It all began a little over four and a half years ago, with the birth of the grey-colored puppy and his two siblings. One was female and had mostly dark brown fur, with a lighter underbelly, while the other was male and had all black fur. Their mother had black fur with brown around her legs and face. They never met their father and were strays from the day they were born.

After they had grown to be three months old, the gray one convinced his brother and sister to go with him to get away from their mother for a while and explore.

"Hey, Grey," the black brother muttered. They called each other by the colors of their fur because none of them had real names. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course, Black!" The gray one laughed. (That one's me if you couldn't tell, Pidge.) "Hey, she probably needs some time away from us, too! So it's a win-win!"

"Okay... if you say so..." the sister whispers.

The pups traveled around the town all day before returning late that night.

"Come on, Brown!" I had chuckled. "I know you're tired, but we're almost there!"

"And where were you three all day?" Our mother growled at us the instant she saw us.

"Uh oh..." I gulped.

"It was Grey's idea!" the other two immediately yelled.

"So, uh, then I got punished." I grin sheepishly.

"So, you were always a rule breaker then." Pidge smiles.

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that-"

"It's fine. After all..."

"...it's what you love about me. But anyways, nothing too important happens for another seven or so months. And I'm sure you can remember what I told you happened when I was ten months old, but I'll tell you again, sparing no single detail. Now..."

I had continued to do very similar things for those months in between but rarely brought my siblings along. Whenever I did, they would always blame it on me, and I would be punished once more. It got to the point where I was gone so much that they mostly stopped paying attention to me. I was only there for breakfast and sleep because I had figured out how to get food on my own.

One day, though, I ran into a bit of trouble. I encountered a pack of wild, mean-looking dogs.

"Well, would you look at that?" Their leader sneered at me. "A little lost puppy!"

I backed away from him, only to bump into another.

"He kinda looks familiar, don't he, boss?"

Scared by the whole turn of events I look around for an exit frantically.

"Yeah...almost like that traitor. He up and disappeared with some black-coated maiden and never came back, so we found 'im and got revenge."

"You don't think-" One of them gasps before a grin floods his face.

"I think we're both thinkin' the same thing. Let's see how similar this feller is. Grey fur, check."

"White underbelly, check."

"And those sweet little button ears."

While they're distracted listing off similarities to someone I don't even know, I run through the gap between two of them. Within seconds, they're after me.

Oh no, oh no, oh no!

They were much faster than me and would catch up in seconds. Then I had an idea. The alleyways! I knew my way through those like the back of my paw! If I could get back to my mom, she'd protect me!

I turn into one, and head on the route towards...I'm not sure I would call it home, but the place where my mother and siblings lived.

Once I made it there, my mother had jumped in front of me and scared them away.

Or so we thought. That night, they came back. I awoke to loud yelps of pain, and then silence.

I stood up to see them standing over my brother's corpse, grinning sadistically.

My mother scared them off again, but then she looked at me angrily and told me to follow her.

I listened and she led me to the junkyard and dropped me in a trash can, before closing it.

Shocked, I tried to escape, but couldn't. So for the first, (and last, until recently) time, I gave up.

The temperature grew higher and higher.

'Do I really want to die?' I had asked myself.

And, at the last moment, I made my decision.

'No!'

I smashed myself into the lid, and both me and it flew out, landing in a pile of garbage.

Having exerted all of my energy, everything had faded to black as I panted.

"And that's how it happened." I look down at the ground but don't let it bother me.

"Tramp...you can stop if-"

"No, Pidge. I need to do this."

"You're wrong, Tramp. I...I shouldn't have asked you to do this," She murmurs. "I know how much you dislike talking about your past. I forced you into this, and if you don't want to talk about it, then don't."

"But I think we do need to talk about it. So I'm going to keep going."

Not long after, I woke up. Not on my own, mind you.

"Boooooorrrriissss!" Came a howl from beside me. "Come look at what I found!"

"What is it, kiddo?"

I grunted and covered my eyes with my paws. I was not in the mood to deal with anyone at that moment.

"Huh, looks like a pup." The older sounding voice said. "Is he alive?"

"Well," the young one replied. "He just covered up his eyes, so I'd say so."

'Oh, come on. Maybe it would have been better if I had just stayed still.' I had thought.

"Well, if he's not going to admit to us that he's awake, we'll just carry him back."

Upon hearing this, I stood up and glared at them. "What do you want with me?" I growled.

One of them was a tall, slender, and gray Wolfhound (of what variety, I didn't yet know), and I couldn't really tell what the black and brown puppy was. He did look about the same age as me though, and I later found out that he was around three months younger.

"We'd just like to learn why you're out here on your own. The world is pretty dangerous, little one."

"Don't call me little." I continue to growl.

"Alright, alright." The other young dog chuckles. "Name's Buster. Yours?"

"Don't really have one."

"Oh...well, uh..."

"Just call me...Grey." I winced at the mention of what my siblings had called me.

"Alright, Grey," the older one- I guessed his name was Boris?- had said. "We'd like to take you somewhere we can help you. You see, we're part of a group called the Junkyard Dogs-"

"So that's when you met Buster?" Pigeon questions.

