Because of the shooting incident, the school’s classes were delayed by nearly half a month before finally resuming.
Everly was finally able to live the peaceful campus life she had longed for.
However, the good tis didn’t last long. Not long after the school restored order, one day, while Everly was in class, she suddenly received a video call request from Old John.
Old John had Everly’s class schedule, and he never called her during class.
Seeing the video request, Everly imdiately had a bad feeling. She grabbed her phone, her heart pounding, and hurried out of the classroom. She found an empty, quiet spot and accepted the call.
On the other end, Old John spoke with a heavy heart: Buddy was nearing the end.
“Talk to her a little more. She was just given a painkiller, so she’s still conscious now… she’ll be drifting off soon…”
Tears instantly welled up in Everly’s eyes.
“Mm… mm… Buddy, Buddy, good girl… can you hear ? It’s , Everly…”
Through her tear-blurred vision, Everly tried to get a weak smile out of Buddy, who was breathing slowly and had thinning fur, displayed on the screen.
The elderly dog perked up her ears sensitively on the soft cushion.
As she aged, Buddy not only lost so hearing but also developed cataracts. Because of her heart condition, the veterinary hospital advised against surgery, only recomnding dication to slow the progression. Before Everly realized it, Buddy’s eyes, veiled in white, could no longer see clearly.
Even so, when she heard her little owner’s voice, Buddy instinctively beca excited. She pantingly stuck out her tongue and turned her head precisely toward the screen in front of her. Her tail, resting on the cushion, wagged once, then again—like an engine running low on oil, moving in disjointed motions, expressing the joy in her heart.
In her mory, she often played with her owner. One human and one dog were the best of companions. They ran together across endless wilderness, along straight highways, and through every corner of the house—chasing each other, playing all sorts of ever-changing little gas.
In every ga, Buddy and her little owner could fully release the excess energy stored in their bodies. Every chase was so exhilarating, so joyful.
However, from a certain point in life, the little owner began coming ho less often. Buddy could only sit with Old John at the empty gas station, bored, watching the sunset hanging on the horizon, staring at the unchanging skyline, listening to the old, static-filled radio…
And then, at so unknown point, her body began to decline as well.
“Woo… woof…”
Buddy’s mouth moved slowly as she let out a weak sound from her throat.
Everly understood: Buddy was saying, ‘Let’s play together, little owner.’
It was the signal they used when running off to mischief together. After Everly began living at school, every ti she returned ho on break, Buddy would “woo-woof” like this, running around her legs, wagging her tail like a propeller.
Then Everly would shout, take the lead, and dash out beyond the gas station, running with the dog across the boundless fields.
Back then, Buddy was still in her pri. When she ran, she was like a streak of red lightning—fast and agile.
But now…
“Woo-woof…”
On the soft cushion, the weary dog seed to know her ti was limited, letting out a mournful cry.
Little owner… Buddy still wants to play with you, wants to keep playing… but Buddy is a little tired.
How about we continue after a nap…
…
On the soft cushion, the wagging dog’s tail had stopped moving at so unknown mont, and her once-alert ears drooped down.
Under the effect of the dication, Buddy was free of illness and pain, slipping into a deep, peaceful sleep.
In her dreams, there were surely still the gas station, the wilderness, the highway, Old John, and Everly. In her dreams, she and Everly kept running, endlessly running, their joyful laughter spreading across the world.
On the other side of the screen, Everly could no longer hold back and broke into uncontrollable sobs.
…
After Buddy passed away, Old John brought her body to a pet crematorium, cremating it along with her favorite cushion, made from Everly’s old clothes.
When retrieving the ashes, the staff were surprised. Using tongs, they carefully separated the remaining bone fragnts and found a single snow-white canine tooth.
“This is amazing… what’s going on with this tooth? After being in a high-temperature furnace, even if so bone remains, it usually becos very brittle and breaks easily. But this tooth… it’s still so solid…”
Old John took the tooth, feeling it with his hand, and a quick expression of nostalgia crossed his face. “Perhaps this is Buddy’s gift to her owner.”
The staff nodded, gently patting the old man on the shoulder. “Yes… in my line of work, you occasionally et pets with extraordinary spirits. Your pet must have loved you very much, and even in heaven, she wants to continue protecting you.”
“Thank you.”
The freshly cremated ashes still contained many bone fragnts, which needed to be ground into powder in a specialized machine to beco fine ashes.
During the remaining ti, Old John gently caressed Buddy’s tooth while listening to the staff chatter about the various owners and pets they had encountered over the years. Not once did impatience show on his face.
Only when the ashes, now in a small box, were handed to him did he finally hold Buddy’s remains, bid farewell to the staff, and leave the crematorium.
After burying the ashes at Buddy’s dog bed spot at the gas station, Old John drove to the city of Micano and found Rebecca’s little fortune-telling shop.
That sa night, Everly received a call from Old John in her dormitory.
