That night, Mark dreamed of grilling hot dogs endlessly. The routine of his old job was still seared into him, despite his current predicament.
Mark awoke several hours before Abby did, right before dawn. He stretched himself, then attempted to stand before remembering that, in the life of the hamster, he was unable to. He moved to the corner of the cage to take a shit, thankful that his bowels were fully under his control while he was unobserved. Then noticing he was thirsty, he crawled to the water nozzle, and started to drink.
As was drinking, he thought of what his old life would be doing. It was currently a Saturday, so he wouldn't have to worry about missing classes. Actually, he realized, the cheerleader is still in his life anyway, so he wouldn't have to worry about attendance. Although, he wondered if he would know everything he missed when he got back.
Mark knew that his only chance of escaping this life meant getting the device, and that he wasn't going to get it or even get out of this cage without someone else's help, so he just waited for something to happen. He spent the rest of the morning wondering about what the girl that was now in his life was doing while idly building a small pile of wood chips, testing the limits of his four-fingered dexterity.
After a few hours of that, he heard a bang on the door, and then a female voice from outside shouted, "Abby, time to wake up!".
He felt that same tingle down his spine at the same moment that he saw Abby stir. With it came a severe toothache, and he instinctively scrambled over to the wall of the cage to gnaw on the wires (knocking down his carefully crafted wood chip pile). He wasn't facing towards the bulk of the room, and wasn't able to fight his instincts enough to move somewhere with a better view, so he didn't see when Mrs. Roxanne entered the room and helped Abby get ready.
After a few minutes of listening to the two negotiate over what Abby would wear today, Mark found himself able to stop gnawing, but still found himself moving around the cage in a very animalistic manner, sniffing at the ground as he went. He looked out to see Mrs. Roxanne, dressed in a blue nightgown, pull a pink shirt (with a yellow flower on it) over Abby's head.
"Now, why don't you say good morning to Ms. Hammy while I make us some breakfast?", said Mrs. Roxxane.
"Okay mommie!" replied Abby, and as her mother left she moved towards the cage. She reached up and, despite being the same height as Mark was when forced to crawl, managed to open the cage door in a single motion and stepped into the cage. Mark felt a pang of jealousy at how easy it was for her. This feeling turned into abject surprise when the girl reached out for Mark and lifted him completely off the ground in one hand.
"Mornin', Miss Hammy!", she said cheerfully, while hugging Mark close to her body and as he writhed around in a fruitless attempt to escape. She clumsily rubbed his overgrown hair with the other hand and said, "Ooooooh, softie!". The petting was actually hard enough to hurt Mark, and he squeaked loudly in complaint.
"There's got to be a way out of this," he thought.