climb. I’m so excited my tail starts wagging like I’m a damn dog.
The female fills it with fresh wood shavings, a new drip bottle full of clear water, and then an entire bowl of food. It’s nothing like the stale scraps that I usually get. This stuff looks downright gourmet. My nose twitches as I walk up to the outside of the cage, watching as she fills up the tiny bowl until it’s overflowing.
And then...she drops things inside.
Awesome, amazing things.
I start squeaking and running around in circles in excitement as she fills the cage with actual toys. Toys I can play with instead of just being bored out of my mind all the time.
I am gonna play the shit out of those things.
She puts in a tunnel, a climbing rope, chew toys, even a badass little cave! A cave! I can hide in there and hide other shit in there too. That thing is gonna be epic. And...is that a bed inside? Be still my small, erratic heart.
When the female picks me up and places me inside of the new cage, I squeak my thanks and start racing around in a flurry. This space is so big I can actually sprint in it!
I climb up the rungs of the wire walls and then do a backflip into the shavings. Well, it’s more like a belly flop, but who cares? This is awesome!
I land in nice new fluffy shavings, and my ears swivel and pull back like they’re spreading into a smile.
When I get my feet under me again, I focus on the tunnel, butt wiggling, and I race through that fucker like a champ!
Zoom!
I squeal in delight when I make it to the other end in what’s probably the fastest rat sprint time ever recorded in ever.
I’m so fast that I kick up the clean wood shavings as I race to the other end again, and then I jump, diving headfirst into the bowl of food. I spread my legs and tilt my head side to side like I’m making a damn snow angel, because basking in this deliciousness is just too much temptation for me to resist.
Then I just roll over in the chunky food and start stuffing it in my mouth, filling my cheeks to capacity like I’m trying to win a hot dog eating contest.
This. Is. Awesome.
2
Reese
There’s a lot of arguing when I wake up.
I’m not sure exactly when I got moved. One minute, I was stuffing my face and playing in my cage under the fluorescent lighting of the pet shop with the amazing smells, and the next, I was in this office with a bunch of people standing over me that I don’t recognize.
My stomach is ridiculously bloated since I might have gone a little overboard with the food. Okay, fine. I went full Templeton from Charlotte’s Web.
But honestly, that stuff was so good I couldn’t help myself. Rick Dick gives me food whenever he damn well pleases, which means I usually wait days and days until I finally get thrown a little scrap. I learned to hoard and hide pieces of food in my nest and nibble on them slowly. But not today. I was starving more than I’ve ever starved before, so I gorged myself.
Afterwards, I crawled into the little cave, and it was just so damn cozy that I must’ve fallen asleep. I forgot how comfortable brand-new wood shavings are. The springy stuff practically spooned me as I slept—speaking of, a shiny spoon would be so epic in my new cage.
But now, I’m hiding in the cave, my nose twitching like crazy as I take in all the new scents in the air. There are at least six people standing around, and all of them are strangers. My only comfort is that I can hear the nice female from earlier. My rat and I have decided she’s our new best friend. Apparently, my love can be bought in a retail store of pet goods. I’m fine with that.
The words being spoken sound like a jumble, so I have to force myself to try to listen, but it’s difficult. After being in my animal form for so long, I mostly rely on my sense of smell.
Rick always smelled angry. It was either that or excited. And excited was always way, way worse.
These people don’t smell excited. They smell…surprised. Sad, even. When someone’s voice rises an octave, I pick up on it. Yup, there’s the anger I’ve grown so accustomed to. But somehow, I