The Touch - Part One
Who would have thought that the animals would go first? It wasn’t like you see it in the movies, it never is I guess but we didn’t have any way of knowing this time. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They said it began with the birds, then, when they started to fall dead from the sky, the other animals started to get affected. Some of them got sick quickly and for others it took some time but eventually, there was nothing you could do. The ones that went last were the hardest ones to see because we knew that they were the last.
It was ironic really. To have your pet, the one being that’s suppose to be your best friend, turn on you like if you were just its breakfast. When the first reports came out some families started preparing, specially the ones with big pets. Nobody wanted to end up like the ones who had pitbulls or german shepherds. The news would always try to make a decent report about another family who had been ripped to shreds by their infected pet and about how they had found arms, legs and heads scattered around their house. It was ridiculous, there was nothing decent about it, this was the end.
Personally, we didn’t have to be worried about being ripped to shreds. There was no true danger in our house, just a sweet little-old shih tzu. Butter’s hair was as golden as, well, butter(hence the name). I remember her running around the house with her cute little tail always up in the air. It was like having a small ray of sunlight shining across the living room and she was all ours. My sister loved her to bits of course, so when the time came it was twice as hard to tell her than to tell mom and dad.
I found Butter playing outside that morning, like every other morning, she was throwing her squishy blue chew toy around in the backyard. She ran back and forward as fast as lightning. Whenever I saw her like that I was amazed about how much energy could fit in that little body. But that was Butter, always quick. She turned around to look at me that morning with her dark eyes, bright as ever. I sat down in the lawn chair and had my breakfast; a delicious Rothmans cigarette. After I smoked half of it I fell asleep, just a quick nap before I had to start my day. The barking woke me. Butter was aggressively letting know whatever was in those garden bushes that she meant business. “That’s right, you tell it Butter.” I said. It stopped after a moment. I looked around for Butter just to see if she had caught whatever was crawling in the bushes but she wasn’t there. That got me nervous.
I got up from the lawn chair and started to look around. “Butter, Butter, come here my sweety.” I said. She didn’t answer and that got me even more nervous because she came everytime I called her. She liked the sound of my voice better than anyone in the family. The yard wasn’t very big so I checked all the obvious places first; her house, not there, her favorite hiding spot, not there, her little bed inside our house, not there. Desperation started to loom quickly in my head. How am I going to tell Mildred?, I thought. If this dog is lost, or even worse, I’m fucking dead meat.
There was no place left to check so I came back to the yard and, to my surprise, there she was. Like if nothing ever happened. “Butter! You sly devil, you. What are you doing? I was calling for you!” Butter didn’t move. She was frozen still, like a fucking statue. Her tail was up in the air but it was frozen as well. Butter was facing the bushes again. It felt like when she went hunting for mouses. Every time she spot one, she wouldn’t move. She would wait until she had the advantage and then she would strike. It felt like one of those times but deep down I knew this was different.
“Butter, come on darling, look at me. What is it?” This time Butter listened. She turned around slowly. Watching her move was like watching a puppeteer control one of his marionnettes. Butter placed one paw after the other and every time she almost fell to the ground like a doll, but for some reason she managed to stay up. She giggled her way towards me. Tears came to my eyes as I watched her. I knew what had happened, I knew she was gone. “Oh Butter, my little one. What… What’s happening? Don’t die on me now. Little Mildred needs you, you know that girl loves you too much.” I felt helpless, what could I do but watch as she crumbled in front of me.
In the news they always said to be careful of our animals, that they’d be dangerous when something like this happened. It was something that I was expecting, something I was somewhat prepared for. But I wasn’t prepared for this. I wasn’t prepared to watch her die in front of me. I would have given anything in that moment for her to attack me, at least that way I would’ve seen her like she was before; active, energetic, full of life.
I heard the car arrive at the front of the house. It was mom, she had picked up Mildred from school. I’d thought it was earlier than that. A million things came to my head; How am I going to tell this to Mildred? Should I lie? Should I tell her that she just went missing? Should I grab Butter and hide her somewhere? Nothing seemed to be right. I cleaned off tears from my face and went to look at the front door through the small yard window. There was no movement yet. What the fuck do I do?
I looked back to where I left Butter in the yard. She was gone. Once again the little bitch had left me like she knew that I was in trouble and she planned to make it worse. I ran all over the yard, looking for her in every corner but she was nowhere to be found. No, no, don’t do this now. A throbbing headache had started to form, just to complete this little adventure I guess. It actually made me miss Butter more. Every time I was sick she was there for me. Every time she came running as fast as the wind to where I would be sitting and kept me company. Because that was Butter, always quick.