"Good night, sweet girl." Rudy stuck his arm down into my enclosure and let me crawl back in. The light went out and he went to bed, all nestled in his blankets.

My name is Lizzie. My owner and I have been together for almost six years. We look out for each other. He makes sure I never go hungry, and we make each other happy when we're together. I just wish that he wouldn't go to sleep after I wake up and wouldn't wake up when I go to sleep! Whenever the sun is up, so is he, but not me!

I stood up half-plastered to the glass for a minute, watching him fall asleep, before I popped off, but not before I took some sips of the water droplets on it. Sometimes I get to see Rudy spray the glass walls with mist, but most of the time he does it while I am asleep. I turned to my right and crawled around some branches and plants, trying to make my way to see the obstructed window next to his bed, before I remembered I could just climb up them and look at it from above.

Climbing is my favorite thing to do, along with eating, sleeping, drinking, lying around, crawling on Rudy, playing with my tail... Okay, I have a lot of favorite activities, and climbing is one of them. There's all sorts of plant-life to hang and jump from. It's also fun to hide under the leaves and see how wet I can get from the little droplets that drip down onto them. It was so fun, in fact, that I forgot what I was doing and pretended to cloak myself from some hidden predator.

I remembered I wanted to check on the window, so I sprung out of my cozy leaves and continued climbing up. When I saw the netted mesh above me, I knew I broke through the canopy and could see for miles. Well, if the bedroom walls weren't there, I could. If the window I was crawling toward didn't give a sweeping view of the ugly house next door, I could probably truly see for miles out of it.

The curtains of the window were open, so I got to see the beautiful sky above the neighbor's roof. Rudy once called all the little bright dots 'stars' and the very large and misshapen one 'the moon'. Why would you give that one a different name just because it was larger? Too bad he can't understand me; I want to ask him. My nose butted against the invisible glass, making a quiet thud. As if that was a cue, the wind picked up and howled against the window to make more noise. It must be cold outside right now. When I was much younger, before I first met my owner, I once got caught outside at night while it was breezy and felt like I was going to freeze. I don't know how humans can handle it. They must be crazy; I don't like hanging around this cool side of my enclosure for too long, and it is much warmer here than it was out there that time!

I needed to run around; I felt full of energy. I looped my tail as best as I could around a thin branch and let myself drop down. Falling down through the air is always exciting, even though it was for less than a second. Any longer, and it gets scary. Good thing there's twigs everywhere in case I need to break my fall!

Plopping down onto the dirt floor always feels nice, but I didn't take a moment to spread out on it. I needed to run. In the middle of the floor, there is a little hill, about as tall (or short!) as I am, with a metal dish in the top. I leaped across it from one edge to the other, getting little more than the tips of my back toes wet. Keeping on, I reached the edge of the warmer side of my enclosure and climbed up the plants there. Reaching the top, I stared up into some sort of circle hovering above the mesh. Apparently, it helps keep this side warm, but I don't know what it is or how it works. I tilted my head back down and ran back toward the cooler side, back down, jumped over the dish, and ran back up again. I repeated the circuit until I felt a bit tired, which is when I decided to lounge around on a branch, belly toward the ceiling.

Much later, the light through the window started to brighten and become orange, and I felt rather sleepy. I tried to keep myself awake, pacing back and forth, because I wanted to see Rudy get up before I went down.

"Good morning, my sweet crestie." I don't know how to feel when I get called that. I'm a crested gecko, not a 'crestie'! I don't call him a 'hu-ey'!

He lifted the top off my enclosure and stuck his arm down, but I was too tired to crawl on him. He played around with or did something with parts of my habitat, but I was too tired to care or figure out what. I curled up under some leaves, tail next to my mouth, and started to fall asleep. Humans always make their eyes disappear when they go to sleep. It seems like it would be annoying to have eyelids and constantly be opening and closing them.

---

All of this has been my daily routine for as long as I can remember. I wish I could be around Rudy more, but he's always sleeping when I'm not. The past few days, though, I haven't been able to see him at all. He looks like he's sleeping, but I can tell he's not able to. I've been worried about him; it constantly sounds like he is in pain. He keeps on coughing and sneezing and needing to clear his throat. It must be horrible not being able to breathe! He is also always shifting around in his blankets. I don't know how anyone could sleep in that state. I just wish there was something I could do to help him feel better. I want to be able to hear him speak to me and let me play on him.

