I'm not really sure where to begin or how to begin. What I want to write about is abuse. I mean verbal, mental, physical, the sort of thing that may whisper or scream abuse. I have way too much to share on this subject, so I will be covering this in installments.

My first recollection of actually witnessing and feeling the effects of abuse was when I was still in elementary school. I had a beautifully, sweet collie that had been my friend since I was a toddler. She and I played together, I learned a little about how "things happen" when she became a mother twice, and it was like I had a living, loving blanket when she curled up at the foot of my bed, or alongside me on the couch.

One day after returning home from school, I noticed that she was not in her pen. Although it was almost the size of half of our backyard, filled with her favorite toys, her water dish (more like a huge dog platter), her doghouse, and anything else a dog could want, she would sometimes dig her way out. She would usually end up right around the corner at my grandparents' house, looking for treats and their lovin's. So, I dropped my school things off in my room, changed my clothes and headed out to fetch her.

No, my grandmother had not seen her (my grandfather was not home from work yet), so checked around their yard anyway and then set out to go find her. I walked up and down the couple of streets in my neighborhood, calling out, and checking out the yards along the way. My dog had never, ever left the neighborhood before, so I was pretty confidant that I would find her.

Well, I did find her. After finding myself back at home with no collie there, I decided to try again by starting all over again. I was just rounding the corner to my grandparents' street when I could see quite a commotion going on at the house across the street from my grandparents' house. I ran over to see what was going on and I saw my dog!

To sum up the events that had happened, the two teenage boys that lived in that house and a friend of theirs who was visiting were outside "horsing around" when my dog ran up to them to play and say hello. They started playing with her and petting her before they started tormenting her by pulling her tail and her ears and stepping on her paws. One of the guys went into the house, grabbed a the pan of boiling water off the stove (they guys were going to cook up some macaroni or something), and proceeded to go outside with it and threw the water in my dog's face...which of course got into her eyes and over an area more than just her face.

My grandmother happened to catch this act when she peered out the window to see what those "darn kids were up to". She screamed out to them and she was the one who called the police. The teenagers had run off by the time any officials got there. My grandmother called my house, hoping to catch one of my parents to tell me to stay away, but I happened to arrive on the scene in time to see my dog lying there, wet, whimpering, and very still.

I never did see anymore because my grandmother literally dragged me into her house. I know from what I was told that my dog had been injured and traumatized severely enough that "they couldn't save her". I never saw my dog again.

I learned that there are some real evil, sick people in the world. I learned that something that is loved so much can be taken away or destroyed in an un-natural way. I learned, from what I saw with my own two eyes, that animals feel pain and suffering like I do and I knew that I would never be able to dismiss any act of animal cruelty as anything less than criminal. I also learned how valuable pets are and how much I could really miss something. I also learned how deeply I could hurt and how hard I could cry.