207 Helpless Reality (2/2)

Both looking for their place in this world filled with loneliness.

Assumes that they found the right place, then gets betrayed by their expectations.

In the end, they could only blame themselves for hoping in something unrealistic. With their glaring flaws, who would love them?

She watched as the mutated dog's mouth opened wide and inched closer in a flash. Her eyes naturally closed as she felt her whole body relaxed.

'Please don't be sad anymore.'

Jennie wished for the dog's happiness as tears continued to fall on the corners of her eyes. She waited endlessly but the dagger-like teeth she was waiting for didn't come.

As streams continued to flow down on her cheeks, a disgusting, rotten smell engulfed her together with a rough gelatinous sensation.

When Jennie opened her eyes, she saw the mutated dog sitting upright in front of her. Its murderous aura from earlier was gone and turned into goofiness. It stuck its tongue out while breathing repeatedly.

Jennie stared at the mutated dog and smiled warmly, she then said, ”Auu. An aau aa? (It stinks. What have you been eating?)”

—

Jennie exited the public bathroom in one of the comfort rooms. She took a shower then changed to a set of new casual clothes.

In the distance, the mutated dog could be seen swimming on the water. When it saw Jennie come out from the comfort room, it hurriedly went ashore.

Its wet paws climbed the edge of the docks and pulled its body to the other side. Its body rained with water as it successfully climbed to the other side. Its black fur hung low due to getting drenched, so it shook its body and sent forth sprinkled of water around.

The mutated dog barked and ran towards Jennie. She noticed that the ointment she applied earlier was washed away, so she decided to apply another one on the injury.

The two went towards a nearby car where Jennie could comfortably sit down. After applying the ointment, she took her scarf to cover the wound, so the ointment would not fall. Much to her disappointment, the scarf was a bit too small for the dog's leg. She then chose to use her earlier shirt to cover the wound and tied it simply.

They roamed around the market and it was a calm stroll since the clearing group already swept this area. After spending some time together, Jennie bade farewell when night finally came. She still had to report back or the people back at the station would probably get worried.

It never crossed her mind to take the dog back home since she doesn't know whether it has an owner. Although she really wanted to, she could only wait for a few days to make sure that it's on its own.

For the next few days, she kept her eyes and ears wide open for anyone who might have lost their tamed dog. When she was sure that it was really an ownerless dog, she happily thought that she would keep the dog.

She spent the night camping outside together with the mutated dog at the public market parking area. She made a campfire and the two watched the stars in the sky.

With her body leaning on the soft body of the mutated dog, she narrated excitedly about her plans for tomorrow. If by tomorrow, she still doesn't found someone looking for a lost dog, she would adopt and take it as her own.

The mutated dog appeared nonchalant as it continued to chill while listening to the numerous sounds that could only be heard in the evening. On its eyes, there was a glint of excitement together with reluctance, pondering whether its expectations and hopes would be dashed once again.

”Auu? Ao. (Are you sure you don't have an owner? Can you talk? Do you even understand me? Haa...)”

The mutated dog closed its eyes as if about to sleep. Jennie shrugged upon seeing that and talked with herself.

'Tomorrow... I'll give you a name tomorrow.'

The next day, the sun rose up and the sky has slightly turned blue.

Jennie was sure that there was no one looking for their missing dog. Also, the clearing operation announced was divided into two since the remaining places to be cleared were mostly subdivisions and a few barangays.

Jennie became ecstatic when one of the areas to be cleared for today was near her home and since the clearing operation started quite early in the morning, she had no time to visit her soon to be pet dog.

—

Present time.

Jennie pushed the black metal gate and entered the yard. A small garden with a small nipa hut at the center welcomed her. The massive tamarind tree next to it provided shade for everything nearby.

There were three buildings inside the fenced area. The main house, a sari-sari store facing the road, and the garage.

With once glance, she already knew that the place was empty. The reality that she had been ignoring the whole time presented itself to her. Her father was a doctor and works in the capital city, Manila. Her mother was a teacher who teaches high school students at a nearby public high school.

She looked around and noticed that there were no cars in the garage. Without bothering to enter the house, she left with a shed of tear about to fall off in the corner of her eyes.

On the distance, the clearing team met with a troublesome two-meter tall white-furred house cat.