The Box *Have a tissue handy*
I found this wandering around online...I warn you, it made ME cry!
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"The Box" 1-25-2004
I was born in a dirty cage that was too small for my mother, let alone my siblings and myself. There I remained until I was 2 weeks old. Then I was pulled from my malnurished, but loving, mother's side as I was trying to nurse. I heard a gruff voice say, "This is the pick of the litter. See how he doesn't squirm when you hold him by the scruff." I was roughly shoved into a box. The last thing I heard as they closed the box was my mother barking that she would always love me and she was sorry. The the gruff voice yelled and I heard our cage clatter and my mother yelp in pain. I never saw her again.
I was taken in a car to a house. I was carried in inside my box and handed to a young boy. The boy was the focus of the attention of many other children. He frowned as he looked at me.
"I wanted a go cart!" he exclaimed and my box and I were carried into another room and locked in. I was hungry and cold and wanted my mother. I whimpered a bit until someone pounded on the door and told me to shut up. I curled in my box and slept.
After 2 months of being ignored and neglected by the boy, the man shoved me into another box. I went for a trip in the car. I hoped I would see my mother again. I was taken to a deserted building and my box and I were set in the floor. The man got back in his car and left me there in the building. I waited for 3 days in my box for him to come back. I knew he would come for me. He didn't.
Finally, my hunger drove me to leave my box and my house. I found a garbage can and it smelled of food. I dumped it over and found a half eaten burger and a few fries. I ate them and drank from a puddle. Then I went back to my box and my house.
For the next ten months I lived in my house and slept with my box. I no longer fit inside of my box, so I slept with it knocked over and my head inside of it. My box was my only comfort. I explored my neighborhood. I found food in dumpsters and garbage cans. I drank from puddles. People threw rocks and sticks at me very often. Children shot at me with beebee guns and slingshots. I was alone and afraid. My only friend was my box.
When I was a year old, a young man found me. He coaxed me into his car with a hamburger. He took me to his house. He said I had a good bite. He gave me a new box to sleep in outside in a tiny kennel, much like my home with my mother. I thought I might be happy there. I was wrong. The man was cruel and beat me. He would beat me everyday until I would nearly pass out from pain. He said I needed to toughen up. He fed me a meager amount once a week. Just enough to keep me alive but always starving.
After four months of this life, the man put me in his car and took me to a dirty mean looking place. We went inside.Gaunt hungry dogs were restrained snarling at the ends of leashes. I was shoved in a ring with one of them. I backed against he wall in fear as the snarling creature approached.
Over and over he snarled insanely, "Win or starve! Win or starve!" I began to hear the snarls of the other dogs and they were of similar madness. "No blood, no food! No blood, no food!" "Loss is a belt! Loss is a belt!"
Then the dog pounced, surprisingly quick for one so starved. Pain flooded my body as the dog bit and ripped and tore at every inch of my body he could reach. His jaws closed around my throat and I knew I would die. Something pulled him off of me and I faded into blackness.
I awoke sometime later and found myself thrown into an alley and alone to die. I tried to move, but I was too weak and again darkness overtook me. When I came to again, I was in a cage in the back of a truck wrapped in a blanket. The truck stopped and a woman in a uniform approached the cage. I snarled weakly. She looked at me sadly as a young girl approached.
"He will have to be put down," she said.
"No! Please don't!" the youg girl cried, "I'll care for him and try to get him adopted. Please?"
The woman frowned and shook her head. "All right Megan," she said. "I'll let you try. After his wounds heal and he's healthy, he gets one week like all the others."
The pound worker and the young volunteer carried my cage to a larger one then let me out. I struggled to my feet and crawled over to the box in the corner. I tumped it over and collapsed with my head inside. I heard the young girl giggle.
"Good luck, Megan," the woman said and left the girl standing near my cage. I growled softly.
"It'll be ok," Megan said soothingly. "I'll take care of you." I went to sleep and when I awoke, I had a bowl of fresh food to eat and a bowl of clean water to drink.
Megan said she would take care of me and she did. For the first time in my life I was fed everyday and always had clean water. Megan, with the help of other workers, cared for my injuries. After a month, I was healthy and my wounds were scars.
"One week, Megan," the woman said one day as they both peered into my cage. Megan nodded. I watched from my box.
Megan spent all of her time at the pound at my cage after that. Eventually I let her pet me. I began to trust her. She brought treats everytime she came and always spoke kindly.
After seven days, the woman and Megan led me out of my cage to a small room in the back. Megan tearfully lifted me to a metal table while the woman prepared a needle.
"I'm sorry," Megan whispered softly in my ear as the woman approached. I licked away her tears.
"Wait!" Megan suddenly shouted, "I'll take him! My mother will understand." The woman smiled at her.
"Ok, Megan," she said. "Take him home and stay with him the rest of the day. I'll see you tomorrow."
Megan lifted me off the table and led me out of the room and outside. She put me in a car.
As she drove, she looked over at me and said, "I'm going to call you Riley," For the first time, I had a name. I was Riley. She took me to my new home. She gave me a new box to sleep in, with pillows and a blanket. A dog bed she said. To me, it was a new box. A new box and a new home with my new mistress. I was finally safe and happy.
Shawn Aaron Atreyu
Dedicated to every dog, with hopes they all find love and security.
