11:02PM

by Midnight Strike

Rating: everyone
Tags: Anthro, Slice of Life, Sad, Tragedy
Length: 2037

There's never a right time to say goodbye to one you love so dearly, is there?

I saw his limp body and tears formed in my eyes immediately, I ran into my Mom's room hysterically crying, screaming that Buddy had died. In that moment I realized…. It was his time to go.
She handed me a hamster box. The one I first brought him home in and said "We'll bury him tomorrow. Under the porch so the landlord won't see. " I nodded, wiping tears on my sleeve. "There's never a right time to say goodbye, is there Mom?"
"In life, there are thing's that we won't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to learn but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go."

A story for Buddy.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-08-11 01:27:27 UTC

And I'm Still Thinking of You...

It happened on Monday, August 8th, 2016 at 11:02PM.....

Sunday, August, 8th, 2016

I flew up the stairs and opened the front door to the house, I was excited to be home, nothing much had changed from the time that I left for camp. We still lived in the same old house and the same old junk was still on the floor.

“Mom? I thought you said you found a house?” I asked a little bit disappointed I had to come back to this place.

“I did but then Grandma went to the hospital and by the time she came back out someone already had bought the house.” She sighed, we have been trying to move into another house for the past seven years, but when taxes are this high it's not easy for a single mom working a full-time job with one kid, and one dog to take care of.

“But grandma is okay now, right?” I asked her nose deep in my duffle bag.

“Yes, but  when you're as old as grandma there's no telling what will happen.  I just want to move.”

“So do I.” I chimed in. “But we can't move far away from Grandma and Grandpa. In case…  something happens to them.” I looked away for a moment thinking of all the possible things that could go wrong if we had moved far away, I snapped back to reality realizing that we probably would never move. “Um…  I'm going to go check on the hamsters, I haven't seen them in a long time.”

I let my wings carry me up the stairs as fast as they could and opened the door to my room. It's so weird being back and seeing my bed and dresser and my own posters…. it's almost ... As if I were never here before, I flew over to the hamster cages. “Hey, guys! How are you doing? It's been a while, hasn't it?” I looked at Buddy,

“Has mom been taking care of you guys? I sure hope so.”  I took Buddy out of his hamster cage and put him in his hamster ball he didn't really exactly got the concept of what it was or what it was supposed to do but he could have grasped it over the summer. Isn't it still possible for an old dog to learn new tricks isn't it?

I set the hamster ball on the floor and went back over to Houdini's cage.  he was running on his wheel he stopped when he saw me.  I guess he really did miss me because he came up to the cage bars, practically asking to take him out and play with him. I took him out immediately and put them in the palm of my hand. I had forgotten what his fur had felt like. It was good to see him again too I sat on the floor with Houdini in my palm and Buddy in the hamster ball. we remain like this for hours. “I really did miss you guys.I thought for sure you guys wouldn't know who I was, but you remembered me.  it really is so good to see you guys again! All healthy and well!” I smiled knowing they were in good hands with my mom over the summer.

Suddenly a knock sounded from my door. my mom entered my room. “ Be ready in 15 minutes we're going to go to the hibachi restaurant with Violet Sky.” Violet Sky a very talented unicorn! She used to be a teacher but then she retired and moved to Cloudsdale, she's also my tutor and an old childhood friend of my Mom. In fact, Violet Sky the one who gave Buddy to me, she gave him to me as a gift for working so hard in 7th grade. I couldn't wait to see her and tell her how the hamsters were doing.

I returned buddy and Houdini to their correct cages and slipped on my sling backpack, I trotted down the stairs, on my way down Charley started barking at me... I gave him a gentle pat on the head and continued going down the stairs. “I'm ready to go, ”I told my mom as I entered the living room. “Okay let me finish this up and then we'll leave.” Mom has been working her tail off to finish her cake for her classes graduation party!

I nodded in response and  went out onto the porch to wait.  it was only about 5 o'clock. At camp, we wouldn't have dinner this early because dinner starts at six. I sat on the porch, I hummed the gentle melody to a lullaby my mom had taught me before she died.

I stopped humming, I heard the door open and my mom walked out. “Are you ready to go?” She questioned me.

“Yes, I'm ready,” I told her as I flew down the stairs to the car, it was going to be a long way to the hibachi restaurant because we also had to run an errand to CVS before we went.

We reached the Hibachi restaurant, we had to wait for Violet Sky. We ordered our food and soon a pony came to make our food right in front of us. We were amazed at the performance. he was almost done with their food.  he was chopping up the vegetables to put on the grill but before he asked me if I wanted to catch any of the food in my mouth.  I nodded,  he threw a piece of  carrot into my mouth, I caught it and I did that 9 more times, with only a little bit of flying to get the food that had soared over my head.

