Behind Closed Doors

Cassie.

My eyes were shut tight, and when I tried to open them everything was blurry so I just kept them closed. I heard the muffled cries of my brothers and sisters, I could feel the warmth of them around me, and my mother's sweet scent. Every time the gate opened I could feel the footsteps in our pen, and felt my mother's heartbeat quicken as if she was running a marathon. One day, the boots came, called my mother and she never came back. I never got to see her. After 4 endless weeks of playing with my siblings, the boots and sneakers came into our pen. I could finally see what boots looked like. He was a dark haired man with a scar under his left eye, his eyes looked devilish and angered. I wondered what angered this man, I wanted to help him smile. Sneakers called him Josh. Josh, I like that name, I want to help this Josh be happy. He looked right at me with those devilish eyes. His giant claws swooped down like a hawk and pulled the scruff of my neck as my mother had. It was different the way he did it, he was rough and it pinched.
He looked me up and down and said to sneakers, "This blue bitch will do. She won't last long, but she'll have to do. I am trying to train Tank."
"You going to name the mutt?" Sneakers' voice was just as harsh as Josh's.
Josh glared at me and answered," I'll call her Cassie."
"That's a nice name." Commented Sneakers. That made me feel like Josh loved me as much as I loved him.
Josh glared at me once again and said, "Eh, the name is shit. It is just so I know what mutt I have on the list."
Next thing I know, he walks outside with me under his arm and puts me in a cage in the back of his truck. It smelled weird back here. Like other dogs, and blood. It burned my nose. There was rope and chains everywhere. I didn't like his truck very much.
Josh drove so fast, I could barely stand. I tried to sit, but I just kept rolling around and running into the sharp corners of the cage.
We finally parked, and I had to sit a second to make sure I wouldn't puke from all or the motion. Josh opened the back of his truck and my cage, then he yanked me out. He pinched my scruff again, and I winced. He put me under my arm and I looked around as he walked us around. This place was weird, it was a tiny trailer with chains outside. He walked me behind it and there was a big barn. It was locked and I could smell its stench from 30 feet away. It stank like blood, and sweat, and feces. Josh kept walking past the barn into the woods, there were little trails to leafless trees with plastic igloos and broken chains attached to them. We stopped at a bigger tree with a huge, blue, square faced dog that looked like me, attached to a chain. He was laying on the ground just sleeping.
Josh stomped up to him, kicked his paw and said, "Wake up Tank! You hungry? I brought you a toy!"
I got excited when he said a toy, I wanted to play too. He held my scruff and waved me in front of Tank's face. I looked right into Tank's eyes and could see the sadness behind his carmel globes. He sighed and looked at Josh.
Josh got angry and yelled at Tank, "Don't you like the chew toy I got you?!"
Josh's yelling made my tummy feel queasy. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. Tank looked at me with apologetic eyes and then barked so loud it echoed in my ears. His teeth made him go from friend to shark in milliseconds. Josh responded with a devilish smile and patted Tank on the head.
"Good boy Tank, but you're going to have to wait until your next training session, see you later Tank."
Josh put me under his arm and we walked further into the woods until Josh stopped at an unoccupied tree, it was full of green, baby leaves. Josh dropped me onto the circle of sand that filled in the area around the tree. I was excited to be on the soft sand. I started to sniff around, it was a mix of fresh air from the trees and burning scent of blood. When I got closer to the edge of the circle, my paw was an inch from the brown scratchy grass when Josh grabbed my scruff. The sensation of his claws in my neck made me wince and cry out. My cry made him scowl. He put me in front of him and tightened a chain around my neck. The chain itched, and held me 3 feet away from the small tree. Josh pat me on the head and said, "See you tomorrow Cassie." and he walked back the way we came.
I wonder why Josh left me out here. All I could do was sniff around my 3 foot perimeter. All I found was a half buried, upside-down chewed up plastic bowl and a stick. As it got darker, my tummy rumbled. I waited for Josh to come and give me food, but it got so late that I fell asleep waiting for Josh to come back.
I layed there and waited for Josh. He promised he'd come back the next day. He finally came 5 days after that day.
When I saw him, I jumped up in excitement. My tail's movement was uncontrollable. My feet were jumping and dancing as he stomped towards my tree. It had lost some leaves since I had gotten there. I jumped onto his leg, Josh immediately kicked out his leg and yelled, "Get the hell off me mutt!"
The hairs on my neck stood up and the anger in his voice made my tail retreat between my legs. His claws reached around my muzzle and held so tight I could hardly breathe.
His dark, devilish eyes pierced mine and he asked, "Ready for your test?"
He let go of my muzzle and unraveled my chain from the tree. He dragged me along the narrow pathway and I looked around at the other trees surrounded by feces and sand perimeters. But the other dogs were gone. And so were the chains they were attached to.
