Woof

A loud creak at the front door startled me from my dozy slumber next to the heater. Perking my ears up and wagging my tail, I recognized the voice of my master, howling something unintelligible again. I scrambled to my feet eagerly and bolted to the door, greeting him with a couple barks and a very wet tongue. I closed my eyes in expectation of the pat I would receive.

 Instead, my master kicked me in the side.

 Wheezing, I backed away with a whimper in my throat. Had I done something wrong? I gazed at my wonderful, loving master sadly, asking with pleading eyes what I had done to deserve his wrath. He growled a few sounds, one of which I recognized: “stupid.” That was the word he used when I was being bad.

 A bottle of that strong-smelling spicy-water was clenched in his hand. That clarified things.

 For some reason, it seemed that whenever my master drank the spicy-water, I always messed up and did something not allowed. I scarcely knew what exactly I had done wrong, but I knew that I deserved my punishment, because my master was a just and gracious man, and when he punished me, there was definitely a reason.

 Ears flat back, I backed out of the room, hoping to wait until the unluckiness brought on by the spicy-water wore off. I was listening to my master’s strangely heavy footsteps leading upstairs when I saw that the doggie door in the kitchen was swinging open. The cat must have broken the lock again. Without a second thought, I slunk out the door and into the snowy night.

 My great master had been bringing home more and more of the spicy-water recently, and I figured that if I was a bad dog whenever the spicy-water was near, I should do my best to avoid it. I would find another place to stay whenever my master had spicy-water so that I didn’t annoy him or make him hate me.

 An interesting smell crossed my path. I paused in mid-sniff, wondering what the captivating aroma could be coming from. Curiously, I followed my nose.

 I nosed my way through a rather thistly bush to find a giant slab of juicy meat on some bread sitting before me, nestled softly in the snow.

 Dashing forward eagerly, I sunk my jaws into the wonderful, yummy meat. My master had forgotten to feed me again(or purposely refrained from, more likely, the way I’ve been acting lately), and a big hunk of meat was just what I needed. I devoured more than half within seconds, the delicious squelching distracting me from the threatening growl behind me.

 I froze, my mouth still open, and slowly turned around.

  A giant black dog, easily three times bigger than me, stood menacingly behind me, fur on end his anger at my stealing his dinner.

 Immediately, tail tucked between my legs, I bolted away, howling my terror to the world as I ran.

 The monstrous canine pursued me, and I could only run so fast on my stubby little legs. I had barely made it to my neighborhood when the wet, warm fangs slipped into my left hind leg.

  I yelped in pain and fright, jumping half out of my skin. The fear and agony gave me energy, however, and I managed to shake the bigger dog off and get away.

 Once I reached my backyard, I sat down to inspect my injury. Gingerly, I licked at the bloody wound, and the sharp, metallic taste of blood met my tongue. I whimpered and got to my feet again, limping toward the kitchen door.

 When I nudged the doggie door with my nose, it wouldn’t budge.

 My eyes widened and I pushed harder, becoming frantic. But to no avail; the portal was most definitely stuck.

 I sat on my rear and howled, hoping my caring master would hear my distress call. I cried for nearly fifteen minutes, only standing when I swore my bottom would freeze to the patio from the snow.

 Focusing, I listened for any noise made by my master in the house. Only a gentle snore, showing that the spicy-water had put my master to sleep again.

 Miserably, I limped back out of the yard to find somewhere more suitable to stay until my master saved me. I passed houses and cars and other dogs on walks with their people, who I promptly avoided, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere I could stay.

 Finally, when I was sure I could walk no more, I trudged into the snow, put my freezing nose in my tail, and went to sleep.

  Something strong nudged at my sides, urging me to leave my numb, dreamless sleep. I resisted, reluctant to wake up, until the somethings picked me up.

 That woke me up.

 I blinked from the sudden light glaring off of the snow, wondering what I was doing dangling five feet in the air, until I turned around to look straight into the wide eyes of my master.

 He smiled and held me to his chest, where I listened to his relaxing heartbeat. He seemed to be really upset. Keen to comfort him, I nuzzled closer. He was warm.

 Then, a stabbing twinge in my left leg reminded me of my situation.

 I gave a sharp cry, trying to tug the injured limb closer. My master took one look and immediately carried me to his metal-monster, which was standing nearby, and opened the door to the metal-monster’s stomach. In a way that I didn’t understand, my master brilliantly communicated to the monster, through turning a circle, where he wanted to go.

 As the metal-monster trod(or rolled) on, my beautiful, perfect master kept his hand on my back, whispering consoling words that I didn’t understand, there for me all the way.

 There was nowhere I’d rather be.