I'm a Good Boy

I love snuggling, playing with toys, eating whatever I want, and most of all the BELLY RUBS. I rolled left and right on my back, enjoying the wetness of the grass as she viciously rubbed my belly.

"Who's a good boy?" I barked, I'm a good boy. "

Asking again with even more excitement, "Who's a good boy?"

Maybe she didn't hear me. I barked again, me me, I'm a good boy.

" That's right, Cobalts is a good boy."

I stuck my tongue out, yes, being a dog is great. The only thing I like more than being a dog is my owner, Brianna. "Cobalt, come here, fetch" Ball! I must catch that mother fucker. I ran so fast, jumped up, and got it. I drooled all over the ball as I handed it over, eagerly waiting for her to throw it again. Tossing the ball between her hands, taunting me, while saying, "You want it, boy?" Yes! Throw the fucking ball. After my nonstop barking, she finally threw it. As I ran up and almost had it in my mouth, I heard a loud whistle. Instantly, I fell to the ground on all fours and waited for Brianna. As she ran up to me, she mumbled, "shit." She crouched next to me and whispered, "Good boys stay hidden." Biting the ball, I crawled through the mud and high grass to inside the small damped space. I peered out the slits and saw her running inside the house. I could hear yelling. I crawled up the crawl space to the main floor of the house. I can barely see what's going on, but I could hear everything perfectly. It sounds like Ray's home.

Ray is also my owner, but I don't like him as much as Brianna. I know I'm not supposed to say that, but it's true. My memory of him is fuzzy, but every time I see him, he's yelling, and it scares me. I could see Brianna standing stiffly in the living room. Ray's presents bring the whole household tension. He circles her, eyeing her up and down.

" What were you doing?"

"Nothing," she instantly responded. He stopped circling her, leaned in, and sniffed her. Her curly, black hair brushes his nostrils, and he smiles.

" Then why do you smell like outside?" She tries to loosen up to throw him off, but becomes stiffer.

" Cobalt needed to use the bathroom, so I let him out."

He shakes his head and starts to walk away, but abruptly turns around, "Where is he?"

"Upstairs sleeping,"

why did she lie? He heads towards that way, and her eyes widen as she grabs his wrist, and before she could say anything, he threw her to the ground. A loud thud echoed through the house, followed by whimpering. He bends over and pulls her up by her hair, dragging her across the floor. " Do you think I'm fucking stupid. I command you to stay in the house unless I'm there. Now I have to teach you a lesson." Still holding her hair, he backhands her, causing blood to run out of her mouth and nose. He brings her face to his and tongue kisses her, then throws her to her knees. With her blood smeared all over his face, he says, " I love you." He doesn't walk away until she quietly says, " I love you too." She began to shake on her knees, tilted her head up, and let out a faint whistle. Blood mixed with saliva came out of her mouth. She then collapsed to the floor, barely holding her eyes open. I came out of the crawlspace and snuggled up against her; she could barely acknowledge me. Her eyes fluttered as she said, "I love protecting you, but I wish someone could protect me." Tears flowed out of her eyes as she finally shut them. I couldn't tell if she passed out from the pain or if she was sleeping, but at least she's breathing. I didn't leave her side, and I thought about everything. I'm a dog, I'm supposed to protect my human, but Ray is also my human, and he's bad. But good boys do as they're told, and she told me to hide. I wined from confusion. She put her arm around me, calming me down, and I eventually dozed off with her. My head hurts, and all I want to do is sleep. Is this how she feels?

When I woke up, Brianna wasn't there anymore. Panicked, I ran around the house looking for her. I saw a light coming from the bathroom and went to investigate. I peered through the door, trying to go unnoticed while listening to her conversation. " I can't leave him, he loves me," said Brianna. He was looking in the mirror. She had a huge, swollen, black eye that she pressed with a cold rag. " But girl, he's hitting you, you deserve better," the concerned voice over the phone yelled. "This is the best I'm gonna get. Besides, I love him too." She paced around the bathroom with the rag on her face.

"Besides, I have nowhere to go,"

" You could come here. You and Cobalt. I have plenty of room."

