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Bonnie was panting in the rain, running alongside her owner over the road going dog knows where. Something terrible had happened this night, and although Bonnie couldn’t begin to understand what it meant, she’d been able to sense the pain and sorrow in both her humans tonight. Brian’s was like a neon sign, glowing vividly in the dark and Bonnie had felt absolutely terrible. She’d tried to warn his mate, but Leighanne hadn’t understood. Had only tried to soothe Bonnie and Bonnie had become angry, because how could she not understand?

And then...

Then she’d gone downstairs, fairly certain that Brian had had a seizure. But she was wrong. Which was astonishing, really, because Bonnie had never been wrong before. She could usually smell it if there was something changing in the chemical balance in his head and she’d been absolutely certain tonight. But when she came downstairs, Brian was not on the ground. He wasn’t convulsing violently and writhing on the kitchen floor. He was just standing there. His eyes were scary, that much Bonnie could tell.

She’d growled at the knife in his hand and had cried in fear as he’d pressed it to his skin, drawing blood from the deep gash he’d left there. He hadn’t seemed to notice she was there with him and had just continued hurting himself with the knife and Bonnie couldn’t possibly understand why he would do such a thing. She barked at him, roughly and loudly, anything to try and snap him out of it. But he wouldn’t, no matter what Bonnie tried.

And then his mate had come downstairs, and Bonnie had watched as the two of them had slowly inched closer to one another. And Bonnie had been happy that Leighanne at least seemed to be able to do what Bonnie couldn’t. They talked in suffocated voices and Brian had stopped hurting himself and listened to his wife. He still smelled like he was going to have a seizure though, and Bonnie was very confused. Then Leighanne had wrapped her arms around her mate, sobbing and pleading and Brian had talked to her in a strange tone that Bonnie didn’t recognize.

Then Bonnie had started barking again when Leighanne had slowly sunk to her knees, the knife in Brian’s hands dripping more blood. He’d turned around and had grabbed Bonnie’s collar and Bonnie had snapped at him angrily, but had no choice but to follow.

And now they were outside, in the dark, in the rain. And all Bonnie wanted to do was curl up and sleep, but Brian kept running, so she ran with him. She didn’t know where they were going and whined when she felt the water stream down her nose and her face. She was completely soaked, and she could tell Brian was as well. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she could just stop running. She wasn’t on the leash, she could just stop, turn around and go back home. But home was a terrible place and Bonnie wasn’t sure if she ever wanted to go back there. And she couldn’t help herself but follow the one thing left that was familiar to her in this unknown place.

It took very long before they stopped and Bonnie was shaking on her legs, coughing as the rain and the cold had soaked her very being. They were in the middle of a country road, with nothing in sight but the glaring, single streetlight right above them. Brian had his hands on his knees, doubled over and wheezing with every single breath he took.

Bonnie whimpered almost inaudibly, looking at the knife that was still in his grasp. Brian looked at her and she shrunk back in fear.

She should run away.

But she didn’t.

She barked at him in frustration, not knowing what else to do. He shook his head, then looked at the knife in his hand. With a loud gasp, he threw it on the ground and stumbled backwards. Bonnie heard him cry out as he grabbed his head and sank to his knees.

“Thomas!” he screamed and Bonnie flinched further away from him.

“Thommy,” he cried out, his face twisting and his hands falling to his laps. His shoulders started to shake and Bonnie was unsure of what to do. What did he want from her? Was she on the job? What was going on?

She whined softly and Brian took his hands away from his face. “Oh God, Bonnie,” he said, “What happened?”

Bonnie cocked her head to the side; inching a bit closer as she saw the darkness disappear from his eyes. Brian curled his fingers in the fur on her neck, like he always did and Bonnie sighed with a bit of relief. He wasn’t angry anymore, she figured. He wasn’t going to hurt her or his mate anymore.

They could go home now.

But Brian didn’t go home. Instead they slowly walked along the empty road and Bonnie noticed Brian stumbling with every step. He was still bleeding, she saw and his lips were slowly turning blue from the cold. But Bonnie stayed beside him, not knowing what else she could do but keep walking. It was almost light when they arrived at the abandoned shed and Brian collapsed on a small pile of hay. Bonnie curled up next to him, wet and miserable and the last thing she noticed before she drifted off to a restless sleep was Brian’s eyes, staring wide-open into the empty distance.