The date is August 25th, 2044 in Phoenix, Arizona. It's been 3 years since the Cog X1 alien virus broke out. No one but me is alive. I'm all alone. My name is Pap Drewman.

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The smell of hot, fresh coffee and bacon is what I miss most about the old life. Bacon... Oh my god, just thinking about it is making my mouth drool. No! I need to stop thinking about the old life. I need to focus on the now.

I suppose I should go scavenging to get my mind off of things. I'm almost out of supplies anyway. I'm going to check out Gear City 8. I haven't hit there yet. Maybe I will find something of use there.

"I'm going to head out and scavenge for supplies." I told my 'friend' Gary. I made him out of a volleyball. "Do you need anything while Im out?" I stood in silence. "No?" I finally said. "Okay, well suit yourself."

I left through the front door and grab my bag on the way out.

"You know.. I suppose being the last man alive isn't all that bad." I say to myself. "I mean, I can do whatever I want with no repercussions, but I wish I had someone to talk to." I say as I get in my Veertron. (Veertron is a brand of car in this post-virus world)

"Even if I wasn't the last human alive, I'm surprised my messages have not reached anyone.." I say to John. He's my other 'friend' I made out of a football. "I've left messages on the side of buildings and billboards." I look over to John. "But, hey.. At least I've got you and the others."

I see a sign of mine I made up ahead. Underneath my writing it says "Gear City 8 Next Right."

"Good, we're almost there." I say to John.

"Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and find someone alive there. Well, at least I hope we do. If not, maybe we will find something of value there!" I exclaim.

I see another billboard, this time it says "Welcome to Gear City 8, enjoy your stay!"

Its letters are hanging loose and look like they are about to fall apart. The virus must have really hit this place hard.

"Hey, look! It's a hardware store!" I yell excitedly to John. It looks pretty beat up. The windows are boarded up and it looks like it's falling apart. But the door appears to be open.

I pull up to the hardware store and get out of my Veertron. "I'll be back, I'm going to look inside this place, John." I say as I'm closing the car door shut.

I look up and notice the name of the store. Some of the letters are missing but from what I can make out it says "R boti Pro el." I think it's supposed to say "Robotic Propel." I head closer and start to hear broken glass crunch beneath my feet.

I head through the open doorway and walk in to see nothing but a pitch black darkness. I turn on my flashlight and it makes it much easier to see.

I start looking around to see what might be useful. I find some duck tape, a few rusty nails, a pair of pliers and a Charged Morphic Prismatic Drill. "Jackpot!" I frantically yell. "This will most definitely come in handy!"

I continue on going deeper and deeper into the store, not finding very much other than some odds and ends. I decided to go into the backroom as there might be supplies I can use in there.

I walked to the rusted, metal door and try to open it but it's stuck. I look around to see if I can find something that I can use to open it up. I find a slightly bent crowbar. It's made of titanium and steel so it should do the trick.

I put it in the crack of the door. It almost looks like and elevator door but it has a handle that won't budge. I use all of my strength and will power to force it open but it won't give way. "Rats!" I yell. "There has got to be another way in!"

I look around some more and find an open vent that looks big enough for my to fit in. "Maybe I could go through there? I'm going to need a ladder or stool of some sort. Maybe this car jack will work." I point at the car jack. I grab it and lock it in its highest setting and climb on top. I scale the wall and climb inside the vent and I start crawling to get to the other side.

I crawl through the vents and end up in the room I was looking for. I carefully hopped down and immediately go to the door to open it.

A chain seemed to be keeping it from budging open. I remove it and the door seems to know what to do. Now I have an exit.

I look around and don't see a lot other than what appears to be a robotic dog. I go over to it and inspect it. It has a collar on. The collar says "Sparky." That must be this little guys name.

I look for an on-off switch and happen to find one under his front left paw. I switch it on and the robotic dog seems to come alive.

He jumps up off the ground. His eyes light up and turn a light bluish color. His body seems to follow along and do the same. He jumps around and runs around me. "Hey little guy! Are you here all alone?" I ask. Of course I don't expect an actual answer but I haven't spoken to anything or anyone in so long. *Bark bark* The robot dog, Sparky, shouts. "You wanna come with me?" *Bark bark* "I'll take that as a yes!"