Today, I got a chance to try to do something to help my owner feel better.

When I woke up, it was darker than usual since the curtains were closed, but I could still see, just that it was more difficult to. It was also noisier since there was a fan running. Again, I don't know how humans can stand the cold air. Yes, they're always warm when I get to crawl around on them, but still. Being warm feels good; why would you purposely become chilly?

Looking up through a hole in the canopy, I saw that my enclosure was left open! The mesh was sitting off to the side, and Rudy was fast asleep. At least, I hope he was able to get some sleep. He definitely needed help if he was forgetting things.

I crawled up to the top of the tallest plant as fast as I could. Normally, there is barely enough room for me to be here between the top and the mesh, but now I had breathing room. I took a moment to stand up on my hind legs and peer over the glass walls before I lost my balance and came crashing back down. For that brief moment, I felt tall and big, that I could do anything, that there was nothing that could get in my way. I would make sure that nothing would.

Never have I leaped so far! Without giving myself any time to worry or be fearful, I jumped and grabbed on to the top of the glass with my front legs. Once I stabilized myself on top of it, though, the fear set in. The wall was thin, and if I fell off the wrong side, there would be nothing to break my fall to the table below. I concentrated on looking forward, toward the misplaced mesh, instead of down toward the scary drop.

The mesh was propped up against the side of my enclosure, making a ramp for me to crawl down. It wasn't steep, but the grid still helped me hang on. I was now outside my habitat, and the air was a bit chilly. It wasn't bad, but I didn't want to be out of the warmth longer than I needed to. I saw now that the circle of warmth that would hover over me was actually connected to the wall with some black rope or cord or something. I wished again that Rudy was able to understand me so I could ask him every question I had.

Rudy's bed was right there, so close yet so far. I could leap down to it from the table, but there was no way I could leap back up. I needed to somehow make a bridge, but I wasn't strong enough to move most of the stuff lying around on the table that he could move so easily. What couldn't you do with a human's strength? You could probably move the whole world with a few of them. I needed to find something to use before I got too cold and needed to head back under the circle. Actually, I could snuggle up next to my owner too, but he might roll over during one of his coughing fits and crush me. Plus, he would probably wonder what I was doing outside my enclosure.

Aha! There was a thin strip of wood peeling away from the corner of the table, wide enough to support me and long enough to bridge the gap. I pranced and jumped around on the end still attached until it broke off, which tired me out a bit. I lied down for a minute to recover my strength, feeling myself getting colder. I needed to do this fast. Crawling to the other side of the miniature plank, I pushed it slowly off the edge of the table, keeping my front paws on it so that it would stay straight until it was safe for the end to drop. The urge to jump down the ramp came over me, but I had to push it away since I would probably break through the tiny structure when I landed.

Trying to find Rudy in the blankets was like going through a maze. He was much larger than me, and so should be easy to locate since I was able to see him from my home, but so were the blankets. At least it was nice and warm under them, but that confused me. A human, who is always warm, is too warm and has a fan running to cool off, but is then too cold and heats up under some covers. What?

Panic filled me as the blankets started to move. Was he going to roll over and crush me? I needed to get out before I got hurt! Before I could sprint out, the darkness of the blankets went away, but so did the warmth. He must have shifted in his sleep, not realizing he just threw them on to the floor. It still amazes me how humans can handle being so chilly so easily.

Rudy wore a tee and shorts, but it was hard to tell what color in the current lack of lighting, only having the moonlight to go by. I crawled up onto his exposed, hairy leg, and froze when I stood on his skin. I've never done what I was about to do before. Would I hurt him? Would I make him feel worse than he does already? There was only one way to find out.

I opened my maw slightly and bit down on his leg... doing nothing. The only thing I succeeded in doing was getting my saliva on him; I couldn't even break the skin. My teeth barely existed, just being tiny, bony nubs. They didn't even help for chewing. How was I going to do this? At least he didn't feel anything, or if he did, it didn't hurt him.

Again and again I tried to bite his leg. Targeting the same spot, I kept gnawing at it, clamping down with all my might, approaching it from different angles, and anything else I could think of, but I still couldn't break the skin. I wasn't going to give up on my owner, however. Looking at the wet mess before me, I laid down and tried to come up with another idea. A stray thought drifted across my mind, that Rudy once told me the pointy crests above my eyes looked like eyelashes. Wait. My crests? There's an idea!

