Charlie, the Hero

My tail drooped by my side as I laid down before the door, letting out a small, sad sigh through my nose.

"Oh, I miss him so much." I whimpered, resting my head on my paws.

"He left three minutes ago, Charlie." Sighed the cat, rolling her eyes. She flicked the tip of her tail and yawned. "Honestly, I don't see why you care about him so much. He's just a crummy human; We're clearly superior. He feeds us, doesn't he? That means we must be Gods to him. He's just a guest in our house."

I whined.

"I don't think that's the right way to look at it, Bella." I told her, looking up at the sassy Siamese. "He provides us with food, so he must be God."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you want to think." She said, getting up and stretching. "But look, him leaving isn't all bad. I say have some fun with it. Like this."

She hopped onto the counter in the kitchen and sniffed a small flower pot, batted at it with her paw for a moment, then knocked it off.

I yelped and leapt to my feet as the flower pot shattered against the floor, splattering dirt and pieces of the broken pot all over the floor and wall.

"Bella!" I barked, whipping around towards her, "You're the one who keeps breaking the Master's stuff?!"

She sat down and curled her tail around her paws, giving me a toothy approximation of a smile.

"Stop doing that, it always gets blamed on me!" I shouted.

"That's precisely why I do it." She chuckled, licking her paw and drawing it over her ears. "It's easy to blame things on the dog."

I growled, then looked down at the broken flower pot, nudging the dirt with my nose, trying to at least help clean up a bit. Then I huffed and laid down, whimpering.

"It doesn't matter." I mumbled. "Master clearly abandoned us. He's been gone for, like, seven years already."

"Five minutes." Bella said, licking her back. "You dogs really do have a terrible sense of time. Or maybe it's just Pit Bulls."

I growled, then leapt at the counter, trying to knock Bella off. However, she leapt out of the way with a yowl just in time, and I fell, sprawling, back onto the floor.

Angry, I got up and wandered over the couch, needing a break from Bella and her cruelty. I glanced at the door once more before letting out a small whine and sniffing the side of the couching, gnawing on it gently. I missed him so much, it was making me anxious.

When would he come back?

Had it really been five minutes like Bella said, or had he really abandoned us?

I looked up at the ceiling and began to howl, hoping that Master would hear me and come back.

"Hey, cut it out!" Bella hissed, "You're interrupting my destruction time!"

She knocked a spoon off the counter.

I growled, and the growl kept growing and growing until it was a bark, and I could handle Bella's antics no more.

"Stop. Messing. With. Master's. THINGS!!!" I barked, running at her.

She yowled, all the fur on her back standing on end as I leapt up at the counter, intending to chase her off. Although I couldn't get up there, my barks were thankfully enough to scare her off.

Unfortunately, being a cat, she had to run into a million things as she did so.

She accidently ran into the paper towel roll as she darted across the counter, slamming it into a glass bottle that Master always had near the stove. The liquid inside the bottle spilled out all over the paper towels, seeping into the trail that Bella had unrolled as she ran.

Her paw slipped against a little knob on the stove as the liquid got on her feet, turning it all the way around. Knocking sveral more spoons off the counter as she ran, she finally jumped off, running out of the kitchen. I could hear her little feet thumping as she ran upstairs, probably going into her favorite spot to hide, under the toilet in the bathroom.

"Oh, goodness!" I yelped, staring with horror at the ruined counter. "What's Master going to think of this mess?"

Just as I had the thought, something beyond my worst dreams happened.

The stove exploded into flames.

I yelped and jumped back as I saw the roaring fire licking the paper towels, eating its way along the trail.

I howled with fear, tucking my tail between my legs and running to the door as the flames began to eat the wooden cabinets around the kitchen, and smoke began to fill the house.

I howled as loud as I could, my heart pounding. I scratched against the door, hoping with all my heart that someone would hear my desperate cries and save me.

"Help!" I shouted fearfully, "Help, someone please help!"

