The first time she woke up in that cell she was horrified.

Across from her, in the poorly lit room with three walls and one barred exit, sat a colossal black dog with blazing amber eyes that shone in the dark.

upon seeing this she squeaked out a cry of fear and retracted into herself , bringing her knees up to her stomach and shielding her chest with her arms, in the process pressing herself into the wall. She cast her gaze downwards.

Heavy seconds passed, slow second after slow second.

When nothing seemed to be happening, she dared to chance another glance at the beast.

The dog just sat there, across from her, eyes blazing, unmoving.

Still terrified, Odette tried to take deep, unnoticeable breathes, wishing it would make her disappear. If in you head you convince yourself that you are invisible, you will not be noticeable. She didn't know if this rule applied when there were only two occupants in a room that have already noticed each other, nor if it applied to dogs.

Finally deciding that having the higher ground here would be to her advantage, she hesitantly got up to her feet, her back still pressing firmly into the cold, stone wall behind her.

She then noticed that this place was remarkably cold. It was almost freezing.

The beast continued to sit there, unmoving.

Odette could now make it out more clearly - it had black, glossy fur; a black pointed nose, droopy ears. The beast looked slightly malnourished, yet aristocratic. She was certain, that if the beast were to get up on its back legs, it would be taller than her, and she was taller than average.

If the animal was as dangerous as it looked, there would be no doubt why it was locked behind bars.

The young woman didn't like when animals were locked up, but she was absolutely convinced that whatever was in front of her didn't even qualify as an animal. It was monstrous. and it was in the same cell as her.

The cell was fittingly small for an animal, although it was fit to house a person. Under the small long gap in the wall resembling a window, was an elevation, that could almost be a bed. Several heavy chains were suspended of the walls, rusted from time.

There wasn't much more than that.

Odette jolted to the barred exit to her right, heart still racing. She had to get out of here.

Hunching over, Odette grabbed at the metal polls and tried to look through them, to squeeze her head through them, to see the other side. Yet all she could see was a wall across from her, as grey as the walls inside.

"Hello?!" her voice cracked when she called down the hall. She was beginning to get cold, but her feet where positively freezing. Her voice rang down the hallway once more, before she remembered that she was not alone.

She spun around to face the contents of the cell, left hand still glued to the bars.

Yet again, the dog sat there, unmoving.

She was beginning to think that it was a statue.

Cautiously, on the tips of her toes, Odette moved to the window, periodically nervously glancing at her roommate with suspicion.

What she saw outside horrified her further, if that was even possible.

Outside, many stories below, moving violently, was nothing but a raging sea, on top of which they seemed to be floating. Not a single piece of land could be detected on the horizon.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure swam across from her in the air.

Stopping momentarily, the black figure turned its head, looking at the small opening of her window.

Its whole body was now facing her, the bone-like hands peeked from under the rippling cloak, it face still shrouded in the darkness of the hood on it head.

It seemed to be an instant, a tiny fraction of time registered poorly in the woman brain, and the figure was right in front of her, its face no longer concealed. It had no eyes, and in place of its mouth was a black hole.

The blonde woman heard barking coming from somewhere in the back, but it was distant, dampened, dulled.

The figure moved in on her, mercilessly starring at her. Its lanky, dry figures moved up slightly in delight.

She didn't have the power to move. She didn't even have the energy to stand, it almost seemed like she was now floating, too. Floating in despair and sickness.

She was blinded and then she woke up.

It was way past Odette's bedtime. Today had been an especially long day, completed with screaming, shouting and a little violence to spice things up.

She wanted nothing more that to brush her teeth and get into bed as she unlocked her front door.

She lived alone, and everyday she was greeted dully by her dim living room.

Dropping her colourful bag heavily next to the door, she took her shoes off and walked across the limestone floor of the flat to find a light switch. With her target reached her living room, along with her kitchen, lit up, exposing the tranquil colour of the interior.

She walked on top of the soft blue carpet and reaching the edge, flopped gracelessly onto the soft brown couch. She moaning into the white pillow, as the clock on the white wall showed half-passed midnight.

A loud meow rang in Odette's ears and she turned her head over to look at the offender.

"Shh, Oscar, mommy' s tired," she scolded the black, fluffy cat with big, yellow eyes.

Oscar let out another agonising to the ears noise and jump onto the couch to sit next to his owner.

She stroked his fur a couple of times.

"Meow," and with that she jumped of the sofa and headed in the general direction of the kitchen, stopping and turning around to see if his owner would follow.

"Oh right, honey, sorry. I forgot," she mumbled an apology. She pushed herself off of the couch unwillingly, forcing a loud crack in her spine.

"Ahhh," she laughed as the cat made another noise, "I'm getting old, and you should learn to feed ourself," she stumbled into the kitchen after her lightly trotting cat.

After the little snob has been fed, Odette made herself a cup of mint tea, put it on the coffee table in the living room and flopped back down on the brown couch.

"Not again," she moaned as she opened her tired eyes to the all too familiar cell. She was hoping that last month's nightmare wouldn't repeat itself, or she would seriously start considering therapy sessions. She was sitting in the same spot she woke up last time, her back against the same cold wall. And she was seriously considering therapy sessions.

The same pair of golden eyes greeted her from across the room.

This time, completely unfazed by this bizarre dream, she pinched herself. She clearly remembered falling asleep on the couch, her tea untouched. There was absolutely no reason for this to be real.

When that didn't work, she though of other ways to exit this strange dream. Remembering how she left last time, she decided that she wasn't quite desperate enough to leave yet.

She looked up, her blue eyes scanning the dog. Strangely enough, it didn't look as aggressive as last time. It eyes were dull, resigned, sad. Its body was skinnier than before - she could see every rib stick out of the poor beast.

"I don't supposed they feed you well around here, do they?" she said to no-one in particular, sadness in her voice. The dog didn't move, but she could see it breathing. Not a statue, then.

She got up, more confident than last time, with the decision to approach the animal. She also thought about trying to call someone though the metal fence, but once again remembering the cloaked figure though better of it.

With nothing left to do, she took a step forward, and fearfully snuck a glance out the window. Making sure that no monsters were right outside the window ready to suck her soul out, she ran to the other side of the cell and stopped a couple meters away from the creature.

With nothing better to offer, she stuck her hand out to him, allowing it to sniff it. The dog didn't move, and never took its eyes off of her. She stood there for a while, and taking the lack of response as a positive sign, she moved a couple steps closer.

The wolf-dog blinked at her.

She moved closer still, tying her fear into a tight knot in the stomach.

With her hand almost at a very black nose, she stopped and crouched, making sure her long dress covered the sensitive parts. The dog made no move to sniff her hand. It didn't scowl at her either.

Not quite brave enough to attempt to pet it, she retracted her hand.

"You're strange," she said, "but honestly I cant blame you, being locking here and all."

The dog cocked its head to the side.

"Can you understand me?" She had a feeling it could.

The dog made a loud sniffing noise, almost like a sob.

It was a sob, she quickly realised when the animal's eyes watered and a salty droplet disappeared into thick fur.

"You're lonely in here aren't you," more of a statement than a question, "lonely and cold." she said quietly.

It sobbed again, dropping it head, its ears plastered down.

"Oh don't cry," the woman's heart broke for the animal, "I'm here with you, its going to be ok." she reached out to pet its shaggy head.

She kneeled at the creatures side.

"What did you do to get here, eh, buddy?" she asked, tentatively petting him on the nape.

When only a sob followed, she hugged it gently.

Releasing Blacky, as she had dubbed the dog in her head, she leaned on the wall with her back and crossed her legs. Her hand once again found Blacky's nape.

Time went by, but she had no idea how much, since she had no way of tracking it. A shiver ran through her body, her light white summer dress not contributing much to her warmth. And although it wasn't quite as freezing as last time, it was cold nonetheless.

No longer crying, Blacky looked at her from underneath her hand. It ducked under it and moved towards her, slowly approaching her right side.

Odette would have lied, had she said she wasn't scared senseless at the sudden movement.

Odette didn't dare turn around as Blacky's muzzle disappeared from sight and squeezed itself between her and the wall, gently nudging in her shoulder blade, urging her to move away. Which she did.

Blacky flopped down between the woman and the wall, carefully curving his body around the shivering Odette, easily encompassing her in relative warmth.

Odette was tense, but as she got warmer she slowly started to relax, her body basking in the pleasant heat.

"Thanks."

The composed dog let out a heavy pfff and rested his snout on his paws.

Some time later Odette fell asleep.