Lost Echo

He never came back for me. Many days had passed and the dread that my fluff may be completely stripped from my insides before he returned, was growing larger with each passing day. Most had already succumbed to random animals in search of warm bedding for nests or dens. Occasionally a strong gust of wind would grab hold of any remnants that were spilling out and I’d watch as it danced about, momentarily giving form to the invisible breeze.

My once soft fur was now hard-edged and mud stained, with a ruddy brown now staining the cool green color that I once was.

My left eye was still intact, but my faithful friend had accidentally removed the right one while we were playing one day. I wasn’t sad. I’d have given every thread to him. But as I sat in anticipation through each passing day, there were times I’d wish that I lost both eyes. At least then, while I laid here in a nearly fluff less heap, I wouldn’t have to watch for my friend that does not return.

To pass the never-ending time, I’d imagine the two of us on great adventures. I'd remember how he would parade me around proudly, and bring me to meet every new person he encountered. He and I were inseparable; only parted by the bath machine on occasion. I hated that terrible contraption, and my pal did too. While I flipped and flopped around inside the big round tub with the giant glass window, I’d see my distorted looking friend patiently waiting for me to come out, through the water and suds.

Then when I was plucked from the bath machine in a dizzy haze, I would be placed inside a giant air blaster 2000 to be flailed around in warm air until my insides felt like they were burning. Only when it felt like I was going to burst into flames, would I hear the beep and the machine would stop moving and my best pal would dance happily until I was retrieved. He never hesitated to rub the cleanliness from me by taking me right outside to roll around in the grass.

I was certain that when he finally came back for me, I would be placed right inside that bath machine, and this time of all times would be the worst, because I had already been separated from my friend for far too long.

As day turned to night, I’d wait by sounds of crickets until the sun rose again. If I was being honest, there were times where I began to get discouraged. The thoughts that one would normally have when they feel a sense of abandonment would sometimes attempt to drill tiny holes into my mind. But I would refuse to believe them. The was no way my friend would forget about me. No way. Still, with each passing day, they got louder and the impending doom of not having a single thread left for him when he finally returned, scared me deeply.

I had almost stopped looking that way.

Toward the house.

Waiting.

Expecting.

Saving myself from the unbearable disappointment of not seeing my beloved friend bounding toward me.

But on this day, while in my supressed dormancy, I saw them. I saw all of them. They were his family. The deep voiced one came out first. It had been so long since I saw anything but wild critters, so the sight of them drew instant elation. With a shovel in his hand, he approached where I laid under my pal’s favorite tree. He saw me and picked me up, and for a moment he held me and observed my tattered appearance. I saw a strange look move across his face before he mumbled something I could not decipher, and then he set me down.

I watched eagerly as he dug a hole in the dirt beside me and wondered what he had planned for it. Perhaps a garden for me and my friend to enjoy together? Or a bird bath? He loved birds. He could watch them for hours. Often, we would sit under our tree and wait for them to land in the branches above. Sometimes, if they landed really close to us, he would get so excited that he would chase them. It filled me with joy to picture doing that again soon.

Soon, the golden-haired boy and the one with the kind eyes joined us at the tree. Both were red faced. The deep voiced one left for a moment while the other two stood staring at the deep hole and the heap of dirt beside it.

“This is where he loved to be.” Kind eyes said. My ears perked. They were talking about my pal. He must be coming.

The golden-haired boy bent down and picked me up.

“Flubby!” He sniffed. “I wondered where you were.” The boy paused, and then said, “He is probably missing this.” motioning me toward the kind eyed one.

“Yes, I am sure that he is. He never went anywhere without Flubby.” She replied, nudging me gently.

Soon, the deep voiced one returned holding a large blanket wrapped neatly in a firm mound. From my perspective, I couldn’t quite tell what it was, but the smell was familiar. It was the blanket my pal and I had laid on hundreds of times.

Excitement flooded me. My friend was close, I could feel it. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I sensed it. The golden-haired boy hugged me as the deep voiced one gently set the blanketed mound inside the now hollow ground. Perhaps it was a strange ritual that humans followed, I thought. But I didn’t care. I knew I was going to see my friend bound happily toward us at any moment, and all would be back to normal again.

I enjoyed the warmth of the boy’s hug and sensed in the familiar smell of him, as my mind took me back to the best times in my life. He was the very boy who picked me out at the shop years earlier. I was one of many on display, and for some reason I stood out to him. He carefully pulled me down from the shelf and said, “Echo will love you.” I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but I came to realize it’s amazing meaning soon after.

I remembered Echo’s happy smile and wagging taile the first time he saw me and I felt my insides smile.

But then I felt the boy suddenly grasp me tighter and start to sob.

Confusion began to shadow my feelings of happiness.

“I already miss him so much.” He spoke.

“I know honey. I do too.” Kind eyes said with evident sadness.

The deep voiced one picked up the shovel and spoke.

“Do you want to say any last words to him?” he said, his voice now softer and pained.

The realization of what was happening flooded me with a slideshow of memories that lead up to that last day.

Echo had been moving very slowly in the weeks prior. I hadn’t really paid attention to it, because he always had a way of looking happy. But it now occurred to me that we had been spending much longer periods under the tree each day. So much so, that the deep voiced one had begun coming out to retrieve him instead of calling his name, because Echo needed help getting up. But every day, Echo would see him coming, and with a wag of his tail he would gently pick me up with his teeth so not to leave me behind.

But on that day, he didn’t.

Instead, he whimpered.

There was a look of worry on the deep voiced one’s face and he hastily picked Echo up and carried him inside, forgetting about me.

I didn’t fret about it. Echo always came back for me. Always.

But now, as I watched the deep voiced one wipe the dampness from his face, I knew.

Echo was back. But not in the way I remembered him.

Panic washed over me as I felt the boy squeeze me tighter.

“You think Echo would feel better having Flubby with him?” Kind eyes said gently.

He didn’t respond, but I felt him nod. If I could have nodded, I would have too.

The day was finally here.

I watched deep voice bend down and carefully pull back the blanket. Familiar wavy yellow fur poked out from beneath. Golden haired boy knelt, and I felt myself being lowered into the hole, as every happy memory came back to me. He placed me carefully beside Echo and draped his leg over me to hold me in place.

“I knew you would come back.” I thought to him.

It felt strange to feel such gladness while I observed the pain on his family’s faces. I knew that they too would wish for his return, and I understood that pain deeply.

I felt a fallen tear land on me as the blanket was wrapped around the two of us.

And as I reunited with my best friend under our favorite tree, I could see that he too had lost his inner fluff, and suddenly I didn’t feel so bad for my own, because we would always be together with the threads of each other that remained.