• On a cool, dreary day by the beach I stood. It was surrounded by an embankment of high cliffs with large sandstone boulders surrounding the base. The clouds hung low and gray, warning of rain. I was with my mother and my dog, Sasha. She had long white fur and, like the clouds, muddied by water, yet she was still a radiated a certain warmth. As I stood there, a calm flooded me. I was finally happy; my life was good. I guess that Sasha felt the same way also. She had led me to happiness and now her time with me was complete.
    As she began to trot away, I started to cry. Not low sobs, but deep, flowing wails. She wasn't only my dog, She was also my one true friend. She was there every time I needed her, and now she was leaving. She hesitated in her resolve as my howls washed over her. I stumbled after her, and every once in a while she would look back at me with a sad, understanding look, the type that a close one gives when they must leave, but don't want to. I neared the large boulders and two large bears came out. They sauntered towards me, but I didn't care; I still whimpered for Sasha to come back to me.
    Sasha saw them and, without hesitation sped at the two monstrosities. While she fought, I ran towards them, feebly lobbing stones at their gaping mouths and glaring eyes. As I neared them, the larger of the two grabbed Sasha as she lunged at it's neck. With it's two powerful front limbs, the bears snapped her leg in two. I screamed. I dragged Sasha out of the fray and told her to run away. She hesitated again, not wanting to leave me, but she trusted me. She limped off a ways then watched just in case I needed help.
    I scrambled over the boulders and up a narrow path to the clifftop. The bears were directly below me, sniffing around in the rocks for me. I found a boulder and pushed it over the edge. It hit the large bear squarely in the head, splattering it's vitals on the sandstone. The red stood out against the tan. I watched as the other bear came over and nudged the dead bears body. I pushed a few more rocks over, but they missed. Despite the loud crashes around it and the inherent danger, the bear stayed. It would not leave the others side. I realized now that they had a relationship too and I felt bad. I could not leave the other bear is such despair. With a great heave, I pushed a massive boulder onto the two, burying them together forever.
    I climbed back down the embankment to reach where Sasha was. I sat there and cried in relief as she held me. She always was a strong spirit, one that I needed to lift me up and hold me there.
    I carried Sasha back up the path, falling several times. I carried her for all of the times she had carried me. We got to a vet and she was mended, but she still has a slight limp from that event. She has lived an amazingly long time now. We're both old and we sit around together, not doing anything but being together. She is on my lap. I am in a rocking chair by the fire. I had known that her fire was dying for quite some time now, and along with it, mine. Neither of us moved much anymore. As I sat there with her, her final embers went out; I held her as mine went out also. We both found what had made us content in life and we were both finished. Our time together had now ended.