In front of the live stream camera, Sienna, a pet influencer with ten million followers, cradled her beloved dog Toby, now thin as a bundle of bones, and sobbed uncontrollably.
Toby was a toy poodle who, a month ago, had suddenly stopped eating.
Sienna had put up a one-million-dollar reward, asking the entire internet to find the cause of her dog's hunger strike.
Tens of thousands of comments flooded the chat, guessing everything from parasites to cancer, but no one could give an answer.
Even the most authoritative doctor at the pet hospital let out a helpless sigh.
"All the tests came back normal. There's nothing physically wrong with him."
"My guess is depression. I'd recommend euthanasia. Otherwise he'll just starve to death slowly, which is far more painful."
Sienna cried so hard she could barely stand, and the live chat exploded.
"Toby's only two years old!"
"Dr. Dickerson is one of the top ten pet doctors in the country. If even he says so..."
"Sienna, don't torture yourself. Let Toby suffer less."
And right then, I suddenly heard Toby's inner voice, frustrated and frantic.
"I don't want to be put down! My sweet mommy, it's not that I don't want to eat. It's that the Border Collie on the kibble bag is way too scary, and you put my food bowl right next to that bag, so I'm too terrified to eat!"
My hand jerked, and the broom nearly slipped to the floor.
I took a deep breath and walked over to Sienna.
"Sienna, the bag your dog's kibble comes in, does it have a Border Collie printed on it?"
——
The whole room went quiet.
Sienna lifted her head, tears still clinging to her face, completely frozen.
"How did you know?"
My heart raced, but I didn't answer.
Instead I pressed on. "And the bowl you put his food in, is it right next to that bag?"
Sienna wiped her tears, her expression shifting from grief to shock.
"Yes... could Toby's hunger strike be connected to all that?"
The chat erupted instantly.
"Who's this? Holding a broom, isn't that the pet hospital janitor?"
"Dr. Dickerson couldn't figure it out, but a janitor can? She's just trying to ride Toby's clout!"
"Sienna posts Toby's daily life in the group every day. How hard would it be to know all this?"
Wyatt Dickerson frowned at me, his tone less than polite.
"Faith Dickerson, quit causing trouble. How many days have you even been here?"
I opened my mouth, unsure whether I should keep going.
I didn't know why I could hear Toby's inner voice.
If it was just my imagination, and I got it wrong, the millions of fans in that live stream would tear me apart.
And just then, Toby's voice rose again, even more urgent than before.
"Kind lady! Hurry up and say it! Save my doggy life! My mommy's super generous, the reward's a whole million dollars!"
I clenched my fists. My internship paid eight hundred a month, and after rent and utilities I had three hundred left.
My grandmother needed knee surgery, put off for three years now. If she waited any longer she'd never be able to stand again.
I swallowed hard and threw caution to the wind.
"Sienna, the reason your dog won't eat might be that he's scared of the Border Collie photo on the kibble bag. Switch out the bag, or move the food bowl somewhere else, and he might just start eating."
Sienna stared, stunned.
The chat went silent for a second, then completely lost it.
"What the heck? A dog scared of a photo?"
"That's ridiculous. It's not like Toby's never seen a dog. This intern's gone crazy trying to get famous?"
"I have a master's in pet behavior, and I've never heard of a theory like that!"
Wyatt let out a cold laugh and turned to Sienna.
"Toby's mom, don't listen to her nonsense. She's just an intern with zero medical experience. This is purely her own wild guess. I've been practicing for twenty years and handled over three hundred hunger strike cases, and I've never once seen a dog refuse to eat because it was scared of a photo."