I'm so excited! I found someone to talk to! Well, that someone may be a robotic dog but I'm not alone anymore. This is the best day of my life!

"Hey, Sparky, buddy, you hungry?" I say to my new friend. *Bark bark* I reach into my bag and pull out a small dog bone. I found it while I was raiding an abandoned pet store. I decided to grab it because I figured that I may be in a situation where I need one.

"Okay, here you go little guy!" I say to Sparky as I hand him the bone.

His eyes shine brighter than before when he sees the bone. He bites down on the bone and wags his tail.

I start heading towards the exit and Sparky follows behind. I walk through the exit when something catches my attention.

An 8 and a half inch straight edge hunting knife. I pick it up and hold it. It seems to fit my hand perfectly, almost like it was made for it.

I sheathe the knife to my side before exiting the building.

I get in my Veertron after Sparky hops in. And we drive deeper into the city, seeing nothing but rubble and devastation everywhere in this barren landscape. I start to lose hope but then I see the smoke from a fire.

"Fire! Fire! Sparky, John, we found fire!" I yell out with all of my might. "I can't believe it! We're not alone!"

I start to pick up speed and head towards the location of the fire as fast as I can.

Sparky starts to freak out .*Bark bark bark bark bark* "Sparky! Calm down!" I yell. He stops barking.

I finally reach my destination. I see two people yelling and waving. Sparky and I get out of the car and run up to them.

"Oh my god! We're not alone!" They say. But, out of the two, I recognized one of them.

I remember her from high school. Her name is Kylee Lysel. She has beautiful blonde hair, hazel eyes, an innocent look and a heart of pure gold. She used to be my girlfriend back in highschool.

"YES! OH THANK YOU LORD! I'M NOT ALONE!" I excitedly yell to the skies.

I run up to them and go in for a group hug. We take in this hug for a good long few minutes.

After the hug, I introduce myself to them, even though I already knew one of them. "Okay, enough of the hugging. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Pap Drewman. I'm 28 years old and I grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona. This little guy beside me is Sparky."

"Well, nice to meet you Pap and Sparky, I'm X-Actro. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and I'm 34." X-Actro said. He had on dark blue jeans that were ripped, a black leather jacket that had a beaming shimmer to it and a pair of sunglasses. His face was mostly covered but from what I could see he had blue eyes and what looked like a scar going down the side of his left cheek.

I looked at Kylee and nodded. We already knew each other so there was no need to introduce ourselves.

"Do you two already know each other?" X-Actro said with a deep, gravelly voice. "Yes actually, we dated in high school." Kylee replied. X-Actro nodded and asked no further questions.

I sat down by the campfire and pulled a locket out of my bag. "What's that?" X-Actro asked. "It's a family photo." I quietly said. I opened it up and inside was a picture of my father, mother, sister, and I.

"We took the photo in 2024, 8 years after I was born. I hold it every night by my heart and cry myself to sleep. One day I hope to see them again." A tear came to my eye.

I closed the locket and put it away. "I'm very sorry to hear that." X-Actro sullenly spoke.

I look at the sun and see that it's going down. I grab a small box of cookies out of my bag. Sweets are rare nowadays. "I've been saving these for a special moment like this." I hold up the box of cookies.

Everyone's eyes widen, including Sparky's.

"I found them in a candy store in Gear City 13." I mention while opening the box. "I almost wanted to eat them right then and there but I couldn't do it. I decided to save it because maybe one day, I would meet someone else out here to share them with." I hand everyone a cookie.

We all finished our cookies by the time the sun finally set. We wanted to make each bite last.

I add a few more logs and sticks to the fire and lay down by the fire. Sparky comes over to me and lays down on my makeshift doggy bed I made for him. Isay goodnight to everyone. I close my eyes and the darkness takes me. The Sandman lays his magical dust over my eyes and I fall asleep.

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I wake up dazed and lightheaded. I look around and notice my TV is on. The news is blasting.

"Good afternoon everyone, this is Steam News 27, I am your newscaster Lori Fisherman. Broadcasting live from the studio." Lori said. She had red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a purple Blazer and a matching pair of pants.

"Ugh my head.." I say.

It must've been a wild night yesterday. I can barely remember a thing. What happened?