The flames crackled behind me, and a piece of the cabinet fell onto the floor with a loud crash, and as I turned around, I saw with horror that the flames were beginning to fill the living room, consuming the couch.

I squealed with fear.

And that was when I remembered... Bella.

I whipped around as I heard pounding on the door, then yelped as glass shattered to my left.

"Charlie!" Someone called, swishing smoke away. I studied the man's face, recognizing it to be the Master's neighbor. He owned a dog named Luna who I loved to play with. "Charlie, come here! Come here, boy! We called the fire department, but we have to get you out of here now!"

But what about Bella? We have to save her! I thought.

I whimpered, tucking my tail deeper between my legs and lowering myself to the ground.

"What are you doing? We have to get out of here! The roof is going to come down on us!" The man yelped.

Sure enough, there was cracking above us, and a huge chunk of the ceiling came falling down, forming a burning barrier between me and the man.

"Charlie!" He called, then began to cough.

I coughed too, as smoke began filling my lungs.

That was when I heard a yowling meow from atop the stairs.

Bella.

Knowing that I was the only one who could save her, I let out a yowl to steel my nerves, then ran through the burning house.

I heard the man calling me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying over the roaring flames. Everywhere I looked, something was on fire; the world around me was filled with red and orange flames.

I tried to hold my breath so I wouldn't inhale too much smoke, leaping over burning objects and racing around the house until I'd finally reached the stairs, where Bella sat at the top of, her back arched as she hissed at the flames.

"Bella!" I called, "You have to come down here! I'll carry you out of the house!"

"How can I get down?!" Bella yelled back, "The whole staircase is on fire!"

My heart raced as I thought of what I could do.

There's only one thing we can do. My mind whispered.

I closed my eyes for a moment, listening only to the roaring flames and crackling fire, smoke swirling around me, trying to suffocate me.

But I wouldn't let it.

Not until I'd saved Bella.

With a bark, I leapt up the burning staircase, feeling the wood burning and cracking beneath my paws.

"Get on my back!" I yelled to Bella. She took a leap of faith, landing directly on my back. I winced as she dug her sharp claws into me to hold on, but I ignored the pain and ran back down, speeding as fast as I could to get out of the house.

I took a leap of faith as I spotted the window up ahead, jumping through the hole that the man had broken in it, landing on the cool concrete of the driveway outside.

I collapsed, panting, inhaling as much of the fresh air as I could. Bella slid off my back, coming up to lick my face.

"Thank you so much." She whispered. "I can't believe you saved me from a fire that I started."

I gave her a small smile.

"Of course, Bella." I said through pants, "You're my friend."

Then I heard sirens, and suddenly several huge red trucks were driving into the neighborhood, stopping by our house. Four men came over to me, including the neighbor who had tried to save me.

"Oh my God, he saved the cat!" the neighbor said, picking Bella up. He stroked my head as the men all told me how brave I was, petting me all over. My tail thumped against the ground as it wagged.

Then a familiar blue car pulled up to the side of the road, unable to get into the driveway passed the big trucks. Several men were spraying the house all over with water, putting the fire out.

"CHARLIE!", My Master shouted as he ran over to me, tears in his brown eyes. He picked me up, stroking my ears and hugging me.

"Good boy, Charlie." He said into my neck. "Very good boy."

Those three words made my day.

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Hello, dear readers! I hope you enjoyed the story!

While it's true that not all Pit Bulls will run into a burning house to save someone, they are extremely loyal and protective, and will do anything possible to protect their owners (or other pets, if they really love them) from danger.

Unfortunately, many people don't take the time to look at the amazing traits of Pit Bulls because of the bad reputation people have given them, and hundreds of thousands of these amazing dogs are surrendered to kill shelters each year.

Bur the truth is, there really aren't any bad dogs, just owners who didn't socialize them properly as puppies.

So do some research.

Maybe, one day, save the life of a Pit Bull.

If they're properly trained, you won't regret it. They're some of the most loyal, affectionate dogs out there.

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