Arctic Servant Chapter 2
Chapter 2- Cranes and the Collar
The key rattled in the lock and opened the door to the apartment stairway. I shivered as I stepped in from the cold weather. I couldn't wait for the snow to star melting and for the flowers to blossom. I wondered what it was like further south, were the flowers blossoming yet, had the trees started sprouting their leaves? I smiled as I started up the stairs to the apartment that Kent and I shared. We had been together for five wonderful years, and had lived together for almost three. I loved him so much and I was almost bursting with happiness. I had just been promoted and I wanted Kent to be the first to know. I rushed up the stairs, taking two at a time until I reached the third floor. I tried to open the door to our apartment, but I found it locked. How odd. I flipped through my keys and quickly unlocked the door and opened it. What awaited me inside I couldn't of ever imagined.
The apartment was brightly lit and covered in what looked to be small paper birds. I closed the door and stepped inside, filled with bewilderment and wonder. It was absolutely beautiful. Every surface was covered with these origami cranes, and many were even dangling from strings attached to the ceiling. They were every color and pattern imaginable, each different from the others. I was speechless as I slowly spun around taking in each and every crane, when I heard his voice coming from our bedroom.
"So, do you like them?" I turned around to look on Kents loving smile as he walked up to me, giving me a tight warm hug and kissing me, with his soft lips.
I smile up at him, the bewilderment still obviously appearant on my features. "They're beautiful. Did you make them?"
He nodded. "Every last one."
"How many?"
Kent looked around at all the cranes. "There's nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, one for every day that we've lived together, except..." Kent reached into his pocket, withdrawing a pure white paper crane attached to a small box. As he held it towards me, he got down onto one knee. "Richard, we have lived together for exactly one thousand days, and they've been the best of my entire life." My throat was in a knot and my heart was pounding in my chest. "It's said that if a man folds one thousand paper cranes, that his wish will come true." I couldn't believe it, my earlier astonishment and awe had been drowned out by now, replaced with expectancy and love as he continued. "My one, and my only wish..." Oh my god. "...Is to be with you for the rest of my life." Kent opened the box in his hands, revealing a small band of silver. "Richard Adolfus Hunter, will you marry me?"
I had never felt so much joy. I practically tackled Kent the both of us falling to the floor as I smothered him in hugs and kisses. "Yes! Yes I'll-"
I was suddenly standing in the hospital, everyone around me in a rush. I was panicking, something had happened to Kent. A nurse walked up to me. "Are you Mr. Hunter?"
"I am! What's happened to Kent? No one will tell me anything." The words tumbled out, I was in a panic. I had received the call half and hour ago that Kent had been in a car accident, but other than that, I hadn't heard anything. The nurse didn't say anything, her face was just... sorrow...
"You'd better come with me..." the nurse turned and slowly started walking. I followed, dreading what was to come, and hoping against hope that my thoughts would not be realized. I walked, not fully knowing where she was taking me, all that mattered was whom she was taking me to. We stopped in front of a door and she turned to me. "The doctors..." she seemed to be struggling. "The doctors did all they could... but... I'm afraid his wounds..." As she spoke, I felt my heart drop in my chest, dreading the next few words. "I'm afraid he didn't make it." Everything froze around me. No sound no movement...
I grabbed the handle of the door and jerked it open, I think the nurse protested, but if she did, I didn't hear her. I rushed into the room, and there, laying on a table, was the body of my lover, one arm having slipped off, dangling beside the table. Cold, lifeless. I stepped slowly towards the table and collapsed in a heap, grabbing his hand in mine. My chest heaved as tears fell freely from my eyes. Why? Why? Why had he been taken from me? He was my life. I loved him so much, and now he was gone. My finger brushed the silver ring on his finger. We had only been engaged for three weeks. I held his hand up to my face as I sobbed, his cold fingers warmed by my tears...
I was woken by Sunny, his tongue lapping at my tear-stained face. I was back in the ally. The sun was up, though it was obviously not far into the day. I pet Sunny as I reflected on the dream, the memories that had formed it, causing a dull ache within my chest. I reached into my inner coat pocket and withdrew two silver bands. I looked at the insides of the rings at the engraved writing, smiling as I read the words "Our One Wish."
Another tear rolls down my cheek as I put the rings away. I had kept them this long and I would never sell them, not even if I was starving to death. I stood up and stretched, Sunny rising with me and sniffing around the ally before returning to my side, his curled tail wagging. I smile at my companion and we make our way out of the ally in search of breakfast.
