Jade’s Eyes

I’d see her every day before.

Coming down the stairs in the morning, coming home from school, before bed.

She was my human. Before, in the morning she came downstairs and petted my head, and I wagged my tail, and she made me food. She was the best human. It was always the same every day, walks at similar times, same food, it was always nice with my human.

She had long, ebony hair, and was tall. Taller than me on my 2 back paws. She usually wore soft hoodies and jeans, and wore Converse most of the time, which was good for our walks. She had dark brown eyes, while mine were what she called ‘Jade Green’

I guess that’s why they call me Jade.

Some days it was weird, she would act or look strange. She once left for 3 days and didn’t come back, but grandma was here so it wasn’t that bad. Grandma had short dark hair with gray patches running through it. She was a small, round woman, who would often give me treats! Then that started happening more often. She would be gone for a really long time and I didn’t know why, and didn’t know what to do about it.

After a few months of this she finally came back! She looked more frail however, and more sickly. Her face looked odd, and much more pail. Her arms were skinnier, couldn’t throw the ball like she used to. Her joints were stiffer, couldn’t play like she used to. Her legs were skinnier, and weaker, she couldn’t walk like she used to. Eventually she couldn’t walk at all. She had this chair—and it had wheels on it too! At least I thought she could roll with me now; we never really go out anymore.

Grandma started coming over more, she started taking me on walks! Eventually she started coming everyday, at least I would be able to walk more.

One day, after Grandma left, she played with me a little bit. She did it the best she could. She could barely throw the ball across the room; and she couldn’t move much. But it was enough for me.

Then, she went upstairs with the stair lift, she couldn’t use her legs at all anymore. She carefully climbed into bed as I followed, and lied down. I lied by her legs, and she sat up, put her hands on my cheeks, ruffled my hair, and said—

“You are my world,” and then she laid down, and that was it.

I got up in the morning to wake her.

She was cold.

She didn’t move

And didn’t make anymore sound.

Then Grandma came by again, her eyes looked wet when she found her. A big truck came later around noon. They took her downstairs, outside, and into the truck. That was the last time I saw her. Everyone left for a while, about a day and a half. Until Grandma came back! She put me on my leash, took me outside, and into her red car, and told me—

“Time to go home Jade, Nancy won’t come back. But one day—you’ll go to her.”