Good Boy

I pushed my hood over my hair as I stepped out of the pizza place I worked at. When I went in for my shift this afternoon the sun had shone bright, but now it was dark and rainy outside. The cool air made my shoulders stiffen as I tried to control my body heat. I worked only a few blocks from my apartment so it was a short walk, but still a dangerous one. Living in New Jersey meant that being out in this hour was bad news. Thankfully it was raining so I hoped it was a less likelihood of getting jumped.

The streetlights were mostly dim, one flickered as I walked by and rolled my eyes in annoyance. I had never seen that light not flicker. I was sure it was haunted. Trash was littered about the ground. I couldn't blame people for littering though, I did it myself from time to time and the trash cans were overfilled half the time anyways. The light grey sidewalk was cracked everywhere. If the saying was true, I had surely broken my mothers beck so many times that I was balls deep in medical bills. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

Alleyways scared me the most. It was always darker than necessary and I never knew who- r what was in them. That's why it scared me so much when I heard a whimpering coming from an alleyway I passed. My body froze and I turned. I couldn't see anything. I took out my smartphone and turned the flashlight on, shunning it into the alleyway. At first, I didn't see anything unusual. It was just a few trash cans and a few broken beer bottles about. Then I noticed it, a whimpering dog sat curled up in a ball beside the dumpster. I moved the flashlight around to see if there was a hobo claiming the dog already. Looks like the poor fellow was alone. I slowly and unsurely walked up to the shivering dog. It was a cute dog. It had short black hair around its body and its eyes shone a pretty hazel color. I was a few feet away from him, unsure if it wanted to bite me or not. I reached out my hand and pet his body lightly. The dog looked at me curiously, then leaned his head into my touch. I smiled down at him knowingly; we were going to be best friends. I looked at his neck and saw no signs of collar or tags.

"Why are you crying, little guy?" I asked him as I pet him more. "are you cold?"

Almost as if he knew what I asked, her stood up and rubbed his body against mine, almost cat-like/ I giggled and petted him some more. "wanna come home with me tonight?" I asked him. The dog stretched up and licked my cheek. I guess that was a yes. I giggled and stood up, turning my flashlight from my phone off then shoving it into my back pocket. I thought about picking the dog up and carrying it to my apartment, but seeing how it was a pretty good sized dog, I decided against it.

"c'mon" I patted my side and it trotted alongside me. The dog never left my side as we finished the walk to my home. I shoved the key into the door, hoping the landlord would be cool with me having a dog. Oh well, I would find out tomorrow, the second the door was opened, the dog blasted inside, I was thankful for the heat provided and I'm sure my new dog was too. my apartment was fairly okay, when you walk in the kitchen is on your left while the living room stood right in the center. To the right was the bedroom and beside that was a small bathroom. The place was covered in this orange-brown carpet that smelt like smoke, but I was okay with that. I just added to the smell due to how many times I smoked in this apartment myself. There was a small balcony outside of the living room. I was three stories high, so it wasn't an amazing view. And either way, it just looked down at the parking lot.

I removed my soaking wet jacket and slung it over the couch, where the dog had already had itself a spot on. I didn't mind though, my couch was old and torn. I took off my shoes and soon I was stripped down to just my boxers. I had to get out of my soaked clothes and plus I rather enjoyed having my clothes off. I just felt more free and comfortable. There's nothing wrong with that.

"let's see. Are you hungry? I'm starved!"

Notes