Life Is A Strange Thing

Chapter 4: Home, sweet Home.

A/N: Hello there, once again. Have you ever had a feeling, like you're doing something great, showing the results to others, and then you found someone who doing it better, and you're starting to feel yourself like a complete disaster?.. Well... Anyways, here's the 4 chapter of this story. Thank you for being here with me - it's awesome to know, that there's some people, who live hundreds of miles away from me, waiting for the new chapter of this story and caring at least a little bit about my existence - thank you, thank you soo much :)

Plain District, 15:20

Unlike any other district, Plain District wasn't some special one - it was just a territory on the very edge of the city, consisting of private houses. There was no subway station - the only ways to move around the area are a personal car, bus, or simply walking to the place you need to. But, Alex didn't have a car, and, of course due to being the most lucky mammal on this planet, the buses of the route he needed were on a technical inspection today. So, he had no option, but to walk to auntie's Sam house on his own paws. But that wasn't big problem for him, especially in this place - in the cloudy, autumn weather this place seemed especially cozy and relaxing. Alex remembered, that when his father was on drinking binge for several days, or even more, and when he started to ressemble a lot more feral wolf, than his own self, then Samantha took Alex away from him, until his father's "trip to Nirvana" was finally overed. But at the same time, it was so good to be here - it was nice to be with that family, spend some time with local friend, relax onto garden swing..

"Hm, paradoxically.." - thought Alex. "No matter how much bad things were in my childhood, somehow I still manage to easily find something good about. I think, that that was happy childhood... If only time could stop there forever.." Before he fall back into his thoughts again, Alex heard so familiar voice: "Hey, Alex, is that you?". When he turned around he saw, who was "the owner" of it's voice. It was the fox, named David Harrison, Alex's best friend of the childhood.

- "Daamn, Dave, hello there!." - smiled Alex. "Where have you been all that time? I haven't seen you here for about two years."

- "Oh, I moved to a rented apartment in the centre of the city to study at a firefighting college"

- "So you've decided to join firefighters, eh?"

- "Why not? This job is honoured and well payed. The only thing that annoys me, same as most of the others firefighters are the situations, when somebody calls 911 because of some shitty fight of two drunk homelesses, and we had to move there...Hey, better tell me what are you doing now? I've heard, that you were sent to some orphanage, yeah?"

- "Yeah..." - said Alex in an upset mood. "Things were really fucked up, father stop caring about me...But anyways, soon I'm gonna be released from that place. And maybe, aunt Sam will help me to rent some hole at the edge of the city, and I'm gonna work when I have some free time after university."

- "But Samantha told me, that you were in some band, don't you?"

After a little chuckle, Alex answered: "Forget about it, things are fucked up with it too. If at first it was a nice company, now we're not even talking anymore to one another. Let's be realistic - nobody gonna give even a slightest damn about some random band, who had released only some crappy demo. It was more like a psychotherapy to me when I was a teen. But now things are different - as I've said, our relationships are tough - we had more and more conflicts with every rehearsal, gig, or simply meeting with one another. Yet still, somehow I've learned to find something worth to life even in a life like this, and be grateful for the things I have. Sure, sometimes I fall back into that horrible state of mind, but it's a lot more easier now..." - Alex paused, and then the smile appeared on his face. "Besides...You had come several days ago to visit my aunt. So...It turns out you lied to me, that you have moved out of here! How dare you!" - he continued with fake dramatic intonation.

- "Naah.." - giggled Dave. "I mean..Yes, I visited your aunt, asked her about you, but I didn't asked her when you will be here again."

- "So that means you didn't ask her when I'll be here, which means you weren't interested to meet me? What kind of friend will do something that horrible?." - continued Alex with a face of pure fake shock and disbelief.

- "Yeah, yeah..." - David rolled his eyes, and then both he and Alex had a little laugh moment there. "Well, jokes aside, I'm happy to see you in the good mood even after all that stuff, your aunt told me about - that's the spirit, bro."

- "Thanks, Dave.." - smiled Alex. "I guess,when you're growing up your mentality changes. Teenaged maximalism fades away, and those things, that recently seemed to you like an absolute horror begin to seem like a commonplace routine..Hm...Maybe the reason, why some of the modern teens are so reckless nowadays is that they're simply cannot get used to this void and often disappointing reality, huh?"

