When I wake up, my headache is gone and I don't feel sick anymore. I get up and open the shed door. It's morning. Judging by the dew on the grass, it's rather early morning. However, the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is rather high.

My mate's owners are out on the grass, sitting under that oak tree. They know about me and they know that I can stand on two legs and walk like them and draw and think like a human but they don't know about my mate's double life. At least as far as I know, they don't.

I head out across the grass on all fours. I try and be brave and approach them but as soon as the triangle-headed boy gets up and comes towards me, I turn tail and run back into my shed. I quickly switch on my metronome and watch it go back and forth.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

It's soothing. It's repetitive. It's familiar. It helps me calm down.

I go to my table and pick up the necklace and put it on. My most important possession. I can't remember where it (or I, for that matter) came from, but I somehow know that one of my parents gave it to me. It's a necklace with a pocket watch attached to it, the kind where you press a button and the cover flips open. It's satisfying to do, and it's fun to push from side to side when I'm wearing it, a movement that I do now.

Suddenly I hear a noise from outside. I nervously peer round the shed door and see the two boys—Phineas and Ferb—and their friends building something. It's made of metal and they're using loud tools that I don't like so I race around the side of the house.

I don't know what opens the hole in the grass but I suddenly find myself falling into the ground through a tube. I yell in fright and try to slow my descent but I crash land on a hard floor. I immediately scramble up and hurriedly examine my surroundings. Everything's colourful and platypus-shaped. There's an orange chair facing a large screen.

Then an image comes into my head. An image of something I'm sure I've never seen before. It's weird…it looks like a-

Oh God…

Everything's unfamiliar. I don't like it. My fear is catching up with me and I can't breathe. I'm in an unfamiliar place with overbearing colours and loud noises and the image in my mind that won't leave me alone. I can't cope so my inner voice takes over.

Breathe slow, Judy. Breathe slow.

I can't!

Breathe slow. Judy, you're going to be okay. Just keep breathing slowly and in and out. In and out.

In and out…

That's good. Keep going. Focus on Perry's face.

Perry…

You love Perry. Perry is familiar. Imagine Perry with purple fur.

Purple fur.

You like purple. Think about butterflies. Butterflies are pretty. Butterflies are familiar. You like butterflies.

Butterflies.

Now, while you're thinking about butterflies, look for a way out.

Way out. Butterflies. Okay…the hole in the ceiling's closed. There's a platform in a tube over there.

That must be an elevator. Go stand on it.

Elevator…yes! It goes up and down.

Up and down is familiar. Like the left and right of the metronome.

That's good. Don't panic, Judy, that's just the doors closing. You're heading up now. Up is okay, up means going above the surface of the ground. Focus on Perry's face. Focus on anything but the unfamiliar.

Butterflies. Perry. Purple Perry butterflies…that's just weird.

I finally make it above ground. The elevator puts me right in the oak tree. Luckily, the kids are busy riding some giant mechanical dinosaur and haven't noticed me. I quickly rush across to my shed, dart inside, grab my notebook and pens, sit down on my bed, and draw. The image in my head is still there so I continue drawing until it's down.

It doesn't take too long; the image is simple. A footprint of what looks like a cat or dog. I've seen them in the mud around the street but I've never seen this particular footprint before. Have…have I? I don't remember seeing it but if I haven't, how has such a clear image of it come into my mind? It doesn't look like a footprint in the mud, it looks like it's made of stone. But footprints aren't made of stone, are they?

I don't know what's going on anymore, and that scares me. I quickly switch the metronome back on and listen to the Waltz of the Flowers as I watch the ticker move.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

Left.

Right.

It's calming me. The classical music mixed with the metronome sooths me to the point where I almost fall asleep.

Then there's a knock at my door. I fall over onto my bed in fright but it turns out to be my mate.

"Hey," he says, coming in and closing the door. "My nemesis wasn't doing anything today so Major Monogram said I could come home early. Plus, Pinky's back in today so he can go sort his own nemesis out today."

He continues talking but I don't hear him. What seems like a video has come to mind but it's from a first-person view. It's a memory? I've never had a memory before. At least, not one from before Perry found me.

"Judy, are you okay?"

"I've remembered something," I say aloud. "Something from my past. It's…it's hazy, but I think it's to do with where I came from."

"Really?" Perry sits down on the bed next to me. "Tell me."

So I do.