Deaf
Bingo was still curled up into a ball under the tree silently crying by herself. She did not want to become a biter, She couldn't control herself. All she felt was anger and hatred towards socks when she had ripped up her plushie. She wanted to kill her own cousin.
"Thump"
"Thump"
Bingo heard something right in front of her, She picked her head up to see a brown dog standing in front of her. He had a strange purple board with him, And a pen in his hand. He began to write on it, And then he turned it around to show it to Bingo
"Hi I'm Dougie"
Bingo got up and sat crisscrossed in front of the dog. She was curious as to why he didn't talk, Dougie then shook the board and all the words were gone. He then began to write on the board.
"What's your name"
He then shook the board again and offered to the red heeler. Bingo looked at the purple board, "Do you want me to write on the board?" she asked him, To which Dougie's smile fell and he began to write on the board again.
"I'm sorry but I can't hear you, I'm deaf. And I use the board to communicate".
"So you can't hear me? " Bingo questioned
………….
"Oh sorry" Bingo opened her hand asking for the board, and Dougie happily gave it to her. He sat down in front of the red heeler waiting for a response.
"I'm Bingo it's nice to meet you, I've never seen you before"
Bingo gave the board back to him, Dougie shooked it and began to write on it. He turned it around and showed the red heeler.
"I'm new to this school, My mum thought it was good for me to meet other dogs, and make some friends. Do you have any friends?".
Bingo read it, And sighed, Dougie noticed the change in emotions. She began to write on the board and then gave it to him. She then looked down at the ground with a depressed gaze.
"I don't have any friends anymore, They're all scared of me. They all try to avoid me, Because of something bad I did".
Dougie looked up at the sad heeler, He felt bad for her. But he also wanted to know what she did, Maybe it had something with the thing on her head. But he didn't want to be rude, So instead he wrote something else on the board.
"Do you want to try and be my friend, I've never really had a friend".
Bingo then looked up at the deaf dog, He patiently waited for a response. Bingo looked back at the other kids, they were too busy playing their games. She then looked at Lila, she was playing tag with Harley. They were both laughing and chasing each other. It made Bingo feel left out, but she knew that her old friend would never want to be near a biter. So she grabbed the board and wrote on it.
"Yeah, what game do you wanna play with me?".
Dougie read the board, and a smile grew on his face. He shook the board and drew 3 lines across each other, Bingo instantly knew it was tic tac toe. Dougie offered Bingo the Pen, She grabbed it with her unbroken hand and marked x in the middle. She looked up and smiled at him, Dougie took the pen and put a circle in the bottom middle.
10 minutes later HoneyCake walked out to see how the kids were doing. But what caught her attention was Dougie playing with Bingo. She assumed he didn't know what a biter was, yet she didn't want to ruin their friendship. In the end, she hoped Bingo would get the help she needed,
"Ring"
"Ring"
Honey cakes phone rang so she took it out, It was her friend Berry. She answered it and placed it on her ear, "Hey Berry how's it going……..what do you mean why did I send those nudes to your wife, she had to know…….I don't care if they were just memes, I care about her she's my best friend……..I'm certain that my husband doesn't watch that type of disgusting imagery………well, I don't believe you…….wait you have images?". She said walking inside the house, continuing her conversation
Back with the two kids, Dougie had won for the tenth time in a row. Bingo Grabbed her head and yelled "HOW" She was surprised at how good he was at the game. Dougie was giggling while covering his mouth, seeing his new friend getting worked up over a game was hilarious. "You must be cheating somehow! There's no way you can win 10 times". She said smiling and gently pushing his shoulder, Dougie then pushed her back. And got up running away while giggling, Bingo started to chase the deaf dog. They both ran around all the other kids, and some of them stopped playing to watch the two dogs. Some even moved out of the way when bingo got near them. Lila however stood there watching bingo and having a good time with a dog she never met.
Dougie then ran into the nearby woods, With bingo still chasing behind him. He ran a bit faster than Bingo, But when he looked back again. She was gone, Nowhere to be seen, Dougie was all alone in the woods. He couldn't call out for her since he never learned to speak. He began to walk around looking for the red heeler. What he didn't know was that Bingo was right behind him, On the ground crawling on all 3.
