FINDINGS
Chapter 1: When I woke up in the morning
It was a strange morning. I randomly woke up at 4:30 am. I had no idea why and when I tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't. Then I felt something strange was going on. So I went downstairs and I herd something. It sounded like footsteps. But, Mom and Mark were asleep. Then Ashley was at her friends house, sleeping over. And Carson was never up this early. He hates mornings. No matter what.
So I when even closer to the sound, and then it stopped. I flicked on the light, and standing there was............ A dog!!! But how did get in? Maybe I should go and make it go out. But it was so cute! I tried to make it go away. But it wouldn't. So I got closer and then it got closer. It didn't seem to have a collar and so I went upstairs to go wake up Mom.
When I went in, I noticed that the dog had followed me. Mom wasn't in bed like usual. So, instead I woke up Mark. My step-dad. The first thing I asked him when he was awake enough was, "Where's Mom?"
"She had to go to work really early this morning and before that, she had to talk to her boss about something. I can't what it was, though. Sorry. Why do you need Mom so much? I mean it's 4:45." He said as he looked at the clock.
"Well I exactly need Mom. I just have a really important question and I was hoping Mom would know the answer to it. Do you?" I said
"Well depending the question..."
"Okay. Here it is. It's a stray." I said as I showed him the dog. "It has no collar and was in our living room."
"WHAT????? A stray, in our living room??? How did it get there?"
"That's what asking you. I have no idea." I told about how couldn't sleep after I woke this morning.
"Well. I have no idea either. Um.... Well I know that when your Mom left, she kept the door open for a couple minutes. He could have sneaked in then. But other than that, I'm stumped."
"Not even Mom knows about this?"
"No. She would have told me so that I knew and wasn't really freaked out or anything like that. I don't know where it came from though." He checked to see what kind of gender it was after he said that. "Looks like a boy. Honey, the vet isn't open at this time, so we're just going to keep and eye on him until it's open. And it's not open until around 7:30. But, there is one that's like 20 minutes away that's open at 6:00. But either way, we still have to keep an eye on him."
"But I don't really like dogs and you absolutely love them. Why don't I go to sleep, and you take care of him, all by yourself? Sounds like a good plan to me."
"Veronica, no. This is important."
"Why don't we just put him back out on the streets?"
"Because, I would never do anything like that and you know it. Even if it means that it costs extra money to take care of him. We've spent a half an hour talking about this. It's 5:15. Is your brother still asleep? Why don't you go wake him up and I'll get ready while you two get ready also, then we can leave at 6:00 and be at the vet by like 6:25. Okay?"
"Do I have a choice. Not really. Okay."
Chapter 2: The Vet
Carson and I tried to get the dog in the car, but he didn't want to. He would get in and then he would jump right back out. I took forever for Mark to get outside. Mark was inside getting him some breakfast while we were trying to get the dog in the van.
Mark finally came out and he tried to put the dog in the van. He finally put him in the van and then we all got in it. The ride there wasn't very bad, but when we got there was even worse. He was freaking out so much, when we tried to get him inside the building, that Mark had to pick him up and give him to Carson so that he could check the dog in.
The vet's name was Nia and she was so sweet. The dog did not like it at all. It took about an hour for her to find almost everything out and talk to Mark. While they were talking and finding everything out, me and Carson sat in the waiting room doing whatever.
Mark finally came out with the dog after a while. Then we went out to the van and this time, the dog actually got in this time. I asked Mark as soon as we were moving in the van, "So. What did she tell you about him and what's happened to the dog?"
He said, "Well, she said a lot. She said that he probably had a home. But it wasn't a good one if he did. She said it looks like he hasn't had food in a long time and needs puppy chow. She said that he looks like he's only like around eight months or so. Not too young but pretty young. We set up an appointment in a week. And we'll talk more since you guys can stay home this time."
"What do you think you guys will be talking about when you and the dog go there?" I asked.
"You know, right know I have know idea. Probably a lot more about what he needs and she'll probably give him shots and other stuff too." Mark answered.
Chapter 3: Home
As soon as I got home, I took my shoes off and then my jacket and I headed upstairs to go lay down. I've been awake since 4:30, and I am T-I-R-E-D! I tried to rush upstairs, but I was to tired to do it. As I started to go upstairs, I saw Carson in front of me and then I saw Mark and the dog go into his and Mom's room.
When I got to my room I opened my door and then I changed my clothes and then I got back into my bed. My room was really cold and under my covers was pretty warm. It took me a while to go to sleep. But when I did, I had some dreams about the dog.
I dreamed that the dog went to the vet again with Mom and Mark and that he had his shots and he didn't like them at all. He went crazy. It was the weirdest dream I've ever had.
***************************************************************
When I woke up, I looked at my clock for the second time this morning. It was 11:45 am and so I finally though that I should get up and get dressed again, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and all that other stuff again. Then after I did all that stuff, I went downstairs and ate my lunch which Mom had made me and Carson.
