She was beautiful though. Her perfect skin was on the darker side, but she had the most amazing blue eyes that pierced you when she looked at you. Her curly black hair framed her oval face and drew you into it. She was very petite, and guys always fell over her. Outgoing and sweet, it was easy to get sucked into her world.

  She was everything I wasn’t. With my casper white skin and childish features, I was overlooked every time she was with me. Even my darker hair that laid limp on my head was boring compared to her. The only thing I had going for me were my eyes. I had people tell me they were beautiful, but the rest of me washed them out. Coming in at just over five foot nothing, I wasn’t thin like Tracy, but I wasn’t heavy either. It was another part of me that was ordinary. I didn’t even have the advantage of boobs like most women did, I took after my mom with a tomboy look. Add in the fact I was painfully shy, and you could see why I made myself invisible.

  “How are you holding up?” Adam asked sneaking up behind me.

  “Stop doing that,” I said. My hand flew to my heart and I waited for the red to engulf my face.

  “Sorry. You looked right at me. I figured you saw me.”

  “I didn’t,” I admitted.

  “Only another hour and this will be done. You can take a break if you need to.”

  “I’m fine. Tracy needs all the help she can get.”

  “Okay, but if you need it, let me know and I will cover for you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. Hey, check it. Looks like someone is looking at Lucy. Finally.”

  I watched him run over to the apricot miniature poodle mix cradled in the arms of a middle-aged woman. He would know in two sentences if she would be right for Lucy. It was his gift: matching people with their perfect pets. I hoped they fit. Lucy deserved it after spending the last five months in the shelter. It took less than three minutes and he was walking her and Lucy to the adoption desk. His smile beaming told me all I needed to know; Lucy found her person.

  It was another two hours before the last person walked out with their new friend. We had sixty-three adoptions, and now we had to make new arrangements to get the animals out of the temporary kennels.

  “Break time before we start on the cleanup and shuffle,” Rachel said peaking around the corner to the office.

  “Gladly.” I propped the broom against the wall and made my way into the larger of the two offices that we used as our breakroom too.

  “You guys all did amazing today. We beat our goal by thirteen animals. To celebrate, I am ordering pizza for anyone who stays to help clean up and take care of the ones left,” Tracy said. I knew even if they all left, her, Adam, and I would get all the things done we needed to. It was a long day and for our volunteers, it was even longer.

  A handful decided to stay but the rest left. Bathroom breaks, dinners, and walks would have to be done before I left for the night. It was almost three in the afternoon and I was hoping to get out of there by seven.

  “Ashley and Rachel, can you take the cats? Adam and Lily on puppies. It should go fast for you since you only have to feed and let them out in the yard to play for a little bit while you clean their kennels. Hayden and Jasper, please get to the dogs. I have a ton of paperwork to do but will come out and help whoever needs it if I am done first.” Tracy finished her pizza before the rest of us and made her way back to her office.

  “The dog room is my favorite,” Jasper said when we got up to go do our chores.

  “Mine too,” I said and smiled at the heavy-set teenager. He wasn’t bad looking, but he was awkward. The blond curls that sat on top of his head in a wild mess didn’t distract from looking at his braces and pimple covered face. He was a hard worker though and never complained even on days like that when it would be hours later than usual when he left.

  “I can start getting them out if you want?” he asked.

  “Sounds good. I will start their dinners.”

  “Thanks. Sometimes the special foods make me nervous.”

  “It’s fine. Thanks, Jasper.”

  I moved to the back of the building where we kept the food. The metal shelves were lined with different types of donated dry food. It wasn’t the best on the dogs to switch as often as we had to, but it was better than them starving.

  We had a full-sized fridge in there also for the medicine some needed and the special dietary food the senior and sick required. I grabbed the thirteen bowls I needed for the dogs that were left and started to scoop the dry food into them. I almost missed the box on the floor and stumbled to not crash over it. With the craziness of the day, nobody had time to put away the new donations. Using my foot, I pushed the box to the side until I could get to it after walks.

  “They are all in their runs,” Jasper said when I came back with the bowls stacked on the small cart. “Want help putting these in the kennels?”

  “No. I’m good. I will get them in and eating if you can watch for the ones who finish first. Start them on their walks and I will join you after the last one finishes eating.”

  “Amos,” he said and laughed. He was the smallest of the big dogs in the room with hardly any teeth. If we got him to eat, it would be after the last dog finished theirs. I knew he did it to taunt them all.

  Zeus was the first done and that was the dog Jasper hooked the lead to first. I watched as the teenager handled the high-strung husky with ease. It made me sad he wasn’t allowed to have pets. He was a natural with them and craved their companionship like I did. His day would come too when he would move out and be able to have his own life. I could see him with a herd like Adam when he did.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “The only dog left to walk is Oscar. You can head out if you want to. Thank you for sticking around to help me tonight.”

  “No problem. I would move in here if Tracy would let me,” Jasper said. He laughed to make it sound like a joke, but I knew he would.

