FOUR; bear

    The sky was turning from starry black, to deep blue, as the sun crept up the horizon.

Rosita's street was creeping further off into the distance, but not once did she regret her decision to leave.

Her brother's house was exactly thirty-two minutes away from their own. Just looking at his front yard made her remember the things she had forgotten long ago:
The day Daniel moved in with his wife. The day they got a puppy. The day her nephew was born.

The German Shepard was no longer a puppy. He was the size of a wolf and had coat of a bear. He paced up and down the front yard, peering through the fence, and brushing his nose along the grass.

   "Is Bear coming too?" Michael looked at the dog, who dropped down onto the ground, collapsing of exhaustion.

    "We've decided already; he can't come with us." He said, as if he'd told them a thousand times.

    "Who's looking after him?" Rosita needed to know this. She couldn't stand the though of abandoning someone, whether they be a person or a dog.

He exhaled, sighing. Guilt flushed his face.

    "I'm leaving the gate open for him. He can get out if he wants to, but he can't come with us."

"He'll be dead by the time you get back. You're seriously gonna do this to your own dog?" She scolded.

    His guilt disappeared.

    "It's gonna be hard enough for us to just disappear to another state, let alone with a dog to take care of. If he wants to leave and find food, he can." He said, defensively.

"F**k..." She breathed.

She was unable to understand the things Daniel did sometimes... a lot.

The white-painted door opened from the other side. A woman, with wavy black hair stepped onto the veranda.

"Rosita!" Yolanda embraced her sister in law, then her brother in law. "You're both alright?"

Yolanda looked genuinely concerned. Rosita's glance met Michael's. One expected the other to say something.

"They were in quarantine this morning. I got them out." Daniel said, a little too quietly. He did not make eye contact with Yolanda.

    Yolanda frowned, a little shocked. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared at Daniel, peering at him with a cold expression.

    "I'm glad you two are okay." She exclaimed, a little warmer than she had been with her husband. "Joe, we're leaving, let's go." She called through the house, before going to pack their car.

    Joe crept through the door, pulling a small, spiderman themed suitcase behind him. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the two new people at his house, and stared up at them with wide brown eyes, studying carefully.

    "Joe. You remember aunt Rosita and uncle Michael, don't you?" His dad asked.

Joe nodded. His eyes were fixed on them, as if mesmerised by these people who were, somewhat, new to him. His parents hadn't told him that it was rude to stare yet.

"They're coming with us to uncle Julian's farm." His dad told him.

Joe turned and walked towards the car, his spiderman suitcase dragged behind him.

"He's a bit shy with new people, but he'll warm up." Daniel informed.

She had not seen Joe since he was four, and back then he was a different kid.

___________

Rosita felt sleepier with each minute, as the time drew nearer for them to leave.

She would have just slept for the entire journey if she wasn't the one expected to drive.

The orange sunrise was beginning to disappear, leaving a grey sky. She sat in the driver's seat of her car, the door left open, waiting for the others. Her eyelids felt heavy, her eyelashes felt like tiny weights.

Thoughts filled her mind. They distracted her from the present, and pulled her back to the past. Things she saw that she did not understand. There's something I don't know... or am I just going mad?

She sunk into the car seat, shutting her eyes for seconds at a time. Michael opened the door, catching her by surprise, and sat next to her in the passenger seat. They were all ready to leave, all except Joe, who stood on the lawn and sobbed.

"Bear!" He sobbed. "He's coming with us, I'm not going without Bear!"

Yolanda lifted her son off the lawn and into the car. The dog followed them both, sniffing at Joe's salty tears.

    "Daniel, I changed my mind." Yolanda began. "We can't abandon the dog, it's wrong. We aren't staying in Texas forever."

    Daniel stared at Yolanda, a look of betrayal was clear on his face.

    "There's no room in the car." That was all he could defend himself with.

    "He can go in our car." Rosita volunteered. "He can sit in the back seat."

    Yolanda led the dog towards their car.

    "Thank you for this." She exclaimed, before getting into her own car and driving off. Rosita drove behind them.

___________

The thought of just disappearing from her life made her feel uneasy. Her boss would surely fire her, her boyfriend would leave her, and so would her friends. But blood runs thicker...

Her thoughts were going round in circles, like a tape on repeat. By now, she was fed up. The road seemed endless; so she focused on it. Trees sped past the car. Droplets of rain dotted the windows. She closed her eyes... her mind slowed.

"Rosita!" Michael's voice rang in her ears.

The car swerved, she slammed the breaks.

_