"Ashes"

Short Story| Fiction | by ReDDVoice

A New Best Friend...
Capone was a beautiful red-nose American pit bull terrier. He resembled the dog from the old tv show, "The Little Rascals", with its unique brown and white brindle patches. At eight months, the dog was adopted by a young woman named Sasha. She suffered with symptoms of PTSD and needed a companion animal to help her get through some of the rough days. Sasha and Capone made a great match. She needed him as much as he needed to please her. Capone would follow her everywhere she went. The two were inseparable. Their favorite place to go was walking on the beach nearby.

Capone was very protective over Sasha. Whenever people got too close or made Sasha feel anxious, Capone would stand between them. He also alerted Sasha whenever the door bell would ring. She rarely had visitors but Capone would always be happy to great them, carefully sniffing people at the door as they stepped inside. Sasha's parents worried about her, as she often had anxiety attacks. She even had a few public episodes that ended up with her being hospitalized in a psych ward. But she felt safe with Capone around especially after what happened to her a year ago.

One Year Earlier...
One evening as Sasha was sleeping a man broke into her house. He snuck in through an unlocked bedroom window. At gun point, he tied her up and raped her. She tried to fight him off at first, but the more she struggled the more he pistol-whipped her in the head with the gun. With blood gushing from the side of her face, Sasha -succumbed by her injuries - gave up fighting. After he finished raping her, the assailant started taken items out of her house. It was such a traumatic experience that Sasha had to be hospitalized. She had become withdrawn and was severely depressed. She looked like she ways dying. Her fragile body was down to only 100 pounds. She wouldn't eat and began to lose more weight. After several months of psychiatric treatment, Sasha's condition had improved, but she was still traumatized. She could never return to the house where she was attacked and had to move. However, she still didn't feel safe in her new place either. At least until she met Capaone.

Another Attack...
As fate would have it, Sasha would become a victim of another break-in. But this time Capone was there to protect her. As the intruder tried to enter through a glass patio door, Capone grabbed him by the leg and started biting him, bringing him to his knees. During this time, Sasha called the police. What happened next set off a fatal chain of events. As the police entered her house, they saw Capone attacking the intruder. However, they couldn't get the dog off of him so they shot Capone twice in the back. Sasha screamed as she cuddled her companion while the police scuffled to arrest the man who tried to break in. Sasha was too distraught to care what else was going on. She cried as Capone died in her arms.

After the second attack and the loss of her best friend, Sasha became suicidal. She no longer had faith in humanity and felt she didn't want to be a part of this evil world anymore. After writing a suicidal note, Sasha killed herself with Capone's leash. After several days missing, her parents found her hanging from the pole in her bathroom. The suicide note read..."Dear loved ones...I am sorry but I can no longer live in a world like this!...A world where you can't feel safe in your own home...A world where your own dog is killed for doing his job in protecting you...He was the only thing that kept me sane...Made me feel alive...Gave me hope. And a world without my Capone is not worth living. Please cremate us and spread our ashes together over the ocean at our favorite place by the rocks." Reluctantly Sasha's parents fulfilled their daughter's dying wishes. Sasha and Capones's ashes are now part of the Pacific Ocean.