Through a Canine's Eyes

Chapter 1

The rain pounded down hard on my shoulders as I walked casually along, a wide smile on my freckled covered face. My clothes were completely soaked, my once curly brown hair was dripping water everywhere, and I didn't care. Not one bit. Even my shoes were off, socks in them and they were slung over my shoulders. I was walking along in the gutter of the street, the fast moving water sloshing around my aching feet. After a busy morning of running around, it was the best feeling in the world.

The grey clouds that loomed overhead darkened the area around me, causing it to look like it was late in the afternoon rather than the middle of the day. I had just finished my busy shift at video store. It wasn't the best job, but hey, it paid.

I was on my way home when it started bucketing down with rain as a storm started to brew in the skies over the small town I lived in. There was nothing that I could do about it because if I didn't get home in time my mother would freak out, so I kept walking and enjoyed it instead. A little water could never hurt you – rather, it seemed to soothe me.

I licked my lips to get some of the water off them as a flash of lightning danced in the sky. I angled my head up so I could look out for more, after all I thought lightning was beautiful to watch. A round of thunder rumbled in the clouds and it was followed shortly after by some more lightning. I could feel excitement coursing through my veins - storms always seemed to get me hyped up.

Suddenly my foot slipped out from under me, sliding forward with alarming speed as it knocked me off balance. While I was busying sky gazing, I had stepped on something slippery under the surface of the water that was rushing through the gutters and my foot had just shot out under me.

My other foot quickly lost its grip too due to the slippery surface under the water and I was now falling backwards. I gasped as everything seemed to go in slow motion around me, like what happens to most people any time they trip. The last thing I saw was a flash of lightning dance through the grey clouds before I hit the ground and everything went black. Just as the darkness swallowed me, I thought I heard a voice laugh.

I was swimming in an eternal pit of darkness for some reason, with no idea why. My mind was conscious, yet at the same time it was not. I was confused. Where was up? Where was down? And where the hell am I anyway? What was the last thing that happened? For some reason I couldn't figure anything out, my mind kept drawing up blanks. I was dazed and confused; nothing seemed to make sense no matter what I tried.

Suddenly, there was a strange sensation that my brain seemed to register; it took me a few moments to process it though. What was it? It was a smell, I think, and not a pleasant one either. The smell made me want to curl up my nose, but I couldn't feel any connection to my body to do that. Wait… It took me a few more seconds to realize that if I could smell something, then I must still be connected to my body.

I slowly concentrated all my attention on the smell, as unpleasant was, it was it was the only stable thing I had to grasp in my current state of mind. Everything else slowly faded out as it slipped away with the darkness, the black and the confusion going away gradually. All that mattered to me at the current moment was the smell. The smell seemed to get stronger as I suddenly felt heavy, slight pounding sensation growing in my head as I came back to myself. I had begun to regain consciousness, I realized, willing myself to open my eyes.

My eyes felt like they were being weighed down, but slowly they began to open themselves, allowing a crack of light to penetrate my vision. My eyes snapped shut straight away at the sight of the bright light, but with a bit more persuasion I opened my eyes again; going slowly to give them time to adjust.

When my sight finally came to me, I suddenly wished I just kept them closed. I noted that there was something in my line of sight, like when you concentrate you can see your nose. But my nose was huge! Maybe I had something on my nose? That must be it! I concentrated on the object in my line of sight even harder, and it slowly came into a blurry focus. My brain paused for a second to process the information, as if not willing to believe it. The thing on my nose was a… muzzle? No, it wasn't on my nose, it was my nose!