I tilted my head down and poked at his leg with the little spikes above my eyes, careful not to pierce all the way through. Hopefully it was enough of a start for me to bite. I bit down once again with all my strength... and tasted the unmistakable taste of blood. Finally! I leaped off his leg onto the corner of the bed and watched what was about to unfold, licking my poor excuse for teeth clean in the meantime. I wanted to clean by crests too but it was hard to reach them with my tongue.

Rudy began to shrink, being overtaken by his clothes, which were getting baggier and baggier. Before he disappeared completely, I saw his fingers and thumbs spread out and become flatter, and his nose appear to extend out of his head, which was now leaving a trail of his hair behind him as it became hidden. He was going to become what I was: a little crested gecko!

My smile became dread after he became engulfed by his shirt and shorts. He already was unable to breathe well; would the extra obstruction from the clothing become too much? I went up to his now-vacant shorts leg and tried to pull them back with my mouth. It was easier than I thought it would be, but maybe it was because I was on the verge of panicking. I then went around him and pulled out his shirt from under him in the other direction. By that time, the changes were over, finishing much more quickly than they started.

My owner was now just as small as I was, about eight inches from triangular head to newfound tail. I couldn't tell what color his former skin was, but they now had the appearance of scales and were probably the same olive-ish color and pattern-less as mine are. His arms and legs -- no, his four legs -- were splayed out. He was still asleep somehow. I placed a paw on one of his... arms? front legs? and recoiled in shock. He no longer had that human warmth. He was cold, which only brought attention to how chilly I was as well. We needed to get to the enclosure before that fan became the doom of us.

I dragged his limp body by the tail up the wooden bridge, which thankfully supported the weight of both of us. He was lighter than I thought, but that was because he was now dangerously thin. Once I got him inside, I needed to feed him.

The journey back across the table felt like it took much longer than the first time since I had more to worry about now. Staring up from the bottom of the mesh, the climb looked impossible and full of danger. What if it fell down while we were going up it? What if I lose my grip on him halfway up? I tried to think of the fearless image of myself from when I looked above the glass earlier and returned to my determined state of mind.

The climb up was tough. I couldn't see how far I was to the edge of the enclosure and the drop that awaited me, but I was able to use my tail to feel for when the mesh stopped and the open air began. Rudy kept getting caught in the screen and I kept having to tug and yank him free. This resulted in a few rips on it, but he would understand when he came to.

We reached the edge, and I was ready to collapse. The drop down looked so far, but the branches and plants I love climbing on were ready to break our falls. I positioned Rudy so that his legs hung over the edge of the glass and dragged him down with me so that I would be his cushion. Hitting the branches and the dirt with the weight on top of my hurt, but I would be okay. I was ready to take a nap, and was about to, when he stirred.

Rudy groaned. "Ungh. Where am I? Hello? I can't see!" His lidless eyes got covered in dirt from the fall, and he was flailing his front legs around, constantly missing his face.

"Just lick them clean, silly," I replied.

He stopped moving. "Who... who is that?"

"It's me, Rudy! It's Lizzie!"

He did as I instructed and looked at me like he saw his death. "Wait? What? How? I... AHH!" He looked at his colored nose, which was now much farther out from his head than it was when he last saw it. He looked himself over, then -- legs, back, belly, and tail, all in quick succession. I could hear him breathing hard.

"Shh, calm down." I walked up to him. "You need to rest. I think you're sick. Hey, hey, hey, you'll be okay. Just relax."

"But how? Wha? I just, I, ah---" He tried to stand up on his hind legs and fell over onto his belly. Silly human! Or, well, former human. "Why did you do this?" He wasn't angry or sad, only afraid.

"Because you're my owner! You've always looked out for me, like when I wasn't feeling good and you took me to the vet last year, and I wanted to look out for you now that you're sick."

"Why, uh, um..." He took a deep breath to calm himself. "What are we going to do now? I feel like I haven't eaten in days."

I looked at him, up at the canopy, which now seemed a mile high, toward the misplaced mesh, down at the table, and toward the shut door out of his room, with wherever he stored my food on the other side.

"Well," I confessed with a nervous grin, "I don't think I thought this through." Thinking about it, I wasn't sure what my goal was after transforming him, or why I even did so other than out of impulse. Oops. It's the thought that counts, right? Anyway, I've always wanted a companion to run around with in here, and now I have one.