She got into a jumping position and then leaped on top of the deaf kid. They rolled around, Bingo was giggling while Dougie silently screamed. When they stopped rolling Dougie was on the ground, While bingo was on top of him. She got up and offered him her non-broken hand, Dougie wasn't hurt, He was more in a bit of shock on what happened. But he just brushed it off. It was probably something friends did here at school. He took her hand and got up, But when Bingo picked him up from the ground she felt something sticky in her hand. She let go of his hand to see a bit of blood, She looked up to see Dougie's finger bleeding. It wasn't much, he must have cut it while they were rolling around on the ground. Dougie then licked the small wound on his finger, He looked back at Bingo. But something was off about her, Her eyes were constricted, And she was showing her teeth.
Dougie tried to talk to her in Auslan, Which caused her to get out of her trance. She gave him a confused look, Which caused Dougie to realize she didn't understand him. He then pointed outside of the woods and spelled "board" with his mouth, Bingo nodded and they both began to walk towards where the board was located. Bingo looked down at her hand again, The blood was still there dripping down on her tiny hand. She then put her hand in front of the mask. It smelled so good, that her mouth began to water.
As Bingo and Dougie out of the woods, Bingo wiped the blood on her stomach so no one could see it. They both passed by the other kids, Dougie waved at them, But they kept their eyes on Bingo. He turned around to see Bingo avoiding eye contact with them as if she was ashamed.
They then made it under the tree where the board was located, Dougie grabbed it and began to write on it.
"Wow you scared me, I had a lot of fun. Is that how you play here at this school?"
Bingo read it and shook the board, Dougie gave her the pen.
"I sometimes play like that, But I was wondering what was that thing you did with your hands?"
Dougie read it And wrote down the best explanation he could give.
"It's called Auslan, It's a way for deaf dogs to communicate with other dogs. My Mum shows me it".
Bingo had never heard of Auslan, But it intrigued the heeler. she looked at the board and wrote on it.
"Is it easy to learn"
Dougie read it and began to wag his tail. But he stopped when he realized that his new friend had. A broken arm, Normally you'd need two hands to communicate with one another. But even then there were some easy words she could learn. He looked at the board and began to write.
"Normally you need two hands to write with, But I can show you ones that you can use with only one hand"
Bingo smiled and gave the board back to him, Dougie wrote some words on the board to show her what they meant. Bingo wagged her tail, waiting for Dougie to finish writing. When he was done he laid it down on the ground for her to see. There were 4 words, Please, pig, Bird, thank you. Dougie then pointed at the word pig, Bingo looked up and He had his fist covering his nose. "Pig" Dougie moved his mouth to make the word pig. Bingo Copied him and said "pig" while giggling, Dougie then pointed his other finger at the word Bird. He made his two fingers stretch out to look like a bird, Bingo did the same. "Bird," she said.
They continued to do sign language for an hour until Honeycake called them all to come back to the house, Bingo heard her, She grabbed the board, hooked it, and began to write on it.
"We have to go, our parents are here".
Dougie looked up at the house and saw the kids walking up. He looked back at Bingo she was writing on the board with a grin.
"Race you to the top of the hill"
She then dropped the board and pen And began to run up the hill. Dougie, surprised quickly grabbed the pen and board and began to run up the hill with her. She was faster than him, But he was just behind her, They were both smiling. Bingo however had won, "I win", She yelled with her hands in the air. Dougie came up last out of breath, The Red Heeler smiled, and Dougie then started to write on his board.
"I had a lot of fun today Bingo, I was so nervous about school. But you helped me get over it, You're a good friend".
Bingo smiled, She was glad to at least have one friend. Being alone for these past few days has been torture for the little Heeler. Even at home, her father didn't talk to her, And every time she tried to talk to him. All he would do is walk away from her, Sometimes he locked himself in the room just to get away from her. And since Wendy was taking care of her cousins, Bluey was always invited to play with muffin and socks. Bingo was obviously never invited, Because Of what she did to socks. So for the majority of the time she was alone, with no one to play with or have fun with, But Dougie had changed that. Bingo moved her non-broken hand to say thank you in sign language.
"Thank you"
Dougie smiled even wider, He didn't expect to make a friend on his first day. Nothing could ruin this day for hi-
"DOUGIE"
Yelled his mother out loud, Her son couldn't hear her, But Bingo was surprised to see her pick up her 8-year-old son away from the Red Heeler. She ran about ten feet away from her And placed Dougie on the ground. The young cavapoo tried to walk to Bingo But his mother didn't allow it.