"Yeah," I sigh. "At first, we got along really well. But then...some stuff went down."

"Tramp-"

"Don't even start. I already told you. I'm not stopping. And we're not quite there yet, anyways."

Six months had passed. The young grey-furred mongrel had stayed with Boris and Buster while he was getting used to living without his mother's support, but like he had with her, he was often out.

But then, one day something had happened. During those six months, he had been to the pound, or he would have been, had he not escaped the carriage. Unfortunately, in doing this, he had fallen and injured his front left leg. But out of nowhere, a man saw him and picked him up.

He had lived with the man and his wife for several months, and not seen the two dogs who had saved him at all during that time. But then, one day, something strange happened. The man who had taken him in started acting strangely. Grey, or as he was named at the moment, Buddy, started to be ignored a little more often.

But he had no one to go to in order to ask about it, so he figured it would just pass. It never did. All of a sudden, the house had a new member. A small 'baby', as his owners called it. After it appeared, everything changed. When he sat down for a nice comfortable scratch, he had been interrupted with a: "Put that dog out! He'll get fleas all over the baby!", and when he started to bark at some strange mutt: "Stop that racket! You'll wake the baby!".

Every day he felt like they cared less and less. His nice, juicy cuts of uneaten steak had been replaced with leftover baby food, and his warm bed by the fire with a leaky doghouse.

Buddy spent less and less time inside his home. So, he did what would later become known as what he was best at. He ran away. As soon as he had returned to the familiar alleys, he broke the clasp on his collar and let it fall to the ground. He swore to never let himself belong to a human again. Despite the stories his mother had told him, that "a dog's best friend is a human", he had experienced what they were truly like.

Grey soon met up once more with Buster and Boris, who had grown greatly concerned over not seeing him in several months.

"Where on earth have you been, Grey!?" Buster had asked angrily. "We...we thought you were dead!"

"I don't want to talk about it." Is what I had replied with.

The two of them, sensing my inner fury, left me be for the rest of the night.

"So that's why you said you were the 'voice of experience'..." Pidge murmurs.

"Yeah." I sigh. "Now, it's time for the fight between me and Buster...at this point, I had begun my whole 'Tramp' routine. I'd pick up a girl for a week or two and use them to get something. Buster knew about it. Whenever we went out together and I saw one that interested me, I'd walk off without telling him. That's how I met Peg..."

So, you're the Tramp, huh?" The female dog chuckled. "I can't believe you're after little old me."

"Aw, shucks," I smirked. "No need for flattery."

I had just taken her out for a night on the town. I also snuck some stuff from her home and hid it outside to take when I left. I felt pretty proud of this one. Heck, I ended up coming back to her multiple times.

She was definitely on to me, though.

Despite how I was acting, I was in a rush. Buster had an awful plan he was just waiting to start, and I had to stop him.

I rushed back with my stolen items and arrived in the nick of time. Boris was standing on his 'sentry tower', which was a pile of trash that was high enough to see for quite a distance. Buster was standing on his own, loftier pile.

"Buster!" I barked. "Don't do this."

"Why not, Tramp?" He called back. "I need to do this. There's this craving inside of me. A craving for power. If I do this, then I can satisfy that craving! Why don't you come help me?"

"Buster," I growled. "This 'craving' of yours isn't healthy! It'll end up getting you killed or worse!"

"Oh, come on, Tramp, don't act like you don't have your own! You've got your craving to take advantage of the dames!" He grinned. "You leave me to go with them, take their stuff, and make them think you care, but never take 'em seriously! Look, you came back from one just now!"

"Buster. Stop, now."

"No."

With that, Buster knocked over a large object next to him right as a dog catcher's truck came into view. The object slid down the slope and hit Boris dead on, knocking him towards the incinerator.

Right before he fell, I grabbed him in my teeth and threw him out of the way. This lead to me sliding off the slope, only being held up by my loose grip on the edge. Buster snickered as he walked towards me.

"Looks like nobody wins, Tramp." He prepared to kick me down, but I did a flip over the edge and bit him in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground. I rush to check on Boris, only to see him in the back of the truck driving away.

"No..."

Buster had been trying to get rid of him. He wanted to be in charge of the Junkyard Dogs, and then proceed on to the world. I couldn't let that happen. I may not have shown it, but I truly did care about Boris. He had helped me survive in one of my darkest times.

"I don't know what happened to him," I sigh. "But I wish I did."

"Tramp..."

"After that, not much happened at all for the next two months. And then, I met you. So there. Now you know everything."

"I...I'm sorry I made you talk about it."

"It's fine, Pidge. You know, not talking about it had helped me think that it was better to leave the past behind you. But now I realize that even if it's easier to do it that way, it's really better to learn from the past."

"You should get some more rest," She tells me. "It's getting late. You were telling your story all day."

"Okay, Pidge," I smile. "Let's get some sleep."

We lay down beside each other and I snuggle up against her.

I'm glad that I now realize that to leave the past behind you is akin to letting yourself make the same mistakes again. I won't let it happen.

Pidge's snores fill the tunnel once more and I grin as sleep's sweet embrace takes me as well.