- 2.
[Goodbye World, 4/17/2023, 9:34 AM – Take
<
After all these years, I’m back in my old
house.
Sarah followed me, phone in hand.
I walked our dog down the dirt road.
I snorted.
“Can you believe Jake updated his Insta with
some breakup song after you took Lucky?”
I turned around.
“What song? I blocked him after the
breakup.”
“Some guy named Ryan Adams, ‘Take it All.“”
Sarah and I stared at each other for a
second, then burst out laughing.
“Take it all,
“Everything you need.
“I’m taking the dog,
“Whether you like it or not.”
Sarah was crying, but laughing too.
“He didn’t want anything but the dog, and you
didn’t want anything but the dog!
“Haha!”
Our laughter echoed across the fields.
く
But soon, the crying took over.
- 3.
[Goodbye World, 4/17/2023, 10:08 AM –
Does a dog know you’re leaving?]
I pushed open the old wooden door.
Cobwebs everywhere.
“I told you, I barely came home after Jake and
I left for college.
“After my parents died, we took Lucky with
- us. This is his first time back.”
The camera turned to me.
く
“Hey everybody, it’s Amy, and I’m giving you a
full house tour!”
Sarah, wearing an apron and holding a broom,
frowned.
“I’m the one cleaning! You’re supposed to be
resting!”
“I’m a patient! Cut me some slack!”
After a few laughs, I came out of the kitchen,
covered in soot.
Sarah glared as she took the spatula.
“I told you, no cooking! You know you’re bad
at it! Go sit down!”
I laughed and coughed as I sat.
<
The second Sarah was in the kitchen, my
smile vanished.
I propped my phone on the table and gasped
for air.
I took a few shaky puffs from my oxygen
tank, then grinned at the camera.
“Sorry about that. These breathing problems
are getting worse.
“Cough, cough! I’m actually a great cook,
really.
“Watch me take on the kitchen!”
I grabbed the phone, but something furry
brushed against my leg.
く
The camera pointed down.
Lucky was slumped at my feet.
“Hungry?”
I held out a piece of sausage.
He sniffed it, then rested his head on my foot.
“Come on, Lucky, I gotta check on Sarah. Get
up.”
He didn’t move.
“What’s wrong? Why are you so clingy
today?”
I stroked his dry fur.
“I get it. You’re getting old, huh? Too lazy to
move.
“Okay, I’ll hang out with you for a bit.”
I leaned back on the couch.
“I won’t get many more chances.”
Lucky let out a soft whimper.
- 4.
–
[Goodbye World, 4/17/2023, 11:21 AM Is a
house still a home when nobody’s there?]
When I woke up on the couch, Sarah was
kneeling beside me.
She looked up when I made a sound, her face
Г
“Amy, I heard dogs can sense when their
owners are dying and they go ahead to the
next life to wait. Is that true?”
I almost dropped the camera.
I frantically reached for Lucky.
Gone.
He’d died quietly beside me while I was
sleeping.
I laughed, but it sounded like a sob.
“Come on, Lucky was ten. He lived a long
life.”
The camera started rolling again.
く
I was piling dirt on a small mound in the
woods.
I was breathing hard, face pale.
I wiped my forehead and pointed toward the
house.
“The house is straight that way. Don’t get
lost. Don’t accidentally go to Jake’s…”
I stopped.
I smiled, pulling my hand back.
“Don’t go back there. It’ll be empty soon.
“I’ll see you and Mom and Dad down there.”
