seconds, but it felt like I was like this my entire life. Only the fact of what I was surprised me, but everything else, walking, and talking it didn't feel foreign to me, like I thought it would. After looking myself over, I turned to thank my grandmother Aniu, but she was gone, like the wind.

    "...just for tonight..."

    Knowing what I had to do, I ran as fast as I could to Eryn's house. I looked into her house through a window and reached to knock on the door. Just then, my typical cowardly self surfaced. What was she going to think of him after he tells her? Were they going to go back to the way they were? Was she even going to know who he was?

    Just then, her door opened, and there she was in her nightclothes and her coat.

    "Eryn...I..." I spoke, my heart beating like crazy. She looked like she was expecting me, but she looked a little nervous and she ushered me inside her house, closing her door. I didn't make it past her doorway and neither did she. We just stood there for a few moments, basking in each others' presense, both of us pretty nervous.

    Then Eryn started to talk. "I just had a dream...that you were coming...to tell me something." She whispered. "I don't really know who you are, but..."

    "I'm that dog you often spend time with," I said, her eyes widening in disbelief. "...Gus."

    "...Gus..." she breathed, taking a step back, not in fear, but surprise. She looked like she had a million questions to ask me, but she somehow knew I was on a time limit, so she ceased.

    "Yes...I don't have much time...but...um..." I took a deep breath, taking in as much courage as possible, which wasn't much on my part, or so I felt, until I told her. "I just want...you to know that...I love you, Eryn... I always have...but...I could never tell you because...I wasn't...human. It's been killing me...knowing that you couldn't know this. I know you can't possibly love me back, but...I still love you." There was a great feeling of relief, but there was still a pang of anxiety within me. Deep down, I wanted her to feel the same way, but I knew she didn't. Couldn't. Because Iron was right...it was...wrong...

    I turned around to leave, and I felt a tug on my arm. I looked back at the one I confessed my love to, and she was looking at me. She, too, looked like she was going to cry, but the shock that I was here to tell her ANYTHING still showed on her face.

    "I'm sorry," she said, kissing me on the lips. Both of our eyes relaxed shut. Normally a dog would find this odd to receive from a human, but I took this in. Even if it was an apologetic kiss, it was a kiss to me and it felt wonderful.

    I opened my eyes to see the underside of the house. The morning light shown through the cracks in the wood. I sighed. It was only a dream... I remembered every moment of that wonderful, terrible dream (except what happened after the kiss, which I secretly wished I remembered) and wished it was true. But oddly, the relief I felt in my dream still lingered within me. And it caused me to feel refreshed and alive. I stretched and emerged into the open from my sleeping spot. I looked up to see the form of a wolf in the sky, which I found to be ironic, but comforting just the same. I thanked the clouds as if they were Aniu herself.

    I saw Eryn later that day, and she didn't cuddle me like she normally did, but she still pet me and took my company. It was like she knew I loved her, but didn't speak about it. I wondered if she really did have a dream about me. Like the same dream. How wonderful that would be.


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