"I won't. I don't care if it breaks me, how many sacrifices I'm going to have to make or even if I won't be able to be with my parents and I'm stuck here longer, the heelers do not deserve this… and I will not let that happen."

That very saying kept me up the majority of last night. Everytime I think about it I feel goosebumps on my arms and my body slightly shakes, realizing how much weight I have on my back and the fact that I need to speak with Bandit and the others about this now serious situation.

It was the beginning of the the next day more specifically, morning and I was walking through the hallway of the Heeler's house, on my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and splash some water on my face to wake myself up, I still wore my pajamas because in all honesty I was too lazy to change into my normal attire and even then it's not like I was planning on going anywhere anyways, so I proceeded to not care as much about changing clothes.

After a couple seconds, I finally made my way into the bathroom, there I grabbed some toothpaste which I squeezed a bit on my toothbrush before putting in my mouth and began brushing, while doing so I felt the taste of… bubblegum on my teeth? Huh, that's not the toothpaste I use… Oh. Hold on, I just realized… This was Bluey and Bingo's toothpaste. I saw mine to my left next to Bandit's Chili's and Brandy's toothpaste. *sigh* Eh. Whatever… if my teeth are clean and white then that's all that matters as I grabbed and drank some mouthwash, slashing it inside my mouth before spitting it out.

Loud drop* However as I finished getting the mouthwash out of my mouth, I heard something drop onto the floor. It was loud, loud enough for me to hear it coming from behind me, so I turned around and saw it was just a regular soap bottle. I was confused at first as to how it fell onto the ground… but gravity does exist for a reason, so I went over and grabbed it, planning to put it back.

"Ha. Thought you could escape, didn't you?" I joked to the bottle of soap but really myself as I put it on the sink. *Crash* The moment after doing so, the bathroom suddenly became a darkened red, I was scared the crap out of it when the mirror in front of me cracked and showed a strange small like creature that had blackish colored fur and sharp teeth with the main feature being its bright purple eyes.

"What the…" I said as it stared at me before out of nowhere trying to jump at me which I yelled. "No wait!" I tried to defend myself by covering my face but as I did, the bathroom returned to normal. The lighting was no longer a darkened red and the mirror had no cracks on it, not even the strange creature was nowhere to be seen. my whole body began to shake, I didn't know how to react other than just getting the heck out of there, so I headed back into the hallway.

Heading downstairs, it was dark and quiet with some sunlight shining through the windows as a source of light, it seemed like I was the only one awake within the house. "Hello. Honey?" Or so I thought as I turned to my left passed the kitchen and onto the porch of the backyard I noticed a red heeler sitting on the steps. I walked over them quietly, assuming it was Chilli but surprisingly it was actually… Brandy.

"Brandy?" I called out to her. "Ah!" She jumped in fear like she got spooked by a fake jump scare in a horror movie. She must have been surprised to hear my voice as the red heeler turned around to see me standing there. "Oh… It's you, you scared me a bit, mate." Brandy said before turning back around to look at her phone while I came over and sat next to her.

"Trust me, you're not the only one who's been scared this morning," I joked. "What are you doing awake, out here?" I then asked her, nicely wondering why she was awake. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?… *sigh* well I'm trying to get a hold of somebody but… that's not working out like I hoped." Brandy answered, continuing to try and call said person.

"Who are you trying to call, might I ask?" I wondered curiously. I would've understood if she didn't want to answer that question, I should respect her privacy just like Bandit and Chilli's, especially if it's a personal matter. "Oh it's nothing. Just my boy…." Brandy was going to finish, but stopped realizing what she was about to say and chose not to finish her sentence saying instead. "Nevermind." She told me back. I was fine if she didn't want to tell me, like I said I was gonna respect her privacy along with everyone else's.

"Oh… that's ok." I said, not wanting to push this conversation further so I got up. "Actually Shane. Are you fine with keeping a secret?" Brandy asked me, I sat back down and became unsure how to answer that. I'm not one to keep secrets from others unless it's really necessary or important. It truly depends on the situation but I digress and nod. "I guess, I can. What's on your mind?" I obliged.

"The person I'm trying to call is… my boyfriend. I haven't had the chance to tell my sister about it yet because… you know. His name is Luka. Luka Dane" Brandy revealed to me. I was surprised, so that's her secret, Brandy has a boyfriend who she hasn't introduced to her family or even Bandit yet but why? And is this the reason why she's staying with them? "Huh, he has a pretty cool name." I responded as she looked at her phone.

"This is a picture of him." She then opened up the photo app on her phone before giving it to me which I grabbed and took a look. It was a photo of her wearing a red dress with her aforementioned boyfriend who was a bipedal dog, he looked to be a Great Dane wearing a black suit and tie, they were both standing in front of a clear looking lake with trees and other wildlife behind them, I would say it's there wedding photo but that probably not the case but it doesn't hurt to ask.

"Is this him proposing to you?" I asked in curiosity. "Nah. This is a picture from our trip to America, he hasn't proposed to me… well yet. He's gone on a business trip at the moment and I didn't want to be alone at his place in France. That's why I'm staying with Chilli and her husband and kids." She explained. "Oh… so are you going to tell Chilli about him?" I then asked her.