The rest of the adults came inside the house to take their kids. Some of them looked at bingo with either nervous, or angry eyes. They all knew what she did just from the mask, But Bingo didn't acknowledge them. All she did was look at Mum talking to him by using sign language. It was quick as if she was in a panic state when she was done. Dougie looked back at his friend with wide eyes. But then he looked back at his mum and began to talk to her using his hands. Bingo didn't understand what he said, But by the disappointed sigh, his mother gave Dougie. She guessed that he was trying to defend her. His mum then got up and grabbed him by his arm taking her back to her car.
After 10 minutes all the adults had left, Bingo was on the sidewalk waiting for her dad. She was thinking about what would happen to Dougie. "I'm a bad dog". She said to herself, HoneyCake was inside keeping her eye on Bingo. She felt bad for her, But even then what could she do? She wanted to go talk to her, But she had no words to say. She then heard a car come up the hill. It was a Bandit, He parked his car and walked outside. He laid his back on the car waiting for his daughter to walk up to him. Bingo got up with her head down, as she walked to her father. Bandit opened the door for her, not even bothering to look down at her. He waved at HoneyCake and began to drive down the hill.
"Stay strong kid", The mastiff said out loud.
BRISBANE HOSPITAL
"So how's your day going so far kid," Shaun asked Bingo, They were both in a small room sitting in chairs, in front of each other. Bingo was holding Shaun the blue emu. And the German shepherd was holding a clipboard writing down everything the red heeler would say. "It's going better than the others," She said, scratching her arm sling. "Oh, why might that be?" He asked, writing down everything she said. "I made a new friend today, Mr. Shepard, His name is Dougie".
"You didn't try to bite him right". Shaun asked, waiting for Bingo to answer, "No me shepherd ''. She said nervously, Shaun then wrote it down on the paperwork of her behavior towards the question. "Ok kid, How did you feel after biting your cousin and the chow chow, And what exactly made you do it". He asked moving a bit forward to see her reaction." Well……I was…..I was eating…. And when I saw my cousin rip up my favorite plushie. It made me……angry". Bingo looked away making it obvious that she was lying. Shaun moved his chair close to Bingo, Getting closer to her. "I hope you're not lying to me kid, If you want to get the muzzle off. You'll have to be honest with me".
Bingo dropped her ears down; she didn't want to tell the truth, out of embarrassment. But she had to, "Aunt Brandy cut up a lizard that was in a bag. And she asked me to throw out the parts she didn't need. So I took it into the bathroom……..And…..ate them. I didn't want my plushie to see what I was doing so I left it outside…..Then I heard socks screaming. And I went to go check it out, She ripped my plushie into pieces…… " She then held The Blue Emu tighter, Shaun wrote down what she said and marked off some things on his paper.
"How did you really feel when you saw your cousin tear up your toy". He said, waiting for a response, Bingo was quiet for a few seconds.
"Hungry"
She said, Smiling a bit, remembering how good it was to taste dog blood again. Shaun sighed and wrote on the paper again. Bingo snapped out of her trance and looked away from the German Shepherd. "Kid, you're not convincing that you're ready to go without pills. I'm trying to help you here, I don't want you to have to wear the mask forever". He said, reviewing his work, disappointed by Bingo's reaction towards the reminder of blood." look I'm gonna make one more test ok, I Need you to look at me straight in the eyes. Don't look down at my hand, Do you understand?". He said putting his hand inside his pocket, Bingo nodded and looked directly into his eyes.
Shaun took something out of his pocket, Bingo however ignored it and kept on looking at the German shepherd. After a while, she sniffed the air, Her pupils started to constrict. The scent was so good, That it made her eyes twitch. "Keep on looking at me kid," Shaun said, Her mouth began to water, and Her teeth were clicking. She couldn't handle it anymore, She looked down. Shaun was holding a small glass tube that was filled with dog's blood. Shaun then used a plastic covering to close the tube. She snapped out of it, She looked up to Shaun, who still had his emotionless face. "This is gonna be hard than I thought", He sighed.
Outside of the room, Bandit was sitting on the waiting chair with Bluey and Macknezkie, the Border Collie. His mother had not come back from her business trip. Her boss needed all the workers for an important meeting. That would cause him to be able to have a partnership with a large company. Meaning that she would be back in about two weeks, which was not good for the young border collie. Ever since he had said chilli was crazy, Bandit had been uncomfortably eyeing him. He would stare at him with a blank face, Thinking, It scared Mackenzie.
