Username: Shadow17
Name: SLK Keep Them Guessing // Winnie
Gender: Female
Name Meaning: Short for Winifred.
Prompt: “Don’t leave.”
Wednesday heard him say as she turned away. She couldn’t look. “Why would I stay?” She muttered, looking down at the pavement. “Not like you wanted me to before.” Truth be told, she was terrified. “Because…” he trailed off. She snapped around to look at him. “Because what, Casper. Because you want to keep me stuck? Because once I’m gone, you won’t have anyone to bother anymore? No one to force to behave by your will?” She growled, suddenly filled with rage. “I won’t do it anymore. No one deserves what you’ve done to me. I’m done.” Casper looked stunned. The meek dog he once knew was there, snarling at him, beckoning for him to reply. As he stood still, confused,
Wednesday took her chance to speak again. “What you did was unspeakable. Unbearable, unimaginable. The day you were born was the day all my problems began. We’ve gone through a lot together.” She started cornering him, and the alleyway seemed to shrink around him. “You always say you were there for me when we were dumped. Who else was supposed to be there!” She exclaimed. “You act like you’ve been doing me a favor for staying. You’ve been doing nothing in my favor since the day you came home. I was loved. I was adored. When you came along, I became nothing to them.” She stopped for a second, her heart aching again. But she couldn’t give up the facade. “I hate you.” She growled. Casper shrunk into the corner. Suddenly, he was terrified. The smaller collie had become the biggest figure he’d ever seen. He started looking around, trying to find a way out. She noticed, and turned to leave. She looked back at him one last time, watching him shake. The roles were finally reversed. She was the big dog here. “Good luck,” she said as she loped off.
Wednesday traveled for a long time. Some days, she thought she heard him behind her. She heard his laugh, his mocks, his never-ending stream of insults. She would look over her shoulder, watching as the city shrunk in the distance. She couldn’t remember when the last time she had snapped like that was. She was never that loud, she thought. She’d simply take what was thrown at her. But not anymore. She couldn’t, wouldn’t be that dog. Even when the thorns began to stick in her sides, and burrs would get stuck in her paws. That’s the worst time to give up, she knew it.
When Winnie arrived outside the gates of the ranch, she was emaciated. It had been a week since she’d eaten anything nutritious, and who knows how long before that since Casper had let her eat anything good either. She flopped down for a nap, not smelling the other dogs nearby.
Felix was the dog who spotted her first. He led his owner down to the gates, and they brought her inside. For a while, Winnie wouldn’t eat. She was truly afraid again, all her bravery ran out by the long and weary travels. But her hunger got the best of her. She sat in the living room of the ranch house as Felix and
Aspen watched her silently from the couch, pretending to watch the TV. As she finished, she turned to them. “I’m Winnie,” she told them. “Nice name,” Aspen said.
She was the timid dog no longer.
[568/200]
