Disclaimer, man: Like, dood, I was at this store. And there was everything in it. Ways to get hitched when you're three. Twix the size of Texas. (I ate two.) Elvis chillin' in the Oldies section. Got his autograph, that was cool. And I held it - the gleaming rights to Tales of Symphonia...
And then I woke up.
Nope, no rights here.

It was a week or so later when he opened his eyes. The room wasn't very big. There were long spindly sticks connecting the roof and the floor, and they tasted icy.

It was empty except for him and the little towel, which had gotten shabby from all the chewing. It was bland, and he hated it as soon as he saw it.

He didn't know where the people were. He couldn't see very far out from his little room, and there was no sign of the people ever being there at all.

He yipped, pleading for attention. The room was so empty, and he was suddenly afraid of it. It felt like...

Like a prison.

No one responded, and the only sound other than his frantic cries was the air conditioning, rattling and coughing once in a while. So empty, empty, empty. The people were gone, and the only thing that he could see were a few machines and lots, lots of other cages.

He whimpered and curled up, placing his many tails on his face.

He wanted to get out. To live anywhere outside the cage.

The people told him about it, even if they didn't know it. They never spoke to him about it, partly because he couldn't understand them, but he could feel their lives, very softly, when they were near. What they loved. What they didn't.

Everything that he 'heard' was outside. Not the laboratory, not the cage, it was somewhere else.

He wanted to be outside, to feel what outside was like.

Later, the people with the white coats took him out of the cage. Finally! Somewhere else. Would they take him 'outside'?

They placed him in a shallow box with no top. Then, the lights dimmed, and a picture in front of him lit up.

"Corrine, that is a mouse."

Corrine blinked.

"Mouse."

The word repeated a few times as the machine processed Corrine's thoughts.

"Mouse?" Corrine squeaked.

"Good."

Corrine had learned that word often came with a pat or something nice, so he was happy that he got it.

Another picture.

"Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat...Corrine?"

Corrine blinked. "C-hat."

"No, Cat."

That word, 'no', was bad, so Corrine looked down in shame. "Cat."

"Very good, Corrine." He perked up at that.

The days passed, with Corrine learning more words. The humans seemed pleased at his ability to learn so quickly, even if they believed he'd never live to see the things he learned about. They let him play in the room, interacting with objects they'd laid out carefully for him to poke at. This thing was squishy, and this one tasted bad. This one made a sound when you knocked it over. And it shattered, too.

He also learned that the 'vase' wasn't something he was supposed to play with.

Then they would put him back in his cage and he would be lonely again.

Then they would put him in the shallow box to learn new words.

"Snake. Snake. Snake."

"Snack." Corrine coughed.

"No."

Corrine frowned. "Snack."

"No."

"Snack!"

"No."

"Snack..."

"Snake."

"Snaaaaack!"

"No, Corrine. Snake."

Corrine gave up and cried. The people would always take him out when he did, and he did not feel up to arguing with the machine right now.

"Oh, fine," a new pair of hands picked him up roughly. This person...! He had memorized all the scents of the people, even if they had a scent of the laboratory, too icky-clean, they had special ones all their own.

This person wasn't a person he knew.

They carried him to the room with the cages, opened the door, and put him back into his little prison. They often put him in different cages, with new objects in it. There was always the towel there, though, since he could not bear moving without it.

Corrine looked for his towel, if only for something to chew on. Funny, it wasn't...

He heard a rustling in the corner. In the dimness, he could make out a...

Hey! He recognized that thing! He had seen it in a picture before! Now, it was moving, breathing, exciting!

"Snack...snack...snake! Snake!" Corrine yipped, smiling. He had gotten the word right! The people would be so proud of him!

"Snake! Snake!" he barked happily.

The thing stirred again. It reared up, glared at him, and lunged, sinking its teeth in his thigh.

I know. I'm cliffhanging you and giving you a rather dumb chapter. I'm a bad person. Nooooo, don't hurt meeee...
But, but! Guess who's coming next chapter.
She wears purple...you should know, though.