Why can't I wake up?! This has to be a dream! People do not just find themselves as dogs in other countries! It's not scientifically possible! It's just my sub conscious mind throwing me for a loop!

…

But I'm really hungry and I really have to pee. Normally when these things happen, I wake up even a little bit. It's part of the programing of a human. So if I'm not waking up…

No! No, I'm not going to go there.

But what if – NO BRAIN. I told you I'm not going there!

But –

No.

But what if I'm awake?

BRAIN! WE AGREED! NO SMALL VOICES SAYING WHAT I DON'T WANT TO HEAR!

You can't deny it forever…

Mind, must you. Really? Must you do this to me? You could be wrong.

But what if?

…*sigh* Fine. Fine! For the sake of the argument, we'll assume that I am awake. Happy?

Yes.

And continuing that argument, I can just relieve myself here in this bush.

Correct.

Well, I proceeded to do so and I didn't get the tingly warm feeling you get when you do wet the bed, just pure relief.

…weird. So I might actually be awake…

But that means…

DANNY AND TOM!

DANNY ISN'T DEAD!

AND HE AND TOM WERE ON SPEAKING TERMS!

But I've only watched each episode once…and recently. I haven't had time to get all nitty gritty with the details. I also have no idea about timeline other than Danny died sometime after Tom and him broke off their friendship.

I guess I could just befriend them both and watch for when they start to fight with each other. Then, I could listen for Mark having an affair and head to the house on that night…

I don't know enough though…I don't know what I should do. Because of Danny's death, DI Miller's husband is found, Mark stops cheating, more people go to church, and Hardy starts to find that maybe…just maybe he can care again and not be scared of getting hurt in the process.

How about I just take this one day at a time. Starting with not getting sent to the pound as I don't know how the laws about dogs work here and not starving to death either.

So food and not getting caught.

I started to sniff around and smelt something delicious. I followed the smell right outside a diner where it looked like someone had left a burger on the table. I quickly glanced around and snatched it before running off into a side alley back to the field. There I ate dinner and poked around in the bushes until I found a decent spot to sleep where I wouldn't be seen or disturbed.

I went to sleep praying that I would wake up as a human. I don't fancy eating out of garbage cans and having to get around without opposable thumbs or being able to speak English.

When I woke up the next day, I finally started to accept the fact that I might not be dreaming. But that didn't mean I couldn't hold onto hope.

I need to know the area like the back of my hand – paw. I need to be able to get away if necessary and part of that is knowing the city so well that I can mentally map alternate paths in a heartbeat. I suppose I'll have to do exploring at night to keep away from people. But I also want to befriend Tom and Danny.

I guess this means that I'll have to have a really messed up sleeping schedule.

Let's see…most people are at work or school during the week so I would have to sleep during early morning and part of the afternoon so that when the boys are done with school, they can come here to play and I can still explore the town at night.

This is going to be a pain in the butt to start up though. No phone, no watch, no alarm to help me do it.

Wonderful. I have to get up without help. Joy.

I guess I can start by staying up as late as I can today.

At least dogs can get away with eating less than a human.

Perk.

Well, I guess I could start some exploring now and then come back and see if Tom and Danny come back. I don't want to try tracking them down through the town. From the sound of it, they are planning on coming back. I guess I'll just have to trust that they are coming back. Until then, exploring is in order.

I stretched and then got up out of the bushes to start wondering the area nearby. I wanted to be able to always get back to this field. I'll make it my home base for now.

I headed back down the side alley that I took last night and walked along carefully, taking note of hiding places and streets that lead to dead ends. Within the dead ends, I mentally mapped possible escape routes and made a mental reminder to try a few of them out at night when no one was here.

As they day progressed, I managed to get food from someone who was distracted, without them noticing, and I made my way back to the field. There, I waited for a few hours and just as I began to doubt if Tom and Danny would come back, I saw two heads peak over the bushes on the other side.

I waited until they were in the field to make sure it was them before coming out to greet them. They had brought scraps it seemed and I was grateful for it. If they keep bringing me meals then that means I won't have to scavenge that much and I wasn't really looking towards digging in trash.

As I ate, they scratched me and talked.

"What should we name him?"

Hey, I'm a girl. I gave a little glare at Danny for that.

Tom looked at me weird. "We still have the list, we could just go down it until we find one he likes."

I shoved my shoulder into Tom's leg this time.

"What?" He asked, a little confused. "What is it?"

I'm female. I whined.

Danny stroked my head. "What's the matter?"

I AM FEMALE! Ungh! Stupid English language and its inability to do body language. ARGH! How to get around this…Oh! I took my paw and drew the female sign in the grass.

Tom and Danny stood there, looking really confused so I went further. I drew the boy sign and nudged them and then drew the girl sign and circled myself.

"Is that…is that the sign for girls we learned recently in Biology?" Danny asked Tom.

"I think he is trying to tell us he's really a she." Tom answered.

"Smart dog. Really creepy though. But, is that what you wanted to tell us. You're a girl?" Danny directed towards me.

I nodded my head furiously. Finally, some communication!

"At least this gets rid of over half the names on the list." Tom commented. "Can we suggest names and you bark when we say one you like?" He asked me.

I nodded once.

"Ranger, Bullet, Midnight, Bandit, Fang, Rusty, Patches, Socks, Breeze, Chocolate, Brownie, Sandy." Danny listed off.

I shook my head at all of them. Those are not for me.

"I don't think she likes them." Tom whispered to Danny.

I rolled my eyes. I can still hear you.

"Well, we were thinking of boy dog names when we made this." Danny whispered back.

They sat there for a few minutes before Tom asked, "What about Sariel?"

Sariel… I mentally rolled the name over in my head. It was close but not quite…

"What about Shadow?" Danny asked.

Shadow… That feels…right. I barked.

"Shadow it is." Tom said.

Shadow.

"At least we got through with that." Danny pulled a ball out of his pocket and threw it. "Fetch, Shadow!"

I think this is the start of a wonderful friendship.

I don't own Broadchurch.