“Hello everyone, I am Jared.” 

The room with a monotone replies “Hi Jared.”

“I showed up today looking to share my troubled past.

The room is silent.

“I do not regret my past although it is quite embarrassing; My past is also exquisite for most people in the world who will never endure where I have been.”

Jared falls into silence to add suspense. The audience leans in hoping to catch every word that utters out of Jared’s mouth.  Jared continues his story. “When I was a young kid, I lived in the sorta small town, New Ulm, in Minnesota. I  had a dog; her name was Kat. Kat was a beagle; she was all white with a brown spot on either side of her body and they were in the shape of a heart.  Kat was a very social dog and every time Kat saw someone she would trot over to them, ears bouncing with a smile bigger than her head. And everytime she did, that the person that she was running to would smile, bend down, and wait for her to get to them so they could pet her silky smooth coat. Kat had been doing this since she was a puppy and for the first month she was the talk of the town. Everybody absolutely loved her she was given treats all day long and only about 15 minutes out of the day she wouldn’t have someone petting her.”

Someone in the back of the audience calls out. “This doesn’t sound embarrassing at all”.

Jared replies with. “That’s because I haven’t gotten to that part yet, now hang with me here, it’s coming up”. 

“Well get to it then, I don’t have all day” the guy in the back replies.

    “Almost everyone loved Kat, and if they didn’t love Kat they would love Kat’s hearts. But there was one person that despised Kat, and this man hated her with a passion. He would go completely out of his way to stop people from petting Kat…
Jared falls into silence tears are streaming down his face.

    Quivering Jared continues, “th-that man was m-my dad, he was an angry drunk but he was drunk all the time. I had Kat for 2 months and on the second month there was a straight week of storms and…” Jared pauses trying to regain his composure. “Kat was terrified of storms; the first night she was laying in bed next to me when thunder struck a-and she just started howling uncontrollably for about two hours before she was exhausted and j-just layed there whimpering. During those two hours of howling my dad came in and stared at the dog for what felt like forever until he turned to leave but before he left, he punched a hole into my wall. The next night was the worst night of my life. Everything was peaceful until the thunder rumbled through my house like a telepathic demon just laughing in your face, like it knew what was going to happen. Of course, Kat started howling like she did the night before, but she only went for an hour, until the poor excuse for a man came bursting through my bedroom door and grabbed Kat by the neck and dragged her out to the yard, where he proceeded to connect a rope to her collar, then tied the rope to a tree. After he was done with the rope, my father reared his foot back and kicked Kat once in the side and while Kat was whimpering in the pouring rain with thunder and lightning mocking us in the background, he walked back inside like nothing had happened. I made the decision to sleep outside that night.”

    “The day after was a beautiful day everything had seemed to have gone back to normal, but inside I didn’t feel normal and as I was walking down the street and Kat was still being her energetic, and joyous self and all that did was remind me of my mother and how he treated her. For example; when I was around the age of 7 I was just about to fall asleep when I heard a crashing sound coming from the living room and as I got up to investigate I heard yelling and the cries of my mother over there too, and so naturally as a little boy I wanted to protect my mom, so I dashed out to the living room to see a mess of things and my father with his hands wrapped around her throat, and as she is gasping for air I ran over to my father screaming bloody murder, where I kicked him in the leg then started biting him and he slammed me into the wall where I was knocked unconcious. That was the last time I saw my mother; she “left” and hasn’t been back since. I am now very afraid that the same fate might meet the dog. Coming home that night was terrifying to me, because I didn’t know what was going to happen...was he going to slap her around a bit or was he going to leave her alone? I. Don't. Know.”

“Once I had arrived home with Kat I immediately went into my room with her and hid in a closet in my room. We stayed there for hours on end until, I thought for sure my father was asleep. From there Kat and I headed to my bedroom for a good night's sleep, but the night wasn’t good at all, in fact I never got to sleep. 

“Boom! Thunder crackles across the  sky as Kat whimpers in horror of the sound. I get up and go,

“Kat please! Please be quiet!”

I am terrified of what my father might do to her”

 Jared starts crying on the stage, the audience was silent.

In between sobs Jared continues the story. “I take my hand and I closed her jaw so she won’t make a sound. Kat still tried to whimper for the first 5 minutes until she completely calmed down and so I let her go, thinking she would stay quiet. She was completely silent throughout the rest of the storm, and for good reason. Halfway through the storm I noticed she hadn't moved in over an hour and at first I thought nothing of it but I picked leaned over her body and kissed on her heart which always gets her to give me a kiss back.” Jared pauses almost breaking into a third round of sobs.

“Wh-When I was holding her mouth sh-sh-shut I wasn’t actually holding her mouth”.

Bursting into tears again Jared tried to collect himself, “It w-w-w…”

A loud cry rips out of Jared’s throat like an infant crying for the first time.

“I’m sorry”. Jared finally mutters out as he runs out the door, never to be seen again.