Cecily POV

“Wow there! I could have crushed you!” I said to the dog, not really caring that it couldn’t understand me. I spoke to inanimate objects all the time so talking to a dog was probably an improvement.

 I stared at the creature, waiting for it to make the first move, but it continued to just stare back. Well, this was a complication I did not expect. Should I just leave it there? Someone else could take care of the furry problem. Contemplating, I continued hovering over the box and staring down at the pup as if though it had all the answers. 

 I had to admit, the puppy was cute with its big blue eyes and shaggy coat of fur—it was mostly dark brown with stripes of light brown randomly pattered across its back. And it was so small! It couldn’t be more than a few dog-months old. Though it sure looked like a wolf. Suspiciously so.

 “You are a dog, right?” I asked it as I scratched my chin in thought. In response the pup let out a little yip but remained seated in the box. I let out a chuckle at its cuteness and put my hands on my knees, leaning forward to get a closer look at it.

 “You’re right! Of course you’re a dog.” There was no possible way a wolf cub was in a box in the middle of a suburban town. Plus, wasn’t it a trend to breed dogs that looked almost identical to wolves? Maybe it was a husky mix? The few huskies I had seen definitely had some wolf characteristics.

 “Well, at least you’re not a cat. Cats don’t listen, so we don’t get along. Though I have to say, I haven’t had a dog since I was five years old. Are you low maintenance?” I asked it, cocking my head to the side.

 After a few minutes of just staring at each other with the pup only moving to cock its head to the side as if to mimic me, I clapped my hands together. “I know!” I exclaimed, “I’ll take you home and feed you. In exchange, my parents will stop nagging me about always being alone and I can say that you ate my essay in a month’s time!” 

 Happy with my brilliant strategy, I grabbed my backpack and opened it. “Now, hop into my bag and don’t bite me,” I told the pup as I held my bag open wide while it rested on the ground. A few loose pages inside might get wrinkled, but I wasn’t about to hold the dog in my arms when I wasn’t sure if it would bite me. Plus, I didn’t want to have to be looking over my shoulder every five seconds to make sure it was following me if I walked ahead.

 I jumped slightly in shock as the puppy immediately leaped headfirst into my backpack. I wasn’t expecting it to actually jump in considering it couldn’t even understand me. I had been planning to bribe it into my bag with the leftover chips I had stuffed in the pocket of my jean shorts. Apparently, I needed to give the animal more credit—it was smarter than I initially thought.

 I peaked into my bag where the pup now sat next to my thin notebook and folder; I didn’t feel like it was necessary to carry so much around since it would only make my backpack heavier. 

“Well, that was easy,” I said to no one in particular as I zipped the backpack almost completely shut, leaving only a small opening so that the creature wouldn’t suffocate.

 Picking up my backpack, I immediately groaned as I strapped it onto my back. 

 “Great. I have to walk the rest of the way with you on my back,” I said to the puppy as I began walking. “You owe me big time for this. Now I’m going to take a picture of you eating my ‘essay’ so I have proof to show my professor,” I told it as I turned a corner into a neighborhood I had to walk through to get to my apartment. 

 “Make sure to make it look really conv…” I was in the middle of saying when I spotted a dog coming out of a house a few feet away.