- "You know, Alex, topics like this are way too complicated, and can't be described by one...word... sentence... Besides, nobody had told you, that you sound like a 30-year old, huh?"

- "Heh, don't need to tell me, that you are reckless yourself - I know, that our opinions about life are often similar, so if somebody gonna judge me for my strict and somewhat conservative personality - that's definitely not going to be you." - smiled Alex.

- "Well, fair enough." - with a smile answered David. "So, as far as I can guess, you're going to your aunt's birthday, yeah?"

- "Yeah. You were invited too, don't you?"

- "Yep, both me and my parents, tho they will come a little bit later. Well..." - David paused for a moment. "Should we go to aunt's Samantha's birthday now?"

- "Yeah, let's go."

Zootopian Police Department, 16:00

- "So, Judy..." - slowly spoke James. "..That deer didn't tell you anything useful?"

- "Unfortunately he did not...Well, at least now we know, that there is some group of speciests mammals, who could have committed some of the previous murders." - answered Judy.

"Yet still, we have neither evidences, nor alleged composition of this group, nor any obvious features, that will distinguish this particular group of mammals from any other maniac, if they're dangerous at all. Which means, if they're actually dangerous, then most likely, there will be more homicides, before we could do anything about it." - pessimistically stated James.

Silence hanged between them. Of course Judy knew, that what Wolford said was true, and that what killed her - does anyone, at least even single soul still thought, that ideas about species purity was still relevant? History knew so much great mammals, both predators and prey, yet still some thought, that predators are nothing bigger, than savages.

- "Well, who's gonna report Chief Bogo about all the information we've got?" - asked Wolford.

- "I will, James." - answered Judy

Ten minutes later she was already at Chief's Bogo cabinet

- "Uhh, Chief Bogo? May I come in?

- "Come in, officer Hopps." - answered Chief Bogo. "So, how is investigation is going?"

- "If you're talking about yesterday's case, then, unfortunately we have not received any useful information, but from the words of couple violators we had discovered, that there is some kind of secret sect, that may be involved in what happened yesterday at the Unity Park, sir."

- "So, looks like my fears come true..."

- "Sir, we have to do something!" - said Judy.

- "The only thing we can do - is only wait, until our enemy will make another move."

- "But sir!" - protested Judy. "There must be another way! We had to do something, the government should help us, otherwise-"

- "Officer Hopps!" - interrupted angrily Bogo, but then he continued in rather melancholic tone "I've been working here for 26 years, more than half of my life..And when I only began to work here I was just like you - an energetic truth seeker. Believe me, at that time there were a lot more such cases, than now. And not once, not even in a single case the government tried to actually intervene. The master does not care about slave's welfare and security.."

- "Sir, you are wrong."

- "Prove that I'm wrong, officer Hopps.." - slowly said Bogo. After a moment of silence, he continued. "Very eloquently...Then I will told you something - when similar crime occurred ten years ago the only, who tried to do something about it was our police department. But suddenly, when several months later riots began due to a significant increase of taxes - the government responded almost immediately. On the same day, special forces arrested the most ardent protesters for "disturbing public order"!... Officer Hopps..." - sighed Bogo. "Judy, I know, that it's hard to simply "watch how the things will go", but it's the only option we have now."

- "But..Why can't we simply install some cameras around the most dangerous areas?" - Judy desperately tried to find some solutions.

- "Because we don't have them, and no

one will give them to us for free. Welcome to the happy capitalistic future - in the land of the "free" nothing comes for free."

- "That's so unfair.." - muttered Judy rather to herself, than to Bogo.

- "Life isn't fair, officer Hopps - it never was, and probably never will be."

Judy sighed - unfortunately, something in her mind said, that Bogo's word were something more, than a nonsense.

- "Alright, Chief.." - she said in a depressed tone.

Plain District, 16:20

After 20 minutes of slow walking, combined with a pleasant conversation with a best friend, Alex reached the 38 house on Garrett's Wall's street - the house, that belongs to his lovely aunt.

