The first few months were nice. Tom and Danny snuck me meals and as they played I got to hear about their day. They talked about the latest video games to how awful school was. During the night, I learned the city layout. It was very basic compared to what I was used to - streetwise, that is - but there were many nooks and crannies and hidden paths everywhere that were a bit more difficult to learn.

At some point, stories about the day's happenings turned into stories about life before I showed up. They started telling me stories about their families and about people around the town.

Did you know Ollie has his own special section of blackmail worthy embarrassing moments? Or that the Vicar was so nervous during his first sermon he botched it up real good? Or that the chick who runs the hotel is like the town prostitute, but no one says anything about it?

That somehow turned into them telling me about their problems and I gave them advice as well as I could through sign language.

I helped them with everything from bullies at school – who I growled at by the way until they quit – to basic life lessons. They always told me how they thought it was so weird how I could understand them so well, it was like I was a human. I worked hard at my poker face for that and when the irony got to be a bit much, I just threw them both a Don't be ridiculous Look.

And as we grew closer each day, I started losing hope of turning back into a human.

When it got to summer, they started taking computer classes with the Vicar and one day came running up in a panic. Apparently, the Vicar had overheard them talking about me and wanted to meet me. They were scared that I would get taken away into a kennel, but I saw this as an opportunity. I needed to have an adult on my side. The Vicar would be a perfect place to start. No one wants to go against the Church.

I conveyed as best as I could that it was okay.

"But Shadow, he might take you away." Danny pleaded.

I whined and huffed and finally just took matters into my own hands. I started walking towards the church. When I noticed they weren't following, I glanced back and gave them a Look that conveyed a Well, come on to them. They looked at each other and realized that there was no stopping me. If the Vicar wants to see me, then the Vicar wants to see me.

I continued on, with the boys following a bit begrudgingly.

When we got to the Church, I sat outside and looked at the boys until Tom went in to grab Paul.

"Shadow, we can still leave." Danny tried to plead with me, but I would have nothing of it.

When Paul came out, Danny and Tom took a protect stance in front of me.

"You can't take her. Remember, you promised!" Tom started.

Paul held up his hands in surrender. "I'm not going to take her away from you two. I just wanted to meet the dog you keep talking about, yet your parents seem to have never met." At this statement, I force my way to the front and looked at Paul knowingly. "And you must be Shadow." He greeted. I nodded once and he looked at me a bit searchingly. "Why don't you come in?" He opened the door to the church a bit and I walked in with Tom and Danny at my heels. Honestly, some days I feel like Tom and Danny are the dogs in the relationship.

He walked through the sanctuary. I couldn't help but wag my tail a bit as I walked in. It had been a while since I had been in a church and I had missed the open feeling I always got from it. It always seemed so bright, even when the sky is dark outside.

Paul opened a side door that led to a small room with a nice sitting area. As the boys sat on the couch, I sat in between them on the floor.

"Why did you want to meet Shadow?" Danny asked. "You were very vague about that."

"You made her sound as if she was more than a dog. I was curious." Paul replied.

"She is more than a dog. She's our friend!" Tom was quick on the uptake.

"I understand that. I didn't mean to imply she wasn't your friend." Paul tried to placate them.

"Then why did you want to meet her?" Danny asked again.

"Sometimes, God sends protectors in ways you wouldn't normally imagine. Other times, it's demons who wish to do harm. I'm supposed to get a little suspicious when I hear mentions of animals not acting like animals. Though I can see now, Shadow is more on the protector side of the spectrum." Paul gave me a weird look.

"Of course she is!" Tom said. "She gives great advice and protects us from bullies and cares no matter what! How could you think she could be bad?!"

Paul raised his hands back up in surrender. "Like I said, I'm just supposed to keep a watch out. That's my job. To be a shepherd, like Shadow's breed." He paused. "Interesting name, Shadow. How did you pick it?"

Tom and Danny glanced at each other before Danny answered. "We didn't. She did."

Paul gave me a weird glancing look. "I see. And how did she pick it?"

"We read names of a list. She didn't like any of them so we started naming ones we could think of. She almost picked Sariel, we think. She seemed like she thought about it more than the rest." Tom answered.

"Sariel." Paul mumbled. "Yes well, like I said. I can see I was wrong in my thoughts. You have a very special friend there." He looked directly at me. "If you ever want to come and visit, you are welcome to."

I nodded and led the way out. But I couldn't help but wonder a bit-

What is so special about the name Sariel?

I don't own Broadchurch.