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With one enormous heave, Merriam lifted both I and the now limp, Gruff. I didn’t understand what Merriam and Arthur where talking about, but I knew that it couldn’t be too good. Not just too good, but bad. They think I killed Gruff? ME?! Why? I’ve been looking for him for what feels like forever! If nothing else, he tried to kill me! They think I did that to him? How? Why?! As though on que, Merriam and Arthur began to fight. “How in the call of sanity, do you know that Sparky did this?!” That was the first time that I ever heard Arthur argue with Merriam, let alone raises his voice. He was always the quiet sort, always let people walk all over of him, that sort of person. I cold tell that he was past the point of anger, and well past infuriated. “I know because He tried to kill Eustace, and he damn near KILLED ME!!!” This, Arthur clearly was thrown off by. “I-… But you-…you can’t just-…” He let out a long sigh of defeat. Very well Merriam, dear. You are right as usual.” He hung his head in defeat, and looked back at me. “That’s right, I am right and you, as usual are wrong. Trust me, I know what is best, and it is best that he be put down. We don’t want him to try to kill anyone else now do we?” Arthur hung his head lower and said, “Of course not Merriam, dear.” A grin grew on her face at his to her acknowledgement and slyly said, “Once a bad dog, always a bad dog.” That was the second time I had been called a bad dog in one day. Could it be true? Could I be bad? Is that why I am going to be “put down, what ever that is?” Gruff was right originally, I am a bad dog. At least he did what he was told.

We drove out of the rural, Essex County in Ontario, and back to the Animal Hospital that I was at when I was injured. Merriam put a leash around my neck so tight that it all but choked me. She flung Gruff’s body over her shoulder dragged me in, yanking on the leash and choking me every time. She pounded on the door with her bandaged wrist and swore under her breath at the pain it caused. A young looking nurse walked in front of the door. She glanced quickly at the odd sight in front of her, and then did a double take. She rushed to take Gruff from Merriam. “What happened? Where did this happen to him? How long ago?” Merriam raised he bandaged forearm. “It is all this dogs fault! He attacked that one! I want him put down as soon as possible! He is just too violent to be controlled!” An older voice came from a doorway behind the reception desk, “Nurse, what is going on, something wrong?” She turned around to see who had said that.

Their voices…I thought to my self. They sound so familiar, so distant yet so close. Then the thought rose to the top of my head; they where the ones that fixed me when I was injured, they where hazy images, but I remember their voices and attitudes. The lady was rather kindly to my recollection, while the man was a little grouchy, in so many words. The doctor took one look at Gruff and said in an expressionless voice that conveyed his more than obvious lack of care, “Oh my, it’s bleeding on the floor. Did the other dog do this?” Arthur spoke from the right of Merriam saying, “We suspect so, but I think that-.” “Yes, yes he did, and he even did THIS to ME!” She held her forearm out again to the doctor’s face. He looked indifferently at the wound. He raised an eye brow and said, “Yes, well we shall have to put him down very soon, when dog bights, they will usually do it again. Once a bad dog, always a bad dog, eh?” Merriam’s eyes grew wide at this. “That’s what I said!” a sly smile drew across her face. “You must be an indigent man, Doc.” Her face grew ruby red, and she attempted to give a girly giggle. The doctor gave her an odd look and replied, “Umm…Right. Yes, well, we shall see to the dyeing dog, but before that, Shelly, take the dangerous dog and put him in the kennel with the other dogs for now, or at least until I am ready to put him down.
Day one
And so now here I lay at this moment. I am currently in a rusty metal cage, listening to other, less intelligent dogs barking for their family to rescue them from their doom. They know nothing even after all the time that they have likely all been here, whilst I know the truth and have only been here for a few minutes. This is where we, the unwanted, go to when our humans are tired of us. They throw us away like old cloths that no longer serve their purpose. I wonder if Merriam actually knew that I was innocent but still put me here just to get rid of me.

` Day two
At first I thought that Arthur would get me out, as I know he once cared for me, but it would appear that I was wrong. I guess that even he is as ruthless as all the others. There is one human that visits me every so often. She was the nurse that brought me here. She treats me nice; feeds me extra, pets me through the bars, talks to me. I thought for a moment that she was actually good, but from what I have seen of humans, I doubt this greatly.

Day three
I can’t stand them, those wretched humans! Their very smell burns my nose; their very existence makes me ablaze with rage. I hate them, I hate them all! I don’t miss them! I don’t miss their love, I don’t miss their treats, I don’t miss their commands, I do not miss their hands on my coat! I most certainly do not miss their affection that I get when I do good. That nice lady keeps on passing by and pets me. Finally I snapped at her. I bit at her hand as it went through the bars. She withdrew it before I made contact however. She looked at me and said, “I know you aren’t like that for real. You are not a bad dog.” As she looked away I thought to my self, I must be a bad dog. Everyone says I am, so I must be, so I WILL be.

Final day
Today is the day, today I she day that I die. You know my story up until now, and I don’t even know what is coming. The kind lady walked in to the kennel room where the other dogs and I are residing. She hooks me up to the leash she is carrying in her right hand. I bow my head willingly to let her attach it. I don’t care it anymore. I really don’t care anymore. I want to die. After all, bad dogs always die in the end, right? She leads me out into the hall where I was first brought in, and as I go past I see, Eustace, Arthur, Merriam (who was flirting with the Doctor), and to my surprise, the girl. I averted my head to attempt to make myself small and insignificant. To late however, they saw me. “Doggie!” The girl screamed. They all looked up. “Well, there it is, the little monster!” The girl tried to run towards me, but Arthur caught her by the mid and pulled her back. “Doctor, I am almost ready, whenever you are.” “Very well nurse. Just wipe your eyes though; it isn’t worth it to cry for a lost cause.” Merriam grew red and said in a light voice, “Oh, you are right doctor. You see, Arthur? You can learn a lot from the good Doctor!”

Both the kind lady and the Doctor are leading me into the operating room. They lift me and lay me on the operating table. The nurse pokes a needle into a vile that contains a clear liquid and fills it half way full. She places me onto my skin but does not push the plunger down. “What’s wrong, nurse?”

“I- I just… I just can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I just CAN’T!
“Do it or you are fired.”
She sighs and sticks it in. Then I heard a sniffing sound. Is she crying? No, she can’t be… She is. She is? Why? What have I done for her sympathy? The door burst open, it is the little girl. “DOGGIE!!! Doggie, dead!!!!!!” She screamed. “Do it now, nurse!” The doctor screams. The kind lady screams, “I’M SO SORRY!” She pushes the plunger down as hard and fast as her thumb would let her, and I am feeling drowsy. I sense these are my last moments, and in them I understand everything. I am not a bad dog! I am good! It is Merriam that is bad. Not all humans are bad! I am so sorry to every one I hurt. I am so… sorry………So sorr…………