Letters To Myself (#Nanowrimo2017 Winning Novel!)

9,

Dear Myself,

I think this is the first time since I started writing in you that I haven't sat in the corner of my bedroom and written words on the pretty pages with the butterfly illustrations at the top. I sit in my Dad's car, once again in a state of shock and all because of an animal but not just any animal. A dog. I could potentially have saved the life of a gorgeous dog which had been neglected by whoever their owners are. Let's get to the actual story before I end up feeling unwell and also, I need to thank Dad for putting another light in the back seats of the car so I can easily flip a little switch and once dark, I can still write and not have my handwriting go all over the place.

During lunchtime in between classes, I got a text message on my phone from one of the neighbours my family are friendly with and who regularly, I walk their dogs to earn some extra pocket money. She sounded like a state of distress when I read her message. Due to an emergency of some sorts at her work, she was going to have to travel out on her day off and wasn't going to be back until late say 10PM. Could I watch the dogs? Obviously, I couldn't reject this chance of getting some cash that I could save up and use later. So with a one word text message reply, I felt myself smiling at the chance of a nice doggie distraction from an unhappy sixth form experience.

When classes finally ended, I rushed out and ran towards my home street to get to the neighbour's and cuddle her three dogs: Sandy, Manny and Johnny who strangely enough, I had really missed their cute little faces even though I only saw them the Monday just gone when I walked them round the nearby fields for an hour as darkness set in. To my right stood the house that I had been in last week and was very shaken up by the events that occurred. Personally, it's an utter miracle that we weren't caught by any teachers or the police.

Leia joked to me during class that she smoked the entire packet of cigarettes in two days and obviously, my creeped-out mind believed her. Looking down at my phone just before I reached the neighbour's house, she had texted to say that her crush also smoked and said that by sharing the packet with him, she had found the way to his heart which made me chuckle.

Ringing the doorbell, I could hear one bark and a paw pounding at the front door which I could tell was Manny who out of the three was the most active and talkative. Low and behold, it was him who tumbled into my arms yapping with delight and drooling all over my arm. Close behind were Sandy and Johnny who let me pat them gently on their fluffy heads. All three are Labradors with big noses, wide smiles and love to play games outdoors with other people. Once when I threw a frisbee towards my neighbour at the park, Manny leapt up and caught it with his teeth. Like the superhero dog he is.

My neighbour, Sandra stopped by to give me a quick hug and updated me on her situation about work and that she wouldn't be back until late in the evening. Pointing towards the cupboard by the front door that consisted of new bags of dog treats, she smiled and grabbed the car keys to head out towards work leaving me and the dogs alone. For a moment, I sat cross-legged on the floor and cuddled Sandy as I scrolled casually through my Instagram feed.

My phone dinged with a new message for Leia saying that she was going on a dinner date and was in town looking for a new dress to wear. I always admire my friend's confidence with being able to show her arms and legs and me feeling self-conscious and retreating to the comfort of leggings and a jumper. But sitting around moping wasn't going to help, three Labradors needed to be walked.

Quickly dumping my bags on the sofa and placing the backdoor keys to the house in my jacket pocket, I grabbed the dog leads and hooked them onto the collars as their warm tongues licked my hand making me giggle. By this point, I was in the mood for some music so putting my headphones and scrolling through playlists, I settled on one that songs by Paramore and Panic At The Disco, two bands who I absolutely love and really hope to see play live one day and off we all went!

Crossing over the quiet street to get to the fields by the house, once the gate was shut, I let the dogs off the collars and threw a ball across the ground and witnesses all of them crashing into each other just so one could come back towards me and have a prize of a new dog treat. The game lasted a little while as the temperatures started to drop with the sun setting on the horizon. But as you are about to see Diary, the fun wasn't to last.

On my way back from putting an empty chocolate bar wrapper in one of the bins, I started to hear a whining noise coming from the back of one of the huge storage containers which normally housed spare goalposts and nets for football. Manny was already on the prowl and had dived to have a search of the place as Johnny and Sandy followed close behind. What happened next truly broke my heart and a moment that I will never forget.

Tied up to one of the little barbed wires was a tiny German Shepherd puppy struggling to keep its little eyes open admit the cold wind that had started to pick up. I physically gasped as it released a little cry and still shaking, sniffed my finger and nuzzled his nose on it. Manny started to bark but quickly I shushed him as I chucked the ball away again to distract them. My main focus was now to rescue this puppy before nightfall kicked in. During this process, I texted Dad at home to help pick my things up from Sandra's house and drive to the vet's.

Snapping some quick photos on my mobile phone to show the vet, with a quick pull, the puppy broke free from the mouldy lead and straight into my arms with another puzzled cry. I had done it. Manny started jumping up at my waist in excitement thinking this new puppy was a toy to play with but this was no laughing matter and no time for games. Snapping the leads back onto the others, I quickly walked out of the park, cuddling the puppy in one arm and holding the long lead in the other.

A car horn brought me to my senses, Dad waved and ran over to grab the main lead of the dogs. He was surprised to see the little puppy and was very keen to drive me with him to the vet's. But the question was this, who would look after the others? Leia couldn't, Mum certainly couldn't. Damien could but Sandra wouldn't be back till late. Finally after an eternity, I knocked on another neighbour's door belonging to the Lowtons who were a lovely married couple who liked dogs. After agreeing to take the three in, I texted Sandra and raced with Dad to the vet's, praying that we weren't too late to save him.

We were ushered into the consulting room quickly as the young vet took a look at my photos and the puppy. She said that it was a shame that someone had resulted to abandoning a pet in this way and a young one at that. In my country, abandoning animals is a crime and if found guilty, you could be sent to prison but sadly, whoever dumped the puppy had gotten away with it due to no CCTV cameras nearby. The good news was that the puppy was merely cold and hungry and wasn't seriously unwell internally however, would have to stop at the veterinary hospital until old enough and regained full health before the re-homing process can start.

Let's hope that the puppy finds a new loving home where the owner knows that once they adopt an animal to keep as a pet, they will forever love them and not tie them to fences or wires. Dad is back now, time to hide this thing away.

Yours,

Morwenna.