A pet? I’d never dreamed of it. Animals were never my biggest interest. I was fascinated by copying the world on paper, or making up new ones. I liked imagining what could never be, and wishing it was. But having a pet? Never on my mind. I knew about dragons and made up my own kind by observing birds out the window, but that was for the dragons, not the birds.

I never enjoyed the company of animals; I found them strange. They were certainly unwanted by me. I always had something to complain about them. Too furry, why do they have so many legs? they’re weird, they smell bad, ect. I really didn’t appreciate them.

Until today. After being held prisoner by Mardaugs, I was incredibly relieved to see another living thing besides those horrid creatures.

It was soothing to let someone else to the running, and let myself rest. The dog’s fur was warm and cuddly, and the cold wind no longer affected me. The dog’s fast and strong steps reassured me, and like a lullaby, they rocked me to sleep.

I dreamt that I was in a room where golden fur covered the walls, ceiling, and floor.It was long and soft. There was a comfortable couch, also covered in this unexplainably amazing fur. On it was a blanket and pillow which matched the rest of the room.

I was wearing a long dress that went well past my feet. As you can imagine, it was covered in this golden fur.

I made my way to the couch, and laid down for a nap. I felt warm, cozy, and comfortable. I had a good kind of strange tingling in the pit of my stomach, making it easier to relax in this unimaginable room.

As I closed my eyes every strand of fur in the room reached out for me. It enveloped me in a soft blanket, making me want to sleep further. And just as my slumber began, my soothing dream ended.

I woke up with my head comfortably buried in the dogs’ fur. Its paw was on my arm, spreading a soothing warmth through my body. It was asleep, wagging its tail happily. But soon after I woke up, it too, like it sensed my awakening, parted from its dream.

As soon as it did so, the dog’s eyes lit up with happiness. It stood up, stretched, then walked away.

I had some energy now, but not enough to follow the hero dog. So I decided to take a look at my surroundings.

I was in a cosy room with cavern walls. At first I was worried that I might have been in the Mardaug’s territory again, but soon realised that this room had a different feeling in it. Where the Mardaugs lived, all the rooms were ugly and uncomfortable, but here it was comfortable and gave me a nice feeling of being safe.

The room was round and bare. The only “furniture” was a pile of hay covered with large leaves. On top of the leaves was a thick layer of wool, and on top of that a large cloth. This was what the dog and I had been sleeping on.

Near the “bed” was a deep hole in the ground where a small fire burned, bathing the humble room in a soft glow.

There was also at the far end of the room (although it wasn’t very big) a small bin made of sticks woven together. Next to it was a narrow hole in the wall with a big piece of bark hanging from it. This was probably the entrance, and the bark was the door. This was where the dog left from.

But the dog soon returned holding a basket in its mouth. It jogged up to me, the basket swinging from side to side. Then the dog laid it down next to me, and I was able to see that inside the basket there was food.

A bottle of clean water, three apples, one banana, a bunch of grapes, a loaf of fresh bread, and some meat were all carefully packed into the basket.

I looked at the dog in awe. How could it have done this for me? No, the dog didn’t deserve to be called “it”. When I first met him I thought of him as a wild animal, not a savior. But now. . .

I couldn’t wait any longer. I ate and ate until my stomach was satisfied. I felt so much better, after difficult days of no food. But straight after I was finished, I thanked the dog. Of course, it didn’t answer. No, there it was again! I couldn’t call my hero it, the dog deserved a name.

After a long time of thinking, I decided on the name Buddy. This amazing dog had come when I’d asked for a friend, so this dog would be called Buddy.

I didn’t know Buddy’s gender, so I decided I’d assume he was a boy, since Buddy was a boy’s name.

As soon as the dog found out his new name, he barked happily. He jogged around the room wagging his tail and letting his tongue droop out of his mouth. His long golden fur poofed up and made him look like a furry ball.

I couldn’t have felt happier. I had a friend, even if the friend wasn’t human, and I couldn’t communicate with him, I had someone who was on my side. I didn’t need those children that were in the forest, I had Buddy for a friend.

So what now? I felt so much stronger, having eaten and slept comfortably. I felt alive, and happy. Well, maybe not happy. I still had to get home. But now I had a friend, which was definitely a win. So I was happy as I could be here.

