my human.

This story is inspired by my dog, Raven. She's my best friend. She also loves squirrels. And she is my fiercest and most loyal protector.

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the human is close to me. he has been sitting in the middle of the road for a long time.

he throws me food. sticks of beef. crumbs. they taste good.

he comes closer.

i like this human. it is a male. like me.

he smells like dirt. but I do not mind. i like dirt.

the human holds his hand out to me. his fingers are very long. and they are salty as I lick them. they taste like salt and dirt.

the best combination.

my tail wags. it is a good tail. it knows when a human is good. like this human.

the human pats me on the head. his touch is gentle. but then he stops. i am sad when he stops. the human sees that I am sad. he pats me on the head again. my tail wags.

i like this human. he is my friend.

the human starts to walk on the road away from my box. i am scared to leave my box. it is my home. it has been my home for a long time.

but i like this human. he is my friend.

i leave the box behind me. and i follow the human.

the human stops when i am behind him. he waits. i walk beside the human. he continues.

he walks very fast. i like fast. but my legs hurt. they have not moved fast in a long time. i am determined to keep up with this human.

the human pats me on the head many times as we walk. it is nice. i like his pats.

i like this human. he is my friend.

the human and i walk a long while. hours. days. we walk and walk and walk. until it is dark each day. then the human finds a place to sleep.

sometimes it is in the trees. he helps me up the trunk. he ties me to a branch. i dream about rabbits. and squirrels. i have not seen one in a long time. i miss squirrels. they tasted best out of all the animals.

sometimes we sleep in the big objects that used to move on the roads. they are warmer than the trees. sometimes they have the non-humans in them. i do not like their smell. the human pushes them outside the big object so that we can sleep.

sometimes we sleep in a house. they never have other humans or non-humans inside. i think this makes the human sad. he always sits down in the middle of the floor after searching the house. but he also always pats my head. always.

i like my human.

we eat lots of things. we eat things we find in the houses. sometimes they are good. like beans. i like beans. sometimes they are bad, and we get sick. but i like when my human gets sick. because he always feels better after he pats me. i must be his cure.

it gets colder as weeks go by. i see the first snowflake. i bark to signal my human. but he looks around. he looks scared. he makes me be quiet. we wait behind one of the large objects on the road.

it is quiet. we start to walk again.

we cannot walk very much when it snows. it is too cold. we find houses. the houses are cold. but my human is warm. i put myself against him. he likes to put his cold hands in my fur. his fingers get very warm. i lick them sometimes. he likes that too. he pats me on the head. he puts his arms around me. he squeezes me. i love being squeezed.

i love my human.

my human is more excited than usual. he walks faster. smiles more. he keeps pointing at the snow. he decides to stop at a house. we stay for a long while. he finds things in the attic. he puts the things outside. on the lawn. some of them are non-animals. there is a non-deer. i know it is a non-deer because i try to kill it. my human is not happy when i try. the non-deer tastes bad. i spit it out. my human is mad at me for a little while. but he pats me on the head after some hours. i feel much better when he is not mad at me.

my human is going crazy. he brings a tree into the house. a tree. it is cold and wet. but he puts it in a corner of the room. he hangs small objects off its branches. they are colorful. some are tiny non-animals. or strange spheres. he puts a shiny object on the very top. it has five points. i am scared of the object. it looks sharp.

my human finds objects that make the darkness go away. there is a light that flickers at the tip of each object. the tips are very hot. i stay away from them. but i do not mind them. they make the darkness go away.

it must be a special night. my human sits beside the tree with the objects of light all around us. he pats the ground beside him. that is my signal. i sit down beside him. he leans against me. my human is very warm. he pets me gently on my back. and then on my head. he pushes his lips against my head. he is happy. i am happy. he makes a sound. it is a nice sound. he goes up and down and up and down with the sound. it is very nice. and i am very sleepy.

i love my human.

my human is ready to leave the house in the morning. we have been here a long time. he is anxious. i follow him out the door.

something big lunges at my human. it smells. it smells very bad.

i do not think. i snarl. my snarl can be very scary. i hope it scares this thing. i hit something hard. i cannot see it. but i must protect my human.

something sharp in my neck. i whimper. it hurts. very badly.

there is a loud sound. a yell. it is my human. is he okay? i must make sure my human is okay.

i stand up. my legs wobble. a non-human is on the ground. he does not move. he is dead. my human killed it. good. my human breathes very heavily. he looks at me. his eyes are wet.

his eyes are on my neck. i cannot see my neck. but i can feel my neck. and i can smell my neck. it is the same smell as the non-human. mixed with blood. my blood.

i know what this means.

i walk to my human. i lean against him. he falls beside me. he holds my face in his hands. he is looking at me. he is crying. he is sad.

i lick his tears away. they are salty, like his fingers. my favorite taste.

he smiles through his tears. he pats my head one last time.

i wish my human knows that i am okay. it is okay. he is okay.

i wish i could tell him that i understand.

he takes the knife he used to kill the non-human. he holds it up to me.

i lick his face one last time.

i love my human.