Please enjoy and hopefully, there will be more chapters.

I could barely suck in breath after breath in the shivering cold. The chain collar was fastened far too tight on my neck, and my thick golden fur did nothing to protect me from the chilly November weather.

I was only a puppy. Why did my owners treat me this way? I had never done anything to them... I hoped that they would come home late today like they sometimes did. Then, they had less time to kick and hit me before they went back inside to eat.

The smells of their flavourful food wafted out to me, but they rarely gave me any. I sighed as I tried to ignore the grumbling of my stomach, and how my ribs poked out of my stomach. I laid down on the glass-littered ground and tried to collect my thoughts.

Why didn't my mother find a safe place to have my siblings and me? Maybe if she had, that woman would have never found me and sold me to Glynda and Matt, my current captors. I guess they had been nice to me at first, but that quickly wore off.

My mind drifted back to the first night I had been chained to the post. I howled all night long, matching the wind that whipped through my fur. Now and then, Matt would come back outside. At first, I had hoped that he would let me back in. But his breath smelled of something pungent, and his eyes were angry and unfocused. That was the first time I had been hit.

They started chaining me to the post more and more often. I tried to be a good girl, but that never seemed to matter to them. My life so far had been wasted to cruelty. Of course, I was still young, but as the seasons passed I lost count of the days. Staring at the same old view of Matt and Glynda's dirty yard.

I started to hear the voices of a male and a female. They didn't resemble Matt and Glynda's scent, but they were yelling. I cowered behind the post, hoping that they would just ignore me. That was always better than being beaten.

"I think she's back here!" yelled the voice of a boy. He was younger than Matt and wore a plaid jacket. I braced myself for the blows that were sure to come.

A girl followed him into the yard. She was wearing a blue sweater, and her face had a warm, kind look to it. These were definitely not my owners. But were they going to hurt me?

"You poor thing," said the girl in a soft voice. I relaxed my muscles a little bit. She was kind.

"Where are we going to take her?" asked the boy. The girl stood in front of me, staring at me. I cocked my head. She let out a laugh.

"I want to keep her."

"Your mom's not going to be too happy about that," said the boy in a warning tone. She slowly took a step toward me, so I backed away, whining. These people hadn't given me one single reason to trust them.

The boy shared a glance with the girl, and she reached into her pocket, pulling out a sweet-smelling treat. She placed it on the ground in front of me. I leaned forward and sniffed it. I tried to eat it, but the leash tightened and pulled me back. I let out a yelp. I whined. I wanted the treat.

"Do you want me to get rid of the leash?" she asked. "Yes, you do." I stayed silent. "You're going to have to trust me," she said.

She took a step forward. I stayed where I was. She slowly took another step, and another, and another. Soon, she was standing next to me with a pair of clippers in her hand. The fur on the back of my neck bristled. Was she going to hurt me? She took the clippers and snipped clean through my collar, not even hurting a hair on my neck despite how tight the collar was.

I walked to the treat and ate it slowly, savouring what could be my only meal for the next few weeks. I looked up at her, still starving, expecting more. She reached her hand out and gently patted my head. It felt nice.

Her other arm slid underneath me and picked me up off the ground. I lowered my head to rest, finally feeling somewhat safe.

There will likely be more chapters coming, but you might have to wait a while.