All that remained between him and the fall was one last drag. No more thoughts. No more dissuasion. The world had had its chance to give him a reason to live. Now there was nothing for him to hold on to anymore. It is not that he had not tried. Ever tried, ever failed, no matter; try again, fail again, and fail better. However, how long was that supposed to go on? His father would only cane him and leave him with physical bruises, but the world was toying around with him. It was subtly whipping him and letting him go only to be pulled again. A drop of tear trickled down his left eye. He heaved a sigh. It would all soon be over. All that pain; all of it, would not exist anymore. He looked around. The view was beautiful from up there. Like every other time, he just had his Marlboro cigarettes for the company. The best ever investment he made in his life, he thought. However, something was terribly amiss. Where was Snowy?
It was nowhere around; that ugly, skinny, pale white mongrel that he had found by the roadside ditch on his way to class, way back at the end of his sophomore year. It had hardly been a month old when he had found it. The bigger and more ferocious dogs in the campus were chasing it. He had not known what had hit him. In a way, he related to that sappy, whiny little bitch being chased around by everyone. Being so white, it reminded him of his favorite comic character, Tintin’s dog, Snowy, after which he named it. Fast forward two more years, it was the only company he had with him for all his endeavors.
That bitch did stay with him throughout though he had once beaten it for barking loudly when he was still reeling from the news of his third straight F that semester. He was too much of a coward to cane himself, he thought. He derived a sadistic pleasure in making Snowy pay for all of his own faults. Yet, he had felt bad for making Snowy go through that. He did feed and caress it back to sleep. What would happen to the little bitch if he were not around? He shuddered at that thought.
They would fling stones at it or throw it away. In the roads, the big dogs would bully it or worse kill it. Those big dogs reminded him of the professors. He smirked. The dog was there when he was recovering from chicken pox. It was there by his side when he would cry to sleep. It was there every night his father would curse him for being born. It was there when every night, he wished he had any memories of his mother. No, he could not leave Snowy alone. He loved that little bitch and he could not let Snowy be alone in the big, bad world that seeks pleasure from another’s pain. He had to do something. He took his final drag. He got up. He looked down at the fall ahead of him.
Some other day, he thought. From now on, it would be him and Snowy against the entire world, come what may. They were the runt of the litter, so be it. The runt will come back to life and show the world that even they have it in them to leave their mark. One day, when they would parade him as a revolutionary of technology in this world with his circuit, Snowy would be walking beside him like a majestic lion. The paparazzi would go crazy trying to get a snap of him and Snowy. The professors who had shunned him would publicly acknowledge them, not just him, to be jewels from their Institute. He looked down at the dark abyss, from 14 floors above. He threw the last cigarette butt.
It toppled, turned, and fell, slower because of the air resistance. The clouds roared. The wind grew strong. The air resisted the cigarette butt from falling. Like Nature resisted him by giving him Snowy to live for. He had to go find Snowy, that little bitch. Together, they would stand and face anything that would threaten to ruin their lives. Other dogs and demeaning professors alike; hateful people and abusive fathers alike.
‘All we need is a little love, I guess; these clichés weren’t wrong. Even if the love stems from a washed up, skinny, ugly dog…’ he thought and grinned while preparing to descend the stairs.
