Chapter twenty-eight: Terrors Of The Night!
Calm breathing could be heard among the group of sleeping pups, everyone dreaming peacefully,.. well almost everyone.
A certain pup's thoughts twisted his mind in knots with fear, confusion, and other emotions he had tried to keep to himself. But in his dreams, he couldn't escape his own personal prison..
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Falling flat to the ground, his panting couldn't stop, and tearing through the darkness hadn't gotten any easier it seemed. But even when he looked back over his shoulder the growing shadow made him get up and run.
But as the ground shook, he had to stop just so he could keep all four paws on the ground and maintain his balance. Still that shape still rose and grew in size, a smaller one dove and nipped at him, grazing his shoulder and leaving a mark that soon faded. The more attacks came the less energy he seemed to have, soon he was barely standing. And looking down.. the known mark of his scars glowed a form of blue.. with the occasional.. and rather painful, pulse of yellow. And somehow this pulse seemed to involve his head as well. Drumming a slow beat that was running very slow.. like it were almost in slow motion. And each time it did it seemed to develop a vibration bubble that caved in on him every time the thump sounded, like a soundwave turned inward. And even when he thought it couldn't get any worse,.. those soundwaves developed a bite to it that stung harder and harder into him.
'No.. please no!' Chase thought, and he hoped it would end. By now the pain was bordering on unbearable, and he continued hoping,.. Or more like BEGGING,.. for it to stop.
'NNOOOOOOOO!' he screamed, as he faded out with the sound ringing in his ears.
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"-no!" Chase blurted, but it was rather soft.. And upon instinct, as he said this,.. he jolted up,.. as if he'd suddenly been hit with something.. And even though he lay on his side, he couldn't keep from reacting in this way. To his disappointment though,.. another body stirred and he winced at hearing their rousing breath; anxiously dreading what would come next.
Snowflake stirred in her sleep hearing someone say 'no'. The husky pup slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head to see someone sitting up in the dark. Snowflake got up and went over to the bedding on the floor, and carefully used them to drape over the sleeping pups. Then, holding a blue sheet in her mouth, Snowflake snuck up behind the sitting silhouette, and threw the blue sheet over it!
Chase felt a weightless layer fall over him and immediately jumped, ending up launching himself into mid air; and he felt like Cali screaming to the ceiling from a splash of water in the process.
However when he tumbled over something, that thin layer rolled off him and he hit the hardpan surface of the ground with a thud and a grunt.
Ouch.. he groaned internally, despite the fact that he didn't land on the wounded shoulder this time.
"Oof!" Snowflake said after something tumbled over her. As he rolled away, the blue sheet covered her.
"Huh?" the husky pup said in confusion. However, she heard Chase grunt and this prompted her to walk towards him, the husky pup still under the blue sheet though.
"Chase?" Snowflake asked, her voice slightly muffled.
The young police pup jumped slightly then fell completely still, laying in a tight ball where he lay hoping deeply in one thing..
Please just go back to sleep!
However..
Unable to see, the sheet covered husky got to Chase and felt around to confirm it was him. As she did though, she accidentally touched his injured shoulder.
"Hey! Watch it!" Chase yelped, instinctively lifting his foreleg to nudge hers away; then realized what he'd just done.
Oh shoot, now she knows I'm awake! He gasped.
"Chase? What are you doing awake?" Snowflake asked as she lifted the sheet. Now her face was visible, with the rest of her head and body covered by the blue sheet.
Chase was silent, still lying on the floor on his left shoulder, not even making a move.
Snowflake whined. She carefully picked Chase up, and put him into a sitting position before hugging him.
"Please Chase. I know you don't want to talk, but you wouldn't be up if something wasn't bothering you. You've been hurt enough. Please tell me what's hurting your heart," Snowflake said sincerely.
Chase sat silently still..
What is she getting at?! He wondered.. -I'm not hurt.. am I?
"You should talk to someone about what you're feeling. Ryder, Marshall, or me. Holding on has only made it worse," Snowflake suggested.
Chase STILL didn't answer. Instead, after a long pause, he turned around, walked right past her and began to lay down again.
"Chase, why were you awake?" Snowflake asked curiously
Oh! The German Shepherd realized.
"What?" Chase asked, yawning briefly.
"What's happening?" He wondered, trying to sound sleepy.
"I asked why you were awake," Snowflake reminded him.
"Oh uh.. I don't know.. I- yawn.. guess I was sleepwalking or something.. Marshall did that once.. heh heh, true story.." the deadpan tone of his voice didn't quite have her convinced, but yet she couldn't quite argue the logic either, given how dark it was.
Chase yawned again, however, and it yanked her from her own thoughts.