I sit up and take in my surroundings. I'm sitting on my living room couch covered in cheetos and vomit. I look at the clock, the time is 2:27pm.

I stand up and immediately get lightheaded and dizzy. I walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water when I hear something on the news that catches my attention.

"We have incoming reports of what appears to be a deadly virus. Scientists are saying it's nothing like they've ever seen before. They named it the Cog X1 virus." Lori states. "People are dying at an alarmingly fast rate and their seems to be no end to this horrible nightmare. Stay indoors away from people. Close all windows and exits. Stay safe everyone." Lori continues.

"What in God's name is going on?" I said, puzzled.

I run to my window and see a hellish nightmare. People puking blood, all of their orifices are leaking out this weird yellowish goo and everyone is rampaging the city, just trying to survive.

I hear a helicopter in the distance. I look up and see hundreds of military Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks. I assume they are trying to evacuate people out of the city.

I collapse to the floor and black out.

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I wake up in a cold sweat. My heart is racing and my skin feels clammy. I take a few deep breaths and process what just happened.

I look at my surroundings and realize I'm not at home. I'm not blacked-out on the floor or covered in Cheetos and vomit. There is no TV and there is no newscaster. I am sitting by a burnt out campfire in the middle of the day.

It was all just a dream. A horrible, terrible, dream. My past is coming back to haunt me. The day the virus started is coming back to me. My dreams are becoming so real, it's almost like I'm reliving that dreadful day.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I sit up and grab my things. "Hey, guys, wake up. We need to head out." I say, loud like an alarm.

They both wake up and grab their few possessions. They get in my Veertron, anxiously waiting for Sparky and I.

"Sparky, boy! It's time to go!" I say to Sparky. He is laying down on a makeshift doggy bed I made for him. His eyes are glowing an orange-red color. "Sparky.." I say with concern. I shake him a bit but he isn't waking up.

I signal X-Actro and Kylee to come over as something is wrong with Sparky. "Guys, come quick! I think something is wrong with Sparky!"

They hurry over and Kylee says "What happened?" "I'm not sure." I reply, worried sick.

"I've seen this before," X-Actro speaks. "I used to work with robotic dogs before the virus, his Central Processing Unit (CPU) is malfunctioning. He needs a new one." X-Actro continues. "He doesn't have much time before all of his hardware malfunctions from the faulty CPU. I would give him 3 days max." X-Actro finally finishes.

I look down at Sparky and shed a tear. "I haven't known him long, but I consider him to be family. We need to find a replacement part." I say.

X-Actro replies with bad news. "I'm afraid we might not be able to. Sparky is the first and the last of his kind. He is an Aqua Tin Pekingese. He is an experimental breed of robotic dog."

I bend down and pet Sparky behind his ear. His tail moves a little. I pick him up and head towards my Veertron.

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After driving on the dry, desert like road for about 30 minutes, I pull over. "Hey, why are you stopping?" X-Actro asks. "I think I see someone." I reply.

I get out of the car and sure enough, there is a man lying on the side of the road. He appeared to be injured or sick. I slowly approach him.

"Hey, buddy.. You okay?" I say with concern. He looks up at me. His face was dry. His lips were cracked and peeling. He had brown eyes and brown facial hair. He had sideburns that looked fierce and tough. And his physique was like that of a lion.

"Water.." He said with a deep, dry voice. "Please, I need water." He continues.

X-Actro and I pick him up and head towards my car. We set him down inside. Kylee hands me a canteen full of water and I slowly pour it into the man's mouth.

After he finishes it all, he says "Thank you." His voice seemed to come back to life. There was no more crackling in his voice. It was clear as could be.

"The names Frank." He said. He still looked weak from the lack of water, but he seemed better already.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Pap. And this is X-Actro and Kylee." I point towards my friends. "And his little guy is Sparky, but he may not live all that long. His CPU is malfunctioning." I say with a sadness in my voice.

"Sorry about that." Frank says.

"Well, to tell you a little about me, I'm 47 years old and I used to be the chief of police in Phoenix. My full name is Frank Jerry Badger." Frank mentions. "Well, I suppose we should get going then." He continues.

"Yeah, rIght." I say.

Everyone gets back in my car and we start driving again.

