School Writing Pieces

You are what you eat

They always say a dog is a man's best friend. So why did he try to hurt me then?.......

Hi everyone, my name is Finn. I'm a golden retriever puppy and have been up for adoption for a year and a half because no one was an untrained puppy. I try to be on my best behavior when people come looking so I have a chance of getting picked, but if you saw how tasty-looking everyone's shoes are you'd completely understand. No one knows exactly how old I am, but the owner of the adoption center tells everyone I'm 6. Even though I'm not super smart I don't feel 6. And everyone calls me a puppy and a 6-year-old dog certainly isn't a puppy.

**Two months later**

Hey there! Me again! I have some amazing news! I got adopted today! It was by this fantastic guy named Flynn Riggs. He's 42 and he's got short brown hair. At about 6'2 his sparkling hazel eyes are hard to meet. He drives around in this red pickup truck and he has a little white house atop a small cute hill. After hearing about all the good times other dogs had with their families I expected the same reaction from him. Instead, he opened the door to a quiet, dark, and frankly pretty creepy room. There was only one chair at the table, one recliner, and a single set of silverware. It is true what they say, never judge a book by its cover. Or a house for that matter. This guy and the outside of his house looked fun and enlightening, it's misleading if you ask me. Turns out he's so lonely and his mom paid for me for him. Trying to get him to "open up?" or something like that? The only thing he seems to want to do is a state at this frame. I was tired of sitting here doing nothing so I went over to look at it. He got really mad because I had to grab it with my teeth but I came to find out, it was just some lady. She had blonde hair and green eyes. She looked like a supermodel. He picked up the frame and looked at me.

"My wife," he said solemnly.

I only had one question at this exact moment; Where is she!?!

This guy had been on his own for a YEAR. That's a long time to be alone. I mean, I didn't exactly have anyone when I was in the adoption place but there were still other dogs and people there. I suddenly felt sorry for the guy. He wasn't weird or creepy, he was hurt.

Little did I know, I was hurt too. It was only about 2 days after I came home with Flynn that I started panting. And losing my balance. And losing my appetite. Now panting, I knew that could happen, but not being hungry?! I couldn't believe what was going on! Flynn must have thought the same thing when he brought me to the vet. After a long 3 hours at the vet, there was a sense of tension in the air. When the vet asked to speak with Flynn privately I knew something was up. One word from the vet said it all.

"Pray."

Turns out there is an infection in my stomach and I don't have much time left. The vet said she was very sorry it had to be this way but if we sign a few papers it could get me into the new medicine trial. It's where they try a bunch of new medicines on animals that need them. These are for the extremely rare diseases and animals that if injured by the medication won't be particularly severe considering the conditions they are already in.

With papers signed Flynn didn't waste a minute. I mean, if I had finally found a friend after a whole year, I would not want to lose him either. It was with that, the first medicine trial was ago.

The medicine I was taking tasted so weird and I had to take it twice a day. So every time I had to try and gulp it down I'd just remember, this is trying to help me.

Little did I know it was doing the exact opposite.

Flynn looked at the vet with angry eyes, "It's not working!!"

"Yes I understand that, but these are trials for a reason. It could be that we're treating the wrong thing. Or maybe there just isn't enough force behind the medication," said the vet so quickly I could barely understand her. "If you'd like to continue trying, here are some medicine tablets. They are extra strong tablets and should hopefully start to show more progress. Now, this is very important so you have to make sure you're listening to me."

"Let me hear it," Flynn said sarcastically.

"This dog cannot and I repeat cannot have more than one of these tablets a day. One of these is equivalent to about 4 of his regular pills. If you forget just give me or the office a call and we'd be happy to answer. Got it?"

A sarcastic, "Ma'am yes ma'am." comes from Flynn and we head back home. With a single look, I knew something was up. Flynn kept looking at the pill bottle and then at me. Pill bottle. Me. Pill bottle. Me. I could see the wheel turning in his head and I thought I knew what he was going to do. I was wrong. Very, very, wrong.

As soon as we got in the house he gave me three pills. Only until I saw the container to know they were the extra strength. If that didn't give it away the room spinning and going dark did. My stomach felt like it was being tied in a knot and the only thing I could do was close my eyes. I thought this guy cared about me?! What's he doing to me?!

"Finn?! It'll be okay buddy, it'll be okay."

How is any of this okay?! With things going darker, I closed my eyes tight and everything was finally calm again.

"I can't believe I did that," cried Flynn, "I really shouldn't have fed it..."