“Come on, girl. Where are you?” he murmured to himself.
Today had started out the best ever, but it was ending on a weird note.
Chapter Eight
She was full.
The hamster looked around and sniffed the air. It smelled like humans. She’d been with humans all night. For years it felt like. Her nose tingled so she wiggled it again and ran her hands across her whiskers to stop the itching.
She was on a candy mountain. There were so many snacks here. The humans kept putting them in her cage. The big one especially. He had short hair on his face. Maybe he was part hamster too.
She loved these colorful balls of sweetness, and she got a little scared that someone would take them away before she could stop them, so she shoved as many as she could into her cheek pouches. Her cheek pouches were her favorite.
She could keep so much food in there.
Mouth full, she stood up on the side of the see-through wall, her little fingers stretched out. She studied the humans. There was one with scary eyes that kept staring at her. He was dangerous. Beside her sat a woman with bright eyes too. And short hair. Maybe she was part hamster too.
The big man had his hand resting on the bucket he had trapped her in. She didn’t mind being trapped if there was lots of food. The room was unfamiliar. It was dim in here and everyone was taking sips of brown water and laughing a lot.
All but the big man beside her. He looked sad.
Her skin felt funny. She didn’t like it.
She pushed off the wall and itched her ear with her hind leg, but it didn’t help. She tried the other ear, but nope, no help. She didn’t like this feeling in her body. It was uncomfortable.The glowing eyed woman was staring at her now. She looked concerned.
She said something. She could hear the words, but human words never meant much to her in any order.
“I think you should take the hamster outside.”
The big man said, “No, Raisin will get cold. It’s fifteen degrees out there.”
God, she was itchy. She scratched under her armpit with her back leg, but her belly was so full, she could barely reach. Even her little nipples were itching.
Maybe it was all the candy.
“Lance, trust me, you need to take her outside. Now.”
The human sounded like she was not full of laughter right now.
She liked them better when they were all chatting and not paying attention to her. She liked to eat in peace.
The gold-eyed man was moving closer to her cage. He was very dangerous, she could tell. Some kind of predator. She didn’t like him coming closer.
She hid behind the pile of colored candies.
“Back off, Reed. You’re scaring her.”
“She’s different,” the gold-eyed man said, but his voice was scary. It was growly.
Another man pushed the gold-eyed human back and went all the way out the front door with him. Thank goodness.
Now she could eat snacks some more.
She reached for another candy, but her skin was burning now.Ow, ow, ow!She writhed and arched her back in agony. The humans were louder now, and the cage moved fast with her in it, and then…and then…
Boom!
****
