Chapter 5: Old Enemies, Reopened Wounds
Dolly and I soon stopped at a landmark which I found out to be Victoria's Memorial to take a rest after running far enough from Regent's Park, possibly to make sure that Clarissa wasn't following us. The place itself wasn't very busy, leaving it to just me and Dolly, Fergus meanwhile having left a few minutes ago for some important business. Whilst I sat on a bench which gave me a good view of the sculpture's front, this gave me an idea as I took out a small sketchpad from my pocket, thankfully having remembered to have taken it out of my hoodie before the Triple D possibly disposed of it. Whilst Dolly was still full of energy and was practising as many tricks as possible around the memorial on her skateboard, I remained seated and sketched out the memorial on a blank page of my sketchbook. I had forgotten to mention that back in my school that sketching and drawing were also a favourite hobby of mine to do in art class besides painting, sometimes I was the first to get a lot of praise from my art teacher from my slowly improving drawing skills. ...Of course, those were the only kind words I ever got in my school, any other time besides that, all I got was-
"Well well well, never thought I'd find the one who his daddy probably calls his stupid little mistake!" My drawing hand ended up pressing on the paper hard enough to break the lead tip out of dread as I recognised that snarky, mocking voice. All the nerves in my mind begging that it was only a bad dream, but it wasn't… "Hey! I'm talking to you! Teachers say you're supposed to look at someone you're talking to, you little victim card carrying dumbass!" My eyes clenched in frustration and despair as I turned face the source of the insults. A twelve year old boy in a grey Metallica hoodie and ripped pants and messy hair was staring at me maliciously.
Brian Palmer, the biggest and nastiest pupil at my school, where only he was the oldest and the tallest, and because of those reasons alone, no one dared to stand up against him, even when he had one of us pinned to the floor with deep intent to break their nose did anyone butt in to save them. I was his most favourite target and you're probably wondering why.
He knew how my dad treated me. It had happened sometime when I was nine years old, Brian had me pinned against a wall and was about to pull my pants with the intent of forcing me to walk in class with them down and be a laughing stock until he noticed something under my shirt and pulled it up, revealing bruises on my back that dad had given me the day before from his belt. Instead of feeling any sympathy for me, he just laughed in my face and told me that I probably deserved it. Him seeing my abuse wounds gave him an arsenal of much more hurtful insults he'd always throw at me, turning what was once my only time of peace away from my dad into a second living hell. None of the teachers were any help if I even dared tell them, they either flat out ignored the situation or always just told me to "ignore him". How do they expect me to ignore someone punching me to the point of nearly breaking my jaw or doing anything else that's both painful and humiliating? It was as if the whole world was just allowing this conga of torment to happen to me without any remorse. That was until Dizzy and Dee Dee found me, but it seemed like the world wasn't done treating me like it's own personal toy just yet and just had to supposedly have his parents take him to London on holiday.
"...Hi, Brian. How nice to see you." I mumbled sarcastically, making my hatred for him very clear which only made him scoff. "You should be happy to see me! I'm like the only person in your life that gives you any attention while your dad probably leaves you to sleep outside like the filthy mutt you should be!" He snarled before getting in my face and then glancing at my sketchbook before swiping it out of my hands. "And you still carry this stupid little thing?! How ridiculous! Is this where you practice your pathetic suicide note on?!" He was ripping pages out of my sketchbook as he said this before laughing nastily whilst I tried to get it back from him but because of him being bigger than me, it was impossible.
"Brian, stop it!" I protested, which just made him smirk as he knew he was getting to me. "Awww what's the matter, is the wittle chump getting mad! Why don't you tell your mommy since your daddy doesn't care? Oh wait. BECAUSE SHE'S DEAD!" Brian screamed the last part in my face before I was suddenly knocked onto the hard stone ground by the back of his hand, a sharp pain searing on my cheek.