What was worse was that since Mackenzie was a boy, Bandit did not trust him sleeping in the same room as Bluey. So he had to sleep in the living room, on the couch all alone. It's not too bad, But he could have sworn on his life that each night he felt a presence watching over him. And Mackenzie could have sworn it was The Blue Heeler. Basically, Mackenzie did not feel at home,
Right now, he was starting into apace wondering when will he ever see his mum again. "Mackenzie hold your baby, I'm tired of shaking her all day". Bluey said, giving the border collie an egg with a smiley face. Calypso had given her students a project, Where they had to take care of an egg. Bluey and Mackenzie we're assigned to do it together. However, she was taking the assignment a little too real. "How could I have married a husband, That doesn't give his wife a well-deserved break". Bluey crossed her arms looking the other way. "Bluey it's just a project, We're not married, And this isn't a real kid". Mackenzie complained as he began to swing the egg.
"It is our children, I gave birth to her, and her name is Samantha". That was when Mackenzie looked back at Bluey with a confused look. "Samantha! That's a horrible name, You could have named her anything else but that". Bluey just crossed her legs like a sassy girl and looked away from her fake husband. "Well my dad thinks that Samantha is a great and beautiful name, Ain't that right dad…Dad?"
Bluey looked up at her father; he wasn't paying attention.
He was distracted by the hallucination of chilli that was right in front of him. He had recently taken his schizophrenia pill, And it was making him hallucinate his deceased wife for an hour now. She was right up to his face dripping blood from her mouth, with a permanent smile on her face.
"dad"
"Dad"
"DAD"
"Wh-what", Bandit said snapping out of his trance. "Dad are you ok, you were staring at the wall for a while". She said giving him a confused look. "Sorry kid, I was just…..you know about Bingo". He lied, patting Bluey on the head, The younger heeler then placed her head on her father's shoulder, And sighed. "My friends at school, Say that their parents talk about her. And that bingo should go away for a way to a crazy house". Bandit put his arm over his daughter's shoulder, He sighed.
"Maybe she should," He thought to himself.
"Creak"
Shaun came out of the room, walking up to Bandit with Bingo following him. "I suggest you keep giving her the pills. Next week we'll see if she's ready to go without them". He said to Bandit, As he began to walk to another room where a patient was waiting on him. "Take care Bingo", He said to the red heeler, Bandit looked down at his daughter. She smiled at him, But Bandit didn't return it. He just began to walk to the elevator, The three kids began to follow him. Bluey hugged Bingo trying to comfort her.
HEELER HOUSE
Bandit had ordered some lobster for the kids. placed their plates on the table, and gave them healthy ketchup. He picked up Bingo's plate and walked upstairs, Bingo followed him. She has her head down, Mackenzie and Bluey just gave her a worried look.
Bandit opened the bathroom door. He went to the toilet where a leash was wrapped around it. A harness was attached to a leash, with a lock in the middle of the harness. He placed the lobster on the ground, Bingo Walked near the toilet and placed the harness around her body. It was a bit hard since she had to do it with one arm. Bandit Locked It up And took the key for the muzzle out of his pocket. He grabbed the front part of the muzzle and turned Bingo around. He used his other hand to unlock it, He took the harness of her. He walked outside of the bathroom and locked the door. Bingo looked down at the plate of lobster on the floor. She sighed and tried to walk up to it, But the harness didn't allow it. It wasn't long enough for her to grab it.
"What am I gonna do". She talked to herself, as she looked back. She then saw the plunger and had a disgusting idea. She sighed and grabbed the plunger, She placed it on the side of the plate. She pulled the food close to her enough so she could grab it. She cracked the lobster's tail and began to eat it. She looked around the bathroom nervously, She hated Being alone. But in the end this was her punishment for what she did. She looked to her left at the plunger, she had no one to talk to. She had to say something to someone, or she would have gone crazy at this point.
"Hi there Mr Plunger, how's your day going so far?"
………..
"Yeah my day is a bit poopy too, hehehehe. But……Today was better than the other days. I made a new friend, He's named Dougie and he showed me how to do sign language".
………..
"Oh……Lila doesn't want to play with me anymore. Actually, no one wants to play with me anymore in school, They all think I'm crazy……Maybe I am. And now I'm just stuck here all alone talking to a toilet plunger".