"Good morning, Veronica. How was this morning? Mark told me all about it. Don't worry, we didn't get rid of the dog, it's in the backyard." Mom said.
"It was good, I guess. You do know that Ashley's going to freak out right? She loves dogs."
"Yes, I do know that Ashley is going to freak out. But, it will be alright. She'll come home at 12:00." Mom said that about two seconds before Ashley walked in the door.
"I'm home, Mom!" Ashley yelled as she ran upstairs.
"Excuse me young lady, where are you going? Don't you dare run up those stairs! You know that you're not aloud to run in the house!" Mom yelled back at her.
"Mom, I have to make a phone call!" Ashley had said.
"Wow she is a brat. Why does she have to be such an annoying 16 year old?" I asked.
"Veronica, you know that you're not aloud to call names and be that rude to your siblings." Mom said. "Oh. And guess what. Your dad wants to have you and Ashley sleep over at his house again this week." Carson is my half brother, so my dad really wants nothing to do with him.
"Should I go ask Ashley about it?"
"Yes please. Go do that."
Chapter 4: Having a talk
"Ashley!! Were are you?!? We need to talk." I shouted at Ashley as I came to the top of the stairs.
"Not interested!" She shouted back.
She's in her room. I can always find out were she is because she's always there and I can tell by her tone in her voice. I knocked on her door untill she said to go away.
"No! I won't go away until I get to talk to you. Besides Mom wants to see you."
"You're talking to me now and Mom already saw me. So go away!!"
"No!" I finally left and grabbed something that would unlock her door. Then I went and unlocked it.
"Stop! Don't come in! Stop it! Now! Veronica! Stop! Mom!" She screamed for a long time.
I finally jumped on her because she was on her bed. Then I covered her mouth with my hand. "Why don't you want me to come in! You never want me to do anything with your room!"
"Mmmmmmmm."
"What?!?" Oh I should probably take my hand off her mouth. I took it off.
"Now that I can talk, sit on my bed. Do it. Now. Okay, I was on the phone with someone that you don't need to know about. I was in a rush to talk to them because they had to go somewhere where they had to turn off their phone. And right now I'm really mad and I don't want to take it out on Mom."
"Okay, so, you'll yell at me, but, you won't even talk to Mom?"
"Alright, so, what were you going to talk to me about?"
"Dad wanted us to sleep over this week. Do you want to go?"
"I don't know right now."
"Why not?"
"Things are complicated right know and I'm not going to tell you because you don't need to know."
"Fine!" I said as I ran out of her room. "Maybe He wants to see just me anyways!"
"Veronica, come down here! Right now, Young Lady!" Mom yelled from downstairs. I found her in the living room, folding laundry. "What were you doing?" All you asked was if you should go tell Ashley about your dad. You weren't supposed to yell at her."
"She said that she doesn't know right now. She said things are 'complicated', but I don't know what she's talking about."
"Maybe it's better to not know. If she wants to tell you, she'll tell you. But right know, I'm guessing she doesn't want to tell. I'll probably go and talk to her. But, for now, go wake your brother. He already ate lunch. But, he said that he was going back to bed."
Chapter 5: Finding Carson
I went upstairs before Mom finished laundry. I knocked on Carson's door. But he didn't answer. So I opened his door.... And he wasn't in his bed! "Carson!" Then I whispered, "Carson, where are you?"
I looked everywhere in his room, then I looked out his balcony window, and there he was. Outside, playing with the dog. "Carson!" I yelled. "I've been looking for you for 10 minutes! Get inside!"
Carson is not a morning person. I was really surprised that he was dresses, his hair was brushed, and he had his tennis shoes on. He must really love that dog, then.
He came in with the dog right behind him. "Guess what?!?"
"What?"
"Me and my dad named the dog!"
"Why did you name him? We're probably not going to keep him anyways."
"No. We're going to keep him. So, we named him. We named him Ayden. You spell it A-y-d-e-n. Don't you like it?"
"Yeah. I guess. But I thought that we weren't keeping him for long."
"Well, my dad and I already named him. Where's Mom?"
"She's talking to Ashley about some stuff."
Mom came down the stairs right after. "You kids want to go to the park? We're going to go take Adyen out. Right? That's his name?"
"Yep. That's his name."
"Well, we are all going to go to the park. Including Ashley. And we will take turns walking Ayden. While you kids were sleeping, Mark and I went to the store to go buy him a collar and a leash. Here's his leash." She said as she showed us the leash. "And you can see his collar on him right now." She pulled back the fur on his neck to show us his collar.
"When are we leaving then?" I asked.
"Well, of course, after you get dressed. We won't be there for long. So, hurry up and I'll make sure Ashley's ready."
