Donald, don't be angry. She's just afraid I'll take you from her, so she set her dog on me."

"I'm fine. If it comes to it, I just won't dance anymore."

That only fed Donald's rage.

"Freya, the camera's broken, isn't it? That's why you think you can get away with anything."

I went cold all over, like I'd been dropped into a pit of ice.

So heaven had never once been willing to be kind to me.

I held Buddy tight against me.

"Buddy is a guide dog. He's professionally trained. He would never bite anyone, not in his whole life!"

Donald flung me off hard, and I slammed into the door.

"That was before!"

"You've raised him into something vicious. He dared to bite Sharon, so he can't be kept!"

He bent down and grabbed the weak, limp Buddy in one motion.

Buddy gave a faint whimper of pain, his legs hanging useless.

He didn't struggle. He only turned his head, with effort, toward where I was.

I threw out my hands, clawing wildly, and caught nothing.

I heard my own crying, broken past recognition.

"Donald, I was wrong, I was wrong……"

"I'll send him away right now. Please, don't hurt him."

"I'm begging you. He's been with me five years. He did nothing wrong."

"I'm the one who's wrong. I'm sorry. I'm apologizing to you both."

I knelt on the floor, banging my head against it, begging like nothing.

But there wasn't a trace of softening in Donald.

"Too late."

"The moment he scared Sharon, this was how it was going to end."

He dragged me back into the room and locked the door from the outside.

I pounded on it with everything I had.

"Donald, please, let Buddy go. I'll die in his place. I'll die……"

The only answer was footsteps growing farther away.

I slid to the floor and stayed there, not eating, not drinking, until my tears ran dry and my throat went raw from screaming.

I don't know how long it was before they came back—and there was no trace of Buddy with them.

Donald tossed a white cane at me.

"Use this from now on."

Sharon leaned close to my ear, her voice poisonous.

"Petting a dog you'd touched was kind of disgusting, but Donald says dog meat is the most nourishing thing there is."

A wave of nausea rose up through my chest, endless.

"Get out!"

"Freya, stop making a scene. It was only a dog. This is what it deserved for biting Sharon."

How could he say that?

That was Buddy.

Buddy, who'd been at my side day and night for five years, who'd pulled me back from danger more times than I could count.

The last family I had left in this world.

Donald leaned in, a rare thing, and touched my head.

"Frey, be good."

"Buddy's gone. I'll make it up to you better from now on."

From now on?

Donald, I don't have a "from now on" anymore.

That night I gripped Buddy's leash tight and slipped out the door.

Step by step, slow and certain, I walked toward the deep water.

Buddy, walk slower.

Wait for me.