Message in a Bottle

5 July, 2016

To Whomever Finds This Bottle,

Weep for us, for we are lost. We were snatched from our beds in the earlymorning grey, damned by those we trusted the most. Our captors shipped us in crates to the north and through the bars we watched the sun rise over the mountains in the east.

We feared it was our last dawn, but in spite of short rations and inhumane conditions we survived the journey to the coast.

We were moved from shipping crates to a great inflatable barge, and upon this prison ship we risked life and limb again. We are not all of us swimmers, and as the little fat one made his gambit for escape, he plunged into the water and sank like a stone. We resigned ourselves to captivity on the prison barge and endured the horrors we were subjected to.

Upon our floating hell the crew and our guards carried on in an orgy of sin. They drank fermented grain mash and slothed about and became complacent with our captivity. We slipped our chains but found ourselves still lost at sea. We began to lose hope.

But the ships returned to shore, and under the cover of night our rescuers charged these pirates’ compound. The fat one and I were locked together in solitude as the fighting went well into the night. Our captors mounted a defense, and rockets and bombs shook the foundation of our prison walls.

We have never seen or heard such fighting. The cruelties we suffered at the hands of our slavers paled in comparison to the fearsomeness of the battle. And in the morning we were with broken hearts to learn that it was for naught. Through the nightlong fight their walls stood stall, and in prison here we remain.

And so pray for us, if you find this missive. And hope that we’ve moved on to a better place.

Much love,

The Dogs