We walked into the big barn, I had thought it smelled bad from the outside. From the inside it was much worse. It was a mix of beer, blood, sweat, and death. There was a faint smell of chicken. I looked around and saw 7 men all holding a chain with a dog attached. I'm not sure why they have chains, the dogs themselves are as small as me, some are much skinnier. They didn't look even a bit dangerous. After looking around I noticed the bowl in the middle of the room with one small chicken nugget, it smelled delicious to my needy stomach. Josh pulled me to a spot and announced to the room of strange men,
"When I give the signal, let your mutts off their chains. The first 3 dogs get trained. The rest are chew toys for training." everyone nodded in agreement, and I looked at the other confused dogs.I looked up at Josh and realized, this is what he meant by the test.
"First let's take roll call." Yelled a familiar voice, it was sneakers.
"Georgie?!"...
"Here!"...
"Turk?!"...
"Here!"...
"Max?!"...
"Here!"...
"Jason?!"...
"Here!"...
"Cassie?!"...
"Here!"...
"Jordan?!"...
"Here!"...
"And I have Jackie. Alrighty boss. Ready when you are."
Josh grabbed a shiny, long whistle out of his pocket and put it in his mouth. He grasped the chain around my neck and blew the high pitch whistle. In seconds, every dog was off their chain and scrambling towards the chicken nugget. It was easy to spot the top 3 because their owners were cheering. All of the men grabbed their dogs and went back to where they started. Josh's eyes went from brown to a demonic black. I was worried about what he was going to do or say. He put me back on my chain and hooked the end onto the wall. It was tighter now, it hurt a little to swallow. Josh walked to the middle of the room and announced to the group,
"Our top 3 warrior Pits are... in 3rd place... Terminator Turk! In 2nd place... Massive Mad Max! And in 1st place... George of the jungle! Congratulations square faced warriors. We start training tomorrow."
There was hooking and cheering from the owners of the other pitbulls. Josh walked over to me, unhooked my chain from the wall and practically dragged me by the chain back to my tree. The tree was oddly less green, it had a browning tint to it. Josh was enraged when he it chained me to the weakening tree, he tightened the chain around my neck again. It dug into my neck and the rust burned my skin. Before Josh walked back the way we came, he kicked his big boot into the side of my chest. There was so much force used, it made me fall on my side. I closed my eyes when I winced, and when I opened them again, his blurry figure was walking away from me. I fell asleep in the same position I landed in. It hurt too much to get up. In the morning, Josh had unchained me from the tree before I had fully opened my eyes. I could see my tree past his face, it looked droopy and one of the branches had been broken. Josh didn't hesitate a second for me to get up before dragging me along the trail.
When we got to the barn, there was a black gatted in area with tarps on the ground and around the fence. The scent was different today. My nose was burning with the scent of blood and fear. All of the men around were cheering and staring at me, they were welcoming me, but it didn't feel so friendly. Josh clawed at my scruff and it pinched more than it ever has. He tossed me onto a wooden table, it was so splintered I could feel it on my paws. He grabbed a thicker chain and locked it around my neck so tight i could barely breathe. When Josh dropped the end of the chain, when it hit the table it was so heavy that it pulled my head down with it. 
I sat on the table with my chin on its surface for a bit while Josh and the other men brought in Tank. He had on the same big chains that I had, but he wore them better, he could hold them up. His eyes looked fearful. I wondered what he was so afraid of. He is big and strong, what could he possibly be afraid of?
The men put Tank inside the fenced-in area and chained him to the corner of the gate. I still don't know why they restrain him so much, he seems so nice to me. Josh came over and grabbed the chain around my neck. He didn't even bother to grab the scruff around my neck. I choked and gasped for air until Josh dropped me in the opposite corner of the fenced-in area. He dropped the chain and I couldn't move an inch, it was just to heavy for me to move. 
All of the men closed in around the fence. They looked like vultures, just staring from me to Tank.
Tank's trainer sat at the edge of the fence and grabbed onto Tank's chain. Josh blew his whistle and it all happened so fast. Tank was let off his chain and he ran towards me. I caught a glimpse of his eyes. I could see the regret in his eyes as he turned to face his trainer, he ran back and tried to jump out of the fenced-in area. I couldn't understand what he was running from until his trainer pulled out a whip and started to hit Tank. Tank winced and then had enough. He turned around to me and said, "I'm so sorry, I will try to make this painless."
He ran at me and before I could react, his teeth were sunk into my neck. His jaws were like a hot blade across my throat. Then, everything went blurry.
Josh blew his whistle and 3 men came in and put Tank back on his chain. Josh jumped into the area and pulled me into his arms. He had no expression. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He carried me out of the barn and back down the trail to my tree. The tree was different now. All of its leaves had fallen and it looked broken. Josh laid me down under it and chained me to it again. His blurry boots turned around and walked down the path we had just come from. I was alone. Even though it was summer, I felt cold. I could feel the sand under my cheek, and the blood touching the chain around my neck. I looked at the sky and saw the leaves on all of the trees around my bare tree. The sky was a beautiful baby blue without a cloud in the sky. The green leaves on the surrounding trees became blurry and I looked at my tree. Broken. Damaged. Empty, and alone. My eyes became heavy and I decided I was tired and it was time I got some rest. I let my eyes close and finally I felt free. Goodbye Josh. I hope you smile someday.