Chapter twenty-six: Broken Memories
Snowflake walked over and giggled seeing Ryder under the blue sheet.
"Oh no! Ryder's a blue ghost!... Hehe, You okay Ryder?" Snowflake said jokingly.
"Oh, I'm ok." The boy replied, as he rose from the floor again.
"Snowflake, Rubble, what was it that you wanted to ask?" He wondered, as Ned wandered away.
"We were wondering if you could help us with our bonding. We're bonding over our fears of ghosts," Snowflake explained.
"What? Then you should have come to me for that! At least Ryder has the perfect costume to help you out," Ned commented.
"Not helping, Ned! Besides, you came out and gave Rubble a ghost hug.. While we were talking!" Snowflake snapped politely.
"Not my fault you didn't come to get advice from the ghost of fun! Boooooooooo!" Ned responded, pretending to be a ghost at the end by waving his forepaws. The pup however wasn't wearing a sheet; just a goofy pup obsessed with ghosts.
"Sure, what exactly do you need help with?" Ryder wondered thoughtfully.
"I'm trying to understand my feelings towards ghosts. Yes, I'm scared of them, but it's mostly because I don't know who or what is under the fabric. Not just bed sheets, but other kinds like blankets, parachutes, tents, curtains, comforters, ect. But the strange part is, I do sometimes enjoy playing 'ghost' under those fabrics! But once I realize I'm stuck under the fabric, and I can't get out, the moment goes from fun to scary and I freak out. Yet at the same time, I'm scared of something I enjoy playing, and getting stuck in sometimes. I don't know how to feel about it," Snowflake explained.
"I think you enjoy being a ghost because you have control over the situation." Ryder began, only pondering her words for a short time before responding. "And when you get caught up in it.. you lose that control.. and you are now in a very vulnerable situation.. Vulnerability can be pretty scary, it's the reason why we feel fear.. being scared of ghosts is just fear of the unknown.. you have a harder time staying calm and confident in yourself when things unseen are hard to see."
"Yes…" Snowflake said, shocked Ryder was able to repeat her dilemma back to her in simple words.
"So, how do I deal with those fears?" Snowflake asked, after regaining her composure.
"Hmm.. well what have you tried?" The boy wondered.
"What do you mean?" Snowflake replied, slightly confused.
"Well, you've tried to deal with it before haven't you?" Ryder reasoned. "What kinds of things did you try? And how well did they work?"
"Well, every time I try dealing with a ghost, I try to talk to them, but get scared and run away. As for getting stuck in the fabric, I try to be careful and playful, but I end up getting stuck. I sometimes try to get unstuck when calm, but when I realize how tangled up I am, I panic!" Snowflake responded, thoughtfully.
"Would you like me to demonstrate?" Snowflake added.
"I think you need to remember that whatever you're playing with is just a material object.. and not a threat.. also you need to remind yourself that you are in a safe place and can think outside of the situation to find a way out all on your own." Ryder said,.. his affirmation being a nod and a smile.
"That doesn't help when I can't see through the material or what's around me," Snowflake commented.
"You don't have to." Ryder said. "All you need to do is remember what you know.. and think about what you can do to free yourself. No panic needed."
"Okay, I'll try," Snowflake said before covering herself completely under the white sheet.
"Ryder? Rubble? Can you put those other sheets on me?" Snowflake asked kindly.
Ryder and Rubble found a couple more sheets or blankets and each worked to get them up onto Snowflake.
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Chase practically dove behind his pup house and pressed his back to it in hopes of hiding. His pants seemed a bit rushed, but the adrenaline from running even a short ways was enough to get his heart pounding.
Must be 'cause I've been awfully lazy lately. His mind sighed in distaste. If I could just sleep through the night again!
A rattle of a memory growled in his ears and a crack of lighting from another rippled by him and he had to wince at their passing. But when fresh air pushed past him harder it finally began to successfully distract him.
"Better check the perimeter, after all.." he thought, sensing a freshness to the air. "Before things get too bad out here.."
Can't let them think I'm a coward! He thought deeply, and a certain Rottweiler came to mind even as he kept walking. Though as he continued it was becoming harder and harder to press on.. and once he came around the bend of the Lookout, which pointed toward the cliff overlooking the Bay, a massive gust of wind hit him and he nearly fell backwards. He tried to muscle through it, even peering forward to hopefully see his way. But something tumbled up in front of him and he tumbled off his feet and onto his right side, and given the angle of the blow, it essentially swept his right paw out from under him and the growing wind blew him back onto that side of his body and over onto the other.
