Despair rose up in me like a flash flood; it had almost reached my heart when I heard a gentle snorting noise. The small puffy dog who smelled like cake shuffled out from behind a bush. “Are you real?” I asked her. “Or are you going to disappear, too?”
She cocked her head and bared crooked teeth at me, as if to say, Does it matter?
I dropped down next to her. When I wrapped my arms around my knees and began to cry, she butted her head against my leg until I unfurled. The setting sun was hot on my neck. “You shouldn't be here,” I told her. “You should go back into the woods, where it’s cool.”
She snorted and rolled onto her back.
Tiredly I slid over to the shaded area and laid
down on the damp, cold ground. As I closed my eyes I heard some more
snuffling sounds; I then felt her strange fluffy head rest against the palm of
my hand. We will be safe tonight, I thought to
myself. Tomorrow was anybody’s guess.
