Shared Territory

Chapter 1- New Start

Confusion. And disbelief.
The two feelings that blazed in Ginger's mind as her small red cage was placed in the front seat of a moving truck. She felt a few more heavy items drop into the back of the loud vehicle, shaking the seat and making her dizzy.
Finally everything began to move. And rattle. And vibrate. And make Ginger want to vomit, not that rodents could. But if they could, she would definitely have vomited right then and there.
Fourty-five minutes of being tossed around her cage made Ginger more confused. More disbelieving. She hid in her blue plastic igloo, trying not to die. For once, Ginger felt no urge to get up and eat hay.
And finally, after forty-five minutes of blaring music and thumping, she was taken out of the truck and brought into a new building.
The house was beautiful. The lawn was overgrown with shiny green grass, the roof was a gorgeous robin's egg blue color, and one wall was made of large stones in every shade of gray.
The interior was as striking as the exterior. The living room was connected to the kitchen, both of which empty but still brimming with potential. Next was the long hallway which ended with stairs to the basement. After that, a turn brought Ginger and her cage to a short hall with four doors; three to one large bedroom and two kid's bedrooms. The other led to the bathroom.
Her cage was set in the floor of one of the kid's bedrooms. Even though it was just her, a twin mattress, and a window in the room, Ginger had no doubt this was home.

***

A week later, the house was finished. The furniture was in the right places, all the kitchen supplies were tucked away, and the bedrooms were set up. Even the garage was cleaned out.
Ginger's bedroom now has a wooden wardrobe with clothes in it, the closet full of her food and cleaning supplies, and a whole lot of books.
Ginger didn't get it. What kind of human needed so many books? There was a pile of six seven-hundred-ish pages long books next to the mattress (they still hadn't gotten any beds) and around three full series of books in the shelves in the wardrobe. Ginger didn't judge, though- every human had their quirks. As proven by the enormous amount of dolls and stuffed animals in the pink room next to Ginger's, which housed Ginger's human's sister.
Ginger's human would take her out every day. It was summer, after all. What else was a kid to do other than play with their only pet? Apparently, get another one. Because the next day, everyone in the house left before Ginger woke up from her ten-minute nap.
There was silence for about an hour, in which Ginger paced, panicking. She had heard them mention her name a few times when she was only half asleep.
Each guinea pig had a name their owners called them. It was the only recognizable human word to them because they would say it around their guinea pig a lot. Guinea pigs called them Key Words. Hers was Ginger.
But then the door opened and so much chatter occurred it hurt Ginger's ears. Even from the living room she could recognize a new Key Word.

Honeydew.