Time slowly passed, but, except for the number of mammals who live here, her home didn't changed that much. The reason of it was Samantha's strong passion for cleanliness - everything should be neat, and on it's own places. Sometimes it was the reason of misunderstanding between her and Alex, who is ready to clean up on his own only if the place where he were was in complete anarchy. But neither then, nor now did it come to serious conflicts - if Samantha was too annoyed by the chaos, that surrounded Alex, then she simply took him by the ear and forced him to clean up all the mess. And though, when something like these occured it was hard for her husband Craig hold back the laughter, at the same time he respected Alex, that he didn't tried to oblige, to "forget" about the cleaning, didn't tried to simulate an epileptic seizure - he simply done what Samantha had told him to do. And in general, Wolford treated Samantha with a great respect - he almost never resist to help her if she asked. After all, of the whole family line, she was the only, who actually loved Alex, or at least that's what he thought

- "So, what's your present for aunt Sam?" - asked wolf.

- "I'm gonna give her 2000 dollars, this is our gift from my whole family." - said Dave, which made Alex a little bit insecure - his gift seemed so "small", compared to Dave's. But when he rang into the doorbell, and very familiar face opened the door, he felt at a lot more ease.

- "Alex, Dave, you've finally arrived, I'm so glad to see you!" - said aunt Samantha. She was a regular timberwolf with a long hair, green eyes, and with a very recognisable fabulous smile. As they greeted with her, both wolf and his best friend fox entered the house. Through all these years Samantha's home almost didn't changed both outside and inside. It was typical "Zootopian Dream" home - two-storied house with a spacious rooms. The first thing Alex felt, when he entered the house was happiness and solace - everything here reminded him of the best moments of his "not-the-best" childhood.

- "Mrs. Wolford, happy birthday to you! Take this 2000 dollars as the gift from our entire Harrison family! If you're wondering where they are - they will arrive later, due to bad circumstances" - said David.

- "Thank you, Dave! Hope Joseph and Katrine will arrive soon and George wouldn't do anything stupid when we'll start to drink". - cheerfully said Samantha.

- "I promise nothing, but I'm gonna hope, that everything will be alright" - smiled David. Then Alex walked to her with his gift.

- "Aunt Sam, you were always a very special part of my family - you've... you've helped me to live a happier life, when..I lived with that...drank..dickhead" - in menacing and hateful tone finished Alex

- "Alex!" - she tried to reassure him

- "Uhh... right, sorry, just...When I remember what that alcoholic had done to me, my family, and treated to do to you, I got a little...tense..." - Alex clenched his fist. "Anyways, you've helped me to survive a lot of bad moments in my life, and...Sorry, that my gift is not that big, as you probably wished, but...here it is, happy birthday, aunt Sam." - Alex finished his monologue, and gave her a birthday gift - juicer.

- "Oh, thank you, my boy!" - she said even in more happier tone, than before, which surely made Alex a little bit confused.

- "So.. It's okay? After all, it's just a juicer.." - he guiltily spoken.

- "Of course it's okay, after all, my best birthday gift is my kids happiness, and I always included you in the list of my kids." - smiled Samantha, and hugged Alex. "I love you, you always were, and will be my little cub, no matte how grown-up you'll be!"

- "Thanks, aunt Sam.." - he said. If it were several years ago, he'd probably, just like any edgy teen, ahouted "Aunt Sam, you're embarrassing me!", but now he understands, that having somebody, who loves you in the same way - is something you should be proud of, not ashamed of.

When duo of best friends entered the house, almost immediately they were met by two little wolves.

"Hello, brother!" - in unison said Garrett and Bryan - two 8-year old brothers, the youngest of Craig's and Samantha's kids.

"Hello, little ones." - kindly greeted both Dave and Alex.

"Hello, Alex, hello, Dave. " - calmly said 21-year old black wolf, named Adrian. He was Samantha's and Craig's oldest son. Adrian was professional artist, earned some money by drawing it, but at the same time, he worked a pizza courier, because he thought, that having some actual job will help him to learn some new experience, and "find some inspiration, by understanding both rich and poor side of the city." Tho Adri seemed pretty strict and neutral, but actually he was very nice person to chill with. As they greeted one another, Alex immediately noticed another wolf, but unlike others, it had grey fur, blue dyed hair, and beautiful blue eyes, so beautiful, that they could be easily be posted in some magazine. The reason she looked different from her family is that she was adopted. That wolf, and if correctly she-wolf, was Jennifer. She was typical 16-year old girl, about whom adults could say, that "mentally she never grew up", or that "the only things she care about are dates with her boyfriends, social media activity, and new trends".

