Chapter 7: Melancholic Revelation


It had been two days after I met Stripe and his family and with them now acquainted and comfortable with me living in their world, it was getting slightly easier for me to get accustomed to living with bipedal dogs. Unfortunately, any other dog that caught sight of me would immediately turn and walk the other way, many of them giving me distrustful glares as they did so which only reminded me of how lucky I was that Bluey and her family were more welcoming of me, even to the point of letting me stay with them until we found my parents.

To repay them for their hospitality, I'd always help out with any chores around the house should I see Bandit or Chilli doing either. I always appreciated the grateful smiles they gave me whenever I helped them. Speaking of which, I was currently cleaning out the front garden by picking up any dead leaves on the ground into a trash bag. Since it was during the morning, Bluey and Bingo meanwhile were at school whilst Chilli was at work, leaving me and Bandit the only ones at the house, which he even joked about us being the "Men of the house".

My current focus on my task was suddenly halted as I heard a grunt near me accompanied by what sounded like something falling onto the ground, making me look over to see a small dog, possibly around the same size and age as Bingo laying on his stomach on the ground. With the tan fur and curled up tail, it was very evident that he was a Pug. As I put two and two together, I came to the conclusion that he had must've probably tripped and fallen over. Concern quickly took over me as I rushed over to the fallen puppy and helped him onto his feet, just noticing a mild scrape on his knee.

"Are you okay?" I instinctively asked as the little pug looked up at me and his eyes immediately widened with fear as he laid eyes on me. He began to whimper a little as his face creased with growing terror until at last I could see small tears glisten in his eyes.

"MUMMY! WAAAAAH!" The pug suddenly cried out as he ran towards a larger pug, obviously an adult and no doubt the younger pug's aforementioned mother who held her arms out and wrapped them protectively around him before scowling at me through her green semi-circle glasses.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-!"

WHACK!

I quickly tried to apologise for accidentally scaring the younger pug, slowly approaching the mother in the process. My attempt to atone however was interrupted as the mother yelled out and pulled out a handbag. The next thing I knew, I was knocked backwards onto the floor with a feeling on my cheek that felt like I had been smacked across the face with something made of fabric. It didn't hurt, but the unexpected outcome of the situation did leave me in shock as I watched the mother pug quickly make off with her child, leaving me sat on the ground.

I sighed sadly as the lingering feeling of mild impact on my face soon dissipated. Up until now, I had forgotten about my encounter with the basset hound who tried to shoot me several days ago and what I had experienced was enough to remind me that all the dogs in this world sans Bluey's family and her friends were so afraid of me that they weren't above defending themselves with brutality if I got too close for comfort. The fact that they didn't trust me was still discouraging, it was almost like I was never going to fit in.

...Now I know how Edward Scissorhands feels.

I looked back at the trash bag and then the front garden itself to find there were only a few leaves left to pick up. Figuring that getting back to what I was doing would take my mind off of the nasty event, I stood back up and put the last few leaves into the bag before taking said bag to one of the dumpsters at the curb.

Hours had passed and I had forgotten about my encounter with the pug and his mom. Safe to say that playing a few rounds of Memory Snap with Bluey and Bingo after they came home really helped with that. Oddly enough, Bluey was almost always the victor whenever me or Bingo played against her. She must've had years of experience with this game or she was probably just really lucky. Regardless, we all had fun and we were about to decide what game to play next when our train of thought was stopped by the sound of the doorbell.

"Uh oh! Nathan, hide!" Bluey urged me quickly as I ran to her and Bingo's bedroom before Bandit answered the door.

I didn't bother to stand near the doorway to avoid being spotted, but I could just faintly hear two voices conversing with each other. I waited for what felt like ten minutes when I heard footsteps approach the bedroom doorway and discovered that they belonged to Bandit.

"Hey uh, Nate. There's someone saying that they're looking for you and that it's important that you see them." I blinked upon processing this as a glimmer of hope sparked inside me. Had my parents finally found me? Without another word, I headed downstairs, the hope that it really was my mom and dad increasing with intensity as I made it to the living room.

"Ah. I was glad to know I was right. You are the young human that the Heeler family have been housing, yes?"

A male adult German Shepherd in a black suit holding a clipboard was facing me with a slight smile as if trying to look friendly. