After I Fall

Prologue

The hallway was empty except for a little brunette. She was part of the 5 year old room. She sat in one of the crevices in the wall, and from the sound of it, she was sobbing. The golden mutt walked towards her, ears perked and tail up and wagging. He nuzzled the little girl, getting her attention.

"What's wrong?" The mutt asked her gently. He licked the tears off of her cheeks and sat himself down beside her. She placed a hand on his head, and began stroking him softly. She choked back another sob.

"Daddy's gone..." She merely murmured before erupting into violent spasms of sobs. She threw her arms around the golden mutt, burying her face into his side she resumed crying. She must have surely been feeling immense pain. The poor girl, having to lose her father at only 5 years old.

A tall blonde woman entered the hallway with a few men. They stood in the doorway for a few moments, muttering to each other about something unintelligible. The woman turned and stepped forward, as did the men. The men had guns.

The woman was one of the teachers. She edged closer to the child and the dog. She reached her hand out towards the little girl.

"Amber, you've got to come with me. We've been searching for you for hours - your mother must be worried sick about you!" The lady exclaimed. She reached out a bit closer.

The girl edged further away, pushing herself farther against the dog. "Mommy's got enough to worry bout now that daddy's gone."

The woman stared at the child in a shocked silence. Her voice faltered for a moment, but she pulled the girl away. The girl pulled back, not wanting to leave the dogs' side.

"No, Tucker!!" The girl screamed. Tucker wasn't following them. The golden mutt sat still with a sorrowful look on his face. The girl thrashed trying to get back to him.

"Tucker will be okay," the woman encouraged. "Come on, don't worry about him. You've got to get downstairs to your mom." She pulled her away. The woman nodded to the men as she walked past. Amber finally broke free of her grasp and ran back towards Tucker, but stopped right between the two men, as they both shot Tucker. Panic and fear rose onto Amber's face, and she took off running to him. She collapsed at his side, shaking him violently.

"Tucker!! Tucker please! Wake up come on! Tucker! Come on wake up!!" The girl screamed in confusion, shaking the dog gently now. In a few moments, she got the picture. She choked back a sob and threw herself onto the dog, sobbing into his side.

"Tucker..." She continued to murmur his name In between sobs. The woman and the men let her have a few moments to stand next to him. She stroked him all over, and that's when she noticed the lumps all over his body. The unexplained lumps she never knew about. The lumps that were full of cancer. The lumps that had been causing Tucker so much pain. She gently ran her fingers over them, so she would always remember how they felt. She bent down and kissed his head, then slowly stood. She kept her head down, her eyes on the ground, and walked mournfully out of the hallway. Down the stairs. And into her worried mothers' arms.