Lorry and Tanya
I used to think that the worst things that could happen in life did not have a physical manifestation. But I was wrong. Everything I saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt was bad.
This house was too small for a family. But it was okay because I did not have a family anymore. I lived alone with my dog. My aunt who visited once a month to bring me food, wash my clothes, and clean the house never really cared for me. She was only doing so because her conscience could not bear the thought of having my death on her hands. If she cared, she would have taken me under her. I would have lived with my cousins and played with them. I would have had the chance to live a normal life.
All I had with me which kept me sane was Tanya. She was a two-year old Shiba Inu. That afternoon was noisy. There was thunder which scared Tanya into hiding. I wanted to play with her, and cuddle and stroke her tawny fur. I was not particularly scared of the thunder. But the rainy weather made that particular afternoon morose. I thought I had gotten over the thought of living alone for the rest of my life. But this once I wanted to play with Tanya. I found her sock ball lying on the table near last night’s dinner. I stopped eating since lunch yesterday. I threw the ball to the wall and waited for Tanya to come out from where she had been hiding. I heard the thump of the ball, but Tanya was nowhere. I was alone.
I ate my dinner. It was not bad. After munching two spoonfuls, Tanya came out and sat beside me, her sock ball in her muzzle. I patted her head with the spoon. “Are you hungry too, Hunny?” I took out the bathroom cleaner from the shelf standing beside my bed. My aunt would not be angry if I played with it. Besides, she only used it once a month. She would never know that I touched it. She would never know. I put some of the cleaner in my food and mixed it. “I’ll make some food for you, Hunny, just you wait.” Tanya beamed out a smile to me. I tasted it first to make sure she would eat it as well. It was sour. I washed the taste with water but the burning aftertaste remained. I felt it in my throat. I opened another can of fish and poured it into the mix to mask the sour taste and then proceeded to add a little bit more of the cleaner.
“Here you go, Hunny,” I said, giving Tanya the food I prepared. She rushed the food, oblivious to the taste of the cleaner. “Good girl.”
I creeped to the cooktop and embraced the knife. I looked over to Tanya. She beamed out another smile after she had eaten her food. She panted and struggled to breathe. I buried the knife into my stomach. It was a cold relief. I walked over to Tanya and lay beside her. I watched her smile turn into an empty stare as her head dropped to the floor. The blanket of blood around my body reassured me that even in this cold afternoon I could be warm. I hugged Tanya. I hope that in the next life we both get the love for which we hungered in this life.
