<span style="font-style: italic">How did I end up here? Nothing… I remember nothing… what… I…</span><br/><br/>Pain... Sharp, nearly unbearable pain wracked the dog's body as he sat in the dark cell, and no matter what he did he could not fight it off. It was not consistent, however. For some reason, he only felt it whenever his thoughts wandered to who he was and how he got here.<br/><br/>But somehow he knew he was not the only one. Suffering seemed to be everywhere in this place and especially radiated from the cell he was in. It was dark and the air felt unusually dry. Something has happened in this place, something that caused all of these negative feelings to build up. It was almost like all of this pent up emotion was ready to explode.<br/><br/>Thinking too much made his head hurt. He didn’t have a lot of energy for any thinking, or much of anything in general. His mouth was dry, too. He wished he had something to drink; water sounded absolutely wonderful right now. How long has it been since he has had anything to drink? If he had something to drink, he reckoned would have enough energy for thinking. It was like they were purposely keeping him in this state.<br/><br/>Almost as if someone had been listening to his thoughts, he heard the door to his cell being unlocked. The man on the other side smelled of cigarettes, coffee, sweat, and… food!<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Food… He has food!</span><br/><br/>A strange instinct took over suddenly. He sat up, his body trembling with excitement.<br/><br/>The man entered the room slowly, whistling some unknown tune. “Oh, what’s this? The mutt’s awake…” he said in a somewhat amused tone. Mutt. Something about the word made him angry. “It’s about time. We were wondering if everything had failed.” Deep down, he did not like this man. There was something about the look in his eyes. “I was told to feed you. I guess they still have some use for you.”<br/><br/>Yes! Feed me!<br/><br/>…is what he had wanted to say, but the words didn’t come out. Instead a loud bark echoed around the small cell. In response, the man chuckled and held up the bag of food.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Do I..? Should I..?</span><br/><br/>Yes, he was going to do it. He took a step back and then lunged.<br/><br/>The man stood there smiling at him, moving the food out of reach at the last second. As the dog nearly ran into the wall on the other side of the cell, the man let out a chuckle. “Enjoy your meal, filthy mutt,” he said and then left the cell.