he realized he had no choice but to knock directly on the door, hoping someone inside would open it and clarify what was happening. Alex approached the door, and just before knocking, he suddenly remembered that Anne had told him about frequently moving and that her father had long wanted to leave this rather criminal neighborhood. «Could they have moved?» he thought, and then, gathering courage, he knocked on the door. Of course, after the first knock, no one thought to respond, so the little Alex knocked again and again. He persistently banged on the door harder and harder until, at one moment, the door suddenly opened, revealing the elderly woman with a large number of pets.
«Are you crazy, little boy?» the woman shouted with obvious displeasure.
«Anne should live here,» Alex mumbled, slightly frightened by her.
«There’s no girl here!» she yelled. «Get out of here!»
«She has to be here!» he insisted. «Did her family move?»
«What family?» the woman asked in surprise. «There were no families here! Just junkies and drunks! God didn’t send a single decent person to this wretched building…»
«How can there be none?» Alex asked in amazement. «I’ve been talking to her here almost every day for about two weeks! Her mom always cooked deliciously, which made this place smell so good! And she lived right there!» he said, pointing to the windows.
«You’re pointing at my windows, kid!» the woman said warily. «It never smelled good here… It always stinks because of the local drunks! And don’t you dare come here again and knock either, or next time, I won’t be so kind – I’ll call the police!»
Then the boy looked around again to make sure he was where he should be and said to the old woman:
«I know she lives here! Or at least she used to…»
Enraged, the woman grabbed a broom and began to swing it while screeching:
«Get out of here, kid! Go away!»
This frightened little Alex even more, and he quickly ran away from her.
«And don’t you dare come back!» the old woman shouted after him.
Alex ran and was on the verge of tears. In an instant, he lost all the people he considered family. Emotions overwhelmed him. He ran headlong until he was completely out of breath and fell right on the asphalt. Suddenly, it seemed like all his strength was drained, and he couldn’t even cry. He stood up and, seeing a nearby playground, walked slowly towards it. Eventually, reaching a rusty carousel seat, he, completely morally crushed and broken, sat down. By that time, the sun had set, and everything around slowly began to darken. Besides, it was rapidly getting colder. However, Alex had no desire to go home, as there lay the pale and cold body of the person who raised him. Sitting on the rusty carousel, looking down, Alex could only continue to exist in these moments, sighing heavily.
Suddenly, as Alex was in a state somewhere between senseless self-flagellation and prostration, a pack of stray dogs appeared from around the corner of a house in the dimly lit street. There were so many dogs compared to the small Alex that when he saw them, he quickly forgot about all his incredibly burdensome problems and started thinking about how to escape from there as soon as possible without being noticed. Unfortunately, the pack of stray dogs noticed him as quickly as he noticed them, and they immediately rushed towards him. Seeing the rapidly approaching pack, Alex first thought of quickly fleeing, but then suddenly remembered that Remi, during their time together, had taught him many things. One of these teachings was that it’s pointless to run from a dog unless you’re the world champion in running. Running usually stimulates them even more to chase, as they often see their prey in a fleeing object based on their natural instincts. The best way out of such a situation is to do absolutely nothing – just freeze like a statue or pretend to be already dead. That’s exactly what little Alex, listening to his own reasoning, did. The dogs, surprisingly to Alex, just settled down or lay around him as if they were at home.
– And what? You won’t eat me? – Alex mumbled in confusion.
Suddenly, he heard a distinctly human voice say:
– Eat? Oh please… There’s only enough skin and bones here to play with.
– Who said that? – the boy exclaimed sharply.
Alex looked around, but no one who could have said such a thing was detected.
– Who is he talking to? – suddenly came again.
– Who said that? – Alex exclaimed again, causing some of the dogs to stand up abruptly.
– He’s not talking about us, is he? – came again from somewhere else.
– Why would humans understand us? – another voice came from yet another source.
– You didn’t say that, did you? – Alex asked in amazement.
– It seems like he does understand us.
– No, no way. That can’t be!
– I hear you! – Alex exclaimed.
Then even more dogs abruptly jumped up, and a few even approached him, standing right in front of him.
– What am I saying, little human? Do you really understand me?
– Yes, I understand… – Alex said in amazement, looking into the eyes of the dog that was staring directly at him. – But how do you speak when your mouth doesn’t move at all?
– Does he understand us?
– How?
– Unbelievable…
– Quiet, everyone! – suddenly declared the dog standing right in front of Alex, growling threateningly towards the others, and then asked the boy: – Who are you, little human, and why do you understand us?
– I guess I’ve completely lost it… – Alex said, suddenly bursting into tears. – Grandpa Remy left me. My only friend just disappeared… Or maybe she was never there?.. What’s happening to me!
– It seems he has some problems… – came from one of the dogs.
– Are you okay, little human? – asked the dog standing right in front of Alex.
– Today my father died while I was walking with, I guess, an imaginary friend. So – no, not everything is okay! – exclaimed Alex, crying.
– Can we help you with anything, little human? – asked the dog.
– Why should we help him, Nay? – suddenly said another dog, addressing the dog that was talking to Alex. – We have enough problems of our own. We still need to get a bunch of food, for example!
– You’re right, Boll… but when was the last time you saw a human capable of talking to us?
– Um… Never! – answered Boll.
– Same here! What if he can be useful to us? We’ll help him, and he’ll help us! – declared Nay.
Meanwhile, Alex, listening to the dogs’ conversation, was just trying to come to his senses, thinking that he was going crazy.
– So, how can we help you, little human?
– Are you with me on this? – asked a bewildered Alex.
– I don’t see any other little humans around…
Alex burst into tears again, saying:
– I must be going crazy!
The dogs looked at each other, and Nay, the dog standing right in front of Alex, suddenly growled menacingly several times in the direction of the crying Alex, who abruptly stopped crying.
– Stop doing that, little human, and answer whether you need help! – Nay declared.
– Help? –