• ~*~

    Back in an alley in the streets of Manhattan; lay a hungry, stray dog. In a cardboard box, that had tipped over about three weeks before from a rat trying to leap to the dumpster five feet away. The rat ended up making the jump and found some leftover apple peelings to munch on. Now getting out was going to be a challenge. There was nothing to grab onto to climb out. That poor repulsive rat ended up dying two weeks later of starvation. The whole alley reeked of the smell of dead animal, but that dog didn’t mind. She just ignored it and lay there in that box, waiting.

    Waiting for what? For some human to come pick her up and take her home; for a nice, big, juicy steak to fall from the heavens above? No, that dog didn’t even know what she was waiting for. All she wanted was her old life back, the one where she had a home, a food bowl, even a name. She lay there, in that box, cold and hungry, waiting.

    She whimpered silently through the night, dreaming about her happiness finding her again. She jolted awake, sweating through her tongue. Her stomach growling so loudly it sounded like thunder. I must find food. She thought as she listened to the cries of her empty abdomen. I will search for bits and pieces of food when the sun arises once again.

    She lay there wide awake waiting for the sun to show itself. It seemed like an eternity when she decided. I must go now before I dissolve into the earth. She hadn’t eaten for six whole days. If only, that hour her family left her, she had eaten all that was in her food bowl. She shook the memory off her snout. She stood up and padded away from the cardboard box.

    The city was quiet. She strolled along following her nose, but all she could smell was the dead rat stench on her fur. She never was one to be dirty. She perked up her ears to try to hear water. There was a distant sound of a fountain. She set off to find it.

    She came to a street. A car passed by every now and again. She looked both ways and crossed the avenue safely. She drank the water carefully and let it slide down her throat. She jumped in the cement pond and tried her best to wash the unpleasant aroma off her fur.

    She stopped cleansing when she heard a door. She crouched down and peered over the edge. She saw a man creeping her way. She glared into his eyes as he got closer and closer. She started to growl. He stopped suddenly, and quickly reached for his pistol. Right before he could take aim, she hurdled over the border and sprinted as fast as she could to hide beneath a vegetable stand. After a few minutes, the man left without what he came for. She slid out from under the table and continued on the search for food.

    The sun finally began to lighten the sky. She looked up and whimpered to herself; she was so hungry. All of a sudden she stopped walking and sniffed the air. She smelt a hotdog. She looked in that direction and saw the steam of the warm sausage being handed to a chubby adolescent. Her saliva began to drip single drops onto the pavement. She could roughly taste it. Her instincts kicked in and she dashed across active Main Street.

    She stopped in the middle of the boulevard when she heard a small girl shriek. “Kira!”
    She whipped around. That was her name. That was her owner. Kira was so happy to see her. Then the little girl started to scream once more. Kira looked to glimpse a burst of radiance. Then there was simply darkness.

    ~*~

    ~Das Ende~