She stops pacing and hunches over the bathtub, " I'll think about it. Look, I gotta go, Ray's home." " Okay, bye girl, I love you," "I love you too." Then I heard the faint beep of the phone hanging up. She walked up to the door, and I backed away as she opened it. "Cobalt, what are you doing here?" I barked and rolled over on my back. She laughed as she petted me. " Would you love a new home?" She whispered. Her eyes looked lost and confused. I sat up and thought about how to help, so I jumped on her and licked her face. Maybe I can lick the bruises away. She laughed, "Cobalt stop it." Before I knew it, someone pushed me off. It kind of hurt. I never felt this touch before, but for some reason, it sent shivers throughout my whole body. Why does this feel familiar? I cried and curled into a ball. Brianna, in a quiet voice, said, "Please don't be so rough with him." Shaking his head, Ray said, " he's like 80 pounds, one little push won't hurt him, " reaching into his pocket. Brianna flinched as he extended his fit towards her. "I got you something," Brianna said, looking down and accepting the gold necklace. She said "thank you" as he pulled her in for a hug. I peaked once I heard crying, " I love you so much. I'm sorry for the way I act. I don't know why I do it. I don't want to lose you." Her eyes widen as he falls to his knees and hugs her legs. "Please believe me, baby." Brianna looks in shock, never seeing this behavior before, and says, " It's okay, I believe you. Let's move on and keep moving forward." His expression switched instantly. He pats her on the back and says, "Great, now what are we eating today? I'm starving." "Oh, I'll go start cooking then." Things stayed like this for some months. Ray would come home with gifts and shower her with love and affection. He still wasn't that nice to me, but at least Brianna's happy. I think so anyway. She's always on the phone, and I can smell pain, but she still smiles.

She looked soulless in the mirror. She cried with a smile on her face. She pushed some things off the counter, then fell to the ground and let out a deafening scream as she crawled into a ball. I crept in and lay next to her, but she didn't notice. I licked her hand, and then she snapped out of it. I snuggled up against her, and she pulled me in tight. " He's stopped hitting me, but I'm still not happy. I know if I don't follow his rules, then he will hurt me. I can't live like that, in fear. I have to leave him, but I can't. The sad thing is that I still love him and I feel like I need him, but I need to love myself more." Then she let out a quick, sarcastic laugh and said, "Only if I did, then I wouldn't be in this situation." I have to go clean before Ray comes home. She wiped her tears and said, " I'm sorry, Cobalt. I can't even make time for you anymore." I miss the belly rubs, toys, and eating whatever I want, but the most important thing to me is you. I want you to be happy. I barked as she fully left out.

Ray came home like he normally does. He greeted her with a hug and kiss, gave her a gift, ate, then headed for bed as Brianna followed. They were snuggling in the bed, then he started kissing her neck. Soft at first, but then a little aggressive.

" Not tonight," she said uncomfortably.

"Come on, please," he begged.

" No! I'm not in the mood." He pulled away a little and got offended,

"Why not? You must be cheating on me,"

"what?" she exclaimed, " no I'm not. I never leave the house, how could I,"

" prove it to me. Let me have you."

She didn't say no anymore, but didn't say yes either. She just stopped fighting and let it happen. Once he was finished, he rolled over and mumbled " I love you" before falling asleep. She lay there for hours looking at the roof. She finally rolled over, looked at Ray, frowned, then looked at me and mouthed, I can't do this. She got out of bed, went to the bathroom, and started biting her nail as the phone rang.

"Hello?" Says a sleepy voice.

"Hey, is that offer still on the table?"

"yeah of course, what's up?"

"I'll explain later. Can I come now?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be waiting,"

"Okay I'll see you soon."

She quietly but efficiently grabbed whatever she could and packed it up. She left the room, and I followed as quietly as I could. She bends down to put on my collar and looks me in the eyes, " Cobalt, we are going to have a new home now, without Ray," I barked with excitement. She grabbed a few belongings and headed for the door. Before we left, she stopped and looked back. She grabbed a pencil and paper and wrote, "Ray, I can't fight for or with you anymore, " and she started to cry, "I'm done- I'm done with you. I'm taking Cobalt, and we are leaving. Have a good life."

She turned to leave but heard footsteps tumbling down the stairs. " Shit, shit, he's gonna kill me! She starts crying profusely while mumbling the word "fuck" over and over. She looked at me like she forgot I was there for a second and whistled. I thought we were leaving, but I ran to go hide, seconds later Ray was downstairs. "Ray baby, I thought you would wake up later," she said, shakenly. Ignoring her, he starts getting mad as he glances at the going-away back.

" Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"I can't do it anymore, Ray,"

he shakes his head and says "Where's the dog?"

She grabs him and says, " I won't let you hurt him again!"

I tilted my head in confusion. What does she mean again? He punches her point-blank in the face. " Fine, then this beating will be all for you." He climbs on top of her, punching her left and right, her screams echoing through the house. She begged him to stop, " Ray, I love you, please stop," but he didn't care. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he hurt me. I- I remember! I was in the hospital, gasping for air. I heard the doctors say I wouldn't make it, and I saw a bright light behind these doors, and it was closing. I thought about Brianna and yelled, " NO!" The doors swung open, and I could open my eyes again. I remember Brianna crying, and I remembered she lied by saying I got hit by a car, but no, I got hit by Ray. Ever since then, she's been protecting me. The anger in me built up. I keep hearing Brianna's screams fading in and out. He picked her up by her neck and as she chokenly said " please." Uhhh! I burst out from my hiding spot and ran up to Ray. Before he could even react, I bit him right in the arm, causing him to drop Brianna. "Ahhhh!" He screamed, but my grip only tightened. " Bad boy, bad boy," he yelled, but I didn't care. I guess I'm a bad boy now. Soon I heard a sound from outside. After everything, you might think that I can't be frightened, but I was. The alarms sounded so loud that they caused me to release my grip and coward. I ran to Brianna and barked, "Come on! We have to go!" But she didn't move. She looked at me with a bruised, beaten face and couldn't get up. I barked again, but again she didn't get up, instead she whistled. Why does she want me to hide? At first I wasn't going to leave her side, but her whistle mixed with the sirens confused and scared me so I hid. Soon, the front door was kicked in, " police," they yelled. There was blood everywhere, Brianna's mixed in with Ray's. "What happened here?" They ask Ray. "The dog attacked me and my wife and me!" "Wife?" They questioned? There was so much blood that they didn't even notice the unconscious body of a middle-aged woman lying there. " Bring in the paramedics. We have an unconscious female." They strapped her down and took both of them to the hospital. Time passed, but more and more people continued to arrive. " What happened here?" One cop said. " He said it was their dog?" One of the cops grabbed their walkie and sent out an alert. " Dangerous dog on the loose, he needs to be put down immediately!" Everyone shook their heads in agreement. " Let's check around here, then head out to gather more evidence." They're going to find me, I thought. I shut my eyes and decided to stay hidden the best way I could, just like Brianna showed me. They came to my hiding spot but walked right past me, but I still didn't dare to move. " All clear" was shouted from all parts of the house. " Let's check the perimeter. He couldn't have gotten far." I heard the doors shut, followed by silence.

I didn't know what to do besides stay hidden. I curled up into a ball and waited for her whistle. Minutes turned into hours, then day one came. I was hungry and thirsty, but I refused to move. I heard sounds from around me, but never her whistle. I was preparing for night two, and I started to shut my eyes, but as I did, I heard a faint whistle. Brianna! I ran in a circle and barked. It sounded like it was coming from outside, so I moved as fast as I could to the outside crawl space. The whole time I was thinking about how we can go to our new home and finally be a family again. I shot out of the crawl space with a smile, expecting to see Brianna, but I was wrong. In front of me were two squirrels.

"See, I knew he was here," one said to the other. I just stood there, annoyed.

" Cobalt?"

" How do you know my name?" I said as I tilted my head.

" This is Bushy, and I'm Peanut, and we're here to help you."

"I don't need help!" I turned to go back into the house.

" Where are you going?" they yelled.

" To wait for Brianna."

"And then what? What other option do you have? You're going to die in there. She's not coming back."

I turned back around, seeing Bushy hitting Peanut's arm. " What do you mean she's not coming back?"

"As I said, come with us, and we will show you everything," he said as they both extended their hands to me.

I stood there considering and debating what to do next. As I did, I heard a car pull up in front of the house and voices. At first, I thought it was Brianna, but it was multiple, and they sounded manly" Oh no, they're back." " Hurry! Come with us or get caught." Not having a choice, I ran over to Busy and Peanut, following them to wherever they were taking me. As we ran away, I couldn't help but look back at the house and see people walking around inside. It put my mind at ease knowing it wasn't Brianna.