“I sent you a bracelet via express delivery. The canine tooth embedded in it is the one that remained after Buddy’s cremation. Because the shape was unusually intact—sothing the staff said they’d never seen before—I decided to have Rebecca take a look at the tooth, just to see what she could do.”
“Rebecca said it’s a tooth that houses a dog spirit. Buddy was a dog with a spirit of her own. Even after death, she wanted to remain by her owner’s side, continuing to accompany and protect her. Rebecca helped stabilize the spirit remaining in the tooth. Once you receive it, wear it with you. If you’re ever in danger, Buddy will help.”
“…I understand.”
Even after a few days, hearing Buddy’s na again made Everly’s nose tingle with emotion.
Three days later, Everly received a package from Old John.
Inside was a bracelet woven from colorful cords. On the chain was a single snow-white canine tooth, tied and secured with a knot. There were no other decorations—its simplicity carried a subtle, exotic charm.
“Woof!”
The mont her fingers brushed against the canine tooth, it felt as if Buddy’s joyful call rang in her ears.
Everly looked around but saw no trace of her dog. Yet the empty space in her heart, now filled by the bracelet, was suffused with a bittersweet warmth that offered a asure of comfort.
Rebecca’s instructions ntioned that the dog spirit within the bracelet was not very powerful; it served more as a warning than a shield.
But to Everly, this was already the greatest gift she could have received.
…
In Arican universities, students’ class schedules are not fixed—they can be arranged flexibly according to personal needs.
Everly and Misha planned to complete all their general education and required courses during their freshman and sophomore years, so that starting in their junior and senior years, they could focus on their major. This is also the choice of the vast majority of Arican students.
At present, the university, having gone through a campus shooting incident, was enjoying a rare “period of calm.” The students were quiet and well-behaved, the previously negligent campus security officers had all been replaced under social pressure, and for two months, entry and exit checkpoints had been implented at several campus gates.
Under these circumstances, the school was actually safer than the outside world.
Everly was financially well-off. For her own safety, she mostly stayed in classrooms, the library, the gym, the cafeteria, and her dormitory, rarely leaving campus unless necessary.
Misha’s family was less well-off, and once things stabilized, she began searching the city for part-ti jobs.
In this regard, Barbara, a senior who Misha had run into at the pizza shop, helped her a great deal.
Using the bulletin board maps that Barbara provided, Misha drove Everly’s car and, in just half an afternoon, photographed all the part-ti job postings she had filtered from the bulletin boards around campus.
As an experienced part-ti worker, Barbara also told Misha about the “old problem” jobs—those that had been posted on the bulletin boards for a long ti without being taken. These jobs were either very tricky or had extrely difficult employers and were absolutely not recomnded.
“By the way, so jobs may seem normal, but they might have hidden dangers… I can’t really say how to tell for sure. Anyway, for your first job, it’s best to have a friend accompany you. From what I know, last year and this year, several girls disappeared after finding part-ti jobs, their whereabouts unknown. You often see missing-person notices on the bulletin boards too.” Barbara warned.
Horror Movie Survival Rule #1: pay attention to hints.
Upon hearing this, Everly imdiately took Misha’s phone and went through all the photos. Sotis, to save storage space, Misha would photograph several job postings at once, which ant the bulletin boards in the background were captured as well.
Everly sifted out the photos that included the bulletin boards. Sure enough, just as Barbara had said, besides the job postings, the boards were plastered with many missing-person notices—mostly looking for young girls.
However, whether intentionally or not, most of the missing-person notices were obscured or partially torn. Only corners remained, and so were hidden behind new job advertisents, revealing just half of the missing girl’s face.
Everly still had four years of study ahead in Dalami City. The dangers here were like a ticking ti bomb, capable of disrupting her peaceful life at any mont.
Therefore, after learning that young won frequently went missing in this area, Everly imdiately took out her phone and began searching local forums and the university’s campus boards, using keywords like “female,” “missing,” and “part-ti job.”
The results were alarming. In just the past two years, there had been 47 online records of missing won, and the vast majority were young. This number didn’t even include those whose families hadn’t posted missing-person notices online. Including them, the total would undoubtedly be much higher.
Of course, such a large number of cases didn’t necessarily all involve disappearances during part-ti jobs. But since Barbara had specifically ntioned knowing girls who went missing after going out for work, it seed likely that the two were connected.
“Misha, if you change your mind, I can still lend you your college living expenses. You can just pay back when you have the money. Even so, do you still insist on going out to work part-ti?”
Everly asked, worry in her voice.
Misha hesitated for a mont, then nodded. “Thank you, Everly, but I can’t always rely on you. My dream is to travel across the U.S., and I can’t let sothing as simple as this stop !”
Everly nodded, then opened the photos of the job postings that Misha had filtered. “Alright, let’s study them carefully. We’ll pick one that looks safe. When you go to work, I’ll go with you for a while to see how things are.”
“Thank you, Everly.”
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