OHNO! It's been so long! Here's a short one for you guys!

Guilt

Lightning. The little pink dog of a questionable breed absolutely hated it. It was loud, bright, and it terrified him. Not only that, but wherever there was lightning, there were sometimes fires. Fires that burned during the rain; fires that never go too close for comfort, but still frightened him. Above all else-and there were plenty of other things he hated about storms. One of these being the strange noises he would hear at night during a storm. Another being the loud, howling wind. And Courage really hated loud things-above all else it was DARK. Muriel and Eustace didn't need a night light-they were brave. Unlike him. He knew too much-frighteningly bizarre tales the computer used to scare him-and had seen too much of what roamed about in the dark. Not to mention the fateful night he hated to remember when he had been abandoned. It had been dark then too.

Courage was currently shaking-so hard his teeth chattered and the bed shook-while laying in between Muriel and Eustace. His eyes wouldn't shut, no matter how hard he tried to make them (he couldn't even blink!) and the cover he had pulled up to his eyes didn't diminish the cold, sinking feeling that pestered his gut. Usually he would be at the foot of the bed, because Eustace would yell at him if he slept between the elderly couple. But tonight he couldn't help himself, the thunder kept pounding, and the lightning kept striking, and the floors kept creaking, and the wind kept howling, and the rain kept pattering, and it was DARK, so dark, and a shadow passed the window-it could have been shingles, or any form of debris. Unfortunately, the little dog was not in his right mind enough to realize this-and he couldn't take it anymore, and-

"NOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRWWWWWWW!" He cried. It sounded more like a howl near the end, and was obviously loud enough to rouse the two sleeping near him.

With two yelps of surprise, Muriel and Eustace bolted upright, and looked down at Courage-who was currently lacking in this-before Muriel sighed.

"Why I autta-" Muriel quickly cut Eustace off. She knew how he got, and didn't want anything to happen to her poor Courage.

"Now, now, Eustace, don't do anything rash. I'll take him up to the attic for you, how's that?" Eustace gave a grunt, rolling over. He was a lazy man who didn't do much of anything unless it was berating Courage or working on his truck. (Or eating, of course. The man was stick thin, but he ate whenever he got the chance.) Muriel had expected him to relent-after all, it was late, and he was tired-so she gingerly picked up the shaking, whimpering dog and took him to the attic with a heavy heart.

"Now it's alright, Courage," she stroked him gently and smiled, comforting him as much as she could before she left, closing the door behind her.

A mattress was already layed out in the attic for such times as these, when Courage woke Eustace up in the middle of the night. It was practically the dog's room, though the animal didn't spend very much time up there unless he was bored or needed information from the computer.

Speaking of the computer, Courage thought he could use his comforting glow right about now, and booted him -tried to boot him up. Unfortunately, the power was out, much to Courage's extreme dismay and fear. He hopped from one foot to the other, aware that he was in for one heck of a long night. He wouldn't get any sleep, he knew. Not without a light of some kind.

So for the next few hours he tried to switch the computer on, only succeeding when the storm began to let up. With a cry of "Yes!" he watched with delight as the screen lit up, and the computer gave a yawn (which was impossible, because he shouldn't have even been able to speak in the first place, but this author will digress and get back to the story).

"Yaawn... Ah, what a nice nap. It would have been nicer if someone hadn't woken me up early. So what do you want?" His coarse, British voice greeted Courage, who whimpered and wrung his little paws. He looked up at the computer, who sighed.

"A nightlight? Again?" Courage nodded, "You know this means I'll have to stay up for the rest of the night?"

Courage sighed, another whine edging in on it as he reached for the power switch. He wasn't very happy about it-he would love for there to be some light to fend off the scary darkness and it's creatures-but he wasn't about to let himself be comforted if someone else would be compromised. Just as his digit touched the button, the computer stopped him.

"Oh, alright, alright! It's fine," he said, but the small dog could hear the reluctance in his voice and whined loudly at the computer, drawing his paws back together, "No, no, I'd be happy to. Really."

Courage smiled up at him and scampered over to the bed, snuggling under the quilt and keeping his eyes on that warm, reassuring light emanating from the computer screen. In a way, he thought the computer might be watching him too, and that comforted him too. It was like he had the dog's own guardian, watching over him as he slept to make sure nothing bad happened to him. Of course, he'd never tell this to the computer. It would only create a long, awkward silence and maybe some coughing before he would leave and never return to the attic again. Besides, why on earth would the computer need-or want, for that matter-to know he thought these things? It was best to keep them to himself and let his eyes finally, slowly, close. He let the peaceful silence stretch on, and felt that maybe he would be able to sleep.

That is, until the power went out again.

I torture you, Courage!

Anyway, this turned out longer than I thought. xD I was thinking maybe just three or four paragraphs. It's alright, though, the more the better. ANYHOW, I'll try and update this more often. I really have no excuse, I was even writing one on here last month, but I never got passed the first paragraph. xD I'll upload that...sometime, though. It's better if it's a spur of the moment type of thing, though. I just thought of a candle for this one, and got the idea for a storm, and all that. :D

I hoped you enjoyed reading this! PLEASE review, I love hearing what you guys think of my writing! And farewell! Until next time! (And let's hope that next time is soon! xD)