The sun was out, the trees dancing to the wind, flowers bloomed as a light breeze hit the water of the pond making ripples. It was spring of 2020 early spring break, and the kids got a week off of school. “Life is great” thought the small dog. He had a deep brown coat with white paws, and a tipped tail. He had dark brown eyes and wore a striped collar of deep blue, turquoise, and orange. The only piece of jewelry he’d be allowed to wear. He’d lay his head down to take a nap, having just received a bath and fresh nail clippings. He had fresh food and water, all the pillows and blankets to make himself comfortable in. He allowed a satisfied sigh to escape through his nose and let his eyes rest into a deep sleep.

          As he dreamed he recalled a moment of fear. The night was cold, dark, but peaceful. The crickets sang their songs as cars would drive down the road every once and a while.. He was on a walk with Arianna, his owner. He loved the time they spent together, appreciating every moment. A sense of uneasiness took hold throughout the night, it was quiet, too quiet. It was as if the bushes had eyes, watching, waiting patiently for the best time to scare his little heart to death.

          A snapping sound came from behind them. His body came to a sudden halt. His head faced the direction so quickly he almost fell. The leash tugged at his throat. Arianna seemed to notice the sound as well but stopped a little later while he already stopped. He was seemingly frozen in place, scanning the darkness ahead of him. No movement, not even a sound. Arianna, eager to get out of the darkness into the light of the street, called to him “Come on Barky” It was a nickname. Seeing as there was nothing, he decided to go along the path and finish the walk.

          A minute or two later before they could reach the light in the street, something rammed into Sparky’s right side causing him to lose his balance. He caught himself before his face planted onto the ground and spinned himself around to try and catch a glimpse of what could have done that. There, in the darkness, there was a shadow. Quiet, still, in eerie fashion you could hear it breathing. Light shone from behind it, making its silhouette an ebony black. Arianna just stood there in silence before speaking “Oh look it’s crooked face” she said. He stood there a few seconds before finally realizing the shadow was a street dog Arianna named Rocky. Crooked face was just a nickname for him because he had this tooth that would stick out.

          He’s seen him around and they’ve smelled each other’s scent sure but Rocky was never this, forward? He usually sat around waiting for us to pass by to get where he was going. Sparky didn’t like his presence very much, at times jealousy would get the best of him. “Named dogs are kept dogs” he’d tell him. Rocky, without a care in the world blinked unphased, and walked off. “Has he heard this before?” Thought the small dog. The edges of his sight would darken, he was waking up. “So, this is a dream?” he asked. Before the dream ended, Rocky turned to face him. His eyes black as they rested, sad and tired.  “Your efforts will fail” the dog said, fading away.

          Sparky awoke with a gasp, shaken, a chill ran down his spine. Remembering what dream told him he began to question if he would be replaced. “It was just a dream tho” he tried to convince himself. “That’s not even the way it played out, Arianna’s sister wasn’t there” he told himself. He heard their truck park in the front of the house. The doors slammed as he waited for them to come through the door, but they never came. A minute passed and so he decided to investigate. He jumped off the couch and jumped onto the chair with the best view outside the window. He felt a pit of sadness in his throat and betrayal in his chest.

          They were with Rocky. She was with Rocky, instead of him. He began to get angry and bark at the street dog from inside the house like a cartoon dog barks at a squirrel. Rocky seemed to notice and turned his head to face him. Then looked away as if nothing happened, enjoying the head pats he received from the family. The door began to open, a small girl entered through the door, Arianna’s baby sister.

          He ran out so fast the girl couldn’t close the door in time. Everything seemed to slow. There he was, vulnerable, distracted by receiving love. He bared his teeth, his growl turned into a snarl as he jumped to grab Rocky’s throat. Such terrible thoughts filled his mind.

          He bit him, he bit Rocky. Not enough to hurt him, but it did scare him. Rocky jumped back. It seemed he didn’t even realize it was Sparky that bit him until he looked down. Arianna was so shocked she never expected her small dog to be as aggressive as he was. Sparky looked up at his owner and it almost seemed like she didn’t recognize him, but he was right there. Was it so wrong to not want to lose someone he cared about, or was it in the form he tried to stop it?

          Upon further inspection it seemed that Rocky had some black patches scattered around his back where furr should be. They were scars. Rocky also looked a little skinny as you could see the bones of his ribcage. He began to regret his choice.

          Sparky was picked up and they all went inside to have dinner, although Sparky layed down on the couch pillows and thought about what he did. “He has scars, and I bit him” he told himself. He was disappointed in himself for acting so rashly and not thinking first. He decided that when Rocky came back he’d have a better attitude around him.

       Hours passed and the sun was now setting. He was outside with Arianna to try and get Rocky in the backyard to clean him up. Rocky was nervous and struggled to get in. Sparky had the grand idea of leading him into the backyard as he reassured Rocky it was fine. Arianna closed the backyard door and went into the house, a few minutes passed and she returned with dog food, water, shampoo and a towel.

          Soon Rocky began to get comfortable enough to eat and drink. She took him a shower as Rocky looked so amazed with the bubbles he tried to eat them like treats. The street dog soon began to be rid of filth as it was running off his sides like mud or polluted water. She dried him up and fed him some more. The day began to end and they all went inside. Rocky got a bed, a blanket and a pamper. Yes, a pamper. He looked as confused as Sparky if not more. Nonetheless, Rocky finally had a home, a better one.