"Sniff"
"SSSNNNNIIIIFFFF"
The smell of blood was on her body. She looked down to her belly and sniffed again, There was a light stain of red on her. It was Dougie's blood when she wiped it on her stomach. She picked a bit of it up with her non-broken arm. And sniffed the dry aroma into her nose, She licked her lips and opened her mouth, Just about to put it on her tongue.
………..
"What"
………..
"What do you know you're a Plunger"
……….
"I mean…..I don't think he wants to hang out with me anymore….He probably thinks I'm crazy".
……….
She looked back at her bloody finger, Shaun was right if she wanted to get the muzzle off as soon as possible She would have to learn self-control. She got up and turned on the sink. She grabbed some soap and began to clean her bloody finger.
2 HOURS LATER
Bandit had already put the muzzle back on bingo, She was always the first to be put to sleep. Bandit locked her door and put the key in his back pocket. "Good night Dad", Bingo said through her door, But Bandit didn't even bother. Instead, he walked into Bluey's new room, She was in her bed cuddling her little baby to sleep. "Alright Bluey Samantha has to go since it's your bedtime". He said, sounding tired, Bluey smiled and put her baby egg in a small wooden box that she had made with popsicle sticks. "Good night Samantha, My husband is sleeping in the bedroom all alone, Because he doesn't take good care of you as I do". She said, patting the egg on the head. Bandit rolled his eyes. He hoped that this whole "husband and wife thing" would end as soon as possible. "Good night Bluey, I'm gonna go hit the hay, Have sweet dreams' '. He said walking out of the room, while rubbing his eyes. "Dad, I have a question", The young heeler said, Making Bandit stop walking out. He sighed and turned around to his daughter. "Yes mate". He said
"What's a whore"
That made all the tiredness leave the bandit's body. He was confused and a bit angry at his daughter. "Wh-what, Who told you that word?" He blurted, walking up to Bluey. "I heard aunt brandy say it a few days ago, I just wanted to know what it meant….sorry". Bluey said, sounding hurt, Bandit sighed in relief and held her shoulder. "Sorry mate, It's just that that's a bad word, And well….only bad kids say words like that, and I know you're not a bad kid". He said giving his daughter a playful non harmful punch, She giggled and hugged her father. "And what was the other question, Bluey?" He asked her, glad to know she was feeling ok. "Um…..well, every time I'm with Mackenzie….I get this strange feeling…..My heart beats a little faster…..And well sometimes a feel a tingle in my whole body….It feels so weird But yet normal….And the feeling is always with Mackenzie, Do you know what's that feeling da-" She couldn't finish her sentence, Her father was nowhere to be found. "Must be nothing then" she said, shrugging her shoulders and turning off her light.
In the living room, Mackenzie was on an inflatable bed snuggling in the covers. He liked to sleep on it since it was so soft and warm, He shook his head on the pillow and began to fall asleep. His eyes were blinking just about to have a nice calm dream. Until He saw Bandit standing above him looking a bit annoyed at the Border Collie, Mackenzie instantly got up and moved into the middle of the bed, still facing the Blue heeler. "H-Hey Mr Heeler, H-Hows it going," He said with a nervous laugh, There was an awkward silence between them. The Blue Heeler then sat down in front of him. "Hey, mate……You know I was just wondering, How's your day going", He said not taking his eyes off him, Mackenzie just played along. "It's going great sir, I was just about to sleep because of this magnificent day". He said, giving Bandit a wide yet nervous smile. "Yeah….It was magnificent…….So tell me have….you've been you know….has your yanker been going up lately".
………….
"My what?" Mackenzie asked, now confused, about what the blue heeler was talking about. "You know….your junk……your……maynosee bottle……the little finger between your legs". He said referencing a scene from Game of Bones, Mackenzie then looked down at his little finger and looked back up at the heeler. "N-No, I don't think it's been going up?" He started to get a bad feeling, "What do you think about my daughter, bluey…..DO you think she's pretty?".
"Actually she kinda looks like a guy, Mr hee-". Mackenzie then realized his mistake and covered up his face. Bandit kept staring at The frightened border collie. But a very false smile grew on Bandit's face. Showing his grinding teeth, He got up and walked out of the room turning off the lights. It was a new moon outside so it made the room darker than it was. Making Bandit's eyes glow in the dark, He stood there in the darkness staring at Mackenzie. He then closed them, Now the border collie could not see him at all. He then put the covers over his face and got into a fertile position, "Mommy" He whimpered.
End of Chapter 22