Now my problem. Getting home. No, not home, the hospital. The hospital was not my home. I would get a home one day, I was sure of it. But to do so I had to get out of this awful world. But how was I going to do that? How was I going to leave a world, just like that? Did I have to obtain something, or find someone? Did I have to cast a spell, or discover an ancient place? All these things were from story books, but this wasn’t a story book, this was reality.

But waking up in a different world was definitely not real. Was this simply a dream? Would I just wake up in my tiny room, waiting there helplessly for a doctor to fetch me so I could be tested? No, that couldn’t be possible. After everything that had happened, escaping the Mardaugs and finding Buddy, I couldn’t just wake up to find that this had all been in my head!

So there had to be a specific way out. But how would I find this way?

With all this thinking, I fell asleep.

I didn’t dream, though. It was just blackness. A cold, dark blackness, like the pit of my stomach, and the question that I kept ignoring. The blackness nagged at me while I slept, forcing me to wonder about this question. In my sleep I was powerless to fight against my own mind.

I had to think about this question. I had to give myself a final answer, for the feeling of not knowing was eating away at me. I had to put the puzzle piece in, to fill that empty void in my head. I had to have an answer.

Did I want to go home?

Again, the hospital wasn’t home, but what else was I to call it? A place where I lived? But somehow, not home.

But this was beside the point. Did I want to get back to my old, painful life? Well, it was time to think about the pros and cons.

Back where I lived (home), what was there for me? What kind of future? Would I stay in the hospital forever, being tested by uncaring doctors? Rachel was dead now, so what was the point of going back? What was the point of going back to a life that had no meaning?

These were cons, for sure. But what about the pros? There was no danger there. Although I was simply there to be tested on, I was safe. I was being fed well, and given time to rest. And there were things to do; reading, drawing, playing games by myself. By myself. There was no one there who cared for me, loved me, thought of me as a human.

What about here? Here was dangerous, challenging. It was a struggle to live. Scarce water sources, hard to find food.

Cons. Now the pros. I had a friend here, Buddy. I had a future here, whatever it was, I had a chance. But a chance at what?

And then I woke up. I suppose I’d been half asleep this whole time, for I couldn’t have done such straight forward thinking in my sleep. Now that I thought about it, I remembered seeing Buddy walk in at some point, so I had been half asleep.

I looked next to me to find Buddy sitting there, asleep. So I quietly snuck off the bed, and made my way to the basket that still had some food left in it. Buddy had laid it down next to the entrance.

I nibbled on the scraps until there was nothing left.

Now I felt healthy and fine. I had had enough sleep, and eaten enough food, and drank enough water.

Looking at Buddy I silently thanked him for saving my life. What would I have done without him? I probably would’ve slept in the forest, and look for food the next day. But before I could do so, I would probably have been captured by some other creature. Maybe an Personio or a Gnome. Or maybe a Dragon or a Dwarf. Maybe the grass itsPersonio would carry me away. I knew that from somewhere, I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Suddenly Buddy woke up. The golden dog yawned then stretched. He then nodded at me as if to say “Good Morning”. I nodded back, for it seemed to be the right thing to do. Buddy stuck out his large tongue, and then jogged out of the room. He waved his paw like he wanted me to follow, so I did.

The big fluffy dog led me outside the cave (as I would now like to call the little room), and then into a park.

The park wasn’t that big, but it held some truly beautiful things. I gasped at the tall trees, with their breathtaking fall colored leaves. Orange, red, yellow, some even a very hot pink. The leaves covered the view of the sickening red sky, so it seemed like I was in a dome with leaves for a ceiling.

The young trees were spread out, far away from each other, like they all minded their own business. They formed a massive circle, and in the middle was a pond that shone like bright blue crystals. Lily-pads lounged, floating in place on the pond.

The grass was a very bright green, and colorful flowers could be spotted all over, but were covered a bit by the piles of leaves that had fallen around the trees.

Best. Day. Ever.

For someone who had never been outside, this was incredibly lucky. I had an answer almost immediately. No. I didn’t want to go home. I wanted to stay with Buddy in his cave, and have the scent of freshly bloomed flowers reach my nose every morning.

I looked at Buddy with excited eyes. The hero dog seemed to know what I was thinking, and shook his head no.