Bits and Pieces

Day 17 - Hamster

Alternative: Write a scene from the point of view of an animal.

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Loud music penetrated the quiet of my cage, and I turned over in my sleep, trying to ignore it.

When it became clear that it wasn't going to stop, I propped myself up on my stomach and groggily rolled off my bed of aspen wood shavings. Apparently, Annie thinks the fact that hamsters are nocturnal is insignificant. I brushed the fur on my head with my paw in irritation.

There was only one reason why Annie would be blasting deafening songs in the middle of the day. She was stressed.

Work, college, housekeeping, work, hospital visits, work, taking care of her younger siblings, work. These were only a small percentage of the stressful things she talked about —whether to me, or to herself, I'm not sure— every night.

Did I mention, work?

When I had reached the end of the cage facing the living room, my owner was bobbing her head along to the electric guitar solo blaring out from her computer while scribbling on something. Probably bills, since it was time of the month for them.

My suspicion was confirmed correct when she lifted the papers to reveal the words Electrical Bill written across the top sheet. I scratched behind my ears, already feeling the stress she must be suffocating from.

Although, of course, as a hamster, I've never experienced any direct stress from such things as bills.

Since I was already fully awake and certainly not able to go back to sleep with the rock music still on, I decided to get some exercise like Annie always tells me. Climbing onto the plastic blue wheel, I ran along to the beat, the equipment making squeaking noises from not being used in a long time.

That would explain all the fat weighing me down right now...

Cough.

Well anyway, now that I was on a roll, it wasn't that tiring to keep the wheel going.

Until the beat changed to a ballad moments later.

The sudden change made me lose my rhythm and ended up in me tripping over my own paws. They slipped out from under me, and my face smacked right against the plastic. The wheel itself swung back and forth a few times from stored momentum before squeaking to a stop. With me still lying face down on it.

Soft giggling was coming from Annie's direction when I managed to peel my face off and hop unto the bedded ground of the cage. "Bernie, what were you doing just lying on there? You're supposed to run on it, you lazy butt," she chided affectionately.

Obviously she didn't see my extremely long exercise a while ago. I shot her a glare, granted she didn't see it since she had gone back to her bills.

And for her information, my butt is not lazy. Just brown mixed with a bit of white. And okay, maybe slightly large for a hamster my age...

But that's beside the point!

I rubbed my throbbing face a few times before trotting back to my bed. A hamster might as well just go back to sleep when their owners and their paws aren't respecting them, right?

If only Annie would turn off the bagpipe music.