Chapter 6: The Park
It was a strange morning. I randomly woke up at 4:30 am. I had no idea why and when I tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't. Then I felt something strange was going on. So I went downstairs and I herd something. It sounded like footsteps. But, Mom and Mark were asleep. Then Ashley was at her friends house, sleeping over. And Carson was never up this early. He hates mornings. No matter what.
So I when even closer to the sound, and then it stopped. I flicked on the light, and standing there was............ A dog!!! But how did get in? Maybe I should go and make it go out. But it was so cute! I tried to make it go away. But it wouldn't. So I got closer and then it got closer. It didn't seem to have a collar and so I went upstairs to go wake up Mom.
When I went in, I noticed that the dog had followed me. Mom wasn't in bed like usual. So, instead I woke up Mark. My step-dad. The first thing I asked him when he was awake enough was, "Where's Mom?"
"She had to go to work really early this morning and before that, she had to talk to her boss about something. I can't what it was, though. Sorry. Why do you need Mom so much? I mean it's 4:45." He said as he looked at the clock.
"Well I exactly need Mom. I just have a really important question and I was hoping Mom would know the answer to it. Do you?" I said
"Well depending the question..."
"Okay. Here it is. It's a stray." I said as I showed him the dog. "It has no collar and was in our living room."
"WHAT????? A stray, in our living room??? How did it get there?"
"That's what asking you. I have no idea." I told about how couldn't sleep after I woke this morning.
"Well. I have no idea either. Um.... Well I know that when your Mom left, she kept the door open for a couple minutes. He could have sneaked in then. But other than that, I'm stumped."
"Not even Mom knows about this?"
"No. She would have told me so that I knew and wasn't really freaked out or anything like that. I don't know where it came from though." He checked to see what kind of gender it was after he said that. "Looks like a boy. Honey, the vet isn't open at this time, so we're just going to keep and eye on him until it's open. And it's not open until around 7:30. But, there is one that's like 20 minutes away that's open at 6:00. But either way, we still have to keep an eye on him."
"But I don't really like dogs and you absolutely love them. Why don't I go to sleep, and you take care of him, all by yourself? Sounds like a good plan to me."
"Veronica, no. This is important."
"Why don't we just put him back out on the streets?"
"Because, I would never do anything like that and you know it. Even if it means that it costs extra money to take care of him. We've spent a half an hour talking about this. It's 5:15. Is your brother still asleep? Why don't you go wake him up and I'll get ready while you two get ready also, then we can leave at 6:00 and be at the vet by like 6:25. Okay?"
"Do I have a choice. Not really. Okay."
Chapter 2: The Vet
Carson and I tried to get the dog in the car, but he didn't want to. He would get in and then he would jump right back out. I took forever for Mark to get outside. Mark was inside getting him some breakfast while we were trying to get the dog in the van.
Mark finally came out and he tried to put the dog in the van. He finally put him in the van and then we all got in it. The ride there wasn't very bad, but when we got there was even worse. He was freaking out so much, when we tried to get him inside the building, that Mark had to pick him up and give him to Carson so that he could check the dog in.
The vet's name was Nia and she was so sweet. The dog did not like it at all. It took about an hour for her to find almost everything out and talk to Mark. While they were talking and finding everything out, me and Carson sat in the waiting room doing whatever.
Mark finally came out with the dog after a while. Then we went out to the van and this time, the dog actually got in this time. I asked Mark as soon as we were moving in the van, "So. What did she tell you about him and what's happened to the dog?"
He said, "Well, she said a lot. She said that he probably had a home. But it wasn't a good one if he did. She said it looks like he hasn't had food in a long time and needs puppy chow. She said that he looks like he's only like around eight months or so. Not too young but pretty young. We set up an appointment in a week. And we'll talk more since you guys can stay home this time."
"What do you think you guys will be talking about when you and the dog go there?" I asked.
"You know, right know I have know idea. Probably a lot more about what he needs and she'll probably give him shots and other stuff too." Mark answered.
Chapter 3: Home
As soon as I got home, I took my shoes off and then my jacket and I headed upstairs to go lay down. I've been awake since 4:30, and I am T-I-R-E-D! I tried to rush upstairs, but I was to tired to do it. As I started to go upstairs, I saw Carson in front of me and then I saw Mark and the dog go into his and Mom's room.
When I got to my room I opened my door and then I changed my clothes and then I got back into my bed. My room was really cold and under my covers was pretty warm. It took me a while to go to sleep. But when I did, I had some dreams about the dog.
I dreamed that the dog went to the vet again with Mom and Mark and that he had his shots and he didn't like them at all. He went crazy. It was the weirdest dream I've ever had.
***************************************************************
When I woke up, I looked at my clock for the second time this morning. It was 11:45 am and so I finally though that I should get up and get dressed again, brush my teeth, brush my hair, and all that other stuff again. Then after I did all that stuff, I went downstairs and ate my lunch which Mom had made me and Carson.
