Chapter 2: My Only Sunshine

When the screen comes back, it shows just outside the window the sun is rising over the hills. As it does, that soft flute music plays to elevate the mood of morning.

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Soon the sun began to peak over the hills, its rays turning the sky soft purple-pink and the edges of the trees in a soft yellow glow. The sun shone in through the window and upon the two sleeping critters. They hadn't moved since the night before, with Dogday still resting in Catnap's lap, and the purple feline embracing him lovingly from behind.

Some light fell upon the sleeping feline's eyes and he stirred, blinking an eye open. He looked to see the sun rising and gave a smile. Today looked like it would be a good day after all. He smiled and stroked one of Dogday's floppy orange ears.

"Okay, sunshine…. it's morning," he said softly.

However, instead of a sleepy grunt or a snore, Dogday remained silent and asleep. Catnap smirked, it seemed he was sleeping a little heavier than normal.

"Heheh, come ooooon, time to wake up, sweetie. We have a busy day, if you're feeling any better."

Still no response. Catnap thought about what to do to rouse this dozing dog from his slumber. Then he grinned, knowing just what would get him up.

"If you don't get up, I'll tell Picky you're feeling hungry for fish sticks tonight!" he said threateningly, yet teasingly.

It was no secret that Dogday did not like the smell of fish, even though Picky insisted it was good for you. "It's real brain-food. Bubba says so, and he's the smartest critter we know!" she'd say. Only this threat, which normally would get anyone up, had no effect on Dogday. Catnap began to feel nervous. Now it was time for the ultimate threat. There was no way he'd stay asleep for this.

"Sweetie, if you don't wake up, I'm going to have Bobby come in and tickle your paws until you beg for mercy. ~"

But still, this had no effect. Catnap grabbed a shoulder and shook the canine.

"Come on, Dogday, it's morning! Wake up!" he said.

Still nothing. More shaking…. nothing.

"Dogday?"

Nothing

"Dogday!"

The canine's head tilted to the right, leaning against Catnap's arm. The feline flinched back, and the head rolled all the way to the right. It didn't flop as if he was deep in sleep, it flopped like he was a ragdoll… a heavy… cold… ragdoll.

The scream of sheer panic was so loud, it startled all the critters out of a deep sleep in their own homes.

All… but one

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The sun shone in the sky, indicating mid-morning, or early afternoon. But there was no laughter, and the sound of crying was absent of any joy. Some clouds hung in the back, dark ones as if a storm was starting to roll in. By the fence that ran a ring around Dogday's house, stood a small group. Bobby sat down, hugging her knees as she sobbed, Kickin sat nearby, a wing around her as he tried to help her feel better, but it didn't sound like it was helping. Hoppy was rubbing the bandage around her leg while Craftycorn rubbed her shoulder comfortingly; clearly the bunny was blaming herself for what had happened. Picky held a lunch bag in her hands, the contents still inside: it was filled with the canine's favorites as she'd packed it the night before to bring over the next day. Bubba stood to the side, silently debating what could have caused this, his hands caressing his lightbulb amulet.

"We should have gone to the hospital… but he didn't think it was bad… and… would they have even found anything wrong? Would it have been too late already? Or… did we have time?" he said, mostly to himself, unsure of the answer.

"I… can't believe he's gone," Kickin said.

"It's my fault," Hoppy whimpered, her ears hanging down around her head like ribbons.

"It was an accident," Craftycorn assured gently.

"I still caused it," Hoppy shuddered, looking ready to break down in tears.

"Poor Dogday!" Bobby wailed, "And poor Catnap! They were best friends and now this happens!"

"I… think they were more than best friends," Bubba said.

This got a look from everyone.

"W-what do you mean?" Bobby whimpered, calming down slightly.

"They lived together, they hung out together… and I didn't really see a second bed," Bubba said. "Just natural deduction says they were more than best friends."

This got a look of shock from the group. It was clear that this hadn't been noticed by them, even being friends with the canine and feline duo for a long time. The shock lasted for a whole five seconds before renewed crying from Bobby, literal fountains of tears raining from her eyes, soaking poor Kickin' Chicken. Though soaked, the cool avian didn't shy away from the sobbing bear.

"Way to go, Bubba Bonehead," Crafty said with an angry glare. "You just had to make this even worse."

"She asked and I had to answer!" the elephant said defensively.

"Should…. should we go see if… he's alright?" Picky asked quietly for the first time, looking towards the house.

The other critters turned and looked back. The look on their faces said they were not sure at all what to say.

"You saw what he looked like when we got here," Hoppy whimpered, casting a nervous look back at the house, the inside dark, door ajar, and from inside some kind of singing. Hoppy gulped then continued,

"When we got here, he wouldn't speak a word to us, he just kept singing that song…"

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Inside, still on the bed, cradling the orange dog as if he was a blanket, his face buried in the messed-up orange fur of his tummy, sat Catnap. Tears ran down his cheeks, his voice was filled with sobs that came in fits and starts, even his claws extended from his fingers. None of the critters knew he had them, despite being a cat by nature, and now they all knew. Through a sob, he sang on. His voice turned into a ragged wail as he reached the last verse. A distant roll of thunder accompanied it.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are gray.

You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please… don't take my sunshine away! ~"

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The shot then pans up to the dark ceiling and it fades to black. What follows is a slow text crawl of the credits. These episodes usually ended with an extended cheerful instrumental version of the theme song with a couple still images from the episode itself. This time, there was nothing. No music, no still images. Save for the soft rumble of thunder, there was nothing else. Soon the tape ends, and the VCR starts to rewind the tape.

Authors Note: And this is where the tape ends. Expect two more such tapes to come in the future. This story can go a number of ways, two in particular. Since I can't do a "choose your adventure" or even a "chose your ending" story, I'll make them separate stories. Those will be single chapters and pretty long. But I hope you enjoyed this sad first story.