The Human Pet

Chapter 15

Warning: dehumanizing, character mentally spirals a bit

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It was silly. Practically the entire time I kept my eyes on Alistair. I had to. It felt like he'd walk out if I looked away for even a second.

This was all too new. Too bizarre. To think that the species that took me away from my home had something as mundane as a school, and that my captor was so far just a teacher was just…anticlimactic. Unfulfilling. When I think about it later I'm sure I'll be peeved, if not downright dreadful, but right now I'm too scared to move.

One giant was enough, but being trapped in a room dozens of them who are barely hiding their interest in you? It made me wish, not for the first time, that the wall would swallow me whole.

And imagine my shock when his first slide is of a person. Men, crouched in front of a cave like they're waiting for something to happen, holding weapons made of bone and wood.

This had to be some kind of sick joke...right? This giant alien species kidnapped me, they're treating me like a dog, and now my 'owner' is teaching them some twisted version of human….what, society? Nature??

And I don't know why, but my heart drops. I knew Alistair saw me as less. It was apparent in how he treated me as if I couldn't take care of myself, even if he made an effort to teach me his language. But this….

It really drove the nail in to see just how much he saw me as an animal.

But my anger doesn't get the chance to build. There's too many voices, voices that belong to new aliens. Ones who can't seem to take their eyes off me. Ones who can clearly speak to Alistair with such fluidity that I wonder.

Just how much does Alistair dumb down his words so I can understand them?

The room is going silent, now. As my eyes snap left and right I realize there's a different feel in the room. The students look….tense.

I snap to attention as Alistair heads towards me. Suddenly I'm all too aware of the sound of my own breathing. He kneels in front of me, and I press myself against the wall.
He reaches for the stuffed animal in my hands. I grip the koala tighter.

'No. It's mine.'

The brief thought surprises me. What am I doing? It's just a stuffed animal. I let go and curl up, arms going to wrap around myself now that they aren't occupied. I'm confused. What is he doing? Is he trying to prove a point? Is this some type of weird dominance thing? Or...is he just messing with me just because he can? Like taking a toy away from a dog and watching them wait for it back. He's standing now and talking to them. Am I supposed to do something?

Now he's crouching again, extending the toy to me. So it was because he just felt like it….? Is he going to snatch it away from me as soon as I reach for it? But no, he's actively trying to shove it at me now. Only when I take it does he, and his class, relax.

At his offer to hide I bolt. The feeling of all those eyes on me was enough to make my skin crawl, and for some reason I feel humiliated. No, not humiliated - betrayed. When Alistair's big hand touches my head, my eyes burn with held back tears. I should pull away. I should give him the cold shoulder for making a lab animal out of me. But goddammit the thought of pulling away from his touch makes my stomach hollow and my chest hurt.

And I can’t tell if these tears are from hurt or from anger.

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I never thought I'd be this attached to a human. I must admit, Layla has grown on me more than I realized. I had a brief moment of fear that she wouldn't forgive my actions, but when she didn't pull away I knew that I had been right. Layla would be okay in time. Though I'll be sure to never do that again.

I'm glad now that I strayed away from becoming a human behavior specialist. I can barely handle my own pet being distressed, how could I handle hundreds of cases of broken and terrified humans? I long to pull my pet into my arms and comfort her. But I know she'd never forgive me for tearing her from her hiding spot so soon.

Instead I focus on answering questions from the two students who stayed behind.

Layla didn't come out for the rest of the lesson, most likely overwhelmed. Even once class ended and I tried to pull her out she fought me. Lunch was served under the desk, though Layla didn't eat much.

In fact, she barely looked me in the eye….

A/N: Shout out to those of you who didn't ask me to update. You the real MVPs.