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"We've been driving for almost 7 hours. The sun is about to set. I think it's time we bunker down for the night somewhere." Frank says. I nod in agreement and pull over at a small gas station that seemed to still be busy with action.

It's lights were still on and there was a red truck parked outside. It still had the gas nozzle inside of the tank.

I pulled into the parking lot and hopped out of the car.

"I wonder how the lights are still on." I say. "Maybe there is a backup generator?" X-Actro comments. "Or maybe there are some survivors!" Kylee exclaimed.

I unsheathe my knife from my side and hold comfortably it in my hand. I walk towards the door of the gas station and signal my friends to be quiet. I mouth "I'm going in."

My right hand grabs the cold metal knob and slowly open the door. I enter and look at my surroundings.

There were 3 sleeping bags rolled out on the dirty gas station floor. Next to the sleeping bags, there was trash. Food wrappers and empty bottles of water.

I don't see any sign of someone being here as of now but someone is using this as a campground. I see that some of the shelves were still full of products like food and water.

I signal for everyone to come in. We get comfortable and bunker down for the night.

I say goodnight to everyone and let the sweet sound of sleep take me.

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I wake up. I'm on the floor. My head still hurts and I'm still covered in Cheetos and vomit.

I get up off of the floor and look around. I'm in my house with the TV on, playing the news.

I remember something. The news was saying something important before I blacked out. Something about people being sick. A virus I think.

I look at the TV and listen to what the newscaster is saying.

"This deadly virus seems to be unstoppable. People are reporting everywhere that they are coughing up blood and some sort of yellow substance. Many scientists suggest it came from outer space mission when NASA sent a group of 30 people to Mars and another 30 people to Jupiter. When the astronauts came back from their mission, it is believed that the space explorers picked up the deadly virus and brought it back to Earth."

I shut off the TV and remember everything that I heard before my world darkened. It all came back to me. The party. The news. The virus. The secret.

I look around to try and find my phone. I can't find it. Maybe I left in in my room?

I start walking towards my bedroom door when I start to feel dizzy and lightheaded. I go in and out of consciousness before I black out once more.

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I wake up in a cold sweat. My dream continued. The horrible nightmare. I hate reliving the day the virus started. It makes me sick just thinking about the horrors I've seen that day.

I look around and realize the world appears to be different. Everything is the exact same but it just doesn't feel right.

It's nighttime still. The moon is glowing bright with a passion and the stars are shimmering like a shiny silver platter. The sky is dark blue and black.

I lay my head back down on the pillow and go back to bed.

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When I wake up, I see a group of people standing over me. 3 people to be exact. And they didn't look happy.

The one on the far left had on a t-shirt with a skull on it. He was wearing cargo pants and what appeared to be work boots. He looked fierce but also looked like he is as gentle as a baby.

The one in the middle had on a pair of shorts and a long sleeve shirt. She was a girl. She seemed like she was the leader of the group, she had a knife sheathed on her side and from what I could tell, a bow and arrow attached to her back.

The last one seemed different from the rest. He didn't look like he belonged in the group. His facial features were soft and gentle, like that of a feather or a young teenage boy.

"What are you doing in our beds?" The girl yelled.

I looked over at X-Actro, Frank, and Kylee. They didn't say anything so I figured I was gonna be doing the talking.

"Well, we uh.." I stuttered. "We uh.. We were tired and needed a place to rest. And we thought that maybe this place was abandoned. So, we slept here for the night." I sheepishly said.

"Okay, well.. Get out of them!" The girl said.

I quickly got up and out of the sleeping bag, and so did the others. Except for Frank, there was only 3 so he slept on the floor.

I grabbed my bag and put on my gear. I started to head towards the door when one of them stopped me. It was the fierce looking one.

"Now where do you just think you're going?" The man spoke. He had a gravelly voice.

"Well, I uh.. Well I just figured that.. Well my group and I should just.. You know.. Leave." I stammered. "We seemed to have upset you guys..and girl."

"You're staying with us until we figure out what to do with you trespassers. Until then, what're your names?" The man said.

"I'm Pap Drewman, thats X-Actro, Kylee Lysel, Frank, and then Sparky." I said, pointing to them while I spoke.

"I'm Gabriel, thats Louis, and thats the leader of our group; Max." Gabriel says.

*Cough cough* I look over at Frank. *Cough cough* He is coughing.

