Changing Channels

Chapter 1

Beep. Beep.

That was the sound she woke up to.

Where was it coming from? She tried to ignore it at first but every time she was just starting to doze off it would shake her from her slumber until finally, she'd had enough. She sat up and opened her eyes, snorting angrily and twitching her ears as she looked around to try and find the source of the noise.

Beep. Beep.

She was in a dark room that smelled of blood and urine. The walls were a sad beige-gray combination; little pieces of paint were beginning to peel off and fall to the ground. The only furniture of any kind that she could see was a single table much taller than her with various objects she couldn't recognize on them. A man dressed in brown and gray was on the other side of the room, looking at a thin slab of wood that held a single piece of paper on it.

A friend! She thought excitedly, her tail wagging as all memory of the noise disappeared. Excited, she started running towards him, but only managed to take a few steps before she was stopped.

She kept trying to run, but she...wasn't? She didn't understand. She was moving, why wasn't she going anywhere?

Beep. Beep.

She started whining loudly, her eyes filling with tears as she tried to comprehend why she couldn't reach the man. The man in question heard her call of distress and turned. The two made eye contact, and she smiled.

Yes!!! she thought. I'm right here!! Let me come to you!!!

The man pulled out a box made of hard metal and pushed a button on it, and her body exploded with pain.

It felt like lightning coursing through her. She couldn't move, couldn't even attempt to cry out for help, couldn't do anything except let it torture her.

She stared at the man the entire time, wondering when he would come to help her, but he had gone back to staring at the piece of paper and didn't seem to notice the agony his new friend was going through. Finally, after what seemed like forever, it was over. She fell to the floor, defeated. Her eyes filled with tears and she let them all come out, her simple mind unable to comprehend what had happened or why it had hurt so much.

Beep. Beep.

The sound was back. She stopped crying for a moment and angled her ears again. It seemed to be coming from her? Was she beeping?

Beep. Beep.

She looked around, trying again to find the source, but instead she found a line of metal circles behind her. One end was attached to the sad wall, the other to her. She felt her neck, trying to find what it was connected to. It was funny, she thought, how the top of her neck felt so cold and smooth compared to the rest of her. She turned her gaze down and spotted another circle of metal, this one wrapped around her neck. Bright red and green lights were embedded into it, and they flashed every so often; making a soft beeping noise every time they did. Her frustration forgotten, she sat down and began to watch them, letting out a hushed "ooo!!" noise every time they lit up.

She sat there watching the lights for who knows how long. The flashing never seemed to get old to her, and they changed so often! Sometimes just the green light flashed, sometimes just the red light, and sometimes both at the same time! Her tail wagged excitedly, thumping against the floor as she tried to guess which light would flash next. She wasn't very good at this new game she'd invented, but every time she did guess right her tail wagged faster and a swell of pride filled her chest.

After a while of this, her new friend left the sad gray room, turning off the lights behind him. The second she was left alone in the darkness, the game was forgotten. She started shaking.

"Hello?" she whispered her first word out into the silent, ominous void, and no one answered.

She started shaking harder. The dark was scary. She didn't like the dark. She wanted her friend to come back and stay with her. Surely if someone else was here with her, the monsters wouldn't get her, right?

Maybe they'd get him instead, her brain retorted.

She held the thought in her mind for a long moment. I guess that's true, she thought back to herself. I wouldn't want him to get eaten because of me.

Still, it was horrifying being alone in the room. She was whining now, huddled as closely to the wall as she could manage. Was it just her imagination, or were those footsteps she was hearing coming towards her? She could swear they were getting closer.

"S-stay away!" she managed to squeak out. The monster would be right in front of her by now, she just knew it.

Beep. Beep.

Her collar flashed, casting a soft light in front of her and showing her she was the only one in the room. Her muscles relaxed just a bit. Cautiously, she stepped away from the wall. She waited for the collar to flash again, then when it did she turned her head around the room, using every moment of the brief flash she could to confirm that she was alone.

She laughed nervously and let herself relax all the way. There was clearly no danger here. She looked down at her collar again, smiling now.

"Thank you," she said.

Beep. Beep. The collar flashed back.

She giggled. "You'll protect me from the monsters, right?"
A delay. Her ears drooped.
Beep. Beep. The collar suddenly flashed.

Her ears perked up again and she sighed, relieved. She lay down, resting her head on her front paws, and let the soft beeps of her new best friend sing her to sleep as she breathed in the relaxing scents of blood and urine.