Recovering himself heavily with the wind continuing to pick up and more debris coming at him.. the rush of sea air soon ran fresh again and he almost expected to hear thunder.
When neither a clap nor a flash came, he could now assume, with the added lack of rain, that there was only one thing it could be.
Curse you nature! Chase growled internally. But turning front, he had to duck, somehow catching on to something hurdling his way. And looking back the way it came and then back at the Lookout, he took one more look out at sea, before turning toward the direction of the wind as it began to swirl.
As he headed toward the source of light.. he looked to his left at his pup house. And for a moment a thought came to him. He turned in order to approach it, but had to withdraw quickly when a toy went bouncing by. Yet when he did finally make it to his house, he felt this reluctant tug not to enter it.. and he stood there staring for a moment. He advanced forward but immediately stopped again, a frustrating restraint keeping him from the thought that had crossed his mind. Something hard landed nearby with a clang, and he found it to be something like a small branch or something of the like, which had ended up next to his bowl making the water churn a little and even drip over the sides.
The object was curious, but then his reflection caught his eye. And when it lowered to one side of it, he jumped back away from the water, ears laid back and body tensed in a stance made ready for him to turn and run. But instead he was knocked over by a stray branch that landed on top of him, but was easy to crawl out from under for him to run away toward safety.
XXXX
"Thanks. Boooooo!" Snowflake said, as she started to wander around with her forepaws in the air, pretending to be a ghost.
"Hey, I'm the ghost pup here!" Ned commented jokingly.
"Hahaha! Oh no, not you too!" Skye smirked, while the other pups chuckled in their various tones.
"Not really, Skye. I'm just doing this for fun. Boooooo! Oooooooo! I'm a ghoooooosssst! Boooooo! Hahahahahaha! This IS fun! Woooooooooo!" Snowflake replied as she kept walking around, waving her paws around.
"Ah!" she gasped suddenly when a loud crash hit the Lookout. The pups looked up after the initial shock wore off and watched a large branch shudder in the wind against the window of the Lookout.
"Ahhh! What was that?!" Snowflake exclaimed, freaking out a bit from the sudden noise. The sheeted husky wandering around, waving her forepaws in a blind panic.
"Snowflake, remember.." Ryder spoke up forwardly. "Relax and think your way around the problem."
"How when I don't know what spooked me?... Okay, relax. I'm playing as a sheet ghost pup, it was just a noise, just keep having fun. Booooooooo! Oooooooo!" Snowflake said, before calming down and kept pretending.
"Hey wait.." Marshall spoke up finally. "Didn't Chase go outside earlier?" Suddenly a progressive cracking earned their gaze to the window, as the large branch toppled over in front of the sliding doors.
Many eyes flashed, and some ears could swear they heard a cry, which only made the room go dead silent. No one moving,.. or speaking, just looking around at others among them, waiting to see who would make a move or attempt to speak.
Suddenly the Lookout doors opened and the dark umber of the wood peeled off it with a golden underbelly, giving it character, as it fell forward from squeezing out from underneath the branch. The doors closing again was a relief all the same for everyone involved.
"Wooph! Don't go out there.. it's a war zone!" Chase huffed, shaking his coat loose from the pine needles and other debris, which had caught his coat.
The whole group sighed, even while Chase continued brushing himself off with his paws.
"Chase?! Are you okay?" Ned asked going over to inspect his friend. Snowflake just stood still, under the sheets and blankets.
"Does anything hurt?" Ned asked as he touched Chase's fur. He checked the back, belly, tail, legs, paws and his shoulders.
"I'm fine." Chase answered defensively, easing back so that his right shoulder was exposed to him.
"Chase, your shoulder! It's bare. Well except for this scar. Did you get hurt by the branch?" Ned commented.
"A bear?! Where?!" Snowflake exclaimed as she looked around and wandered about, looking for safety from the creature her brother mentioned.
Though the other pups laughed, Chase hardly seemed phased.
"I'll be ok." Chase insisted. Then turning from them more, he proceeded to the window to the left of the doors, and slowly sat down to stare outside of it with a soft expression that didn't seem at all positive.
Ned's ears folded back as he walked over to Ryder.
Snowflake, sensing the change in tone, carefully walked over to Rubble, hugging him as she sat down.
"Sorry if I took the spotlight during our bonding time. I wanted us to have fun," Snowflake apologized in a whisper.
"It's ok.." the bulldog pup smiled. "But I think it's Chase that I'm more worried about right now."
"Did I do something wrong?" Ned said with concern, resting his head on Ryder's knee.