"Well.. back to bed I guess.." he said, sounding all too happy to do so. "Goodnight, Snowflake. Good thing you caught me, before I could end up on the back of a whale out into the Bay! Heha! What a sight!" Then curling up again, he let his breaths sound a bit louder than they normally would to show he was truly trying to sleep once again.
"Okay... Goodnight," Snowflake said in confusion, before walking over to Chase and covering his body in the blue sheet. She then got a blue blanket, covered herself in it, laid down, and slept with the other pups.
xxxx
Shadows shrunk as the light forced them away, the sleeping souls of the lower room, beginning to stir.. all but one. A bunch of inhales sounded and heads began to lift, some drowsily rubbing their eyes.. other's yawning and stretching;.. or even taking a moment to shake themselves loose in order to wake up.
"Hah!" Marshall yawned loudly, stretching as far as his downward dog stretch could go.
"How's that for a good night's sleep?" he asked, looking lazily around at the other pups.
Suddenly a soft gurgle of a light snore, earned their attention and at first they were confused, but then a collective sigh brought their eyes down to the heap of brown fur laying at the very center of the group.
"Sleeping again?!" Marshall sighed deeply, and his tone was very dry. "What happened this time?.. Another wild goose chase down the tunnel of sleepless nights?"
"He sort of did. I woke up and asked why he was awake, he said he was sleepwalking but I honestly think he's hiding something. What did he mean by sleepwalking though? He said you did that Marshall. And something about being on the back of a whale?" Snowflake responded. She was slightly confused though.
Marshall perked up when she said this.. as if taken aback by what she said.
"Uhh.. why'd he tell you about that?" Marshall wondered, somewhere between nervous and embarrassed.
"That's what Chase told me. He was just glad that stuff didn't happen to him. But I'm confused. What did Chase mean by the sleepwalking and whale?" Snowflake replied.
"Heh Heh.. Um.. well one time I started sleepwalking, and somehow I ended up skateboarding down the Lookout driveway, landing on a paddle board randomly left on the Bay and rode it out on the water where a whale rose up from the surface, with me on its back.." Marshall answered,.. and he still seemed slightly embarrassed and a little distasteful.. but they could tell it was not toward any of them.. but toward the exasperation of the events themselves.
"Why is that embarrassing? It doesn't seem that bad. Why are you bothered by it?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Well.. let's just say we were all blaming the problems we were having around the Lookout at the time.. on something I was doing and didn't realize it.." Marshall said.
"Yeah,.. we thought it was a ghost!" Rubble added.. "And it got to a point,.. where Chase was deployed to super spy around the Lookout to find the ghost, while Rocky and Ryder built a trap to catch it."
Every eye turned back to Marshall, and the Dalmatian gave the two huskies an awkward smile.
"A ghost?! Why didn't you guys say sooner?! How were you a ghost Marshall? Please, tell me more!" Ned asked, smiling, getting excited once Rubble mentioned a 'ghost'. The husky dropped into a crouching playful position, with his tail wagging like a water sprinkler gone wild.
Snowflake rolled her eyes.
"You and your ghost obsession! Why can't you give it a break sometimes?" Snowflake retorted.
"I do! But once someone mentions a ghost, I get excited! Besides, not my fault my owners put that sheet ghost decoration on a pole and made it gently swing around. I love chasing that thing!" Ned replied, his excitement not fading away one bit.
"Well.. I don't exactly know how it happened." Marshall shrugged earnestly. "All I know is that I started sleeping with a white sheet shortly before we noticed strange things happening.. And I guess it must have stayed on me when I started to sleepwalk."
"Cool!" Ned said with excitement
"Awww. Were you okay? Did you even notice you were under the white sheet or no? That could have been scary and dangerous!" Snowflake noted.
"Umm no.. I didn't even know I was sleepwalking till after I was rescued off the Bay after sliding off the whale's back on the paddle board I'd landed on." Marshall replied with a shrug.
Snowflake got nervous.
"So you weren't okay?! What did that white sheet do to you?! Don't worry little buddy, I'll protect you! Bring the sheet here! I'll teach it a lesson for tangling with my buddies! Bring on the ghost sheet!" Snowflake said as she looked around defensively.
"Make that two! No mean ghosts on my watch!" Ned said as he joined in, looking for the 'sheet ghost'.
"No, no, I was fine!" Marshall cried.. "I was just saying that's how it made me look like a ghost, that's all."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Snowflake said, relaxing.
"Okay. Thanks for telling us," Ned added.
"Speaking of white, I don't think I've hung out with Everest yet. Nor Chester for bonding moments," Snowflake stated thoughtfully.
"Oh good." Marshall thought aloud, shaking off the awkwardness of their earlier discussion; relieved that it was over. "Yeah, 'probably be good to call her up and see what she's up to."
