The Truth Behind a Smile

Chapter Four

Unexpected Goodbyes

“Kane isn’t doing too well.”

Those were the only words Stephen heard when he answered his mother’s phone call. It had been a little over three years since he’d moved out at 18 and traveled to Texas to find work. Stephen hadn’t left home out of malice or because he hated his parents; he actually kept up quite a healthy relationship with them and would reach out often to see how they were doing. He decided to leave because he’d become a legal adult, and he believed that that was what a man should do.

His father had instilled this ideal in him by constantly joking that once he was finally a man he would have to move out and find a place of his own. Stephen’s parents never had any true intentions of kicking out their only son and truly loved having him in their home, but Stephen still decided to leave when the time came. He’d started on a local crew for a construction company in Colorado, but after a few months an opportunity for a better-paying laborer position opened up, so he followed the money and moved down to a little town just outside of Beaumont, Texas.

One of the hardest choices Stephen had to make when departing was leaving behind his only close childhood friend, Kane. Stephen didn’t know exactly what he’d do when he first moved out, and although his parents raised him well and taught him to be independent, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to take care of himself, let alone a furry companion. So, he thought it best to let Kane stay with his parents, where he’d been all his life.

Kane wasn’t the biggest fan of this decision either. After Stephen left, he barely ran around the yard and played the way he used to. He’d even stopped chasing vermin away from the house, and although Amelia and Stephen’s father believed this was just old age, they realized Kane was depressed when he wouldn’t even bother to get up to eat the scraps that fell while Amelia cooked. It was a travesty. Stephen and Kane missed each other desperately, so after only a few weeks away from home, Stephen would stop in to see his parents on the weekend. He visited them often, having dinner at their house several times a week after work and even stayed the night every so often. The visitations became scarcer when Stephen moved to Texas of course, but he did his best to go back home at least once a month.

These visits helped Kane and Stephen push through the monotony of everyday life, knowing that even if it might be a few weeks, eventually they’d see each other again.

“What do you mean he’s not doing well?” Stephen asked frantically. “I just saw him last weekend, and he was jumping around and playing with me the whole time!”

“He had a few seizures about two days after you left, and they’ve taken a toll on him. His body is old, and it can’t keep up with him anymore, the vet said.” Amelia kept her answers as short as possible so that Stephen wouldn’t hear the pain in her voice as she fought back tears of her own.

Stephen’s palms began to sweat, reinforcing his grip on the phone. His breathing became erratic, his internal temperature rose, and his skin felt flushed.

“The vet said he may only have a few more weeks left in him,” Amelia said.

Stephen’s breath stopped. A nausea came over him like no other he’d ever experienced. Even the air tasted foul as it entered his mouth, which now hung open. Stephen could only hear a sharp ringing that felt as if his eardrums were on the verge of rupturing. His heart even seemed to have stopped, and the blood in his veins had gone silent.

“I’ll be there. I take a flight tomorrow night first thing after work, and I’ll be there.” Stephen told his mother.

“Oh, honey you—”

Stephen hammered the receiver back onto the cradle, which rested on the counter, and used it to hold himself up; his legs felt weak. The nausea grew in the absence of his mother’s voice, and Stephen launched himself to the kitchen sink and emptying the fresh dinner that he had consumed less than an hour before. He vomited so violently that the sheer force with which his peristaltic muscles squeezed out the acidic food mixture caused his legs to jump and flail in every direction. Blood rushed to Stephen’s face as he exerted more and more force in his throat that the blood vessels in his eyes and cheeks became inflamed and noticeably visible, marking his face semi-permanently.

After he finished, he slid to the floor in exhaustion, barely managing to grab onto the counter and side of a cabinet to ease his fall. Stephen lay on the ground staring up, but instead of seeing the tasteless, off-white paint of his ceiling, he began to see memories of times he’d spent with Kane.

He couldn’t keep track of time in this state, but when the sun had finished setting and darkness slowly took over his kitchen, Stephen gathered the strength to bring himself up and clean his face. He took a shower before getting in bed and pressing his face against the cool pillow. The bloodshot eyes and red freckles scattered across his cheeks that he had received because of ruptured blood vessels from his spewing made his face much warmer than usual.

The next morning Stephen woke up and got ready to go to work. He went through the motions of the day with minimal human interaction, avoiding conversations with his companions in his construction crew. All he could envision were his memories with Kane, which he attempted to keep as hopeful and positive as he could, but occasionally would be turned into a dark image of how he feared Kane to appear with death creeping its way into his body.

Stephen punched out the moment he was allowed to and hurried past his coworkers as they invited him to head out to a bar with them as they did at the end of every workweek, but Stephen didn’t reply.

He hurried to the airport and without changing out of his work clothes and grabbed the duffle bag he left in his car for emergencies with a weekend worth of clothes and bare necessities. Upon arrival he hurried in made his way through security and reached the terminal gate and eventually was allowed on the plane. From there he just waited, thinking the same thoughts he’d been thinking all day until the moment he landed and was met at the airport by his father.

His father grabbed hold of his son by both arms and embraced him. This act of affection shocked Stephen just enough to keep him from thinking about Kane for a moment and reminded him of that one moment all those years ago when he’d tried to discuss his father’s emotions with him but was slapped instead and then given an apology by way of a hug. This time, however, instead of being engulfed by his father’s bulk, he now stood eye level with him, as his father shrunk noticeably with age and Stephen grew, the two men met at a respectable six feet and one inch. They were much closer in physique as well.

Although Kane was considered Stephen’s dog, his mother and father loved Kane just as much as he did. Stephen could sense that his father was feeling the same way he did about Kane’s condition, but the violent memory from his childhood kept Stephen from delving any deeper into his father’s emotional state.

“Where’s mom?” Stephen asked.

“She’s back at the house, keeping an eye on him. You can’t really look away from him, god forbid he gets another seizure and hurts himself, and even if you could you know your mother wouldn’t.” His father told him.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Stephen nodded. “Well, let’s head out.” He kept his replies as short as possible as his throat had tightened, and his eyes had begun to burn.

Stephen’s father led him back to the truck. The drive home felt a longer trip than the flight to Denver had. The closer and closer the two of them got to the house, the slower time seemed to pass. After what seemed hours, they pulled up in front of the house in which Stephen had grown up. Fearing to see the state his friend was in, Stephen stepped inside. His mother was watching TV, her back to her son and husband. Hearing them come in, she turned slowly and smiled to see her son had arrived safely. Suddenly, her facial expression changed to one of shock and worry as she fidgeted with something on her lap saying, “Oh no, no, no…”

“Hey, Mom!” Stephen started toward his mother.

“I’ll put some coffee on. You must be exhausted from that red-eye.” Stephen’s father said as he watched his son rush over to the living area.

As Stephen got closer to the mustard-colored sofa, he began to see fur. He realized his mother had been fussing over Kane, and suddenly the fear escaped his body, and he rushed over to get a full view. Kane got up as fast as he could and limped over to the side of the couch. He waved his nose around in the air, trying to find his companion and invite him to pet him like he always did.