The chef served us our food and teleported with his unicorn magic to serve another table, we thanked him kindly for the food he had prepared for us. I was so happy to see Violet Sky. I told all the stories from Camp to Violet. “There was this one time when it was our counselors night off and so we climbed up into the rafters and put her bed up there. later that night when she came back she didn't even wake us up she got it down so quietly and she wasn't even mad but she did say the next time we did that She would  wake us up to get it back out of the rafters.” Violent laughed at that.

“If it were me, I  would have woken all of you up to get my bed out of the rafters.” She commented.

I chuckled at that and smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind,”  I told her eating more of my food.

“How's the food?” Mom commented, “Is it weird having normal food compared to the camp food?”

“Sort of,” I admitted. It was indeed weird to have normal outside food instead of Camp food. Most of the food we got was shipped from restaurants, but it wasn't as good as the food I was eating.

As the night came to a close, we said our goodbyes and parted our separate ways. Mom had work tomorrow, so she wanted to get a good night rest.

When we arrived home I took in the wrapped up food from the restaurant and mom took the groceries,  she told me to unpack the groceries and I did as I was told. After that, I went back upstairs to check on the hamsters. It was only 9 o'clock, and both of them were perfectly fine. I sat down and I began to watch my favorite TV show.

“Time to wrap it up, it's late and I want to go to bed.” Mom told me, I checked the clock she was right. It was pretty late… it was already ten thirty. I turned off the TV and went back into my own room.

From my room I can hear my mom's TV, wondering what I could do for the next hour before she went to bed I begin to clean my room and listen to music. It was fun for that period of time, Mom flew into my room very quietly. "Boo."

"Gaah!" I turned around and frowned. I didn't even hear you come in..."

"You weren't supposed too, I flew in, only to say it's time to go to bed. I'm very stressed and it's already eleven. Please go to bed. your room is looking very clean."

“Thanks! Let me just finish this and then I'll go to bed.” I turned back to my cleaning and finished up the last thing. I took a step back and embraced my room, for it was spic and span.

I got into my pajamas, and went to go check on the hamsters, I looked at Buddy… he was lying limp in front of his little hamster hide away, his eyes open and his body motionless. I stared at his motionless body tears forming in my eyes as I had realized what was going on…. Tears stream down my cheeks. I flew down the down the hall into Mom's room as fast as I could hysterically crying. “What's going on? Why are you crying?”

I landed and walked a bit further in her room sobbing loudly as I blubbered out the story.

“What? He can't be dead.” She approached my room with caution.

“But-But- He is.” I insisted! She walked over to his cage and Evaluated. after a couple of seconds, she managed to tear her eyes away. “Go get me a paper towel.”

“So he is dead?” I asked sniffling.

My mom looked at me, her eyes went soft. She whispered to me quietly “Unfortunately….”

I bawled. “Can you try to find me a small box?” I nodded and began searching for a box, I found the box I first brought him home in. I handed it to her. “Go outside.” I waited in the hallway while she removed him from the cage and put him in the box. I heard her close the box, a couple of seconds later she came outside and put the box in my lap. “Tomorrow we can bury him.” Tears stream down my cheeks as I realized what the box held.

“But you can't cry over it, what's done is done.”

“Wha-You hypocrite, you can't tell me not to cry when you cried over the death of our dog!” I snapped back. “Honey, I know you think I don't care but I do. I really do I just don't like to get your pets because when they die the Waterworks come on and I don’t want to see you in pain. So I know you think I really don't care but I do.”

I nodded, wiping tears on my sleeve. "There's never a right time to say goodbye, is there, Mom?"

"In life, there are things that we won't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to learn but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go."

“I killed him.” I sobbed! “I killed him, why did I kill him?”

“You didn't kill him, it was just his time to go. I looked it up they don't live for that long.” She told me. “And in the stores, they lie about how old they are.”

“Maybe so but that doesn't change the fact that I think I killed him.” I shot back.

“I can't change the way you think Midnight, all I can tell you is that you didn't kill him. He was already two and a half years old, in fact, you gave him the best life I could ever imagine. You threw him a birthday party, you took him out every day and play with him, you cared for him, and you loved him if I were that hamster I couldn't ask for anything more. Come into my room and cuddle.”

“Okay.” I slowly flew, silently trailing behind her. I lay down on her bed still in shock... I can't believe he's gone... He's really gone. Tears formed in my eyes again and everything around me became a big blurry mess. Many tears stained the bed sheets.

I glanced over at the clock... and thought to myself...It happened at 11:02PM...