"Yes, that sounds good. One moment please," Snowflake said, pressing her pup tag.
As they sat and waited, Ned turned and grabbed the bed sheet that was behind him, and threw it over himself. Only his face was visible.
"So, what do you pups want to do? You already went ghost hunting with Marshall the puppy ghost. Booooooo! I want to play and eat pup treats! I will haunt The Lookout with clumsy fun! Oooooooo!" Ned commented playfully.
"Hello? Everest? Are you there?" Snowflake asked, as her pup tag glowed.
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"Alright, milk's almost done. Ready for that critter tracking exercise, Everest?" Jake announced, poking his head out of the kitchen briefly.
"Can't wait!" the husky gushed. "For both of those!"
Suddenly her pup-tag glowed and she expected to hear Ryder say he needed her, but was surprised when it was Snowflake's voice that came through.
"Hey Snowflake,.." She greeted. "Uhh, what's up?"
"Hi Everest, I was wondering if I could come hang out with you? I've bonded with most of the PAW Patrol pups, so I was wondering if we could get to know each other more? Do something fun!" Snowflake explained through the pup tag.
"Sure! As a matter of fact,.. I'm needing to check the mountain's security by tracking woodland creatures to make sure they're staying a safe distance away from the slopes and trails.. You wanna come help? We could be tracking buddies! I don't usually have help doing it,.. Well sometimes Chase helps.. But as tired as he's been lately.. It might wear him out too much.. You in?"
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"Of course! I'll head up to Jake's place now," Snowflake replied happily, through the pup tag.
"Wait,.. Jake's?" Rubble echoed.. "Can I come? I've been meaning to hit those slopes,.. but haven't actually gotten up there yet!"
"Me too!" Chester recalled.. "Chase said one of these days I should check it out.. What better time than now while he's passed out for a little while?"
"Sure. You two can come along," Snowflake responded with a smile. "Wait, is Ryder up yet? We better let him know about us going to Jake's and have him around to keep an eye on Chase,"
"I got that covered sis!" Ned said before walking towards the German Shepherd and pressing his eyes onto Chase's forelimb. The husky still had the bed sheet over himself.
"Got my eyes on him. Nothing but cream and brown fur. I wonder if his fur tastes like chocolate and vanilla ice cream?" Ned commented softly.
Snowflake laughed at her brother's silliness.
"Ned, Chase isn't actually made of ice cream! And I don't mean literally keep your eyes on him. I mean watch him to make sure he's okay," Snowflake explained, giggling.
Ned then backed away from Chase, listening to his sister.
"Heh heh, it's ok, pups." Ryder said, seemingly appearing right at that moment, after emerging from the elevator. "I'm here.. I'll keep an eye on him.. you pups go ahead and have fun.. I'm sure you'll wanna head outside and help with the cleanup from the wind last night."
"Actually.. we were hoping to go up to Jake's cabin to do some snowboarding.." Rubble answered, turning to the boy, and Chester nodded his agreement while the rest of the pups, aside from Snowflake, left them in silence.
"Yeah. Plus, are you sure it's safe to clean up the mess from the storm?" Snowflake responded cautiously.
"Come on, we're the PAW Patrol.." Ryder scoffed and with a loose confidence that was far from arrogant. "As long as we have the right gear?.. and each other.. there's nothing we can't do."
"Okay. Rubble, Chester, let's go! See you later Ryder." Snowflake said before heading out the door. She stopped upon seeing the big branch in the doorway and carefully climbed over it.
Rubble and Chester slowed when reaching it and both stared at it, a little daunted..
"Oh yeah,..uh.. heh heh, guess we'll have to go move that out of here too, won't we." Rubble chuckled lightly.
"Don't worry." Rocky told them, somehow peering over the large branch out of nowhere. "We already have a way to do that!" He finished, looking up as the Air Patroller's claw picked up the branch with Rocky still on it and began to fly it away from the Lookout doors.
And as it was setting the branch down in the yard, Rubble and Chester strode forward out of the Lookout.
"Well,.. Ok then." Chester said,.. "'guess you guys won't need us to stay busy."
"O-kay.. Let's go.." he added moments later, turning to leave.
"Hey, wait for me!" Ned said as he too ran outside, the bed sheet sliding off his body as he ran.
Two chapters remaining and then we focus on more writing! Granted we're still a few chapters ahead but at least now we can keep working on staying ahead. ;D
Plus I wanna stay on top of some of my other works.. with the hopes of getting them done as well..
I am currently editing through the manuscript for my second book for publishing as well so I wanna really focus on that in the next few months especially.
Thx so much for all your amazing comments and I'll see you tomorrow! Thx!