The first thing I noticed when walking into the Fluffmart was how full of life the other fluffies seemed to be compared to Ian. Every one of them stood on on all fours, excitedly jumping up and down while begging for me to take them home.
”Hewwo nyu daddeh!” One of them chirped at me. Couldn’t have been more than a few days old. I smiled at the little guy and ruffled his head a little before going to the toys.
This was the only Fluffmart near me and it took a while to reach it. Working at the front desk was a familiar face. A young girl by the name of Angelica who still had to have been in high school. Never saw her on the weekdays. Only on weekends.
“Hey, steve! How are things with Ian?” She called out in her usual cheery voice.
I looked over at some of the foals as they waved their stubby little legs at me.
”How are you all doing?” I asked one of them.
”Oh. Babbeh am gud, nice mistah!” A little red foal said to me, eyes beaming. I smiled back at him. It reminded me of Ian at his young age.
”Ian is doing all right. It is his birthday, after all.”
Angelica smiled. “I can’t believe he’s turned 10 this year! My little fluffy Binky is only a year old! I hope he lives as long as Ian.”
“Yeah….”I said distantly. “I hope he does too.”
I was tempted to tell her about Ian’s behavior recently. After all, she would know better than me what he needs or what could be happening. But just looking at how cheerful and excited talking about her own fluffy kept me from bringing up my concerns. I decided on purchasing some more crayons for Ian. He couldn’t play with any of the toys they had and he certainly didn’t need the special food products they had. My purchases were made and I left the fluffmart feeling uneasy.
There was something off about how quiet the house was when I opened the door. Ian usually came waddling to greet me but this time it was dead silence. I closed the door and took a few steps in with the hopes that he would hear me and come running but there was nothing like that.
“Ian?” I called out.
Nothing.
I walked into the kitchen and found the pictures he drew scattered and torn on the floor. Something was definitely off.
“Ian where did you—“
He was in his room, looking around with a very blank expression.
”D-Daddeh?” He said it so softly that it sounded like a whisper.
His mane was all messy and frantic like someone had run their hands through it aggressively. I dropped everything I had and kneeled down to get a better look at him.
“Ian what happened?”
Ian’s eyes slowly drifted from the floor to my direction. His pupils looked dilated.
“Ian…no knu…Ian jus wan fine daddeh….”
”But I’m right here.”
”Ian knu…am vewy happies….”
Something was off. He was much weaker looking and couldn’t even directly make eye contact.
”You seem really tired,” I said quietly as I lifted him into my arms.
“Am…am su vewy tiwed….”
Whatever birthday plans I had were going on hold. He clearly didn’t have the energy to exert himself with excitement after all this. I was going to have to keep an eye on him until I could get an appointment with the Fluffmart.
I decided to stay safe for the night and put him in an old dog bed I had from a previous pet. It was large enough for Ian to fit snugly in while I sat on the bed and watched him. Breathing seemed steady. He was even kicking his stubby little legs, possibly dreaming of less stressful times.
“I wonder if his time is coming soon,” I sighed to myself. Standard fluffies like Ian lived to be about twelve on average but there ten was the age when health issues started to increase if they hadn’t already begun. It was hard for me to really accept that. Ian had become such an occurring presence in my life that the thought of one day waking up and no longer being greeted by him unsettled me.
I didn’t sleep at all that night. Occasionally I would hear Ian mumbling, “Daddeh…” in his sleep as he kicked his stubby legs away.