Hunger Pangs

You laid curled up on a thin blanket, barely protected at all from the cold concrete floor and the lack of heat inside the room. Your tiny body shivered desperately, twisting in on itself over and over as it searched for a reprieve your mind already knew it wouldn't get. The woman who put you there banged around upstairs, stomping and messing with god knows what, barely audible through the barred window on the thick steel door keeping you trapped in the basement. Your stomach growled, louder than any thought in your head or noise from the outside. You weren't sure how many days it had been since you had last eaten, she stopped feeding you the day she caught you, after you first refused her treatment and she had to shove you down in there. Were those days? Weeks? You couldn't tell the difference at that point, but your stomach kept eating itself inside out as if it had been years. The pain was ravenous, vicious, like vultures were pecking at your body.

You tried to stand through the pain, you hadn't moved in a long time and your body was getting stiff, but as you moved to step forward a long metal chain tugged you back down to the ground in a second. You felt like this had to be the last straw, tears flowed down your face like a broken faucet, shutting down any hope for resistance your mind may have yet held for itself. You weren't sure how, but the minute that part of you snapped, it was like she heard. Her stomping footsteps got lighter, and gracefully stepped their way over to the door to your chamber. The door snapped as the inner latch slid to the side, finally opening for the first time since you had been thrown down there. The light of the open door bore down on you, and you instinctually reeled back from the new ability to see that struck your senses, hiding in the corner as far back as you could go. The woman simply smiled and kept walking forward slowly and carefully until she towered over you, she reached down to unlock the chain from your collar, and attached a bright pink leash to it instead, reaching her hand down to cup your face as words delicately spilled from her lips, "Come, pet. You want to eat, don't you?"

She reached down and tugged on your leash just a little to pull you up onto your knees, you wanted nothing more than to simply sink back into your pit and wallow, but the way she caressed your cheek and spoke to you slowly was enough to pull you out and make your body scream at you to follow. You tried to stand, but her hand pressed you back down onto all fours. She shook her head in disapproval, and it stung like a thousand lashes in your psyche, and with no time to come to grips, she turned her back with a pull on your leash and an expectation for you to follow. Obediently, you followed her up the stairs, your paws gripped the cold ground one last time before you were washed in a deluge of light, finally sitting on comfortable flooring for the first time in what felt like months. Her hands found their way into your hair while she shut the door behind you, gently, idly scratching at your scalp and eliciting an instinctual gasp from your chapped lips. With a soft chuckle, she continued on in front dragging you toward the dining room, she pointed at you with a strong stare, and then to a spot on the floor next to the chair she then sat in. Your body shook a little, quivering as you stepped forward next to her and sat with your hands neatly between your knees.

The table was high and you couldn't see any food at first until she pulled two large plates towards her, filled to the brim with hot food that looked so good you started salivating without realizing it. She brought her fork down to take a bite, before looking over and laughing as if she had forgotten you. She shook her head and reached over to her other side to bring up a large red pet bowl with a little paw print in the middle, and scooped the contents of the second plate into it carelessly. She gave you a little affirmative pat on the head, and you looked over it, lips quivering as the smell wafted into your face from the degrading dish, she could see the hesitation blatantly, and gripped her fingers tightly into your hair. "You either eat this, or you go back down with nothing." She growled, and instantly slid back into her kind careful demeanor with a soft grin.

Not having any other choice, you pressed your head down into the bowl and started lapping it up slowly. Your body quaked and you could feel your heart drop in your chest at the degradation, but once the food came into your mouth you only wanted more, devouring it as fast as you could until the bowl was empty with not a speck of food remaining. As you lifted your head up from the floor, you heard her gently laughing above you, and she looked down to coo at you, praising you as such a good girl over and over. Your head spun, and you smiled despite yourself, you wanted to beat yourself up over it but after all the pain down in the basement, it was so nice to feel something good.

Alas, it wasn't long until she stood up and her hand wrapped around the leash yet again, pulling you up and away without a moment to think. You whimpered, you didn't want to go back down, not again. You wanted to swear you'd do anything to not have to, but the words couldn't leave your parted lips. Thankfully, she grasped it from the look of your face, and gently leaned down to get to your level, caressing your face and whispering into your ear "do you think you can be good tonight and stay up with me, pet?" your eyes lit up and you nodded as hard as you could, you wanted nothing more than to be with her, away from the terrifying cold. She nodded in return, pulled you away from the basement door and brought you to a new room you hadn't seen before, a cozy furnished room like you'd seen in every house you'd been in before, but so shocking for your broken brain to settle on. She laid in it immediately, cooing for you to join her. You didn't wait a second to jump into bed with her, scooting up on all fours and curling up close next to her, praying to whatever deity for giving you the blessing of her body heat. And finally, for the first night in weeks, you got to sleep with a full belly, and no fear in your head at all.