  “Are you back here on Saturday?”

  “Yeah. I will be in first thing. I have my paying job in the afternoon, but I will be here until then.”

  “I hope you aren’t overdoing it working so much.”

  “I have to save what I can. I have less than a year left of school and then I am moving out of my parents’ place. I started looking at apartments. There is one a few blocks down that allows two dogs. I already have the deposit and five months’ rent saved up if they will take me.”

  “I’m proud of you. You know what you want, and you are doing whatever it takes to get there.”

  “Thanks. I won’t stay here forever, but if I rent until after college, I should have enough saved up to move and buy a house. Then I can have twenty dogs if I want.”

  “You could, but I know you are more responsible than that.”

  “Yeah. I will do three max. Then they will never be alone. Three is a good number and easy to take care of.”

  “After doing this for the last two years, fifteen would seem easy,” I said laughing.

  “True.”

  “Well, good night. I have to get this guy out before he gets upset with me.”

  “Night. See you Saturday.”

  I walked down the last row and looked at all the dogs left in the kennel. Even after having so many find homes that day, my heart still hurt for the ones left behind.

  “Hey, boy. Ready to walk?”

  Oscar was up and waiting when I got to him. His tail swooshed back and forth, the long hair followed it a second behind. His smile made me smile and I couldn’t wait to open his door and get a hug from him. Hobbling on his good back leg and his cast, he wrapped his front paws around my waist and gave me his small happy whimper.

  “Come on, buddy. It’s the perfect temp for a longer walk if you feel up to it. I know we could both use it after how busy it was today.”

  Clipping the leash to his collar, he followed me out of the room and down the hall.

  “I want to be out of here in the next hour. If you want me to take him home tonight, please be back here by then,” Tracy yelled out from her office as we went past the closed door.

  “No problem. I doubt he could walk that long yet anyway. We might do two laps around the lake, but that won’t take an hour.”

  “Okay.”

  I heard her pounding on the keyboard and knew she was entering all the information from the adoptions today and the two surrenders that came in during the mad rush of people.

  Opening the side door, the sun hit my face and I closed my eyes to soak it in. Oscar seemed to enjoy it too the way his tail sped up. For an unexpected hot day in mid-September, the breeze felt great. I couldn’t wait for his cast to come off so I could take him swimming in the lake.

  We started out slow with him sticking to my side perfectly. I had the leash a little tighter until we got to the park. We had two busy streets to cross first and I wanted him close for that. Once we hit the dirt walking trail, I loosened the grip and gave him some room. That was his cue to be able to sniff and take his time. On walks like that, after a busy day, I let him set the pace.

  There was a small path that led off the main one we hadn’t explored yet. His leg hadn’t been strong enough, but I thought then it might be.

  “Come on, boy. Let’s see what’s down this one.”

  He happily hopped behind me and we made our way down the thicker covered path. It was a slow walk with Oscar needing to sniff all the new smells along the way. I tried to keep an eye on the clock to make sure I wouldn’t make Tracy have to wait.

  “Another fifteen minutes then we will need to head back.”

  I wasn’t ready to leave the outdoors yet and debated on calling her and telling her I would drop him off at her place later.

  It was a little cooler the way we went compared to our normal walking route. The thickness of the trees blocked out most of the sunlight and the breeze. Oscar, with this thicker coat, hadn’t seemed to notice a thing. I wished I had grabbed a thin sweater, but the fact it was almost ninety degrees earlier, I didn’t think about that.

  “Maybe we should head back now?”

  He looked at me for a second, snorted then turned back to the pile of grass his nose had been buried in before I so rudely interrupted him.

  “Fine. Five minutes and we leave.”

  He tugged on the leash and we went a little farther down the trail. From where we were I couldn’t hear any noise from the other trail. The birds seemed to have gone quiet too and there was an electricity in the air I hadn’t noticed before.

  A rumble caught my attention and I waited to see if I could hear it again or if Oscar had heard it. He was still busy checking out all the new things when it happened again. The crack was unmistakable that time.

  “Come on before we get soaked. I can’t have you getting that cast all wet.”

  I gently tugged on the leash and after the fourth one, he reluctantly followed me. There were so many things he wanted to see, I was constantly giving him a tug to keep up. I felt horrible and promised him we would go back there the next time.

  We made it out of the thicker part of the trail and on to one that showed the now darkening sky. The almost black clouds in the distance forecasted the storm that was making its way quickly toward us.

  We made it to the familiar trail, and I noticed the whole park had cleared out. There wasn’t a person left when there had been dozens when we went off the trail.

  I heard Oscar whine next to me and I looked at him. He looked up at me before pushing his head into my hand. I gave him a rub and he buried his nose into my palm.

  “It’s okay, boy.” Petting his head, I tried to calm him down. He was terrified of storms and could usually sense one before anyone else did. The fact he missed this one shocked me and made me feel good too. It told me he was that comfortable with me that he knew I would protect him.

