Caged : OneShot
Title: Caged
Author: tiniedoll
Genre: AU, Slight Angst?
Pairing: 2Min
Rating: PG
Summary: Minho has been contained in a caged room for years. Will he ever be free?
CAGED
Every day, the desperate cries and whimpers echo into my black, floppy ears. Every day, I can smell the putrid smell of our body odor and feces from our prison. Every day, I’m confined in this ten by ten room, alone. The same dull wooden walls from top to bottom, all five walls I get sick of looking at… But the wall I hate the most is the metal fenced wall that is the only entrance and exit out of this hell hole. Every time I look through the holes of it, I see hundreds of more imprisonments just like mines, filled with many of my kind.
I turn my back away from that wall as I lay on my battered twin mattress-shutting off everything in my head so I would no longer have to hear their wails or even have to see their sufferings.
I don’t have a name, just a number imprinted inside of my right ear. Number 831. I’ve been confined in here ever since I was born, my mother used to be a breeder, but she died-her body couldn’t handle breeding anymore for the owner of this damn “human-puppy mill.” The few years my mother was alive, she told me many stories about these giants that look exactly like us, the only difference is that they don’t have ears or tails like ours. Our kind is “pets” for them, they are supposed to take of us and give us a lot of affection. But I wonder if what my mother has told me was true…
I’ve been here for many years and seen countless of our kind die from the abuse, neglect, and starvation. Why am I here? I ask myself this every day but could never find the answer. Each time a customer who wants to purchase one of us walks by, all of my kind rush to the rusted fence wall and howl-begging to be rescued from their cages. I no longer do that, after trying for so long, I’ve lost all hope… All I do now is sit in the back of my confinement on top of my bed, waiting-waiting for what though?
--
I heard the entrance of my cage unlocking, as the gate creaked opened, a thud followed. It seems that the owner has placed someone in here with me. I slowly turned my back and saw a small male who had wavy reddish-brown hair/fur with very fair skin. His scent traveled through my nostrils, it smelled sweet and delicious, and it made envy him since he was well-groomed while my fur was smelly, dirty, dry and un-brushed. I watched his back as he rattled the fence with his small hands, whining softly.
When he saw me in the corner of my eyes, he bent down before me with curiosity sparkling in his eyes. “Who are you?” He asked me, cocking his head sideways as he stared. His pointy ears perked up and I could see the newly tattooed number embedded in his ear, the number 143.
“I’m-” My voice sounded hoarse, I haven’t used it in awhile. “Number 831…”
“That’s not a name… That’s just a number.” He frowned.
“Then… I don’t know who I am,” I answered, shifting my eyes to away from his.
“My master named me Taemin, but I think she made a mistake though… She forgot me here. How do we get out? I need to come back to her…” He stood back up, peering through the gate.
‘She didn’t make a mistake… She abandoned you here.’ I replied inside of my head, turning away onto my side as I closed my eyes. He’ll soon realize it…
--
For the past few days, he’s been sleeping right beside me on the small, worn-out bed. Even though, I turn my body away him, he snuggles close to it-a bit too close because I can feel his warm breath touching my bare back. Every day, he would wait against the gates and that would just irritate my nerves because there won’t be anyone coming. There are hundreds of us more, there’s not a high chance that we’ll be rescued from this nightmare, so why won’t he just give up? Give up like the rest of us and lose their sanity?
One day, when the owner was doing his daily routine to fill our bowls with food, number 143 actually tried to plead him and tried to walk out of the gate. The giant owner just smacks him in the head to shut him up and to get back in. I thought I’d be used to seeing this kind of cruelty but I winced when I watched his body fall onto the ground. Normally, any animal would stay in that position, shaking with fear until the owner left but he got back up… He actually got back up and still dared to whimper at the owner. The giant muttered something in his language with an angry tone, I saw him raise his hand up to inflict more damage on the poor, skinny boy. I was quick enough to take the blow for him and before I knew it, everything turned black…
I could feel something soft and heavy on me, numbing my right side of the body… I also felt my head throbbing from pain, which caused me to slowly open my eyes as I touched my head and checked my hand to see if I was bleeding-I wasn’t. Then, I realized that Number 143 was cuddled up against me, he was latched onto my arm, and I could see tear stains on his dirtied, sleeping face. I wasn’t sure if the summer heat that was making my body feel like it was on fire, or the boy next to me… I watched him flutter his eyes open and his expression seemed like he was relieved as he grinned. “Good… You’re okay,” I heard him whisper as he snuggled beside me, closing his eyes again. An overwhelming feeling rushed through my body as my heart thumped. This is the first time in years that someone has worried about me, it didn’t feel so bad to have him by my side, I guess.
