Feeding Time

          Sunday morning, 8:00 am, Ash McKenzie woke up from a 12 hour "nap". Like most young adults, the first thing she did was find her phone. With tired eyes and a quick stretch, Ash logged-in to her Facebook and scrolled through her news feed. She aimlessly passed through countless useless posts before coming across a picture of one of the cutest dogs she'd ever seen.

          Ash took a closer look at the post and noticed it was an ad for someone selling the dog. She had wanted a dog for some time now and the adorable German Shepherd puppy on her screen looked like just the pick. With a click of the screen and a short message to the seller, the dog was bought. Ash was quite surprised that the dog hadn't already been sold seeing as how cute he was. The description was good, too:

Nine-month-old male German Shepherd, great with kids, loyal, and a great guard dog. Looking for the perfect family. 50$

          And an amazing price. Not once did it cross her mind why the family was selling such a perfect dog, or why they adopted it in the first place if they were just going to get rid of it. Nevertheless, she bought the dog.

          A few days later, once Ash got settled with her new pet, she went to buy a collar and toys for him. She got a cute blue collar with "Duke" on it —the owner had told her the name— and her phone number on the back as well as a few rubber squeaky toys.

          Ash arrived home, eager to give Duke his new toys and collar. She wrapped the leather around his neck and stepped back to admire it. "Adorable," she said to no one and placed the squeaky toys on the ground. Ash went into the next room and opened her phone and checked Facebook as usual. The little speech bubble at the top of her screen turned white with a "1", signalling a new message. She opened it reluctantly, seeing as she normally didn't get many messages, especially not on Facebook.

          "Mason?" she asked out loud. "What does he want?" Mason was Ash's ex boyfriend. She then proceeded to read through the message, still confused.

Hi Ash, long time no talk. Before you block me, hear me out. This is not a plea for forgiveness or anything of the sort, I just remembered I forgot a few things at your place. Could I come pick them up later today?

          She didn't see anything wrong with the proposal, so she responded "sure, is around 6 good?" A few seconds later, a new message popped up agreeing to the time. With that, Ash turned her phone off and went back to the room that Duke was in. She crouched down and looked her new friend in the eyes while putting her hand on his face. "Let's see how good of a guard dog you are," she said to him and removed her hand. Duke did the famous head-tilt which made Ash laugh slightly. "You really are adorable," she told Duke as she got up from her crouched position. She glanced at the clock to see that it was only 4:30. Looks like were having an early dinner. She thought to herself then started cooking whatever was in the freezer.

          As Ash finished eating her processed, frozen lasagna, and Duke his... whatever it was, she noticed it was almost 6:00. Just as she was done cleaning her dish, there was a knock on the door. Surprisingly enough, there was no barking or growling from Duke. Ash walked hurriedly toward the door and opened it and on the other side was Mason.

          "Hi" he said, awkwardness evident in his voice.

          "Get your stuff and leave" she replied, sounding ruder than she intended.

         "Oh, come on, we haven't seen each other in months. You're still mad at me?" Mason questioned. His eyes widened slightly as he asked. Ash looked over at Duke and still no reaction.

          "I'm sorry, just... get your stuff quick. I'm busy doing nothing." she responded, forcing a laugh.

          "There's the Ash I know and love," he laughed too and playfully punched her shoulder. Mason was about to walk down the hallway but caught a glimpse of red from the living room. "Uhm... what's with your dog?" he asked, pointing at Duke.