Breakfast was now served in the orphanage, the area itself being packed with kids ranging from humans and anthros in line to grab what was on the menu that day. All except for one that being Shane who already had his tray of food as he sat alone at a table In the corner over by where all vending machines were for the staff, He played and picked at his food feeling down in the wayside to even eat a solid bite, all he think of was Scarlet and how she left last night without his acknowledgment. "Ahem?" However his train of thought would come to an end as his eyes looked up to see someone in front of him.
A bipedal dog wearing a purple varsity jacket with a black eyepatch on their right eye and a masculine sounding voice to boot, who was clear to Shane their breed was of a Doberman due to them having long perked up ears and a slightly all black fur color only that they had a bit of fawn around their face and legs. "Is this table taken by any chance?" The Doberman asked Shane who didn't respond, instead looking back down to pick at his food again.
"Who's asking?" Shane finally questions him with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Well considering I'm the only one here. It's just me" He answered his question only to barely even receive a response back from the human teenager who still was playing with his breakfast.
"Look, the other tables are filled up and you're the last one that's available. If I had the time to negotiate with others, I would've done it already but even then that would've been extremely pointless, so would you be ok if I sit here for right now?" He then dropped the question, Shane remained silent for a brief second but decided to give in to the Doberman's offer and let him sit at his table as he sighed in agreement.
"Fine, if you insist" Shane grumbled to which The Doberman lightly smiled as he chose to sit down next to him. The two sat and ate their breakfast but an awkward silence had formed as the Doberman saw that Shane was visibly upset and possibly angry about something which made him rather curious about what the human's deal was which then he calmly asked him.
"You seem to be rather down in the gutter? Mind telling me what's wrong?" He asked the human teenager, breaking the awkward silence between the two while Shane sighed again. "It's.. not a big deal, I'll get over it soon or later" Shane told him back, refusing to budge out what he's really upset about as he then took a drink of water.
"Is it about Scarlet leaving the orphanage last night?" The Doberman asked. Him asking this made Shane instantly spit out his drink as he then looked at the bipedal dog with wide-eyes. "Excuse me?! Wait- how do you... How do you know about that?!" Ethan stuttered, being both shocked and surprised at the same time, at what he just asked.
"Eh? What do you mean? Literally everybody in this orphanage knows about her quote on quote "Great Escape" it's like the big gossip going on around here right now" The Doberman explains which made Shane even more puzzled as the Doberman just sighs. "Alright I'll cut the crap. I actually came over here on purpose... to speak to you, rumor has it that you want to leave the orphanage" He revealed to the human which added more to his surprised expression.
"Let me guess everyone knows about that too?" Shane wondered, considering he knew about what had happened to Scarlet and In Shane's mind this really wouldn't be far off from the truth. "I can see your phone. You literally just tried to google how to get out of an orphanage despite not being eighteen" He answered pointing down at his phone.
Shane looked and realized he was right, his phone next to his tray was still on and with the search results on Google clearly visible as he looked back at the bipedal dog embarrassed. "Oh..." Shane came to the realization, which the Doberman just face palmed as a result. "On the contrary. I should tell you who I am" He then changed the subject while Shane put his phone away in his pocket.
"Well obviously you're a Doberman for one thing" Shane said pointing out the obvious fact about him. "It's Royce. But you can call me Roy for short if you want" He told him before reaching his hand out, hinting to the human to shake his hand. "Got it." Shane said as he then shook his hand. "Also no worries. I already know you, you're Shane, Shane McKinley respectively," Roy rest assured as Shane responds back with a. "Ok"
"Anywho. back to the conversation... Why do you wanna leave, for?" He continued, asking Shane who didn't know how to tell him as he pulled out and looked down at Scarlet's pin she had left behind last night before then pulling it up to make it visible to the Doberman to which Shane sighed.
"Look, this might sound pretty stupid and even rather pointless in the grand scheme of things. But... I do miss her. She dropped this very pin on her way out and when we talked about it a week ago It seem pretty important to her. I want to leave and return it to her, I'll come back after but I want to give it back first. I can't just hold on to something that doesn't belong to me, you know?" Shane explained his reasoning for wanting to leave.
"I see... and you're gonna leave... How?" Roy asks, interested in what he had in mind for a plan. "You see that window over there?" Shane asks the Doberman back while pointing at a window that behind it had a way to get onto the fire escape. "Yeah, what about it?" Royce puts forward as he closely starts to connect the dots on what he's trying to do.