  We moved as fast as his leg would let us and we were almost to the first road when the skies opened up and dumped buckets of rain on us. I looked around and saw a tree with leaves thick enough to shield us until it let up. We huddled under the branches and watched as the puddles formed on the trail we just came from.

  “That came out of nowhere. Look at your cast. I’m going to have to get that dried off somehow when we get back.”

  Oscar tilted his head from side to side as I talked, and I laughed watching him desperately try to figure out what I was talking about. I saw the dance of lightning out of the corner of my eye and looked in that direction to see where it was coming from.

  CRACK!

  I jumped and he whined.

  “We might have to make a run for it, buddy. This storm is getting too close and I think it’s going to be a bad one.”

  The flashes of lightning blinded me and as I tightened up the leash on Oscar, he pulled it out of my hand. I bent down to grab it off the ground before the thunder hit and he spooked. My hand was only inches from it when the park lit up.

  Then it all went dark.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The beeping pounded in my brain like a hammer being hit against my skull. I wanted it to stop, but I couldn’t move. My eyes fluttered and tried to open, but I couldn’t make anything out; it all looked white and blurry. My head hurt so bad I wanted to rip it off and throw it away.

  I felt the wet of tears running down the sides of my face and fall into my hair. When I went to wipe them away, my arms felt heavy and I couldn’t get them to reach.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  Beep.

  That sound was all I heard. It was driving me crazy and I wanted someone, anyone, to make it stop. I tried as hard as I could to look around, but it wasn’t working. I thought I heard noises in the close distance, and I tried to call out to them. The only sound I made was a gurgled mashup of babble.

  Fear began to creep in, and I started to panic. I wasn’t sure where I was or what was going on, but I wanted out. I tried to move anything, to sit up or lift my head. Nothing moved and when my hand twitched, I felt the poke of something on top of it. I was so tired but fought to keep my eyes open as long as I could.

  “Hayden? Are you awake?”

  The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. I tried to see where it was coming from and found a blurry image standing next to me hunched over.

  “Hayden, it’s me, Tracy. Honey, I need you to open your eyes. Please open them.”

  Tracy? I tried to place the name and came up blank. I felt like I should have known who she was, but I didn’t.

  “Let me get the doctor. Hang on, sweetie. I’ll be right back.”

  As fast as she showed up, she was gone again. She said doctor though. I had to be in a hospital and the beeping would have made sense. I had so many questions and no way to ask them. I wanted to get up and get back to normal things, whatever they were, instead of lying here not being able to move.

  “Well, there you are. She said you were awake, but I couldn’t believe it. You sure gave us all a scare.” I tried so hard to pay attention to who he was and what he was saying, but the longer he talked, the less it made sense.

  “Does this mean she will be okay now?” Tracy asked.

  “She isn’t out of the woods yet. She was hurt pretty bad, but the fact she is awake is definitely a great sign.”

  “She didn’t seem to know who I was. Will that come back too or is she just out of it from sleeping for the past week?”

  Week? I was asleep for a week?

  “Only time will tell. It might be slow going, but we will do whatever we can for her.”

  “Adam. I have to call Adam.”

  “Is that her boyfriend?”

  I waited for her to answer because I didn’t know either. I didn’t remember a boyfriend, but I didn’t remember a lot of things.

  “No, but he has been worried about her too. We all have been. The shelter hasn’t been the same without her.”

  “Let’s see if we can’t get her back there soon, okay?”

  “Yes.”

  I watched as the blurry figure left me for the second time in only minutes.

  “You won’t be able to talk because you have a breathing tube down your throat, but do you think you can move your head to answer a few questions?”

  I tried to follow what he said, but it sounded strange. Shaking my head because I couldn’t talk made me mad. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t fix it so I could talk instead of nodding like a child.

  “Come on. Let me see you try. Nod yes and no for me.”

  I tried to do what he asked of me and move my head. It felt heavy and took a lot of effort to get it to move.

  “Good. Now let’s see if we can get a few questions in. Do you remember what happened to you?”

  I closed my eyes tight and tried to picture what I remembered. I thought about the last thing I could think of, but the images came in blurry blobs that felt out of order or could have been made up.

  I shook my head no after I couldn’t get it to work.

  “That’s fine. It isn’t uncommon and could be temporary.”

  I heard what he was saying, but it sounded like he was speaking a foreign language. The words hit my ears, but then they scrambled before I could make them work.

  “Do you know your name?”

  I shook my head yes. That woman called me Hayden and he didn’t correct her so that had to be my name.

  “How about your last name?”

  That wasn’t said by anyone that I could remember. I had to know my last name. Who didn’t know what they were called?

  Me.

  I didn’t know who I was, where I was from, or why I was there.

  “It’s going to be okay,” the doctor said and used a tissue to wipe the tears off my face. “You have been through a lot. It’s going to take time to get better.”

  I wished he would tell me what happened already. He had no problem telling me I would be fine eventually but not why I wasn’t then.

 

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