Don't Panic! It's a Dog's Life

“Good MORNING!” Sienna groaned.

“Ry, you’ve woken me up for the past year and a half like that, stop it.” She said, sitting up.

“Actually, it’s over a year and a half.” He replied. Over the time that Ryan had been a dog, they had heard his accent change from the Vegas one he grew up with and into an English one. Sienna thought it was the cutest thing. “It’s nearer 2 years now.”

“What ever. Why are you waking me up this early? I don’t have work or college today.”

“I know, but I thought we could go down to Ledge Woods and hang out all day.”
Sienna sighed. “You do know it’s gonna be freezing.”

“Yeah, but we’ll be running round to warm us up.” Ryan lolled his tongue out. “Come on Sea, you know you wanna.”

“If I must.” She grinned.

“Yay!” Ryan yipped and started jumping around her room.

“Come on, I’ll let you out in the garden.” She said, getting out of bed. She went downstairs and opened the back door to let the hyperactive spaniel out.

“Mum? Dad?” She called up the stairs. Her parents were going away for a week in Wales and they were going today. She walked into the kitchen and saw a note. It was from her parents and told her they had left already. She grinned. A whole week of loud music, talking to Ryan without looking crazy and she herself being able to turn into a dog in the house.

It was half an hour later when Sienna had fixed a small picnic for them (as they were going to be gone most of the day) that the door bell rung.

“Ryan, don’t even think of barking.” Sienna warned.

“I’m a dog, it’s in my nature.” He replied.

She stuck her tongue out and answered the door. Two police officers were standing there.

“Are you Sienna Richards?” One of them asked. She nodded. They showed their police IDs and introduced themselves as PC Sean Black and PC Ian Prophet. She invited them in.

“What is this about?” She asked them.

“We have some unfortunate news for you. Around an hour ago, there was a multi car pile up on the M1. Your parents were in that crash.” Sienna’s eyes went wide and she took in a quick breath.

“Are y…you… are you sure it’s my parents?” She asked slowly. She couldn’t talk at normal speed.

“Yes.”

“Are they ok?” Her eyes were starting to tear.

“Unfortunately, they were pronounced dead on arrival. We’re told that it would have happened quite suddenly, they wouldn’t have felt pain.” Sienna burst into tears now. Her parents were dead!

“We’re so sorry for your loss.” They told her. A few minutes later, they left. Sienna shut the door behind her and collapsed on the floor, tears pouring out of her eyes. Ryan came over to her and licked her hand.

“Sea, I’m so sorry.” He said. She looked up at him to see he too was crying.

“Didn’t know dogs could cry.”

“Well they can.” He replied. She pulled him onto his lap and cried into his fur. They stayed like that for half an hour before Sienna finally stopped crying.

“I’m gonna have something to eat and then I need to ring my aunt.” She told him.

“Your aunt? Which one?” Ryan asked. He knew about all her family.

“Gina. The one that lives in Reading.” She said. “She’s got a daughter about my age.”

“Oh yeah, I remember now.” The last time that Sienna had seen her aunt Gina was a few weeks after she had got Ryan. A while later, after Sienna had eaten, she was sat down on the couch, Ryan laying on her lap, telling him more about her aunt.

“She was my mum’s favourite sister.” She told him, scratching Ryan’s ear absent mindedly. “She was only a year younger than my mum and they always looked out for each other.”

“Sienna, you have to call her.” Ryan said. He knew it was going to be difficult. After all, she wasn’t even 17 yet but she had to tell her aunt that her parents were dead. “Sea, you’ll be ok, I’m here for you.” She nodded and grabbed the phone.

20 minutes later and two emotional relatives later, Sienna hung up. Ryan licked her hand.
“She’s going to come down tomorrow to help with the fu- the funeral and then she’s going to stay here until I finish college in a few months, then she’s invited me to live with her. My uncle Rick is going to stay at home.”

“Really? What about your cousin?”

“Jennie? She’ll be alright with it. Gina said they all would have come but Jennie has college and they have SJ to think about.”

“Who’s SJ?” Ryan asked.

“Jennie’s dog.”

“Oh right.”

3 months later, they had sold the house and all the profit had been put into Sienna’s bank account and they had packed what Sienna needed and put the rest into storage. They were currently in the car back to Reading, the boxes in the boot and a few on the back seat with Ryan on the floor by Sienna’s feet.

“Your room will be around the same size as your old one. I don’t know how long you want to stay with us but your welcome to stay as long as you like.”

“Thanks Aunty Gina.” Sienna said. They had helped each other a lot over the last few months and they had grown even closer.

“You’ll get on with Jennie so don’t worry. She’s into a lot of the same music as you. She’s very much into that band that you love, Panic In A Disco, is it?”

“No Gina, it’s Panic! At The Disco.” Sienna grinned, looking down at Ryan.

“That’s the one. She seems to love one of them, Sean or Scott-”
“Spencer Smith?”

“Yes him.” Gina said laughing. “You can really tell that know everything about them.” Sienna smiled. Her aunt was always like this. “She’s learning to play drums too.”

“That’s cool. We could start a band up.” Sienna grinned. She had been playing guitar for 3 years.

Gina stopped the car. “We’re here Sienna.”