"I will eventually… I haven't been able to, it's not as simple as a throwaway conversation, I want to get some time to really tell her, especially when we haven't spoken in…" Brandy was going to say but suddenly we both heard a familiar sounding mum voice. "Ah. there you two are." We turned and saw it was Chilli who seemed to look tired and had been looking for us for some time as I along with Brandy got up and went over to her.

"Morning sis. You look pretty… rough." Brandy comments to her sister who rubbed her eye before responding. "Not a morning person. Never was, never will be." Chilli responded in a tired mixed with a bit of a grumpy sounding voice. "Huh" Brandy only replied as I shrugged. "Anyways. I'm gonna make some coffee." Chilli said as she then went over to the counter where the coffee machine was, planning to make some coffee to start her, I would only assume, wonderful day.

"Talk about getting a coffee at Starbucks." I joked, but after making said joke the room became silent. Chilli and Brandy stared at me awkwardly as I heard crickets loudly outside, thinking about what I said again. That joke was honestly pretty horrible so I chose to be silent until Chilli spoke up. "So… why are you two awake so early?" Chilli proceeded to ask us both.

"Shane woke up and saw me outside, so he came to see what I was doing." Brandy answered her question to which Chilli nodded. She wasn't wrong, that is actually what happened… although she didn't mention the conversation we had but at the same time I didn't expect her to… yet. "Huh… Well that's good because I actually needed to talk to you Sis. Dad wants us to go on a fishing trip while Bandit and Stripe are dealing with… you know." Chilli said, to which Brandy knew what she was referring to.

"That?" Brandy asked. "Exactly." Chilli instantly replied as her sister responded with an. "Oh." All while the coffee machine had finished making Chilli's coffee, she grabbed the cup and poured some into a mug before taking a drink of it. "Hey. Since I'm awake, why don't I come with you two." I offered to go with them. I thought of getting out of the house now after seeing what had happened in the bathroom earlier, maybe to go hang out with Scarlet or something.

But that very conversation with Brandy came into my mind once again and it gave me an idea… maybe I could help Brandy get a chance to talk to Chilli and even her father about her boyfriend. Although I'm not one for solving other people's problems, I could tell she really wanted a push in the right direction and she shouldn't keep her surprise hidden any longer. I might be the one for the task but I shouldn't place my bets just yet.

"Really? I figured you would have not been interested in fishing and just wanted to stay home." Chilli assumed. "Nah I agree I never fished before, but it doesn't hurt to at least go out and try to learn it, you can trust me right?" I asked her back, to which she thought about it.

"Well… I guess Bluey and Bingo are gonna be at school for the day, leaving you by yourself…" She thought more about it until she shrugged. "Sure you can tag along if you want." Chilli said in agreement. Looks like I was able to tag along to which I obliged happily by shaking Chilli's hand, but while I did I saw Brandy was looking at both of us but mainly me as she looked at me with growing suspicion, maybe knowing what I'm up to.

A bit later…

I sat in the back of Brandy's car staring out the window, the drive to their dad's house itself wasn't too far but still a good hour away from the house as I looked at cars passing by, the sun was shining thanks for it being daytime and there wasn't much traffic making the ride less tedious. "Alright we're here." Chilli said as Brandy parked her car in the driveway and we all got out, taking in the fresh air and decent weather. The area itself looks to be nothing but trees, hills, and empty fields seemingly being out in the country.

Seems like both Chilli and Brandy used to live outside of the city when they were younger. "Ah. It's great to be home, right Chilli?" Brandy comments to her sister who couldn't agree, more. Suddenly we were then greeted by an older male red heeler who stepped out of the house. His appearance was obviously older, wearing a green fisherman's hat and having a similar look and fur color to both Chilli and Brandy making it obvious that it was their father.

"You've arrived." He said before hugging his two daughters. "Hey dad, It's good to see you again." Chilli and Brandy both greeted him as they all pulled away from their hug. "No kidding, how's my favorite daughters been? I heard your husband, Chilli, has been taking Brisbane by storm lately." He told Chilli who nodded in agreement. "He has. Kind of busy at the moment dealing with some family matters." Chilli explained.

"I've been staying with them the whole time, wanting to see my nieces and all while having nothing better to do." Brandy chimed into the conversation as their dad then saw me standing there and approached me. "You must be the human Chilli talks about and says you were joining us for fishing. You're Shane right?" He asked me. "Yep, that's me." I nodded.

"Splendid. I'm Mort, Mort Cattle. I usually go by granddad, but you can call me whatever you prefer." Mort said as I nodded again. "Ok. I'll just stick with just calling you Mort." I told him back, which he was fine with me calling him by his name.

"Trust me kid, you're gonna love it here, I've been fishing for years, so teaching you how to, will be a piece of cake." Mort proclaimed. no kidding but I am rather intrigued now, if it's really easy to teach me then I'll definitely take his word for it. "So when are we getting started?" Brandy asked her father who tipped his hat at me before going to the front door to his house. "Soon. I wanna fish around night time as that is the best we can get some real good catches, let's head into the house and grab supplies, I have a lot of catching up to do with you too." Mort stated, signaling us three to follow him into his house.

We all proceeded to follow suit, heading inside along with him to grab the said supplies before darkness emerged. Frankly, I wanted to know more about him and his family. They, along with him, seemed to be pretty laid back and chill. I guess there will be time for that while we wait to commence our fishing trip.

To be Continued...