Little Miss Hellhound (nanowrimo2022)

Chapter 10

I'm glad they decided not to completely disqualify Jessie here. Mr Bradley rubbed the top of my head. It isn't her fault she has that inner farm dog in her. I've never seen any animal jump like that before.

I've never even seen Jessie try to jump that high! I mean my goodness, she broke the hoops. Twice! And ran over the judges table.

That gave me a bit of a chuckle.

Really?

Well it was kind of funny, watching them fall on their asses like that getting out of Jessie's way.

At least Jessie's having fun. We're certainly going to go out with the wrong kind of bang.

The Bradleys chuckled before two knocks came at their door. They both faced us, I was sitting on the smaller bed next to the main queen sized bed (they gave it to me thinking I was injured breaking those hoops and taking the whole judges table to the face) while Begal was curled up next to me, finally breaking her stone cold regality.

We'll be right back. Have to take care of a few things. Sleep now. The next contest is bright and early. Have to get a head start on those young bucks.

The Bradleys closed the door. Begal hopped away from me and began pacing the door.

"What was that, what was that, what was that?" she whimpered.

"I'm sorry. I genuinely didn't mean to embarrass you like that–"

"Not you, me! I completely botched it."

"Botched what? You did great. Second place put you still in the running for first. We just have to kill it in this scavenger hunt."

"That's not good enough," Begal whispered.

She slowed her pacing, whispering to herself while retreating into a tighter and tighter ball. I didn't like seeing her like this. The nervousness she was holding back was planted all over her exposed teeth and flaring nostrils. Her ears flopped carelessly around. Her tail was between her legs. She was scared. I reached out to put a paw on her back, but she swat it away and fell to the ground, wrapping her head in her forelegs. It was kind of heartbreaking. Begal had been parading around like a perfect dog this whole time. It was getting to her. The responsibility she took on, and put on herself to win the competition rather than just do good. She had to be the best. And I honestly didn't know what to say to her. I saw the stuffed giraffe with the blue buttoned eyes on the bed. She was back here a few times when I wasn't waiting for inbetweens in when we were allowed to be let outside. The neck of the giraffe was chewed up worse than when I first got this thing. The body was deformed in a little. I gently grabbed it in my mouth and dropped it at her paws. She didn't push it away, instead slowly enveloping it as she walked over to the doggie bed she had laid out for her.

"I thought it was good enough," I said. "I thought it was great."

"What do you care? You're just here to help the Bradleys and go," Begal said. "You're not even my real sister."

I don't know why that hurt so much more than it should have. A couple days ago I didn't even know this dog. Less than a week ago, I was alive. But I like Begal now. She's grown on me. Still, I reste a paw on her shoulder. She didn't push it away. She reminded me of that choice. The pressure she put herself under, the box she built for herself, the walls, the responsibilities, accountability, all that stuff. It was just like taking over my parents' life work. I don't think I could've done it because of how much pressure there was to succeed and how bad it was if I failed. The stakes couldn't have been higher than, and I was scared of what would happen if the bad quarter was blamed on me. I didn't have much to complain about, honestly. I take over a hedge fund and have a bad quarter. Woe is the rich girl. Growing up in SF, you see a lot of destitution. Only someone truly heartless can just ignore it all forever. Sometimes you have to lend a hand. If that's all someone could lend me if I was in charge of that company, it wouldn't help me see through everything. But it'd help. It'd be more than nothing. I'm not her sister, and I was a stranger threatening her just days ago. But I think I'm better than nothing for her.