Choosing Home over Heaven

This might be it. The home that the others talked about when I was in that place from which my human rescued me. They told stories of it as if it were a legend or a tale from a dream. A heaven that could only be traveled to once you left the life you once clung to.

"Dutches, where are you?" My human called me.

Her kindness can be heard in every word, and her smile is but a portrait of purity. Leaving the coziness of my fuzzy bed next to the fire, I went to her. Each step of my paws cushioned by the fluff of carpet rather than the coldness of concrete.

"Bark! Bark!" Thank you

"Good girl," she answered.

I know that humans can't understand me, but I try my best to show her daily how much I appreciate her. She rubbed my head, shaking my ears from side to side, before leaving the eating area for both her and me. My bowl was filled with such tasty meals compared to the dirt-like substances I was given within that cold cage.

I can't help but think about her, though, as I lie with my human. My friend, whom the humans called a Golden, and the times before and after we entered that place together. After what seemed like a lifetime on the quiet streets where there were more trees than houses and little to eat, that place should have been considered our heaven, but it was far from it. Humans would come day after day and look at us, but walk away. After being bathed and fed, still, few would stop by my cage, but many would smile at hers. There were many days when children's laughter would echo from her cage as they played.

"I'll never forget you and all that we've been through." The golden's last words to me before the human pulled her away to a dream.

"Neither will I!" I yelled to her through the wires of my confined cage.

"Hopefully you never see her again," said the animal in the cage next to me, opposite of what was once Golden's.

I never saw them, but heard the age in their voice when they spoke. They told Golden and me stories about the heavenly place. It was their home once before they were brought to the cold cage after their owner felt cold one morning. The poor animal described the tragedy as death's kiss as they licked their human's face until that one spot went warm, and continued once it went cold again.

"Let's go for a walk, girl," my human said to me while my head rested on her lap.

As much as I enjoyed walks, I remained in her warmth just a bit longer. The bright lights of the large box didn't bother me anymore, and the cushion on their large bed, where she only sat, was far too comfortable to leave, but we soon did.

"Wait here," she commanded.

I sat there as told while she spoke to that noisy thing with the bright lights. I waited for what seemed like a while when something caught my attention. A sound in the room we'd just left put my entire body on alert, and for good reason. It was that same intruder from before. An outside animal, which scared my human when she first saw it, had somehow entered our safe haven yet again to steal from us.

I barked to alarm her as I chased it out. Teeth and claws scratched at my face, but I was her protector. This intruder was invading our home and needed to leave now. It reached a high place where I could not go and slipped into a hole in the wall that was hidden behind the human's bookshelf. Dangit, it got away again.

"OH NO! My Husband's ashes!" My human yelled before her face began leaking as she dropped to the floor to scoop the dirt scattered amongst broken pieces. It made her hands bleed.

Sorrow filled my core at the sounds of hers, and I began to cry with her. Getting on my belly, I slowly crawled to her. I was genuinely sorry. I had let it get away yet again. I promise that I'll get it next time. I promise you. Just please, stop crying.

"This is the last straw! I can't do this anymore! Get out! Get out!

My human screamed at me, kicking at me, shoving me towards the front door. I was terrified, but genuinely sorry for making her cry. I was trying to protect her from the outsider, but I never thought she would put me outside. The cold winds ruffled my fur as I scratched outside the door to my heaven, but she wouldn't open it. No matter how much I cried, barked, or scratched, it remained closed, as her heart had for me.

She wasn't this mad last time the intruder stole her ring, or broke the see-through bowls, or knocked over those pictures she held close to her chest for what seemed like forever after they shattered. Little did I know that what would shatter next would be my own heart as those humans from before approached me with scary traps and ropes.

I stood my ground, showing every bit of my teeth, but I stood no chance as they dragged me away. I called to her, I cried to her, but she never opened the door.

"I'm not going back!" I barked at one human before biting them.

They screamed, losing their grip of the rope, and I took off. I ran, and I ran, and I ran, far away from the heaven where all dogs dream to go. A place you could only visit, but can never call home. I ran until the streets looked familiar.

Tall trees stood firm against the wind, as did old homes with more wood than brick. The sky smelled of rain, so I looked for shelter in a place behind an abandoned house that I knew all too well. The scent of an old friend still lingered on broken pieces and forgotten memories.

"I hoped I'd never see you again." A familiar voice said to me.

"Why are you here?" I asked Golden as she appeared from behind the wooden pieces that hid the hole where I had first met her so long ago.

"I thought I needed to find heaven, but turns out I just needed to be home." Her fur wasn't clean anymore, but far from the mess it was when we were stolen from this life. She hadn't been here that long.

"You didn't find home with a human?" I asked her as I nuzzled my head next to hers, indulging in the scent of her. I didn't realize how much I had missed it.

"No. My home was always with you."