"HEY!" I suddenly heard Dolly call out to Brian as I glanced at her approaching him with fire in her eyes. "What do you think you're doing with my bro?!" She interrogated him angrily, but Brian simply wasn't fazed by her. "Oh wow, looks like the little retard's adopted a mutt and gotten so delusional that he thinks he's related to her!" He mocked directly at me when Dolly pressed her face against his with a ferocious snarl. "You better give me ONE good reason why I shouldn't bite you!" She threatened, getting more angrier from how stubborn Brian was getting. "Oh, I don't know because you probably have rabies and get arrested for killing a human child!" That comment from Brian had Dolly growling at him now. "Oh, but before you do kill me. Get a Tic-Tac or something, your breath smells like my grandpa's ass!" Dolly finally snapped and was now screaming at him.
"YOU LEAVE CODY ALONE RIGHT NOW, OR I SWEAR TO DOG, I'M GONNA FU-!"
"Brian, honey! Come on, we're coming back to the hotel!" A older female sounding voice called in the distance. Brian pulled a sickly sweet smile as he turned to the direction of the voice. "Okay, mumsy! I'll be right over!" He added an innocent tone to that smile before glaring down at me. "You got lucky this time, you little rat. Next time I catch you without your mutt sister, you won't be." He threatened me before leaving the area to which Dolly rushed over to my aid. "Cody! Cody! Oh my dog, are you okay?!" I was just too upset to answer, the very moment he mentioned my dead mother was what broke the camel's back for me, all I could do was...
"W-Why…? Why does he have to treat me like this? Why am I so weak to him? Why can't he just leave me alone?!" I asked in anguish before finally breaking into audible sobs, Dolly immediately picked me up and held me tightly, rubbing my back to comfort me, I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around her as I kept crying.
"Shhhh… It's okay, Cody… I won't ever let him hurt you again, I promise..." Dolly quietly said in my ear before standing up and slowly walking home, still carrying me.
Dolly's POV
Dog, I just felt awful. That kid whoever he was is just like Clarissa only ten times more nastier. Why are there humans like him in this world? What did Cody even do to him to deserve to be treated like this? If only I had noticed him sooner, I could've stopped him from hurting my bro. I felt something on the ground press against my paw and looked down to see it was that thing Cody's bully had in his hand, an open little book with some pages of drawings on them with some torn pages scattered nearby. Even then, I knew this belonged to Cody so I picked it up along with the pages I could find before putting them in my pocket and resuming our walk home.
It was probably around thirty minutes when I made it back home, along the way, I did get a few odd looks from some of the other humans, but making sure Cody got home safe mattered to me more than telling them to mind their own business. Speaking of Cody, I noticed that he had finally stopped crying, I glanced over and saw that he hadn't cried himself to sleep but his eyes were glazed and he looked absolutely miserable and who could even blame him? Using my free hand to knock on my door, I waited for Dylan or whoever was nearest to open the door which only took a few seconds as I saw that it was Dee Dee who opened the door and smiled as she saw it was me and Cody, Dizzy standing behind her.
"Yay, Dolly and Cody are back!" They yipped happily as their tails wagged. "Sorry, guys… But Cody's not in the best mood to play right now… Some little jerk shoved him and was horrible to him." I told them despondently, their faces fell as they sadly looked at Cody who I carried to one of the empty rooms to give him some time alone before I pulled the sketchbook and pages back out and looked at them before heading to another room and knocking on the door.
"Hey Dolly, wanted to see my current invention in progress?" Dawkins answered the door, holding a toolbox in one hand. "Nah, I'm good, Dawkins. I just need a favour. You can fix things, right?" Dawkins answered with a nod. "Then can you fix this?" I showed him the destroyed sketchbook before explaining to him what had happened back at the memorial. He looked at it for a moment before answering. "Well, usually I work on things that are technological and mechanical… so a simple thing like this should be child's play for me." He affirmed, taking the sketchbook and pieces. "Thanks, Dawkins..." I gave him a small smile before coming in with him to watch him do his magic.
