*Press space to switch screens* Meet Amelia. (Editor: Nah, I don’t like that beginning.) (Too bad. I don’t have to listen to every single thing you tell me to do.) (Editor: Actually yes you do, or else it probably won’t get published.) (Meh. Fine.) You probably haven’t met Amelia. I’ll tell you about her and her story. (There!) (Editor: that’s worse than before, but whatever.) She is a very happy black lab puppy, and as long as she's happy, what does it matter? That was her philosophy. (A good one, don’t you think?) She was just walking down the.... Ohhhh you don't want to hear that story, do you? You want to hear why she looks… the way she does. Which, I suppose, is understandable. (Editor: Yes. Yes it is. Now continue…) You see, Amelia was born normally and lived a good month just like any other dog. But then, IT happened. (Editor: What’s IT?) (I’ll get to IT!) Her owner, Mimi, had many pets. Mimi had four dogs including Amelia, three cats, two goldfish, and a rat. Now this was a friendly rat. Yes, rats can be friendly. Believe it or don't. But if you don't you should probably stop reading this. (Editor: Okay. Done here, I guess.) (Hey, wait….!) (Editor: JK, JK. Calm down.) Swirl the rat loved to cuddle with you. Didn't matter if you were stinky, fresh, goldfish, or even cat, she would press her nose up against her glass and wooden cage, wanting to be let out. Most people who saw her in this adorable fashion let her out, of course. The cats, even though cats are animals (well, we are too, aren't we?) seemed to find something.... inedible about Swirl. Amelia was no different from the other animals; she too was quite fond of the white-and-black rat. One day, a Saturday... I believe... (Well I don't have my iPhone remind me every week after it happened, so I don't remember!) Anyway, one day after Mimi let Swirl out to play for awhile, Amelia came in to say hello. Unfortunately, Swirl had red eyes (Editor: That sounds creepy.) (It really isn’t, once you get used to it.) , and red-eyed rats have very bad vision. She thought that the pink tongue lolling out of Amelia's mouth was a treat that Amelia had brought. (Editor: Dumb rat.) (HEY! I love rats! It was a simple mistake!) So a very hungry (She hadn't been fed in MINUTES! :O) Swirl clamped down her teeth on Amelia's tongue. The tongue was quickly yanked into a doggy mouth. The owner of the mouth whimpered and walked away, tail between legs and head down. It hurt, but she'd be fine. So long as it didn't get infected.... (Editor: dot dot dot…. What’s next?!) (Well, pay attention and you’ll find out!) Which turned out to be the problem. Mimi was very busy, what with ten pets AND a job, AND her two children whom I neglected to mention. (Editor: WHY did you not talk about the kids?) (I just forgot about it.) (Editor: Hmf.) She didn't realize that Mimi stayed in a corner, alone all day. Amelia didn't really know what was going on... she felt almost as if she wasn't in control of herself. She longed to go outside and play, but she just couldn't get up. She sat there, truly sad, all day long. Even when Mimi put fresh food and water out that evening, she didn't budge. Amelia began to wonder if there was something wrong with herself. A little rat nibble couldn't do THAT much, could it....? (Editor: Well, I don’t have a PhD! I don’t know!) (Amelia’s wondering that, not asking you!) Mimi realized something was wrong the next morning. Apparently, Swirl, somehow knowing something was wrong, was also behaving like Amelia. And Amelia's fur seemed a bit tinged with green. Mimi, not liking to take unnecessary vet trips (Editor: Ditto on that.), called them up instead to ask if they had any ideas as to what might be wrong. The vet suggested that Amelia had barked very loudly at Swirl for some reason or another, and Swirl was hiding because she was scared. The vet thought that Amelia was hiding because of whatever had spooked her into barking. Mimi asked the veterinarian if they had any other ideas. They thought for a moment, then suggested that someone had let Swirl out, and that Swirl had bitten Amelia. Mimi recalled how she had let Swirl out the previous day... And seen Amelia go in. She thanked the vet and asked what treatment was for an infected rat bite. The vet said that she should pick up some antibiotic from their office, and Mimi reluctantly agreed. She knew that it was important to treat things like this. So she got the antibiotic and searched Amelia for the bite. She couldn't find it anywhere. After awhile she gave up and just rubbed Amelia. That's when she realized that she wasn't opening her mouth to pant happily, like she usually did. This made Mimi wonder if there were dental issues, so she opened up Amelia's mouth. (Editor: I thought she decided it was an infected rat bite! (Well, she wasn’t sure.) Amelia's tongue was swollen and there was a little mark where Swirl had bitten her. Mimi spread some antibiotic over it and the swelling had gone down by the end of the day. Amelia felt much better and could go outside and play just as if she had never been bit... but a reminder of that rat bite remained. Every day for about a week, Amelia's fur got just a shade darker, and she ended up with oddly colored fur. Actually, this might not have even had to do with the rat bite- she could just be an extremely rare Martian Dog. (Editor: What the heck?! Does this person even check their sources?! Well I suppose their source is their imagination... but REALLY?! A Martian Dog??? Geez....) Okay, maybe not that. (Editor: In any case, you need to end your story the old fashioned way.) (No you don’t.) (Editor: You do if you want your story to be published!) (FINE!) Swirl and Amelia were still friends, and Swirl made sure to check twice before biting. All the animals (including the humans which are, yes, animals) lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THE END. (There, darn editor who makes me end things like that. At least you didn't make me write Once Upon A Time....) (Editor: Ooh! Good idea! We'll add it in the next version) (Noooo......!)
Although PET rats don't bite very often, it's a good idea to keep an eye on them and tell a parent or sitter what happened if you get bit. Handling stray rats is unsafe and should be done by professionals only. I hope this story doesn't make anyone dislike rats- I have one who is very, very sweet. No, a rat bite will not cause your skin to turn purple, or for you to turn into some weirdo superhero. RATMAN! Lol. And no, Martian Dogs do not exist. I hope everyone enjoyed the story! Also, almost everything in parentheses is written by an imaginary editor and the author, so there's sort of a story within a story. Blackdog100 was the creator of the original contest I made this for, and kenza365 created the contest the slightly changed story is for. This is the story being told, or written by the author and the editor writing notes, or saying them. Yes this is quite a bit longer than 600 words, it's 1090, sorry about that... at least it's funny! :D Whoops i forgot to mention: Story is under instructions. If you hadn't figured that out already. Hopefully you did. Oh, the original contest WAS a coloring contest, so I didn't draw the outline for Amelia. Sorry for horrible artwork that I did. Swirl is supposed to be a black hooded fancy rat. I apologize if you think it's too similar to The Magicals by Jinglelaugh, with the pictures and music, but I knew in the first place that I wanted to add pictures so I wanted to say that I did not copy them on purpose. I don't remember if I got the idea for music when I saw that kenza365 liked jinglelaugh's music or not, I apologize if that is the case.
