by Stacey Foxworthy

Created on: November 04, 2008

I sat in the corner of my cold, dark cell trembling. My head hung low as depression crept in and I awaited the inevitable. I was condemned to die by lethal injection within a matter of days. I had come to peace with the terms of my punishment. The face of the young man I had mauled after my escape from that hellish place was seared in my brain. I was a monster. I deserved to die.

The sound of the large, creaky door and voices echoing down the hallway only deepened my depressive thoughts...another human walking down the line in search of the perfect pet to take home. It saddened me to know that I would never be that pet. We all had our own stories of why we were here. I had been trained as a fighter...a killer. It was not a life I had chosen for myself. It was one that had been forced upon me.

If I wanted to survive in their world I needed to play the game. If I refused to cooperate I was as good as dead. If I didn't win I was beaten and put through extensive re-training. I watched in horror as they brought in weaker dogs for us to train on. If I didn't want to become one of them I would need to do as the humans demanded. The terrified screams of my victims still rang through my heavily scarred ears.

One evening I had managed to escape. In their drunken stupor they had forgotten to chain me up securely so I broke loose from that hell hole. Humans were the enemy as far as I knew. When a young man happened upon me wandering half-starved and frightened through the park and walked toward me I lashed out in anger and fear. His arm was outstretched and he was whistling at me. I wouldn't go back. I felt I had to defend myself or face more torture at the hands of these evil beings.

Later I learned that he had been trying to help me. I didn't understand the concept until a few strays in the next cell over explained it to me. I had never met a human that had expressed compassion or kindness toward me. As far as I knew they were all heartless brutes that enjoyed beating and abusing creatures they had deemed beneath them. But others locked away as I had been in this terrifying place revealed that I had been deceived.

I hung my head in shame and envied those that had been given the opportunity to experience a much different, much kinder world with the humans. I would never get that chance. I would never get to experience the other side of the coin and it saddened me beyond words. My fate was filled with nothing but misery and pain.

I watched the shadows of the humans walking down

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