Cody's POV
I stared at the ceiling silently, the only sound breaking it being my breathing. Don't get me wrong, I was happy that Dolly was there to help me before Brian could hurt me any more, but I just couldn't stop thinking about the last thing he had said to me before I was shoved to the ground. My mom had died when I was four years old and because of all the pain my dad put me through, I could barely remember what her cause of death was, at the very least, I think it might have been a car accident. My mom's death could've been the factor to what lead dad to becoming an alcoholic and soon enough start to resent me. It was as if he blamed me for my mom's death and was making me pay for it, but I didn't deliberately make her crash, why would I when she was so good to me?
My thoughts were interrupted when I felt a small weight on my chest similar to what I had felt this morning. Knowing who it was, I sat up to see Dorothy looking at me pitifully. For a baby, she seemed to know I was upset and had come over to me to try and comfort me as she laid her head on my stomach. I returned the favour and rested a hand gently on her. "Thanks, Dorothy..." I murmured gratefully as she sighed in response. Just then, she looked up at my face and climbed up so her face was at level with mine before reaching her small hand to my cheek and gently rubbing it. I had forgotten that Brian had smacked me hard there enough to knock me back. I could only smile at the Dalmatian baby's efforts to tend to my small wound. She climbed back down after I felt the smack on my cheek start to sting less when Dolly and the Dalmatian next to DJ the other night whom I came to know as Dawkins came into the room.
"Hey little bro. You feeling any better?" Dolly asked as she sat next to me on the bed. "I am a little now, thanks to Dorothy." I chuckled a little, patting Dorothy on the head gently who giggled as Dawkin came a little closer. "Hey Cody, Dolly came to me and wanted me to fix something. And… I think that something belongs to you." That was when he revealed my sketchbook and opened it to show the pages Brian had torn out were delicately glued back into place, it almost looked untouched. After he handed it back to me, I didn't hesitate for a moment before pulling Dawkins and Dolly in for a hug who gladly accepted it. "Thanks, you guys!" I said as Dolly patted my back. "Awww, no problem, bro!" I even felt Dorothy's little arms cling onto my shirt as she joined in the group hug.
Evening soon came and whilst mom and dad were preparing dinner, I was outside sketching Dylan's treehouse. I had gotten the simple perspectives and guidelines down and was now in the process of adding the details before the shading when I heard a voice behind me.
"Cody?" I glanced behind me to see Da Vinci holding a small piece of paper as she walked over to me. "I found this outside my bedroom window, Dawkins noticed me holding and said it must be from a sketchbook of yours he fixed." She added before showing me the contents. It was a sketch of of a stallion horse on it's hind legs like it was whinnying. "Did you draw this? It's really good." She complimented with an impressed smile as I accepted the page from her. "Yeah. Sometimes I like to sketch things on my sketchbook from time to time, sometimes before I used to paint, I sketch out the outlines of what I'm painting to make the shapes more accurate." I explained, earning a bigger smile from Da Vinci as I showed her more of my sketches with her eyes glistening in awe with every moment. ...That is until I stopped at a sketch of a woman cradling a baby wrapped in a blanket in her arms, making me stare silently as I recognised who it was. "Who's that?" Da Vinci asked curiously as I blinked, trying to stop a tear from leaving my eye. She seemed to notice my lack of response as she called out to me. "...Cody?"
"I… I-It's my mom..." I replied, trying my best not to let my voice crack. "S-She died six years ago..." I glanced over to see Da Vinci put a hand over her mouth and look down. "O-Oh gosh, I'm sorry." She apologised, feeling a little responsible for my current emotion. "It's okay… I… I just really miss her sometimes." I reassured her, not wanting her to feel bad. "You wanna do something together?" I suggested in an attempt to take our minds off of the awkward moment as she lit up a little.
"W-Well, my art stuff is running a little low so I'm thinking of heading to a nearby arts and crafts shop tomorrow if you wanna come." She asked. I smiled and nodded at her.
"I'd love to."