@EmilyQ Oh man, do I have a hamster story.
Back when I was maybe 7 or 8, we had a pet hamster. Nominally my younger sisters pet hamster, but all the kids played with it. Younger sis was notorious for leaving its cage open, which would then lead to a search throughout the house to find the hamster. Like you, our dog often aided in the search.
Well one day, I see the hamster running through the living room. Guess it got out again. I go to grab the hamster, and this thing BIT ME with a force no hamster possess. (Again, I was a kid, I’m sure it was very minor in all actuality, but it felt big.) Out of pure reflex, I absolutely PELT this hamster into the nearest wall.
Well, things weren’t looking too good for the hamster. I checked to see if it was breathing, and realized it was dead. Like any 7-8 year old, I immediately think of how to cover my tracks. I run outside, yeet the hamster body deep into the woods behind our house, and then go back inside. I know the cage has to already be open, because the hamster was already on the run when I picked it up. All I gotta do is help look for it, and then act upset when we can’t find it.
So, our search for the hamster is in vein, and we swear it will pop up soon. Couple more days go by, still no hamster. Doubts are starting to creep into the family on if it made it outside somehow. I still haven’t told a soul.
Until about a week after the event, when my dog starts barking at behind our old big box TV. My mom moved it aside, and lo and behold there is the hamster! Just hiding out in a little tucked in area. Sister was elated, things were back to normal.
I spent MONTHS terrified of the zombie hamster that had come back from the dead for revenge. I couldn’t understand it. I knew it was dead. Even if not, I had to throw it a good 200 yards away from the house. How had it made it back inside? I could only conclude it was an evil entity possessed solely by nefarious intentions of revenge on my childhood self.
It wasn’t until about 15 years later when I was telling this story that my dad burst out laughing, and tells me he bought another hamster that looked like the first and just put it behind the TV so my sister wouldn’t be upset.