We’ve gotten much closer after that day, Taemin doesn’t wait by the gates anymore whenever someone passes by, he said he’d much rather hold onto me because he believes the best thing to hold onto life is each other. I think one of the reasons why he doesn’t go near there anymore is because he’s afraid one of us will get injured. One day, he asked me, “How come you don’t try to catch their attention? It could boost your chances of being bought by them.”
“I just lost all hope,” I replied softly, shrugging my shoulders. His warm, liquid brown eyes gazed into my eyes as he rubbed my head.
“You didn’t lose your hope, hope is always there, it’s just waaaaaay deep inside of you!” He said as he gently poked my chest and smiled radiantly. “Anything can be possible if you believe.”
“Well… What if you believe but nothing ever happens?”
“Silly!” He pushed me softly, still smiling at me. “You can’t JUST believe! You have to make it happen yourself, too.” My lips did something that it hasn’t done in years-it curled up into a smile as I engraved his words into my memories.
--
“Have you ever played in the sun before?” He asked, entwining his fluffy tail around mine.
“No, the only place I’ve been in is here,” I said, indifferent.
“What?! If we ever get out of here, we’re definitely playing under the sun!” His face beamed at the thought of that as he threw both of his hands up in the air. He then stared me, making me feel conscious.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just thought about giving you a name is all because you’re not just a number... How does Minho sound?” He leaned in closer to my face a, battering his long lashes and his big beady eyes were staring me down, waiting for my reply.
I smiled and nodded firmly. “Yeah, I like that name.” I hid my flushed face behind my hand. Yeah, I’m not just a number…
--
One night, while we were sleeping, I had a nightmare… That Taemin died alone in this cage because he lost his sanity like most would from being trapped in here. I flashed opened my eyes and tried to controlled my deep breathing. The morning sun was already up, but he was still sleeping soundly beside me. Suddenly, the gate opened and I was dragged out of there in an instant, dangling in the air as the owner carried me. He presented me to some other man and they exchanged words as the purchaser examined me. Horror sunk into my eyes, I was actually about to be bought? It felt like 1,000 tons just landed on my chest, I couldn’t leave without Taemin though because when will I ever see him again? What if my nightmare would come true?
With that thought in mind, I bit the owner’s arm, sinking my teeth into his flesh and he let out a scream as he pulled me off of him, dropping me onto the dirt ground. The owner of the mill was extremely angry with my action, so he kicked me, dragging me by the tail as he tossed my body back into my cage like a ragged-doll. Taemin was immediately by my side as I moaned in pain.
“What happened, Minho?!” He asked me frantically, helping me to the bed on the ground.
“Someone almost bought me…” I answered, lying down on my back as I held my sides.
“Wh-why didn’t you just go?” His eyes were getting watery as he squeezed my hand tightly. “You could’ve finally escaped and be free from here…”
“Yeah…” I shrugged thinking that was true as I lightly chuckled. “But I wouldn’t mind being stuck in here with you for the rest of my life…” I turned my face away from his, feeling embarrassed since I just openly confessed this, but it was the truth.
He placed a soft kiss on my warm, pink cheeks and whispered, “Nah, we’ll definitely escape and run freely under the sun together…”
A smile spread across my face, now I knew the answer to my question from earlier… I was caged in here, waiting for him.
A/N: Writing an 8 Page Research Essay about Animal Cruelty is killing me… I needed a break… & so this was created. Learning about puppy-mills & animal cruelty gave me this inspiration. Yeah, this story kind of sucks, but I just needed to let people know that there are puppy-mills that poor dogs are suffering in! :,<
I wonder if anyone can guess what their numbers mean? :)
& by the way, this is just a one-shot, NO SEQUEL.
Click to viewI ♥ Dancing, so I thought this was cute :3