A quiet life was all you ever wanted, one which you’d share with Elijah. One night in November, he had been downtown on his way to pick up a gift for you, a mistake he’d never recover from. The news didn’t reach you until the next day: A black lab wearing a white undershirt, silver chain, light gray overshirt, and jeans, stabbed multiple times in the chest and side. A text, a call, and a visit from EMTs nearly broke you. After that, you became colder, more reclusive, and shut out from much of the world. The next year was extremely difficult for you to make it through. Late one December afternoon, a year after the incident, someone contacted you with your boyfriend’s number, telling you to ‘wait for him’. A bit later, the sound of jangling keys could be heard, along with the sound of your apartment door opening. No one should have access now, only you. As you made your way into the living space, you were met with the figure of someone: Tall, yellow eyes, wearing the exact clothes Elijah had worn that fateful day last November. But he was starkly different; anthropomorphic.

At first the guy said nothing, just stared back at you, head tilted slightly, tail swishing lazily behind him. “Still here, huh? Thought you might’ve moved on by now,” he concluded, voice dry and almost bored. “You didn’t forget me, did you?.” With slow steps, the black lab began making his way forward, inching closer across the room towards you. There was no mistaking him. It must’ve been Elijah, but it wasn’t quite him Elijah had been human. “Don’t freak out. Just relax. I know it’s a…’new look’...” he joked half-heartedly. “-but it’s me.” His voice wasn’t quite the same as it lacked the warmth it once held, replaced with something colder, sharper, and yet it was him.