"You, do you have the virus?" Max points to Frank. "No," He says. "I think I just have a cold." Frank continues.

"What do you mean you think? You either have it or you don't!" Max yells. Frank sighs and puts up his hand to show everyone. It was covered in blood and yellow goo.

"Did you know anything about this?" Max points at me, screaming in anger. "N-no! I swear, I had no idea! We just found him yesterday!" I exclaim.

"Gabriel, take him outside. You know what to do." Max ordered Gabriel.

He grabbed Frank by the arm and dragged him outside. Frank was yelling and crying.

After Gabriel took Frank outside, we heard more crying followed by 3 gunshots. Frank was dead.

"Now that that's taken care of, we can get down to business." Max said.

"Why did you kill him? Are you going to kill us?" Kylee cried out.

"First of all, I didn't kill him, Gabriel did. Second, the only way we are going to kill you is if one of you as the virus." Max said, clearly annoyed at Kylee.

"So, you better speak up now or forever hold your peace. If we find out one of you as the virus, you better believe that you won't be enjoying life any longer." Max yelled.

We all shake our heads and say that we don't have the virus.

Max looks around the room and notices Sparky laying on the floor, having a robot seizure. "What's his deal?" She says.

"He has is fried CPU." I say. "He needs a new one or else he will die."

Max nods her head and walks out of the building. She comes back with another robotic dog, but he seemed to be dead. He wasn't moving.

The robot dog is the same type of dog that Sparky is; An Aqua Tin Pekingese. It seemed to be a boy version.

"His name was Gearhead." Max cries. "His CPU is like brand new, I found him in the factory he was made in. I found another one there too, still fully functional, and its a female robot dog. I named her Rose. Anyway, you can use Gearhead for spare parts to fix Sparky. It's what he would've wanted." Max continues.

Max hands him to me. I look down into his dark eyes, and shed a tear. I hand him off to X-Actro and he gets to work.

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After a few hours of working hard, X-Actro is finally finished repairing Sparky.

Sparky comes running out from the backroom and starts chirping and yipping. He looks so happy now.

His eyes are shining brighter than they ever have, he seems more playful than ever and is able to do many other things in which he wasn't able to before.

"I gave him a few upgrades while I was at it." X-Actro said. "He is able to hover now, he can play fetch, and my personal favorite, he can shoot enemies with laser eyes if given a special command.

Sparky was running around everyone and licking them with Joy. But then, another dog entered the room. It was Rose.

Her eyes and body radiated a pinkish color. Almost like the color Rose.

Sparky stopped jumping up and down and walked over to Rose. He gave her a "kiss" on the face and Rose seemed to glow brighter for a brief moment, almost as if her cheeks became red with embarrassment.

She gave Sparky a "kiss" back. They seemed to have a connection. Like they were falling in love almost.

"Awww." Said everyone in the room. We all watched as they played together and built a strong connection with each other. It seemed like they were made for each other almost.

After about half an hour of watching them play together, Max and I looked at each other and apologized.

"Look, I'm sorry," She started. "I know we are all strangers here and you guys sleeping in our beds is kind of weird, but I think we can all agree that maybe we should be friends. After all, how could we possibly break these two up forever." She points at Rose and Sparky.

Everyone nods in agreement. "I agree and I accept your apology." I say.

I started to gather my things and say, "This can't be a permanent residence. Especially if we plan to repopulate earth. I mean, it's a gas station for crying out loud. It's in the middle of nowhere and the electricity is bound to shut off at some point. We are going to run out of supplies too." Everyone agrees and Max says "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Plus these two need a yard of grass to play in instead of the hot sand."

Everyone packs up their stuff and gathers some extra supplies from the gas station shelves too. We all put our stuff in our cars and I say "I'll lead the way. I know of a great little community. There is no way it could've been touched by the virus as it's in a small town that's very isolated from the rest of the world."

I get in my car and start driving. Max, Gabriel, and Louis follows behind in their Jeep.

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"It took almost a whole week, but we finally made it. We made it to the town I was talking about." I excitedly exclaim. "And better yet, it wasn't touched by the virus!" I continue.

I pull my car over and almost fly out of the car. Everyone else does almost the exact same thing.