The air was warmer than it had been in a while, I guessed that it was finally getting to be above freezing. The snow and ice was melting, and gave signs of soon being gone altogether. Sunny and I walked through the street, his nose sniffing at the ground and at the air in search of food. As we walked, I spied a page from the local newspaper, and something caught my eye. I picked up the paper and read over one of the articles, giving details of a number of sightings of a large wolf within the city. It had apparently been seen around my area of town. In fact, it had been spotted around my ally more than once. I gulped and looked down at Sunny. "I certainly hope that wolf gets caught soon." I did not like the idea of either me nor Sunny becoming wolf-chow.
We continued on and I followed Sunny to a dumpster behind a popular fast food building. There was bound to be something good here. Sunny jumped up and leaned against the dumpster, his nose up in the air. He looked back at me and I raised the dumpster lid, glad that the local ravens couldn't have gotten in. I lifted sunny into the dumpster before crawling in myself. We both searched around and found a few wrapped, uneaten burgers. It was my lucky day. We quickly got out of the dumpster and walked a few blocks before sitting on the sidewalk and eating. The burger was a little stale, as was to be expected, but it was still good. I looked down as Sunny who also seemed to be enjoying his meal, as most of it was already gone.
I chuckled and looked at the street around us. We were in what could be considered a minor shopping district, and across the street, between the rushing cars, I saw a small pet-shop. I looked down at Sunny, remembering the paper. If he were to be captured then I may never see him again. I thought a bit as I stared at the shop before reaching into my pocket and counting my found money. I had roughly fifteen dollars to spend. I smiled and finished my burger before standing and making my way to the pet shop, followed by Sunny.
I stopped at the door and scratched Sunnys head, knowing he couldn't come in with me. "Stay here. I'll be right back." I said to the dog. Sunny sat there panting a bit, his tail wagging. I smiled and entered the shop. The place was small, but it was tidy and organized, small cages and tanks lined two walls and a man stood at the counter at the back wall. Upon hearing me come in he looked up smiling. The smile faltered as he took in my grimy and worn appearance. I expected this reaction and reached into my pocket, withdrawing some of my money. "I'm a paying customer." I reassured him. His look did not alter, but remained skeptical, and his eyes stuck to me as I moved towards a shelf containing dog toys and accessories.
I looked through the collars that were available, many looked nice, but were too pricy for what little I had. There were ones with studs, spikes, carved and printed designs, a full range. I dismissed those and turned toward the plain collars, these were of different materials, sizes, and colors. I looked through them quickly hearing the store clerk clear his throat in annoyance. I hated that people treated me like that, but I didn't say anything I just continued to look through the collars. I pictured a good number of them on Sunny. At last, I found one that worked, it was a plain leather strip, the buckle made of common aluminum. It was rather wide so it'd be visible under his fur, and it was pretty long too. I smiled and walked up to the clerk and put the collar on the counter. He quickly rang me up. "That'll be $12.95" he said gruffly. I reached into my pocket and counted out the amount, making sure to give him exact change. This seemed to annoy the man, but he remained quiet as I handed him the money. "Thanks, have a nice day," he said, almost no emotion in his voice. I smiled at him, pocketing the newly purchased collar. "You too, and thank you for the exceptional service." I replied cheerfully as I walked out of the store, feeling his eyes on my back as I left.
As I stepped out onto the sidewalk I felt two heavy paws on my chest as Sunny jumped up on to me, his weight combined with my own surprise nearly knocking me to the wet ground. "Sunny! Get down, you silly dog." I said smiling before kneeling, the collar in my hands. "I got this for you, just in case." Sunny struggled a bit as I put the collar around his neck, but seemed to accept the item, if not a little unwillingly. I smiled and scratched his head before standing up and patting my leg, signaling him to follow.
We walked to a small park, the slides, swings, and other equipment all recently uncovered by the warming sunlight. While Sunny sniffed around the equipment and did as dogs do, I went over to a nearby cluster of trees, composed of the spruce and birch that are so common to the area, and found a nice sturdy stick. As I stood up I felt my entire body freeze with fear as I found myself staring into two large, yellow, bestial eyes within the trees. They seemed to bore into me as they stared back. They were the eyes of a predator, and I... I was the prey. The gaze was broken as I felt a sudden weight on my back, my feet sliding out from under me.
