A routine

That is very precisely what Hunter's life had actually transformed into.

Wake.

Have dog food for breakfast.

Doing housework, repair or update anything that could be repaired or updated.

Eat dog food again.

Sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

that's what his daily life had become.

It was very tiring for him both physically and mentally and every day it became much more noticeable for the puppies that surrounded him which he did not enjoy in the least at all to be able to understand them.

he was sick, humans are not supposed to understand animals or speak in the same way that he can with them.

¿Why couldn't these silly dogs understand something as simple as that?

¡This was not a good thing!

Whenever he understood them or spoke to them, it only served to remind him of all kinds of bad and depressing things. Like he's not normal anymore.

¿Why would they believe that staying with them was a good thing for him?

Hunter let out a sigh, feeling pathetic, now he's no different than the old ladies who surround themselves with hundreds of cats to ease their feelings of loneliness.

He doesn't feel lonely now, yes, but he never wanted this when he dreamed and wished with all his soul to have the same as these dalmatians have.

He wanted a family, yes.

But he wanted a HUMAN family.

Human brother, human mother and father, he wanted that. people with whom he could identify or adapt ..., feel like really belong to something.

But ... all he currently has are just animals ... NOT people.

Hunter again let out another sigh as he lowered it and put aside the tools he had previously used to create a puppy-safe tennis ball dispensing machine outside in the dalmatian garden.

It was a small but practical catapult with a compartment of tennis balls at its feet that could be picked up and fired continuously with the press of a button.

"Its ready, Mr. Funny Face?" Asked one cub happily, many more cubs standing behind her, anxiously waiting for Hunter to finish creating the machine that could throw balls for them to chase.

"...", Hunter didn't reply, too immersed in his mental bubble he just silently stepped away and let the puppies discover for themselves whether or not the machine was finished.

He returned inside the house and sat on the sofa in the living room.

soon, two cubs joined him. One of them getting on his lap. Without noticing it, his right hand began to stroke the back of the puppy, Dixie, who had placed herself on his lap.

the other pup, Dan, just yawned, 'Yawn', laid his head on Hunter's lap, and proceeded to take a comfortable nap.

Again, without seeming to notice, Hunter's left hand began to stroke the other cub's head and snout with his thumb.

both puppies let out a sight of comfort as their tails jerked behind them, happy and satisfied to feel like they were being stroked, both tails slowly stopped shaking as both pups fell asleep comfortably on Hunter's lap.

Contrary to the cubs, Hunter remained wide awake and aware of how depressing his life was, sitting in his place as he continuously stroked both cubs ... just staring into space ... trapped in his own self-loathing mental bubble.

In the background, the happy laughter of dozens of puppies could be heard, as they gladly chased the tennis balls that were fired by Hunter's latest invention.

Dylan would never say it out loud but he was a little envious of the quick and easy way Hunter seemed to be able to create the machine that both his younger brothers and Dolly had been asking him to create.

He and Dawkins had been considering some ideas to create it for a long time, but the only thing that seemed really lacking when it came to creating it was time.

And now that he has free time, instead of dedicating it to creating something that all puppies could enjoy, he in the company of Dolly has been trying to raise the mood of the puppies by playing with them and offering them quality time, little brother - older brother than both some of it they seemed to want. At the moment things seem to be slowly but surely returning to how they used to be before the Cruella incident.

All of his siblings were supporting each other to get ahead.

It was moving.

Dylan nodded to himself as he watched from above in his tree house with a smile framed all over his snout at his many younger siblings and Dolly playing with the ball dispenser that Hunter had created in a few minutes using only the pieces from the previous one. vacuum cleaner, currently, he couldn't be more proud of his family even if he tried.

The only one in all of this that doesn't seem to be improving at all is ... Hunter. Now he doesn't even talk to Dixie or Dan, and he's always so quiet and something about his eyes and how he sees everything around him just sets off all kinds of red alarms in Dylan's head.

Mom had told him and she repeated to him and Dolly to be very patient with Hunter and that, well, he was very sick.

Dylan has tried to help him unknowingly to do some housework here and there, but it seems more and more obvious to Dylan that Hunter doesn't appreciate being told how to do things at all.

He still doesn't quite understand how Dixie or Dan can spend or even seem to enjoy all their free time from homework with him.

