The palliative care room was filled with silence. Only the heart monitor emitted occasional, faint beeps – barely audible, like the fading breath of life in the body of the 82-year-old man.
He had known his diagnosis for a long time: widespread metastases, irreversible changes. The doctors were honest – he had days left, maybe hours. But it wasn’t fear of death that held him – it was the pain of parting. Every day he looked out the window and whispered:
— Ritchie… Where are you, little one…
Ritchie – his old, scruffy but loyal dog, whom he had found as a puppy by the roadside. They had spent almost fifteen years together – they had lost his wife, their son, their home, their friends… everything, except each other.
That day, when the nurse came in to change the IV, the elderly man suddenly grabbed her hand:
— Please… Let me see Ritchie… He’s alone… I can’t go without hugging him one last time.
The nurse turned pale. Animals weren’t allowed in patient rooms. But something stirred in her heart. She went to the head physician. He looked at her like she was insane:
— This is a hospital… But… if it’s his final wish…
Two hours later, a soft bark was heard at the hospital entrance. A skinny dog with a graying muzzle stood there.
The nurse opened the door to the room – and Ritchie, without hesitation, jumped onto the bed. He gently laid himself across his owner’s chest, resting his head on his shoulder.
The man whispered:
— I’m sorry… I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you… My little one… Thank you…
He cried, stroked the dog, kissed his head. And Ritchie whimpered softly, as if saying: “I’m here. I’m with you. Until the end.”
When the nurse entered the room again in the evening, she froze in the doorway, breathless.
They were still lying there, just as before. But the monitor had gone silent.
The elderly man had died… But in his arms, with his nose tucked against his neck, Ritchie lay too. The dog’s heart couldn’t bear the separation.
The last ones who still had each other – left together. In silence. In love. In loyalty.