I hit the ground and the article from the paper flashed through my memory. I looked up, back into the trees. I couldn't see anything. I slowly stood up and looked around to see what had knocked me down. My eyes fell on Sunny, gnawing on the stick I had picked up. I stood and looked one last time into the trees. Maybe I had imagined it. I decided not to dwell on it and quickly wrestled the stick away from Sunny and started a long game of catch.
Again and again I threw the stick and he retrieved it, but he would never give it to me without a fight. He'd stop in front of me with the stick in his mouth and lower himself, his curled tail high in the air, wagging as his eyes looked up at me in a playful manner. Each time I had to wrestle the stick away from him and this often had me tackling the dog. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time. My stomach growled a few hours later, signaling to me that it was time to find lunch.
"Okay, boy, this is the last one, then we find something to eat." His tail wagged expectantly, his eyes on the stick in my hand. I brought my hand back and threw hard. The stick spun through the air, right into the patch of trees where I thought I had seen the eyes, and Sunny chased right after it. I lost sight of the dog and heard a good amount of rustling and then silence. I waited for a bit, but he didn't emerge from the trees. "Sunny?" I started walking towards the cluster of trees, worry building within me, when the playful dog leapt from the trees, the stick in his mouth. Relief spread over me as I knelt down and scratching him behind the ears petting him. My pettings slowed as I realized something was missing. I stopped and checked the dogs neck. "Where's your collar?"
I had searched the park thoroughly for Sunny's collar, but it was no where to be found. After about an hour, I decided it was a lost cause and Sunny and I had left the park to find something to eat.
The rest of the day was spent walking the streets searching for food and dropped cash. I kept a close eye on Sunny, making sure that he didn't run off, my cautions, however, were unneeded as he stayed right by my side the entire day. We managed to find a good meal after a while, passing up a few obviously good choice spots, due to the small group of ravens gathered in the areas..
The large birds, while often a nuisance, always hang around the best places to find good food. The only difficulty is getting the food before they do. Of course I prefer not to steal the birds' finds due to the fact that I can, at times, be rather superstitious, and the tricksters of native myth are not the best targets for theft. My reasons, however, were more than just a superstition of retribution from the birds. Ravens, in addition to being notorious tricksters, are also said, by the natives, to take pity on those with nothing, using their skills and trickery to help, and as one of those with nearly nothing to my name, I figured that being kind to the birds may not be too bad of an idea, even if it was just a story.
After our scavenged meal, I decided that Sunny and I should head back to the ally, as the sky was already starting to darken. As we walked, I spied on the other side of the road, two men, walking in step, side by side. They were talking, their smiles expressing their happiness and something more. My suspicions were confirmed when their hands met and they gave a short squeeze before their hands parted again. As I watched the two, I felt my eyes begin to water as my thoughts were filled with envy. I missed Kent so much.
My mood didn't improve as Sunny and I reached the ally. I double checked to make sure that most of my belongings were still there before checking the old trashcan that stood just inside the ally. I dug through the trash, trying to see if anything of value had been thrown out, when all of a sudden I felt a sharp pain as a baseball bat hit me hard in the back.
I fell forward, nearly knocking down the trash can as I fell to the ground, gasping for breath. "Well look who's still here..." The voice was familiar, though I couldn't immediately place it. I looked up at my attacker, no, my attackers. It was the gang from earlier, all looking down at me with malicious grins spread across their features. "I thought we told you not to dig around on our turf?" said the gangs leader, the baseball bat resting against his shoulder.
A slightly younger man of seemingly native ethnicity stepped forward, a crowbar in his hands. "I guess he didn't get the me-." The boy was interrupted by the sound of growling from down the ally. Sunny stood there, his hackles raised, his ears back, and his teeth bared, his eyes seeming to glow green as they reflected the light of the street, signifying his predatory ancestry. The boys were obviously as disturbed by this sight as I was, possibly even more so, as one fumbled at something stuffed into his jeans, drawing from the garment a handgun. Sunny took a step forward as the pistol was aimed directly at him. I felt fear rise within me. I did not want to lose Sunny! I didn't want to be alone again! I wouldn't allow it!
What happened next I can barely recollect, as it all happened so quickly. I felt myself jump up from the ground, the sound of a gunshot running through my ears and a sharp pain from my gut. I stood there for a second, the pain registering before I felt myself fall to the ground. I heard Sunny snarl, and another shot. There was a shuffling of feet and panicked words from the boys just before the trash can fell, a single object landing within the range of my fading vision. A single, crumpled, white paper crane, and as I felt myself fall out of consciousness, I could have sworn I saw it crushed by a gigantic black paw...