As he raised the little turtle closer to his face, the dog looked at the hatchling and to its owner, seemingly waiting for something fun to happen, its tongue dangling at the side of his mouth.
As the kid observed the little turtle with cheerfulness in his brown eyes, he suddenly frowned upon noticing something peculiar at this little creature.
"I have seen plenty of little turtles but this one. It is just incredibly small! At this rate, he will not survive long in the ocean! What do you think Bruno? Should we take care of him first?" The kid sincerely asked his brown furry dog that looked at the kid with never-ending excitement.
WOOOF!
It replied.
"It is settled then! I will take care of this turtle until he is big enough to survive the ocean!" The kid gladly declared, easily assuming the dog's answer as a yes. And together with his new pet, the kid left for home...
Fast forward a few months later, the little turtle has grown a little bit. Albeit not as big as the normal sea turtles, but he is getting there. The human kid has indeed taken care of him. Feeding him and cleaning his little pool.
Despite being poor, the little kid gave plenty of his time and food shares making sure his pets are fed. He is a son of a divorced fisherman who spent most of his time fishing aside from drinking, smoking.
PSSH!~
"Stop playing with the turtle! That thing is just food, Including the dog! The reason I am letting you take care of them is so that we have something to eat in case of terrible storms and emergencies! But that turtle is not growing despite how you feed it. Throw it away and buy me cigarettes and alcohol at the store now!"
The sound of a pissed father can be heard inside the house as the little kid left hurriedly with an inflamed cheek. A little streak of blood slowly crept out the side of his mouth with the little turtle held in his chest.
Ever since his father lost his mother through an accident in the sea two years ago, he became an angry man. The devastation of losing his loved wife turned him into a miserable man he is now. Without the gentle care of her and the guilt of not being able to take care of his wife brought him a devastating guild that completely demolished his personality.
Hopeless and undetermined, his life revolves around nothing but fishing, making his son sell the catch, smoke tobacco and get drunk until the next day when he leaves for fishing again.
In rare cases that he catches a turtle, stingray and even reef sharks, he would unhesitantly slaughter and dine on them, throwing their corpse when he got enough. Not a scent of fear and guilt in his eyes as he chooses to blame the sea for the death of his wife.
Despite being reprimanded by the authorities, he still would unhesitantly go and catch some and harvest their meats alone and leave their bodies floating in the sea.
He is a man who cares nothing but his benefits, selfish and arrogant. His neighbors who happen to live a little further from them would even come to reprimand him but his father always ends up winning the argument through brute force - especially when he takes out his sharp long knife; No neighbors would dare to touch him nor mind his business.
Despite the physical and verbal abuse, the little kid had suffered, his love for his father had never faded a single bit.
With the help of the ocean and his pets that calms him down during painful sufferings, this child had managed to survive his harsh life together with his brutish father.
Facing the sunset with brave eyes, the boy would wipe the tears in his eyes while he slowly caresses the little turtle in his hands; Bruno on the other side would put his feet in his lap, desperately trying to ease the pain his master is going thru.
The beady eyes of the turtle would look up to him, helping him smile from the sheer cuteness.
"Thank you Dash and Bruno for making me smile."
Thanks to the kind and gentle heart he had inherited from his mother, this little kid chooses to understand the pain his father is going thru and decided to let God do the rest for him.
He was willing to wait for it; until a certain day when everything changed.
It was almost getting dark and they are still in the middle of the sea.
Together with his father on the boat, the boy held the other side of the fishnet and slowly pulled in to harvest their catch.
"F*ck! Where did the F*cking fishes go?" The father cursed. Lately, his catches had been dwindling to almost nothing. Each day, he's getting fewer and fewer harvests, but today, he has finally reached the end of the net and still not a single fish has been caught.
SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!
"Stupid! F*cking! Ocean!"
Using the long paddle, the angry father slammed the long wooden pole against the body of the water together with his boiling rage. Without any fish to bring back, how would he eat? Much worst, how can he smoke tobacco and drink to sleep?
The boy took the little turtle, which has finally grown up a bit, out from his pocket. With a careful massage on its head, he started to talk gently.
"Calm down dad. I am sure God would bless us as long as we don't give up. We can do another round if you wan- Ahh!"
Using the same long wooden paddle, the father forcefully hit the boy with a good swing, causing the latter to twitch in agony. A faint crack of the young boy's bone can be heard snapping.
If not for the boy's reflex, the turtle could have been crushed by the wooden pole as well.
"What f*cking God are you talking about? What? God is Love? God is Generous? I dare you to call him now!"
WOOOOOOOSH!
SLAAM!
Out of nowhere, a huge wave grew like a mountain with an unexplainable reason not far from them and slamming down on their boat relentlessly.
The man, the boy, and the turtle were instantly engulfed with the massive body of the water leaving their boat dismantled into pieces in the middle of the dark ocean.