Restlessly

Alina tossed and turned in her bed, sweating greatly, her mind replayed the memories of the day. The way she woke up and got ready for the day, what she did, receiving the dog, cleaning the bite, feeding the dog, etc. A particular memory seemed to stick out like an ice pick sticking out of a bouquet of flowers. That damned bite, she wasn't sure why, but she just couldn't stop thinking about that bite…it seemed to be all she could play in her mind over and over again. Was it itching? Was it infected? Maybe it was fine and she was just overthinking it? Eventually, she fell into a sweaty and uncomfortable dream, of which her body continued to fidget and squirm.

In the dream, she imagined herself looking through the eyes of the tiny dog creature that she had received in the mail, and strange feelings bubbled up inside of her. Instincts to hunt, to kill, but also more basic instincts like being hungry and wanting a safe place that she can sleep. She suddenly felt this overwhelmed urge to bite something, and the closest thing was her body's leg…and so she did. She found herself worried she'd be hit or injured, but instead the body stood still and let her bite it until she was done.…I'm sorry…she thought as she began to lick the wound. Why had she done that anyway? She couldn't seem to put her finger…or rather…her paw on it. She then went through the same motions as the dog did, all the way up into curling up in a big towel fashioned into a make-shift doggie bed. Then she found herself waking up bleary and tired, wiping something dark red from her lips and being too tired to really care what it was or how it had gotten there. In the dark of the night, she didn't notice the dark red around the dog's lips before it licked it off. Though she did notice, she felt strangely bloated…that was odd…had she had slept walk and had a midnight snack? Whatever the case, she'd deal with it when she woke up properly in the morning, and eventually she managed to get back to a once again uncomfortable sleep.