"A week prior, Me and Scarlet went through that same window to go to 7-eleven. We were able to come back undetected, so perhaps it's possible that I could do the same-" Suddenly Shane's mouth was then covered by Roy as he noticed the human began to speak louder describing that plan out but mainly he needed to add something to the conversation.
"Woah slow down for a second, you didn't hear what they did earlier, eh?" Roy asked him before uncovering his mouth. "What?" Shane asks his own question back. "Supposedly. Scarlet used that window last night and so while everyone was waiting to come inside the cafeteria... They locked and glued it shut. No one comes in and no one goes out, and yes... that includes you as well" Royce said to which Shane's now confident expression, went back to a less positive attitude. "So looks like there's a no go of getting out of here then?" Shane asked, expecting to hear some more bad news.
"Not necessarily. I have a proposal. One you might be interested in, what if I told you there was another way of getting to that same fire escape" Roy explains as the human realized there might actually be another way. "How?" Shane wondered. "Simple. It's right above us" Roy answers before pointing upwards at the ceiling, making it obvious to the human that he's insinuating the roof of the facility.
"Why are you helping me?" Shane asks in confusion on why the Doberman would go out of his way to do this. "Cause why not. You wanna leave and see her again so I'm giving you the opportunity to do so... However I won't agree to do it until you make a decision, you in or out?" Roy explained while writing something on a napkin with a pen, making things more difficult for Shane as his mind started thinking on what to say back.
"I don't know... this seems a little too much to process, I think I need some more time" Shane admitted which Roy took note of. "Oh no pressure, you have till tonight to decide whatever you want to do. In the meantime, I'll be in touch" Roy told him, slitting the napkin over to him before walking away with his tray in his hands. Shane picked up the napkin, noticing on the napkin was a phone number presumably Royce as he sighs a bit, wondering how big of a decision this truly is and if he should really go ahead with it or not.
"Should I really go with him? I mean if he's being serious and he can really get me to where she's at, why shouldn't I try?" Shane thought but then thinks realistically.
"No Shane this isn't the way. Maybe mom and dad can help instead... I think," Shane thought more in his head. But his thoughts would come to an abrupt halt as he saw Rosemary standing there waiting for him to make eye contact with her before speaking as he did so. "Your parents would like to speak to you on the phone in my office. Shane" Rosemary announced to him which surprised him. "Huh really? Right now?" Shane said with absolute surprise that his parents were wanting to speak with him right this instant.
Moments later. Shane was now seated comfortably in a chair within Rosemary's office. He realized it was just Him, Rosemary, and finally the adviser he saw a week prior named Amy Davidson as she sat in a chair in the corner behind Rosemary's desk. On the contrary, Rosemary searched on a small laptop for his parent's phone number as She then found it and pushed the call button which instantly booted up Skype and started ringing as she turned the laptop around so Shane could see the screen.
"Don't worry they'll answer in a sec" Rosemary rest assured. The call finished connecting to which the screen transitioned to a live video of his mom and dad who were both sitting on a couch with Shane's own face being shown in a small box in the right hand corner.
They both were of human male and female with somewhat different appearances compared to Shane, his father had white skin, black hair and bluish eyes similar to Shane's. He also wore a short sleeved black and red tracksuit that mainly covered his muscular torso in addition instead of wearing long sweatpants with it, He outed to wear shorts instead.
His mom however was a bit different, she had white skin like the other two but her hair was blonde with some purple streaks to boot, her eyes were colored brown as she was in a plain white tank top and black leggings with white socks on matching his dad who wore the same color socks.
"Son? Can you hear us alright?" His dad asks him which Shane smiled at the camera indicating to the two that he can clearly. "Mom, Dad? I feel so relieved to hear from you again, I don't know what happened with grandma and grandpa but I want to go home" Shane told them. "Nous savons et nous faisons de notre mieux pour communiquer avec les gens pour vous ramener" His mom calmly spoke.
(What she said in english) "We know and we're trying our hardest to communicate with people to bring you back"
"We're also proud of you for being brave all this time, just keep your head up Shane" His father said as well while Rosemary got up from her chair and went behind Shane showing her face on camera. "Eastin McKinley right? It's a pleasure meeting a mixed martial arts fighter like yourself and one famous in Canada no less," Rosemary complimented him with a smile on her face.
