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Ilya tried not to whine in his little prison. He hated when the others in their cages made so much noise and he didn’t want to be like them. But the hurt in his heart was too much sometimes. He missed his mother. In this metal cage all he could think about was trying to get back home.
He was the only one kidnapped from their forest home. When the scary man with a net showed up, he couldn’t help but be reminded that he was the slowest of his siblings. Alexei and Cliff had run off without him, they weren’t paralyzed with fear. Ilya was too scared to leave his mother. She had been sleeping for days by then, and Ilya wasn’t as strong as Alexei or Cliff to leave her behind. He didn’t know what this man would do to her but at least they would be together.
Ilya was captured by the man and he had been transported to this other place filled with whining animals that smelled of despair. Ever since he had been dropped off he had been waiting for these people to bring his mother to him but she was still being hidden from him. Maybe she needed more care and attention first.
He knew the other humans in this place were probably nice but he had yet to trust any of them. They came at him with teeth bared and promises of food. Clearly they were trying to manipulate him. His siblings had taught him that there was no such thing as kindness. Everything had to be fought for. He had been kept in this cage for days. The one time that he had been let out to attempt to interact with other puppies the humans tossed out words like antisocial and possibly aggressive. He didn’t like the way they said it. He was just trying to act like Alexei.
Currently, Ilya was trying to ignore the door of his cage being opened up. If he ignored the humans usually they would drop off food before moving on to the whinier dogs in the other cages. Sometimes being lonely was safer. Instead of hearing the clatter of a fresh bowl of food, hands came down on the back of his neck. He tried to nip at the hands with no success. Even if he could have bit down the thick leather gloves would have prevented him doing much damage. Alexei would have been embarrassed at how easily Ilya was overpowered.
“It’s okay baby. You just gotta get looked at really quick and then you get to go to a new home!” The woman holding him tried to gently place him into a smaller plastic crate. Ilya wasn’t sure if this new place was going to be better or worse than his current jail cell so he tried to make this as difficult as possible, twisting his body and moving his legs to prevent his body from being placed inside a new prison. Who knew where he would end up. The fear of the unknown made Ilya move as if a demon possessed him.
“You little bugger! No need for all the fuss,” She said. “Get in there. You will love Sheila. She’s done wonders for our foster program. You’ll be fine there.” The leather gloves grasped his back legs and forced him inside of the plastic container.
“There we go. Ilya, be a good boy.” The woman carried him past all of the cages and other animals. Ilya felt like the eyes of the other animals on him as the woman walked past, full of pain, suffering and possibly even jealousy.
Ilya was not jealous. He would rather remain in his known metal prison instead of going on a journey to the unknown. What if it was worse? What if there were other animals who didn’t like him? All he wanted was his mother.
His plastic jail was placed into the back seat of a car. It didn’t smell like much, no other dogs had been in here for a while. The woman holding his crate tapped the top lid twice before leaning away and addressing the new woman beside her at the car door.
“Alrighty, there we go. Thank you again Sheila. Sorry for the last minute request. We think that he would do better in a home setting, getting socialized first before we put him up for adoption. He was found with the body of his mother.” The car door closes softly and Ilya can hear no more.
Oh. Ilya can’t help the whine that comes out his mouth. He didn’t know. She was sleeping when they had been separated from each other by that scary man. He knew she was sleeping. Cliff had said so.
Ilya curled up in his plastic jail and tried not to think. Tried not to think of anything, not how much he missed his brothers or his mother. Definitely not how much he would prefer to be in the forest instead of this plastic prison.
The front car door opened and a new woman slid into the driver’s seat. She smelled fresh and she didn’t bare her teeth at him.
“Hi Ilya. I’m so excited to have you in my home. I think we will get along great. I promise to give you all the treats and pets that you want. We will make sure you are used to being in a house before we try and find a new home for you.”
Ilya tried to get his body to stop shaking. He felt like his teeth were about to rattle out of his head. He didn’t want this new woman to think he was scared. He knew showing fear was the first thing that others would exploit. Alexei always made fun of him when he was scared and shaking.
—
This new building smelled of content. It was all Ilya was able to think about as he was transferred from one jail cell to another. There were clear signs of another animal living in the home. Toys and a fluffy bed dominated one corner of the living room that Ilya’s cage was housed in. If one other animal was able to feel at home here maybe Ilya would too. Miss Sheila had kept chattering at him the whole drive over to this new house. But it was hard to trust her words when Ilya had yet to see her actions.
It also smelled of cat. Ilya had only interacted with one other cat before. Back in the forest, Ilya had found a kitten once. It had been a terrified young thing, younger than even Ilya. But he had ignored the desperate hissing that the kitten had given off, and tried to make friends. He had followed the advice of Cliff; always make direct contact when meeting new friends. The kitten hadn’t really noticed the eye contact back then, she had been scared off when Alexei and Cliff had stormed across them. Alexei had chased off the new kitten before Ilya could make a new friend.
Ilya had been gnawing on the wire cage, waiting for Miss Sheila to return. She had left him in this cage for hours telling him to get used to his space. Now, she walked in with a furry bundle in her arms.
“Alright Ilya, this is Shane,” Miss Sheila said as she crouched in front of the wire mesh that Ilya was currently pressing his teeth against. He quickly removed his mouth, he didn’t want to give off a dumb first impression. “He’s my old man grumpy cat. We gotta be nice to him ok?”
Ilya watched as the bundle flipped around in her arms and dark green eyes peered out at him from black fur. Ilya remembered just in time that he was supposed to make eye contact. His own eyes met these pretty green ones and Ilya couldn’t help the smile that came across his face. He knew that this cat was going to be his best friend.
Shane let out a tiny growl before jumping gracefully out of Miss Sheila’s arms and leaving the room. Maybe growling was different for cats? Ilya had only ever heard his brothers growling at each other when they wanted to rough house with each other but he was too tiny to join them. Ilya didn’t think Shane wanted to play with him yet. But he would make sure that he and Shane were best friends.
—
Ilya was over being jailed. He wanted to be allowed to roam the house freely and hang out with Shane. So far the past few days he tried to copy exactly what Shane did, trying to imitate the cat in hopes that it would help their friendship. Ilya had done the exact same thing to make Alexei like him more, maybe it would help with Shane too. It did kind of hurt to sit so oddly though and so far Shane rarely interacted with him at all.
The best part of his day was always when Miss Sheila would take him outside so that he could meet all the other humans and pets in the neighbourhood. Ilya was happy to greet his friends. After a short amount of time though he would get worried about Shane being home alone. It wasn’t healthy to be by himself for so long. Every time Ilya and Miss Sheila would leave the house, he was scared that Shane wouldn’t be there when they got back. Shane was always there though, waiting for them at the top of the bookshelf in the living room. He was perfectly placed so that he was able to see when they returned home.
Then finally Miss Sheila got rid of his cage. Ilya was allowed to roam freely. The first few days Shane ignored him entirely. Ilya spent most of his time trying to find Shane in all his different hiding spots. Shane’s favourite was under Miss Sheila’s bed because Ilya wasn’t able to fit under it. Ilya knew that he just had to try harder to be Shane’s friend. As wonderful as Miss Sheila’s cuddles were, he missed the puppy pile naps that he used to have with his brothers.
Ilya knew that Shane’s favourite spot to sit was the living room couch. He would lay near Shane whenever he was sunbathing or chittering at the birds. He desperately wanted to join in, yelling at the birds to go away but he didn’t think that Shane would allow it quite yet. Shane still treated him with disdain, like an intruder. Ilya was trying to protect Shane, that was the only reason he yelled at the random man who came by their house everyday to drop off white rectangles.
There was one incident when Ilya had gotten slightly too close to Shane and had received a paw to the snout. Ilya tried to not let his hurt show, and didn't want to whine in front of Shane or Miss Sheila. Ilya had left to curl up in his dog bed but had given Shane the space he wanted. After that incident, Ilya felt like there was no way to make Shane like him. He kept to himself, didn’t try to find Shane in his different hiding spots and let Shane do whatever he wanted.
There was a small bit of progress though, with Ilya ignoring him, Shane got used to Ilya’s presence. There had been a few times when Ilya was on the couch that Shane came close to enjoy the sun. Ilya let it happen and tried not to disturb the peace.
The last couple nights, Ilya had been woken up during the early morning by Shane leaving the bed. He didn’t want to put his nose into Shane’s business when their relationship was still so fresh but after three nights Ilya couldn’t leave it alone anymore. Ilya himself had hated when Alexei made fun of his nightmares. Ilya didn’t want Shane to suffer alone.
Tonight, when Shane tried to sneak away from bed in the middle of the night, Ilya followed him. Ilya watched Shane curl up tight on the couch. Ilya could smell the fear radiating from Shane. He jumped up on the couch beside Shane and stood guard over him. Maybe Shane would feel better if someone kept watch of the house, just like Ilya did when Cliff had done the same in the forest.
Ilya stayed still until the sun was just about to come up over the horizon. Shane had finally removed his face from where it was hiding in his tail. Ilya tried to remember if Shane liked being pet. He clumsily tried to pat his back like he had seen Miss Sheila do. Shane didn’t try moving so Ilya continued a few more strokes. Then he curled up beside Shane. They could watch the sun come up together.
Ilya kept still as Shane slowly rose and stretched. Shane delicately stepped closer to the space between Ilya’s snout and front paw. Shane circled twice before plopping down with his nose right next to Ilya’s. Ilya tried his best to keep his happy yips inside. This was the best thing he had received since coming to this home. He loved snuggles. Just before Ilya was about to fall asleep he felt a quick lick on his ear. Oh! He would allow Shane to groom him whenever he wanted. He missed when his mama did the same. He hoped Shane would let him snuggle up to him tomorrow and forever. That would be the best new routine.