It had been 19 hours and we were STILL driving. When are we going to be there? It was only supposed to be a 12 hour drive. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and my legs hurt. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO BE THERE? Those were the only thoughts going through my head. But, after about three minutes of just me and my thoughts, my mom pulled up to my aunt’s house and all those thoughts got emptied from my head. I ran inside, not even thinking about our millions of bags we still had to carry in. As soon as I walked in, Boogie, my aunt’s dog, was the first one to greet me. He was a small, long-haired, brown and white chihuahua. He jumped straight up into the air on all fours and into my arms. I had almost forgotten that he did that, and a huge smile came across my face.

We drive to Texas 1-2 times a year to visit my aunt, and I look forward to it all year long. My aunt is one of the most important people in my life. She understands me, and we have so much fun spending time together. She’s had Boogie for a long time, and he is the most loving, sweetest dog anyone could ask for.

It was the second day we were visiting. My aunt and my mom were watching TV in the living room, and I was in the bedroom playing my guitar. My aunt had let Boogie out in the backyard to go to the bathroom. A couple minutes later there was a big clunk outside. I heard it from inside the bedroom, but I didn’t think much of it. My mom came rushing in my bedroom and said, “Boogie got out of the backyard.”

I put my guitar down, quickly slipped on my shoes, and shot out the front door. My heart was racing. I didn’t know which way to go. He could’ve been anywhere by now, and I was getting more scared by the second.

“Someone tried to steal one of the boards off my fence and it fell off, but they must’ve left and then Boogie got out,” my aunt said, as she tried to catch her breath from the anxiety and fear that was building up inside of her.

My aunt went to go get her car because we all knew that boogie was a really fast when he got outside. I walk to my left down the street, and there was a lady on the side of the street walking towards me. “Excuse me. Have you seen a small, light brown and white dog?” I asked her.

“Yes. He’s over there. He got hit by a car,” the lady said while pointing behind her to her left. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. My eyes went blurry, and my heart felt like it was going to pound a hole in my chest and pop right out of my body. I ran over to Boogie. A man was standing with Boogie, making sure he didn’t get hurt anymore than he already was. He backed up as I got to Boogie, and I scooped him up into my arms. I said thank you to the man and walked back towards the house, being very cautious about not hurting him.

“HE’S OVER HERE,” I yelled to my aunt as she distanced from her car, walking rapidly towards me. Boogie was crying and yelping in pain. I didn’t know what to do. I had never been in this situation before. His back, left leg had a black spot and was vaguely bleeding.

“He was hit by a car,” I informed my aunt again. I was sweating a lot, and I wasn’t sure if it was the 100 degree weather I was pacing in, or the nervousness and fear that was taking over my body. All that mattered at that moment was getting Boogie to the vet. I walked up to my aunt, and she just looked at Boogie with tears in her eyes and told him it was going to be okay. We all walked into the house while my aunt got her purse.

“I’ll drive. Someone needs to come with me to hold Boogie,” my aunt said.

“I’ll go,” I said. I didn’t know why I volunteered. I guess it was just the goodness inside of me coming out. I wanted to go, to be there and support her, but I was just as petrified as she was.

We got in the car and the only thing I could manage to say is, “It’s ok, Boogie. It’s all okay.”

The drive there seemed like it took days. I could see the fear in my aunt’s eyes, turning into tears every yelp that Boogie made. It was all I could do to stay strong and be as loving as I could be. I knew that if I cried, it would make the whole situation worse.

We got to the vet emergency clinic and we told the lady at the front desk that Boogie had been hit by a car. She immediately took Boogie to a room that we weren’t allowed. A man in an operating suit came out and led us to a different room. We walked in and sat down. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling. My aunt hadn’t said a word since we got to the hospital, and the only thing she could say in the car was that everything was going to be okay and that it was just a minor injury. I think we both knew that she was just saying that to make us hope that’s all that it was.

After about 15 minutes of waiting and wondering, a veterinarian came in. She told us that boogies foot had been broken. Then for about ten minutes she went on about how his intestines had gotten smashed and were pushed out of their place and how his ribs were broken and how his breathing was impacted by that. My aunt finally let loose and started balling. The tears were pushing themselves out in my eyes, but I forced them back in. The veterinarian was also explaining that there would have to be multiple surgeries involved in order to recondition boogie and that a lot of money would be involved.

My aunt spent about 30 minutes talking to my grandma and my mom and my aunt’s boyfriend about what they thought she should do. I didn’t know what to do and I needed to talk to someone. I texted a friend and just vented about how scared and nervous I was. After a lot of consulting and contemplating, my grandma, my mom, my sister and Dan (my aunt’s boyfriend) all arrived at the clinic.

My aunt had decided to put him to sleep. She didn’t want to put Boogie through the pain of all the surgery. Boogie’s life would also be a lot different. It would take a lot of time to get boogie back to normal, and even then he wouldn’t be himself. My aunt didn’t want to keep him alive so she would be happy, but then have boogie be miserable. She wanted to put him out of his misery.

We all gathered around the little examining table in the center of the room. The same veterinarian brought Boogie in. He was wrapped in a blanket with needles and different tubes in him. The sight of my aunt made him start to wiggle, but he wasn’t allowed to move or it would put him in more pain. My aunt was coddling him, and her tears were making his fur wet and shiny. For the first time that day, when I wanted to cry, I cried. I was holding his paw and my tears were dripping onto my arm and onto the cold counter.

After about 10 minutes of telling Boogie that we love him SO much, we all gave him one last kiss goodbye. We let my aunt hold him while the vet put the needle in a tube attached to Boogie and slowly pushed the liquid through the tube. By that time, everyone was crying and nobody cared about anything else. Boogie’ s eyelids slowly slid down, and he was gone for good.