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Prologue
Viddy
Please don’t leave me. You’re my best friend.
-Viddy
“Trance?” I cried into the receiver.
“Viddy? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Trance yelled into my ear.
I clutched Hemi closer to my chest and gasped in pain.
“C-can y-you c-come over? P-please?” I cried out.
I heard the sound of a car door slamming shut, and then the roar of an engine as it sped off in the background.
Normally, I’d nag at him about going too fast, but I was about ten seconds away from losing it, and I needed him here. Fifteen minutes ago.
“What’s going on, Vid? What happened?” Trance asked urgently.
He sounded like he was in a tunnel or something, which meant he’d put me on speakerphone. Which also meant he was at work, ‘cause he couldn’t be caught with a cell phone to his ear while he was driving his police issued vehicle.
“Hemi’s vet called. They told m-me he h-had cancer and he needed to be put to sleep. I knew it was something bad, but I couldn’t take him in until today. I didn’t have a ride, and Paul refused to take him for me.” I cried.
Oh, God. What was I going to do without him here? He was my best friend!
Hemi had started acting strange a few days ago. After several frustrating attempts to get my boyfriend, Paul, to take me to the vet so I could get Hemi checked out, he still refused. My sister was on vacation and there was no way I’d call her to come home for this. She and her husband deserved a little alone time before their baby came in a few more months.
This morning, when I’d finally gotten frustrated and called a cab, I’d never dreamed that it’d turn into this. First, the cab had nearly refused to transport us due to company policies about pets, but when the dam on my emotions broke, he’d relented, but only barely.
Then, as soon as we’d walked into Dr. Tucker’s door, they’d yanked him away from me so fast my head spun. I could practically feel the condemnation pouring off them at the state he’d been in. Yet, I’d called the vet numerous times in a vain attempt to get one of them to pick him up, and they’d said they didn’t offer those services.
That was when I started calling other vets, but with him being a new patient to them, they’d refused as well.
“Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I’ll be there in just a few minutes. I’m on duty in the residential district right now, but it shouldn’t be more than ten minutes at the most.” Trance’s velvety deep voice said through the receiver.
Mellifluous.
That was the word that came to mind every time I heard it. So deep. Smooth. Rich and flowing. I wanted to put my lips up against his throat to feel the vibration that poured out with each word that was let loose from his mouth.
Trance was a very good man. When I’d had the privilege of being in his company, I felt alive.
It wasn’t often that I got to see him, though. He was a very busy man. He was a member of the police department as well as a member of the local motorcycle club, The Dixie Wardens.
“Thank you, Trance.” I whispered and then hung up.
Hemi was a nine year old English Setterwith the silkiest fur I’d ever felt. He was a gentle, mid-sized dog with curly locks around his ears, flank, and face. I’d been told that he was snowy white with brown splotches, but that wasn’t what made him beautiful to me.
What made him so perfect was the way he’d help me wind through the house, moving little things that might trip me up. On our walks, around the apartment complex I’d just moved into, he’d steer me in the right direction, and always lead me back to our door.
He never barked unless someone was at the door, and always stayed close to my side.
Until he started acting weird.
He still stayed by my side, but he didn’t move as easily. I’d gone to fill his food bowl up and found it still just as full as it was the night before, and the day before that. Then his bathroom habits started to dwindle. He was going out more and more, staying out longer.
Then, yesterday, he stopped drinking water.
