PLEASE!!”

After 10 seconds of silence, he fell to his knees and started sobbing in his hands. Soon after, both parents came quietly in his room, significantly saddened by Dan’s agony.

“Dan, honey. We need to have a talk with you, okay?” Jill said softly.

Dan wiped his nose, nodded, and went out the door. Just before he left, he looked back at Rusty for what he thought was the last time.

“I’m sorry, boy.” He uttered before he slipped out.

And it was utter silence in the bedroom for the next 10 minutes.

The blackness was clearing, he knew it. He was able to feel the softness and fluffiness of the surface he slept on, and was beginning to hear the faint sound of human shoes below him. Finally, light moved into his vision as he opened his eyes and finally was able to interact with the world around him. Dingo was finally awake.

He slowly rose from his sleeping position and looked around the room with intense curiosity. The curiosity quickly turned to panic as there was not one familiar object in the room.

“Where am I?!” He shouted in his thoughts. He ran to the window to see if the outside was familiar at all, but instead he screamed. He looked at his own reflection in the glass…but he was not able to recognize that either.

“WHO am I?!” He shouted once more. As panic was overtaking him, he began to ask questions to himself. “Have I always been here? Do I have a name? Why can’t I recognize myself? How come I can’t remember anything!” He thought he was losing his mind.

He lay on the bed, curled in a ball, heart pounding in his ears. He tried so hard to remember something, anything that happened before, anything about himself…but nothing came up.

He felt like nothing, the poor pup. He started to question his own existence in the world.

“…Was I meant to be here? The only thing I know for sure is that I exist. Did I always exist?” He started to look about the room for clues of his past. He figured that this is the place where he fell asleep and forgot everything. He looked at all the pictures on the wall, the toys on the floor, and the quality of the furniture, something that could spark even the slightest memory. But again, nothing popped in his head.

Frustrated, the pup barked like crazy.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Dan was getting ready to go upstairs and take Rusty to the vet to say his last goodbye.

“I know you don’t want to do this. We don’t want to either. But we have no choice. Rusty isn’t going to get any better.” Nick told him.

Dan nodded, unable to speak because of all the crying he’s done.

“You don’t have to come with us if you don't want to.” Jill said.

“No.” Dan squeaked out. “I wanna go. I wanna say goodbye to him.”

Jill nodded, her eyes starting to feel moist as well.

Nick patted Dan’s shoulder. “Now go and bring Rusty down here, and we’ll wait for you outside, okay?”

Once again, Dan nodded, to overcome by his sadness to respond with words.

Suddenly, a magical moment happened.

As Dan took the first step up the staircase, he heard something he thought he would never be able to hear.

Barking.

He didn’t notice it at first, thinking it was just the neighbor’s puppy. And then he started to realize that the barking was coming from his room. As soon as he figured that out, he shot off like a rocket up the stairs.

“RUSTY!!” Dan screamed, the smile already returned to his face.

His parents quickly followed him, hearing the barking as well.

The little pup, sitting on the bed, jumped at the scream of a human boy’s voice.

“So people DO live here!” He realized. He didn’t have much time to think of anything else before a little boy barged in with the biggest smile he’s ever seen.

“RUSTY, YOU’RE AWAKE!!” He shouted. Then he opened his arms, picked up the pup and hugged him to his chest.

This really alarmed the pup, who was squirming, trying to be set free. The boy noticed and said, “Oh, Sorry, boy.” And put him down back on the bed.

“This must be my owner…” the pup thought to himself as he was trying not to get dizzy.

After that, his parents walked in and were completely shocked, staring at the puppy like he had five heads.

The boy turned to look at his parents. “See? He’s awake! I told you he would!”

The boy’s parents were just speechless, mouths wide open. And then the mother said. “Well…This is…REALLY a surprise!”

However the dad eventually rejoiced along with the boy. “I can’t believe it! He’s finally awake! Rusty’s awake!”

Meanwhile, the pup was trying to piece everything together.

“I must have been asleep for a long time.” He realized.  “They’re so happy to see me. I guess I must have always lived here.” He looked to the window again, and saw his reflection once more. This time, he saw around his neck, a collar, with the word RUSTY printed in big letters on the brass tag.

A big smile grew on his face. “Rusty…that’s me.” He breathed.

The pup looked at the little boy and the rest of his family. And his smile got bigger. “This is my home, this is my family. That means if I’ve forgotten anything, they’ll be here to remind me.”

The little boy picked the pup up again because he couldn’t stand his excitement. And this time the pup returned the favor with a lick on the boy’s cheek. Both of them started to laugh. The boy held the pup tighter as tears started to flow from his eyes. The pup now called Rusty nuzzled his chest in comfort, telling him everything is going to be ok. 

“I’m home again.”  He whispered. quietly.