Little Miss Hellhound (NaNoWriMo 2022)

Chapter 1

"And so, there I was. Standing in my own little circle of hell, surrounded by millions! Waiting to be judged. Longing to be free. I am innocent, after all. I–"

"Ran away?" a gruff voice interrupted.

"Well, yes, but that's later. Don't you want to hear the whole story? How will I convince you otherwise?"

My small audience slobbered and yelped as quietly as they could. Perfect.

"Did you know when you get to hell, they strip you of all your clothes and force you to... well, none of you would know that, actually."

"I had a little sweater before I came here," the same voice said.

"Anyways, they strip you of all your clothes and force you to run around a massive circle. Something with horns whips you, everywhere you go. The only thing you see for eternity are the walls of a massive cave, and the shaved head in front of you. Awful, just awful. That's no way for someone like me to live. I didn't ever do anything in life that bad. Never. And they say that puts me all the way down in circle eight? Eight of nine!? For sleeping with people, partying. Just living life, you know? I didn't ever do anything that wrong. The worst thing I ever did to end up in hell was skip out on church. Not like there was anyone to drag me there except Kim. But I've read that book in school, too. And skipping church is not listed in circle eight."

"What book?" a little one barked out of her sight.

"Keep forgetting who I'm talking to. You can't even read. All you need to know is hell is for others and I didn't belong there. But I had a plan. One of those demons was particular on whipping me, since I was the youngest in the crowd. I thought I could make a deal. I didn't know you could actually do those things, but it worked. He got into my head and spoke some gibberish, but I knew what he was saying. Weird. I said I didn't belong there, but he said otherwise. After listing my crimes, he said the worst one is I did nothing with my life. Living it isn't enough for this guy, I guess. I decided to put his baseless accusations to the test. I told him I had done good somewhere, for someone, at least. Even if I didn't know it. He told me to shove it, or something like that. Nasty prick. I told him I'd bet the rest of my stay there. He seemed like the gambling type. Whatever he was, it worked. He gave me time, and a body, to prove him wrong. And here I am! Ready to serve and be the best version of myself. Which was just me before, nothing needs to change on that. So, what do you think?"

After a few moments of sweaty panting and muted barks, I finally got some responses.

"How could you be a master? I don't see it."

"If you're a master, you could break out of here easily."

"You could get taken easily. Oh, please help me get taken. I want masters too! Will you be my master?"

"You all seriously believe her? She's trying to trick us."

"I believe her. She says things only a master would know."

"You can't even understand masters. How would you know what they say?"

This is getting me nowhere.

"Enough! All of you. Jesus." I tapped my claws on the floor, trying to figure out what to say before they got bored or something. "How could I know even half of what I do if I wasn't previously a woman? I even know the right way to say it, not master. Human. I'm human! Any of you doubting that are wrong, and I can't change you otherwise. But I need more of you to help me... us, out of here. How am I supposed to show off all the good I've done if I'm stuck in a kennel?"

More whispers whimpers. I didn't like how nervous they sounded. But some of them seemed less so. I didn't think how much easier it would be to speak when I can hear so many more things. But I wanted to ignore those facts. I just wanted to focus on convincing these mutts to help me out of here.