“Where are my…? Oh, thank you, Pardu.” The man cleared his throat and took his keys from the old dog morph. “Now, are you ready?”
The aged canine took a breath and nodded slowly.
“Alright, let’s go. I think I’m more nervous than you are.” He flipped the keys until the car key stuck out. “D’you want to drive?”
Pardu looked at him unamused.
“You’re right. We don’t need to risk that.” He opened the door and headed out to his car. He opened the car door and watched the dog morph lock up and walk down to get in the back seat, then got in and started the car. “We can still go back inside.” The unamused glare in the mirror was answer enough and he pulled into the road.
The houses passing by were soothing, but Pardu still struggled with the knots in his stomach. He knew he was supposed to be happy about this, but it terrified him. He was comfortable the way things were. Why did they need to change? He watched the houses change to stores and restaurants, then to closer buildings. It was like his world creeping in right when it was supposed to be opening up.
“Hey Pardu. You know I love you, right?” He looked in the mirror at his passenger. “I’m really glad we made it to this. We retire together, right?”
Retiring was a nice idea, but it was the freedom that terrified him. He would still be staying in the house and still doing the same things, but he would no longer be owned. What did that even mean?
“There’s the office. We’ll park in the lot in the next block.” He looked in the mirror again. “Are you ready to finally do this?”
“Bern!” The next instant was sideways and upside down and loud and painful. Pardu waited for everything to stop moving, then opened his eyes. He expected to find his life draining away, keeping the chance of freedom just a breath short, but he was still breathing. “Bern?” He looked between the seats and tried to reach the boy he watched turn into a man and have boys of his own, but everything was twisted wrong. He could see blood and broken glass. He needed to help him, but he couldn’t move. All he could do was watch the life draining from the wrong person.
The car opened up. When the EMTs saw the morph, they left him and worked to free the driver.
Pardu waited, nervously watching them work to save the life of his only family. He watched as they took him away.
Firemen came in next and pulled the morph out. Police officers asked questions, but he couldn’t find any answers. They picked him up and put him in the back of their police car.
The old dog looked at the upside-down car that had been taking him to his freedom as they drove away.