"Eh, What can I say? I have trained since I was young. Nowadays I got better, harassing new skills, fans, and opportunities. Something I want my son to be like in his future, right honey?" He stated before giving his wife a light kiss on the cheek which she blushed in response. "That's correct" She responded to what he had said.
"And I take it your Abigail? I'm hearing you are a local tattoo artist within Vancouver" Rosemary pointed out. "Ah... Guilty, Funny story. I first met Shane's dad back in high school, years later he came into the tattoo shop I worked at and after that day we became lifelong partners and eventually had are son... Shane" Shane's mom said to which her son just hide his face in embarrassment that she told that story.
"Anyhow. Mr. And Mrs. McKinley I think we should now enlighten Shane about are... final decision regarding the recent and unfortunate situation" Rosemary informed them, this made the human teenager a bit concerned to what she meant by that as he looked back at his parents.
"Mom? Dad? What final decision is she talking about?" Shane asks his parents who just froze as his father put his hand on his mother's leg in comfort. "Son... we can't bring you home yet" His mom uttered, Shane's face being in surprise as a result of hearing the unexpected news. "What?" Shane reacted. "Shane. The Police still needs your testimony about the incident involving grandma and grandpa, until that is finalized you need to remind there" Shane's Dad, Eastin said in an upset voice.
"Mais ce n'est malheureusement pas tout. Les aéroports d'ici sont confrontés à des problèmes de moteur défectueux, ils sont obligés de fermer pendant un certain temps, ce qui signifie que... nous allons devoir vous rester pour le reste de l'année" Shane's Mom, Abigail also added into the conversation being just a distress as her husband. As for Shane, this made his heart shatter into a thousand little pieces which he then went into denial of what he heard.
(What she said in English) "But unfortunately... that's not all. The airports over here are facing issues with a malfunctioning engine, they're being forced to close for a period of time which means... we're going to have to you stay for the rest of the year"
"N-Non S'il vous plaît, vous ne pouvez pas être sérieux, ce n'est pas réel, ça ne peut pas l'être, vous plaisantez, n'est-ce pas? plaisante s'il te plait?!" Shane said speaking in french all while tears started to flow down his face with his mom also tearing up as well, who then hugged her husband hiding her face from the camera and Shane.
(What Shane said in English) "N-No Please, you can't be serious, this isn't real, it can't be, you're joking right? please be joking?!"
"Son... I'm sorry" His dad could only tell him, The human teenager couldn't comprehend this and instead just froze. "So it's real, I guess it was true after all, I'm actually stuck here... alone" Shane came to the realization in his head while looking at his parents.
"Man. Where do I go from here exactly? If I can't go home for the time being then what else is there left to do?" Shane thought to himself, his mind scrambling with different things that were dropped on him, the testimony, being stuck till next year, etc. but as He thought more his ears would cut something being said to him. "Leave" He heard a familiar voice from somewhere. He then looked at the computer screen and saw his dad who he knew said that word.
"Huh?" Shane wondered only to then come back to reality. "Son. Me and your mother will make sure to leave you money, just in case you need it. Ok?" His dad told him. "Umm can you repeat that Dad?" This confused Shane as he swore he heard his dad said the word leave a second ago, however his dad spoke like he didn't say anything prior but that question would go on, answered as he heard another disembodied voice.
"I'm giving you the opportunity to do so, However I won't agree to do it until you make a decision, you in or out?" Shane overheard that it was clearly Roy who had told him that same question earlier only this time it continues. "You have till tonight to decide whatever you want to do. In the meantime, I'll be in touch" Shane could hear, as he went back to his train of thoughts.
"Hold on. Is my dad telling me to leave? No- that doesn't make sense, why would he want me to leave if it's clear I should stay?" Shane continues to think until suddenly it hits him. "Unless... Uh that's it!" Shane snapped his finger, finally realizing what his dad was trying to insinuate as he then looked back at the camera. "Alright, thank you" Shane told his dad who smiled and then responded. "No problem, if you need anything else just call Me or you Mom on your phone" His dad told him back.
"Oh and Dad... Hopefully I'll be back soon"
A/N: Wow! That was a long chapter but I finally managed to get it done. Anyways, more chapters will be releasing soon with the next two chapters especially being the finale to this arc of the story and so after finishing it the next arc will be on the way. So with all being said, thank you all for supporting and liking the story and I'll see you for the next chapter.