Hungry Squirrel

"The water, it's too hot!" says my puppy in a squeaky voice.  I turn to adjust the cold water and then ask if it's ok.

"Now, it's too cold." she says.

I marvel for a second at how well her English has gotten -- she's only two and is already able to speak in full sentences.

I look around the room I'm in.  It's filled with metal cages, and the one right next to us has a squirrel.

"I'm hungry!" yells the squirrel, but I ignore it.  I'm too busy trying to wash my puppy at a temperature that she likes.

"I'm hungry! I'm hungry!" squeals the squirrel.  A moment later it begins to bounce around the cage -- and I start to feel bad because I know the squirrel is hungry but I have to take care of my puppy right now.

The squirrel uses it's arms to rock the cage back and forth.  The sound is thunderous.

"Make it stop," says my puppy in a soft voice.

I turn towards the squirrel just as it manages to topple over its cage.  A moment later the door bursts open.  A moment after that it is eating away at my right shoulder.

I open my mouth to scream -- but nothing comes out.

I try again -- but nothing.

"Make it stop," says the puppy in a soft calm voice.

And then --

I open my eyes.  All I can see is darkness.  I wait for my vision to adjust, and sense a sharp crushing pain in my right shoulder.

I smell cement.

"Make it stop," says a women's voice calmly in the distance.

"I'm hungry," yells another further away.

"It's too cold," whispers someone beside me.

I move my left arm to feel my way through the darkness.  The pain in my right shoulder sharpens.  And then it dawns on me; my reality.

I am buried under slabs of cement.

My right arm is pinned by a boulder.

I am trapped.

As are the voices moaning in the blackness all around me.