I mean, at first, Dylan really suspected that Hunter might be trying to take them away, but, every time he saw / spied on them while they spent all their time without homework with Hunter it was ... strange.

hunter seemed to play with both cubs in different ways totally unconsciously just using his hands while staring at the wall.

sometimes Dylan would find Hunter just silently stroking both puppies as they took their mid-afternoon nap, and at other times he would find Dan playfully battling and laughing against Hunter's left hand, while Dixie played with the right.

Caressing them and even fighting in a harmless and playful way with both, Hunter play both of them and as he did so, he strangely didn't even seem to really enjoy them as he stared blankly and in total silence at the nearest wall.

It was disturbing and a little scary, but, even with his strange, taciturn demeanor, Hunter had somehow managed to make a place for himself within the Dalmatian home.

Dylan let out another sigh with his ears lowered, he really wishes he could help Hunter in some way, but whenever he dug deeper into Hunter's background to see if there was something, anything that he could show him that would cheer him up, he encountered all kinds ofdepressing things like; Hunter disappeared for 6 months from London and ... absolutely no one seemed to notice him or make any kind of missing child report at any time.

Dylan shook his head, feeling disappointed in humans. a human child disappeared for six months and neither of them seemed to care at all. Too immersed in their mobile devices, they let this pass and then did nothing to help him get ahead ... They just ... left Hunter behind like he was just ... useless garbage.

Dylan's eyes widened with realization, a few tears beginning to rise to his eyelids ..., at the realization that ... they had done exactly the same thing when they left Hunter behind when they all returned home.

When it was all done and said, Dylan and Dolly had their entire family back in perfect health ... But Hunter, on the other paw, had nothing left, he was left behind, alone, abandoned, broken and lost.

Only Dixie and Dan were the only ones who thanked him that day before being dragged by Dylan and Dolly with little difficulty back to their home ... Everything else, just left and abandoned it.

"Son?"

"Ah!", Dylan was surprised to hear his stepfather's voice behind him. "Dad? what are you doing here?"

"Your mom still won't let me go back inside," Doug simply explained with his ears lowered.

His stepfather was still grounded, as were Hunter, Dan and Dixie, Dylan remember.

"What is that thing your brothers are playing with down there?" Doug with a raised eyebrow pointed a claw at where all his beloved sons were playing very animatedly with a machine that looked like a miniature catapult that threw tennis balls. , "is it one of your new inventions?"

"No, Hunter did it a few minutes ago."

"He did?" Doug asked puzzled and surprised as he exchanged his gaze between the machine and Dylan, then asked, "Is it, uh ... safe for puppies?"

"Yeah," Dylan nodded as he returned his attention to his many bass brothers chasing tennis balls, "Dawkins and I checked her out before the puppies started playing. it's completely safe for them."

both Doug and Dylan stayed at the top of the tree house watching the puppies happily scamper around chasing tennis balls.

Doug dislodged his gaze from his puppies and turned to see Dylan who seemed to be watching the happy scene in front of him ... sadly? "Son, is something wrong?"

Dylan sighed and turned to see his dad, "Dad ..., do you think Hunter is going to get better at some point?"

"I ...I don't know, son, "Doug denied, he ... he didn't know. Everything about how humans come out of their depression was completely unknown to Doug.

"Humans live longer than we do, son. They take much longer than us to heal some horrible things that they often go through ", he explained with a heavy heart to his stepson, " all we can do for Hunter right now is not leave him alone and try to understand him the best we can "

"I know dad, but, t-it's really hard to do that when he doesn't even talk to us."

"I get it son", Doug hugged his son, "But you also have to understand that what happened to Hunter is horrible and, it is something that no one should ever go through ... he was completely alone for a long time son, and now that he is no longer, he has to realize it for himself that now there is someone who is there for him "

"... H-how could Cruella do that to Hunter, Dad? To his only family", she literally had him create, and then just abandoned him and scrapped away ... Everything, for a silly Dalmatian fur coat?

"Cruella was a monster son," Doug said as he stroked his son's back, "that's the kind of things monsters do ... Horrible things that don't have names"

Dylan didn't want to believe that monsters like Cruella could exist. but he knew, he knew very well that they existed, there were always dogs and humans alike out there in the world who abandoned their puppies or children for ... things.

But now that he has to see him head-on and in real life, he just can't bear not being able to do something to help.

He wants to help Hunter, but ... Hunter seems to find his presence more of a nuisance than anything else.

And that hurts

A lot

(To be continue)