Bella leaves Axel and sets out for home

Bella leaves Axel and sets out for home after his death, turning a new bereavement into a renewed journey toward Lucas. The departure links the comfort she gave Axel to the loss she already carries, while a snagged leash and a collar that slips free make the meaning of belonging suddenly uncertain.

Leaving Axel

As people gather after Axel is gone, Bella waits among his remaining sacks and blankets on the riverbank. Their scent recalls the comfort she had provided him and the closeness they shared. She understands that she will not see him again, and the loss resembles the pain she feels when she fears she will never reach Lucas. Her thoughts turn to ordinary gestures of care: Axel’s hand on her head, sleeping beside him, and receiving a treat from his fingers. These remembered details give the separation its weight without changing its immediate fact: Axel is no longer there.

The people around Bella are occupied with their own concerns. Tom, whom she likes and associates with snacks, is present but busy speaking to others. No one comes forward to attend to her, and no one calls her name. Bella therefore turns away and follows the riverbank. Her departure is not marked by an explicit human decision or a new companion taking responsibility; it begins when she recognizes that the gathering will not bring Axel back and resumes following her senses.

Repeating the Journey

Bella interprets the loss through a pattern she has learned: things repeat. To follow Go Home, she had previously left the Lucas blanket behind; now she understands that she must leave Axel’s blankets as well. The comparison does not make the separations equal in circumstance, but it gives her a way to act through grief. Objects bearing the scent of someone she loves remain behind, while the journey toward Lucas continues.

That journey has already involved care for another vulnerable companion. Bella and Big Kitten spent several days sharing a kill, playing together, and sleeping near one another. Big Kitten sometimes left to hunt and returned with prey, including a small rodent they shared. When Bella later felt compelled to move on, Big Kitten followed, keeping near even when she traveled out of sight. Bella, in turn, felt responsible for her safety and knew she could cover more ground if she did not have to wait for her companion. This earlier bond clarifies a recurring tension in Bella’s travels: attachment can slow her progress, but she does not treat another creature’s welfare as irrelevant to the journey.

The Leash and Collar

As Bella travels away from town, the leash trailing behind her sends a repeated tremor up her neck and slows her down. It catches on a fallen tree and stops her. She pulls, circles the tree, and bites at the leash, but none of these attempts frees her. With the moon rising, she becomes aware that she is near a stream in an exposed area with only sparse trees and brush for cover. She can detect coyotes at a distance and fears being trapped where she could not defend herself.

Bella keeps twisting and pulling until the collar shifts up her neck and becomes uncomfortable. When she ducks and shakes her head, it comes free. The release solves the practical problem of the snagged leash, but it carries an emotional cost: Bella feels like a bad dog because the only time she remembers being without a collar was at the shelter. She understands a collar as a human marker that a dog belongs to someone. Its absence therefore makes her feel unclaimed even as it allows her to continue moving.

Continuing Toward Lucas

Bella does not turn back for the collar. She believes she is closer to Lucas, although she knows the distance is still great, and carries on without the object that had both impeded and identified her. The departure thus brings together two opposing conditions: freedom of movement and the fear of no longer belonging to anyone. Her resolve is not presented as relief from grief; she leaves Axel’s things while still feeling the loss, and continues because going home remains her purpose.

The journey ahead repeats familiar hardships. Bella must search for water and food, startle a rabbit she cannot easily catch, and avoid places where people are audible or active. Without a collar, she is unsure how people will respond if they see her, so she continues to keep away from them even as hunger grows. The scene’s turning point is consequently modest but decisive: after Axel’s death, no one claims Bella, and she chooses to set out anyway. The collar’s disappearance does not resolve her longing for a home; it makes that longing more urgent and more complicated.