"I.. don't think so.." Marshall put in, as he arrived at Ned's side. "You see that mark on his shoulder? The one you noticed earlier?" Marshall pointed out, and they all seemed to look at the same jagged mark poking out from what they could see of his exposed shoulder from the angle they had off it; and noted its unique shape. And it almost appeared to be from that of teeth.
"Yes," Ned replied. Snowflake carefully pulled the sheets up so her face was visible. She looked to Chase then back.
"Yeah," Snowflake said.
"I think I know what's going on here." Marshall decided, his eyes fixed on Chase. "Or.. at least part of it."
The huskies looked at the dally, confused.
"What is going on?" Ned asked politely.
Marshall turned to them with haunted eyes and they almost dreaded the answer. And glancing around at the others among them, they all seemed to share the same look as soon as they met up with Marshall's.. even Chester sighed as if to say 'oh boy, here we go again'; but with a genuine sense of sadness to it.
"Something bad, I'm guessing?" Snowflake said, her ears folding back.
"You could say that." Chester sighed. "It's the whole reason I'm here.. Well sort of. See,..- Mr. Frank Prescott, Maggie and Billy were all out here visiting and scouting out a new location to possibly move back to Adventure Bay from our old Barkingburg facility.. The Prescotts own a breeding business that basically explains how we exist.." and he gestured to him and Chase in saying this. "Anyway we stopped at Mr. Porter's for breakfast and to relax after our long trip, when a certain police pup wandered into our little corner of the patio.. All started by a bag of frozen corn no less!"
Ned and Snowflake looked at each other with slight confusion, before looking back.
"Breeding? Isn't that breaking the law or something?" Snowflake asked with concern.
"Not if it's done right." Chester replied certainly.. "There are guidelines that a breeder has to follow.. and the Prescotts are the real deal.. even Chase can attest to that."
"But anyway,.. So we all reunite right there and then at Mr. Porter's shop right? And somehow like a bad penny Mrs. Vignette CorDan shows up with her hoity-toity lap-dog, Lucie, and talks the same sick sweetness of Chase that she did when he started at the academy. Anyway, we finally told her off and she left.. But..then.. she came back.. And not for another social visit."
Snowflake and Ned both gave disgusted looks before shuttering.
"Sheesh! Why do some people have to act like that? Fake respect much?" Ned commented.
"Ugh! The self centered types! I can't STAND people or pups like that!" Snowflake added.
"I know right.." Chester monotoned in his own manner of speaking.
Once they calmed down though, they focused back on the story.
"So, she pup-napped you guys? I'm surprised she didn't get punished for that!" Snowflake retorted.
"Well.. you're half right.." Chester continued. And Chase's subtle attention to them turned back to the window again.
"Mrs. CorDan did come back to kidnap someone,.. but it wasn't us.. Just Chase,.. and apparently?.. She sent her grunts to do it,.. she had already returned to Barkinburg when Chase was taken.. She just dispatched her henchmen to do the kidnapping for her.. Man am I glad we busted her in the end!" Chester seemed to curse this last part to himself, but just loud enough for them to catch it.
"So she got punished, right?" Snowflake asked, growling a little at the end. She hoped the woman got punished.
"Oh yeah.. are you kidding? Psh,.. we'd never let all the abuse she allowed Chase to go through go unpunished." Chester could've sounded rude in the moment, but they could tell that wasn't the case and might've even agreed. "She was arrested on the grounds of dog fighting, animal abuse, dognapping.. and maybe a couple other things.. but yeah.. she got what she deserved.. jail time.. and a steep confiscation for all the kidnapped pups in her care.. and even the abusive situation toward Madge.. her paid caretaker of her animals and housekeeper. Madge is a real sweet lady.. but Mrs. CorDan wasn't very nice to her either.. I know, big surprise,.. but she actually tried to help Chase escape.. And turns out?.. It almost worked.. from the sound of it.. Chase and the pups he'd met there were already trying to think of ways to get out of there,.. and they even helped Chase when he got tangled up with a nasty Rottweiler named Rex.."
"Ok, can we not talk about this NOW?!" Chase groaned, turning quickly to walk away from the window finally, and disappearing to some other part of the Lookout that they didn't quite see.
"I think we went a bit too far," Ned said with his ears folded back. He shook his head. And the other pups all took on looks of empathy, sympathy, or a varying combination of both.
New chapter! Ending on Saturday means we have four days left of the chapter everyday schedule. Then back to the trenches with more writing and other projects besides this one! Enjoy! Thx!