Chapter 6 - THE EMPTY LEASH
Saturday morning brought the most crushing, silent blow.
After evading the dog catcher, Ben had reunited with Toby and Barnaby at a quiet, abandoned loading dock near the shipping district. They had fallen asleep on a pile of dry wooden pallets, exhausted from the day's terror. Ben had tied Barnaby’s makeshift rope leash securely around a heavy iron pipe.
But when the pale morning light woke Ben up, his hand reached out to pet the dog, and his fingers hit only cold, empty air.
Ben sat up fast, his heart stopping. "Barnaby?"
The rope leash was snapped in half, the frayed edges dangling uselessly from the iron pipe. There was no sign of the golden-brown dog.
"Ben? Where’s Barnaby?" Toby asked, rubbing his eyes as he woke up. The moment he saw the broken rope, his face fell, and his eyes filled with tears. "Did the bad man take him?"
"I don't know, Tobe," Ben said, his voice cracking with a mixture of anger and grief. He scrambled off the pallets, running to the edge of the dock. "Barnaby! Barnaby!" he screamed into the empty street.
Only the echo of his own voice returned.
They spent the entire day searching. They walked back to the park, checked the alleyways, and even risked going near the supermarket dumpster where they had first found him. Toby cried so much his eyes became swollen and red. Every golden-brown shadow in the distance made their hearts jump, only to end in disappointment.
Without Barnaby, the city felt suddenly massive, cold, and entirely indifferent to their existence.
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Toby sat down on a concrete steps of an old warehouse, burying his face in his small hands, his shoulders shaking with silent, heavy sobs. "He’s gone, Ben. Everyone leaves us."
Ben knelt down beside his brother, pulling him into a tight hug. His own tears finally broke free, hot and angry against his cold cheeks. "We’ll find him, Toby. I swear to you, we won't stop looking."