- "Hello there, Jennifer" - a little bit insecurely said Alex - Jennifer was jealous of Samantha's love to Alex, so he hadn't a lot of desire to talk with her, but, that would be very impolitely not to say hello.

- "Yeah, hello.." - grumpily answered Jennifer, and continued to work with her phone. Alex knew, that she had envied him, but he can't help but wonder, why she was so jealous and mean to him - he barely stayed here longer than two days per week, whilst she had aunt Sam's love every other day. And it was visible, that she loved Jennifer, yet still, she felt unfulfilled.

"Hey, Alex, can you help me with cooking?" - asked Samantha. She noticed, that situation starting to get a little tense, so she decided to distract him.

- "Sure." - Alex answered, and went to help his aunt. Then Dave decided to talk with Jennifer about one thing that bothered him - why, unlike any other member of the family, she had barely spoken a word to Alex

- "Hello, Jenn."

- "Yeah, hello, Dave.." - nonchalantly said Jennifer, not distracting herself from her phone.

- "Uhh, I want to talk about one thing to you" - he sat near her.

- "About what?"

- "As you probably know, sometimes I talk to Samantha, and she often talks about your and Alex's... conflict? I don't know what is this exactly, but, could you tell me the reason why you and Al barely speak to each other? I know, that it seems like a very personal question, but-"

- "That's not your problem!" - angrily uttered Jennifer. "I have my own reasons to despise him.."

- "Why?" - absolute confused said Dave. "Samantha said, that you never had any actual conflicts."

- "So what!? Maybe I don't like the fact, that this orphanage asshole steals all the attention and love from me?"

- "What? He always tries to be kind and friendly to you, and you're envying him only because when he arrives here for several days Samantha tries to give him her love and make his life less miserable?" - her words made him actually angry, but he tried to spoke his words quietly, not to attract don't needed attention. "You always living with a family that loves you, which is almost always makes your wishes come true, whilst he lives in some shitty orphanage, yet still, Alex tries to don't give a fuck about all the problems that he have, and live a happy and complete life, whilst you sit here, and saying bullshit, like "My mom doesn't loves you me, she gives all her love to that fucking Alex"! You are horrible and disgusting kid!" - while he told her all this things he didn't noticed how much changed her expression - from impudent and irritated, to sad and regretful. "For fuck's sake, could you even imagine how much bullshit he had to overcome in his childhood and that fucking orphanage!?"

- "Trust me...I can.." - silently whispered Jennifer. The expression, that was on David's face were absolutely priceless.

- "What?... What are you talking about?" - he confusedly asked

- "Enough!" - she tried to find back that "bastardy" tone, but to no avail, so she continued in a lot more silent tone. "I don't wanna talk about it right now...If you want to find some fun, you'd better to talk to Adri, or play with Garry and Bryan...For now.. leave me alone... please..I'm not in the mood to talk right now...".

Sure, that was pretty unexpectedly, but Dave didn't tried to oblige. "What was that? Why did she changed her expression so much?" - he thought, but in the end, he decided, that she simply was "hurt" by his words - after all, some of his coevals were so "hurtful", that it was enough even several words to drove them into "depression". And so, he left Jennifer on her own.

A/N: So, here's the end of 4th chapter. Sorry, that it took a little bit more, than I expected(mostly because I thought, that I could write on Saturday and Sunday), but personal circumstances and, somewhat personal laziness had changed my plans, sorry :). Fortunately I have a lot of ideas and actual concept if the next chapter, so I think it won't took an entire week to made it.

PS: Rule 101: From now on, I need to always re-check the document of the chapter. Sometimes it be such a mess after thousands of reformattings from my phone to Google Disc, to my PC, to the actual chapter..Thank you for reading this story, reviewing, etc..

Cheers