I want you, I got you, now…I’m gonna eat you!!!

Looking out of my front window I can see everything that’s going on. Shelby is outside. What in the world is she doing? I wonder.

            It’s such a gorgeous day. The sun is shining, and it’s nice and cool. The perfect weather for me. My beautiful yellow coat is nice and thick and warm. Far better for this weather than how it normally is this time of year, when it gets all matted and my stench overpowers even me.

            Huh…she’s taking something out of the pond out there. I watch as she takes her net and dunks it in and out; scooping out tiny, shiny green things. I wonder what it could be. Maybe it’s a new treat for me? My mouth begins to water at the delightful thought. She’s coming back in! I better go greet her!

            What’s happening?!?!?!? The girl who normally feeds us has a net. There’s no food in her hands, but her kindly smile is there like it always is.

 I watched her scoop out my friends. What is she doing? I swim as fast as I can to the farthest corner in the deepest spot of our pool.

            The water swirls her features. Her slim white face looks concerned. What’s going on? First it gets colder, and now this…

            O no!! The net is coming after me now! I try to swim deeper, but I can’t. I’m at the bottom, stuck against the wall. How am I going to get out of this?

            I’m not. The net has gotten me; I’m tangled in this wet and holey wrap of despair. What is she going to do with us? My mind screams as she puts me with my friends. We’re all terrified.

            “It’s alright Pepper, I’m just moving you inside so that you won’t freeze during the cold snap.”

            Shelby’s carrying something. It has the little green things in it, hmmm I wonder what they are? I jump up to get a better view, resting my front paws on her legs. They smell weird. I wonder what they taste like.

            “Down Bella,” Shelby laughs.

            I wag my tail at her, and try to kiss her face. But she’s gotten free and is going into the living room. I follow her.

            “What do you think Bella? Will the turtles be warm enough in here?”

            So that’s what they are; those tiny, green wet things in there. Why did you bring them in here? This is my territory! Does that mean they’re for me?

            What’s that big hairy thing? All these sights are new. This big yellow hairy thing is looking at me! It has big white fangs, and it looks like it wants to eat me! I’m standing at the edge with my fellows. There is some kind of invisible force field erected around us.

And there’s a big green thing in the center of this place. It looks squishy, like a giant pile of moss! I wonder if it tastes good.

            We’re moving again. Where’re we going now?!?! Now there’s just a whole bunch of colors. And she’s setting us down on this giant flat log. Finally! She’s leaving.

            I examine the world around us. The squishy thing is over by a wall. And there are some very pretty purple and pink flowers in a shiny white thing next to us. We’re high above that monster’s head. Good we should be safe up here.

            It’s been days since I’ve seen those green things. Where could they be?!?!?!

            I wander all around the house. Suddenly I catch their scent. It’s so strange, like muddy water and moss. But so appetizing! So I follow the scent. It leads me to the bathroom.

            My favorite water bowl stands open so I drink some to sooth my aching stomach. It’s growling is filling me. Sending chills down even my spine. I know what it wants. The scent of those little morsels is strong on the white tile. So I follow my nose.

            There! In the bathtub! I look in and feel my hunter instincts take over. The only thing I know now is my hunger. Not the shiny white of the tile, nor the smells of the soaps around me.

            I give a toothy grin and watch as the little snacks quiver, and quake at my bared fangs. I snap one up.

            CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! It tastes strange, not bad, just strange. I feel it snapping under the pressure of my jaws. Feel the tiny feet flipping at the roof of my mouth. I swallow, and turn around going back out of the bathroom. They aren’t that good.

            NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! How can this be happening to me???? That giant evil creature is trying to eat me!

            That horrible grin! Its image is burned into my memory. Those huge, horrible white fangs! Glistening in that captured sunlight, like white blades of death, horrid and captivating. Its cold brown eyes are glistening down at me with malice. What could it be thinking? We don’t even taste good!

            Now those fangs are boring into my shell. I can feel their cold harshness piercing my flesh. O the AGONY!!! What did I do to deserve this?

            That was not very good. I won’t eat those things again. My stomach was aching and I had hard stuff stuck in my teeth.

            Shelby was home. What was she thinking getting something like that for me? She probably didn’t know how they tasted.

            Uh-oh…Shelby looks worried. Is something wrong? She goes to the phone.

“Hello, vet? Yes, my dog has swallowed one of my turtles. What should I do?...Uhuh…vomit, OK. Thank you.”

            What’s she talking about vomit for? I can only hear one side of the conversation. Now her parents are coming in, and they’re talking. What’s going on? What’s wrong?

            Where am I? I am in so much pain. That horrid creature’s fangs have pierced my shell in so many places, and my flesh. I feel my blood sliding down my once smooth body. Now I’m punctured with so many scratches and wounds.

            I’m someplace dark, and wet. It smells horrible. Nothing but rotten flesh and nastiness, and it’s stale. What could possibly be going on up there?

            I slid down that thing’s gullet, such a tight fit. I had tried so hard to swim my way up to get out of this place. I’m panicking now.

            Flipping from side to side against the walls. Let me out!!! What am I to do? I try and bite my way out, but I can’t grip. The walls are so slippery, and there’s not enough water in here to swim out. Or is it water?

            It burns! O no! What could happen now? There’s something falling on my head. It’s hard and all it does is add to my agony. All of a sudden there’s a strange rocking and grumbling in this awful place that must be the monster’s stomach.

            O treats! Yummy, I gobble down the treats offered to me by Shelby’s parents. They taste different from what they normally give me. But they’re much better than the turtle I had earlier.

            I decide to go take a nap. So I walk over to my favorite spot, but along the way I start to feel woozy and nauseous. My stomach is gurgling, I’m going to upchuck, I realize.

            All of the sudden I’m moving again. What’s going on now? I’m headed back up the way I came. I’m shoved along by all the stuff that had gone down before me.

            The mushy nastiness shoves me up. Through that tight squeeze again. The rotten stench is covering me; I feel I might drown in the horridness of it all.

            I see those glistening fangs again. They’re opening wide! But this time they don’t beckon forth my doom. They have become doors of hope! The pearly white gates of bliss, of freedom, of safety, of life! Maybe I won’t die! Maybe I’ll be OK!

With a sudden burst the contents of my stomach spill out onto the nice clean carpet. O man, I am in serious trouble now! O look…that turtle’s still there.

            I sniff at the turtle. I’m not going to try and eat it again. It’s still alive, and it smells even worse for having been in my stomach for the passed ten minutes. And it looks so horrible. The shell is smashed, and it is covered in the contents of my stomach.

            What’s Shelby doing?

            Smack! My body falls for what seems forever. Then I connect with a soft thing. My body finally halting, finally I might be safe.

            No! My hopes are about to be smashed like my shell. That giant, with the fangs is looming above me. I feel the gusts of fowl wind emanating from its jowls and snout. Is it going to try to devour me again?

            Hope returns! That girl, the one who feeds me is coming to my rescue!

            “Back Bella, you can’t eat Pepper,” I hear her tell that mongrel. Then all is black. Finally, peaceful oblivion.