The Drop

It was a sunny morning, everyone was outside except for Ryder, who was busy with Lavander. The plant. Kitty sighed.

He never has time for me anymore!

'My dear daughter, Ryder will always love you, I watch over you both.'

Kitty's fur spiked to great lengths, her eyes widened, and she ran. "I'm being haunted! I'm being haunted! Chase, help! Ryder's mom is after me!"

Chase blinked. "Are you okay? Ryder's mom has been dead for years and there's no such thing as ghosts." The air grew chillier.

"Here she is! She's angry!" Kitty took off like a rocket, Chase looking after her surprised.

It's just a chill. Chase thought. Scaredy fox!

'Oh, Chase, I am very real.'

Chase's tail went between his legs. "AHH!" He followed Kitty with lightning speed. He leaped over Marshall, who was napping. "Outta my way! Ryder's mom's taking revenge!"

Marshall's eyes slammed open. "W-w-wha-HUH?" He scrambled to his paws and followed Chase as fast as he could. They caught up to Kitty and cowered behind the oak tree. "I-i-isn't Ryder's m-mom d-d-d-d-dead?"

"Y-yeah." Kitty stammered.

"I fear for my life!" Chase howled.

"Shut up! Stupid furball, you'll give us away!" Kitty whisper-shouted.

Marshall started shaking visibly. "Oh, my, g-g-gosh! We're all g-g-g-going t-to d-d-die!"

"DON'T SAY THE 'D' WORD!" Kitty snarled.

"Sorry!" Marshall squeaked.

Everyone froze as footsteps approached the tree. "Hey, pups! Whatcha doing?"

"We're uh, hiding." Chase looked at Ryder wide-eyed.

"Are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Ryder blinked.

"We did!" Marshall blurted. "It's gonna eat us!"

"Ghosts don't eat, stupid!" Chase growled.

"There's no such thing as ghosts." Ryder said firmly, "It's only the wind or something."

"But you-" Kitty started to say.

"Shh. Come here." Ryder walked towards the garage.

"So now you have time for me." She muttered.

Ryder turned around. "I'll always have time for you!" Ryder kneeled. "I was busy today thinking up new attachments for your tail."

"I'm sorry. I feel like-" Before Kitty could finish her sentence, there was a screech from the vehicle parking space. "That's Scarlet!"

They took off running. "What's wrong?" Ryder asked.

"It's a b-b-big hole! It popped up out of n-nowhere!" Scarlet squeaked, ducking behind her mother's legs.

"Wow, that is a big hole," Rocky said, peering from behind his vehicle, obviously looking for some junk.

"A sinkhole's never happened here before," Kitty tipped her head to the side.

"The basement is collapsing!" Ryder gasped.

"It's pwobably fwom all the wain," Zuma suggested.

Kitty turned to tell Ryder not to go down there, but much to her astonishment, he had already left. Instead, she tiptoed to the edge and looked down. She could see boxes. Rows and rows of boxes.

She was about to back up when the ground under her paws began to sink. She fell a few feet before she felt hands grab onto her firmly.

"Careful," Ryder said.

"Thanks for catching me," she said, relieved she didn't hit the ground.