Zosk POV.

Not really sure how much time has really passed by now. At least a few months I would say if I’m able to keep accurate time information. I haven’t given up hope that I will get myself free from the collar and chain that keep me bound here.

Much of the time, I’m left alone by the family. Other than to be given food and drink. Food comes around twice a day with my eating habits. Though they often leave a gallon of water so I can drink pretty much whenever I want. It would take me a couple of days to go through the water. The food I was often given was okay. Some things repeated, often during breakfast. But other times it wasn’t. Guess here the family was trying to treat me more like a person than like they would a dog or cat. And sometimes I was given something other than water to drink with my ‘meals’. Though most often that was just fruit juice as I didn’t like milk that much. Very rarely I’d be given soda like some cola or something.

The family learned pretty quick with my eating habits that I preferred food I could handle with my fingers. Or soups that I could simply pick up the bowl and drink from. It’s been a while since I last used a utensil. And I was a little stubborn anyway in not relearning how to use them. So anything mushy would be out of the question. That and well, I kind of liked most veggies raw now anyway. Meats were a little messy but I would still eat them. Was glad to have meat again after not having it for so long. Some stuff I could use to dip in other things, if it was rigid enough to do so.

As for doing my business, given I don’t have access to some toilet or something I can go in, I pretty well much went wherever I felt like going. It took me a while at first to get used to going where I can be watched while I go. But I finally had to give up on that thought fast. I also learned pretty quick to go near or at the end of my reach. This way I don’t end up stepping in it later or dragging the chain through it. I wasn’t given any kind of way to clean up after myself but by now, I was pretty used to it. I did sometimes use a bit of the water I was given to drink to rinse my hands at least.

The family does clean up after me, often using tools in such a way that they don’t have to physically get into my reach themselves. I’ve tried to grab at the tools a couple of times, only for the tools to be pulled away out of my grasp. And sometimes me landing in a pile of my own waste. Just…..ewww. I would rinse off with the water again or wait for a rain storm to rinse off in.

If it wasn’t for being chained up all the time, my life would be pretty set for sure. But I still was resentful of the fact that I’m stuck here.

I would often pace the length of the chain, which gave me around 42 feet worth of movement from the stake it was secured to. Though my true limit is 50 feet, I just never really went that far often. As the weight of the chain depending from the collar is a bit much once more of the slack in it is taken up.

Typically while moving around, I would grasp the chain in my right hand. More to pull on it with my hand so less of its weight while being pulled around is dependent from the collar. Sure, I lose about 8 feet of range but at least I don’t feel the strain of that weight pulling on my neck all the time.

The times I did take the chain to pretty close to the full limit is when I struggled with it. Usually standing near the end of my reach, I would grasp the chain in both hands and tug hard on it. Though no matter how much I struggled with the chain or the collar around my neck, I couldn’t get loose.

I also flew occasionally. Sure the chain was a little heavy in the air but at least I could fly a little. I wanted to try to keep my wings limber for when I might have another chance at escaping again. I still held onto the chain in my hand while I flew. Kind of using my hand as a little guide to keep myself from going too far in it’s limited reach. I would then just circle about the length of my limit. Doing a few ‘laps’ going one way, then turning about and going the other. Least with it’s longer length, I have a little more ground clearance but still not much.

Don’t ask me how high I flew or what sort of limit I had in the air with the angles as I don’t keep to certain heights with my flying.

Besides, flapping my wings, I would gain and lose height with each flap. I could still glide a little but not much. Soaring was out of the question entirely given not enough ground clearance for thermal riding. To do that, the chain would have to be much longer...and I don’t think I could stand that weight in the air if it was. And going off what I said earlier about not being able to escape, the chain does have to be strong enough to keep me from breaking it by snapping it.

The things I miss being trapped like I am: Being able to bathe when I feel like I need a bath. Sure the occasional storm that came through was a way to help me get clean, sort of, I wasn’t able to bathe whenever I wanted. I was also a little too proud and stubborn to ask the family for a bath but…. Kind of getting to where I might do so sooner or later. And I do miss being able to go where I want to without limits. But the family would not let me go now that they have me chained up. Escape or freed, I would not return to be chained back up again. There are some birds that people keep that are to be kept in cages at all times.. And I’m sort of like that save for that I’m chained instead of in a cage.

Keeping me chained by my neck was a good way to insure that I would always be trapped by the chain. Sure, one or both of my legs could have been chained, though the ‘trip’ hazard of that, especially with flying, would be quite great. I’d be snapped back down to the ground quite often by the chain. The wrists weren’t very practical either. Either one or both. Sure I carry the chain in my right hand most of the time and I still run the sort of same risk of likely pulling my shoulder out of socket…But at least with carrying it instead of being held by it at that point, if I miss-calculate, I can just ease the grip I have on the chain and let some drop from my hand. Where as if I was held by the wrist, that would not be the case. Then there is the chance that I could slip the cuffs or shackles off the limb and just slip away into freedom. The collar, not so much.

Sure you have a choke hazard with the collar, even with a rigid metal one like I wear now. But you learn very quickly not to allow it to do that when you’re wearing it. A loose collar would be nice to have as then maybe would have a chance to slip free of it by passing it over my head. The collar I wore was pretty snug around my neck, to keep me from doing so. And with this new collar I’m wearing now, without the keys, I have very little to no chance at getting it off my neck.

So I'm pretty well much going to remain chained by my neck for a while. Least until I find some way of escaping this bind I'm held in.

The lack of interaction is starting to get to me too. And I think the family is kind of waiting for me to crack, waiting for me to start asking or begging for something much like I did before. Or at least not ask or beg for release as that would always fall on deaf ears. No, I think they were waiting for me to likely ask for some way to be able to bathe myself. Make me less dirty and stinky, besides when the occasional rain storm came through.

I sighed as I thought about it…. I’m just going to have to not be so proud and ask. The family is in some aspects treating me less like a person and more like an animal. And I’m just being too stubborn to submit. The longer I remain trapped like I am though, the harder it is to keep my resolve.

Eventually I’ll break. Sure, the family can force the issue, speed up how quickly things go with me. But they seem patient enough and are just giving me time and space. Sure it’s slower but it might be worth it to them in the end. I don’t really know for sure and quite frankly, I’m not going to question it either. They have their reasons.