"Good morning, Veronica. How was this morning? Mark told me all about it. Don't worry, we didn't get rid of the dog, it's in the backyard." Mom said.
"It was good, I guess. You do know that Ashley's going to freak out right? She loves dogs."
"Yes, I do know that Ashley is going to freak out. But, it will be alright. She'll come home at 12:00." Mom said that about two seconds before Ashley walked in the door.
"I'm home, Mom!" Ashley yelled as she ran upstairs.
"Excuse me young lady, where are you going? Don't you dare run up those stairs! You know that you're not aloud to run in the house!" Mom yelled back at her.
"Mom, I have to make a phone call!" Ashley had said.
"Wow she is a brat. Why does she have to be such an annoying 16 year old?" I asked.
"Veronica, you know that you're not aloud to call names and be that rude to your siblings." Mom said. "Oh. And guess what. Your dad wants to have you and Ashley sleep over at his house again this week." Carson is my half brother, so my dad really wants nothing to do with him.
"Should I go ask Ashley about it?"
"Yes please. Go do that."
Chapter 4: Having a talk
"Ashley!! Were are you?!? We need to talk." I shouted at Ashley as I came to the top of the stairs.
"Not interested!" She shouted back.
She's in her room. I can always find out were she is because she's always there and I can tell by her tone in her voice. I knocked on her door untill she said to go away.
"No! I won't go away until I get to talk to you. Besides Mom wants to see you."
"You're talking to me now and Mom already saw me. So go away!!"
"No!" I finally left and grabbed something that would unlock her door. Then I went and unlocked it.
"Stop! Don't come in! Stop it! Now! Veronica! Stop! Mom!" She screamed for a long time.
I finally jumped on her because she was on her bed. Then I covered her mouth with my hand. "Why don't you want me to come in! You never want me to do anything with your room!"
"Mmmmmmmm."
"What?!?" Oh I should probably take my hand off her mouth. I took it off.
"Now that I can talk, sit on my bed. Do it. Now. Okay, I was on the phone with someone that you don't need to know about. I was in a rush to talk to them because they had to go somewhere where they had to turn off their phone. And right now I'm really mad and I don't want to take it out on Mom."
"Okay, so, you'll yell at me, but, you won't even talk to Mom?"
"Alright, so, what were you going to talk to me about?"
"Dad wanted us to sleep over this week. Do you want to go?"
"I don't know right now."
"Why not?"
"Things are complicated right know and I'm not going to tell you because you don't need to know."
"Fine!" I said as I ran out of her room. "Maybe He wants to see just me anyways!"
"Veronica, come down here! Right now, Young Lady!" Mom yelled from downstairs. I found her in the living room, folding laundry. "What were you doing?" All you asked was if you should go tell Ashley about your dad. You weren't supposed to yell at her."
"She said that she doesn't know right now. She said things are 'complicated', but I don't know what she's talking about."
"Maybe it's better to not know. If she wants to tell you, she'll tell you. But right know, I'm guessing she doesn't want to tell. I'll probably go and talk to her. But, for now, go wake your brother. He already ate lunch. But, he said that he was going back to bed."
Chapter 5: Finding Carson
I went upstairs before Mom finished laundry. I knocked on Carson's door. But he didn't answer. So I opened his door.... And he wasn't in his bed! "Carson!" Then I whispered, "Carson, where are you?"
I looked everywhere in his room, then I looked out his balcony window, and there he was. Outside, playing with the dog. "Carson!" I yelled. "I've been looking for you for 10 minutes! Get inside!"
Carson is not a morning person. I was really surprised that he was dresses, his hair was brushed, and he had his tennis shoes on. He must really love that dog, then.
He came in with the dog right behind him. "Guess what?!?"
"What?"
"Me and my dad named the dog!"
"Why did you name him? We're probably not going to keep him anyways."
"No. We're going to keep him. So, we named him. We named him Ayden. You spell it A-y-d-e-n. Don't you like it?"
"Yeah. I guess. But I thought that we weren't keeping him for long."
"Well, my dad and I already named him. Where's Mom?"
"She's talking to Ashley about some stuff."
Mom came down the stairs right after. "You kids want to go to the park? We're going to go take Adyen out. Right? That's his name?"
"Yep. That's his name."
"Well, we are all going to go to the park. Including Ashley. And we will take turns walking Ayden. While you kids were sleeping, Mark and I went to the store to go buy him a collar and a leash. Here's his leash." She said as she showed us the leash. "And you can see his collar on him right now." She pulled back the fur on his neck to show us his collar.
"When are we leaving then?" I asked.
"Well, of course, after you get dressed. We won't be there for long. So, hurry up and I'll make sure Ashley's ready."
Chapter 6: The Park