I jump all about and run around, kissing the ground, trees and almost everything in site. It was like a miracle. It's like we hit the lottery but even better! I mean, of course the town isn't like it was before the virus. There is overgrowth and natural decay, but still, we found a place to rebuild!

"YES!! HAHAHA YESS!!!" I yell loudly into the skies. It echoes back at me and the rest of the group.

I run back to everyone and go in for a group hug. "GROUP HUG!" I yell loudly.

After what felt like forever, we finally ended the hug.

"Who's up for exploring the town?" Max eagerly suggests. "I'm in!" Everyone screams.

We all ran towards the town like little children chasing after an ice cream truck. "I call this house!" Said someone. "I call this one." Says another.

After everyone found their house they wanted, we all went back to the cars to regroup and officially move in to our houses.

I start to move into my new residence and get cozy when I realize something.

I walk up to Max and inquire her about Rose and Sparky. "Hey Max, what are we going to do about Rose and Sparky? I mean, I don't want to break them up, seeing as they seem to be in love." I say.

"Maybe we could build them a little dog house and it could be in between our houses since ours are right next to each other." Max proposes. I nod and say "That's a great idea! I'll start on it right away."

I tell everyone that I'm leaving town for a while to go collect materials for the dog house. They all say goodbye and wish me luck. And then I leave town and head to a hardware store.

After about an hour trying to find a hardware store, I finally find one and head inside to grab the materials. It took me about 6 or 7 hours totals because I wanted to make sure I had everything and look around for books on how to build. Various buildings. Like dog houses, sheds, troughs, houses, ladders, the general stuff.

When I left the store and headed back towards the town, I noticed that the sun was setting. I quickly hurried back and when I got back home, I noticed that the town was different.

It turns out everyone had decided to clean up all of the shrubbery and overgrowth and make it look like a normal town. They even started to make a farm and chop up some firewood for all of our fireplaces.

I pull into my drive and head inside to my new home. I finally stand back and take it all in.

My kitchen was a decent size and seemed to be open to the wide world. It even had its own island.

My living room was right next to the kitchen and was about 3 times bigger than the kitchen. There was a TV sitting on the wall, covered in a thick layer of dust. It had a white 5 piece sectional couch with a matching ottoman.

I head towards my bedroom and open the door. The room was blank and white. Perfect for decorating!

I take off my shoes and socks and get comfy in my brand new bed. I lay down and close my eyes. Letting the sandman take me once more.

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December 23rd, 2105

Two days before Christmas.

"And that's the story of how we came to be. How you all came to be. That's the story of how Kylee, X-Actro, Max, Gabriel, Louis, and I made this little community." I say to my grand-children.

"After I built that dog house, I went on to build other things for the group. And well, after we officially finished making the town an actual town once more, we decided to revive old traditions, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, for example. But, we also made new ones too, like Geaonakuh or Cogster." I continue.

"It was hard the first few years, but eventually we made a stable place to live. And since we were all immune to the virus, it eventually became extinct since it had no one to feed off of. After that, grass and trees started to grow back. And even insects started coming back too." I go on.

"But, I think that's enough for now little ones. Your ol' grandpa is getting tired. Come give him a hug before he goes to bed." I happily request.

My grandchildren give me a big hug and thank me for the story.

Jenny, the littlest, 5, is my favorite. She is so sweet, just like her mother Max. Fred, the inbetweener, 7, almost seems to radiate with a comedic humor. He is always telling jokes and making everyone laugh. And lastly, the oldest, 13, Michael, is just like me. He reminds me of me. His personality, facial features, and matching birthmark.. It's almost like looking into a mirror.

I take a look out the window and see the kids playing in the snow with Sparky and Rose and Aunt Kylee. She's not their actual aunt but, she volunteered to be their aunt. So we let them.

I watch them for a while, smiling and giggling at what they're doing.

After a while, I look around some more and see what started it all. Sparky and Rose's dog house. I smile and shed a few tears.

I get out of my rocking chair and head towards my bedroom. I open the door and see my wife, Max, reading a book. "Hi sweetie." I say with a smile.

She looks up from her book and greets me back. I walk towards bed and take off my slippers. I get comfy and kiss my wife goodnight. I look over at my clock and it's 8:37pm.

I take a sip of water before closing my eyes and letting the sweet sound of sleep take me.