Chapter 3: Playing With Fire
As the four Heeler girls walked up the stairs of the balcony, they stopped in their tracks and couldn't help but wonder why their parents wanted them to wait in the house. The four looked back at their parents and their parents looked back at them with a smile. One that looked and felt fake in the Heeler girls' souls.
"I have a feeling that they're secretly upset," Bluey whispered to the others. Still looking back at their parents, Bluey, Bingo, Muffin and Socks walked through the door and closed it. All they could hear from the inside of the house was a faint yelling sound of the parents fighting.
"Who wants to bet that Stripe had something to do with the fire?" Bluey asked, rolling her eyes.
"Well, knowing da-da pretty well, he probably would do something stupid with fire," Socks said, pressing her ear against the door.
"Ya know, this isn't the first time that dad did something dumb with fire," Muffin said. "One time, when we were playing truth or dare, mom dared dad to juggle burning marshmallows on sticks, and, well, you could say that it didn't end well," Muffin crossed her arms.
"Why?" Bingo asked her.
"Well, in the end, dad ended up burning half of his tail hairs off, but eventually, it grew back. Though, not as soft as usual."
Bingo snickered, so did Bluey and Socks.
"It's really not that funny," Muffin quickly protested, "You know that he could've gotten himself killed, right?" Muffin's statement eventually made the other girls go silent. Killed?
"Y-Yeah, you're right, we should stop-'' Bluey's sentence was cut off when she heard Socks yelling out in sheer pain as she flew across the room. Had someone from the outside kicked the door out of anger? And why?
"Socks!" The three girls shouted and ran towards the injured Heeler. Socks just laid there, she wasn't even moving at all. As a matter of fact, it looked like she wasn't even breathing. The girls shouted her name and shook her small body, trying to wake her as best as they could. To their surprise, Socks had let out a small cough.
"Socks!" The girls shouted once again, hugging the small pup carefully. Socks didn't respond. She was nearly out cold, but could see the sorrowing Heeler girls in her blurry vision. An unintelligible mumbling noise escaped from Socks' mouth, but no words followed.
From behind the Heeler girls, the loud noise of a door slamming open nearly scared the Heelers out of their fur. When they looked back, they saw a tall purple Heeler looking down at the girls with a tearful, horrifying, yet angry expression on his face.
"Oh, god. Socks!" He shouted as he ran up to his mumbling daughter, whispering under his shaky breath, "I'm sorry..."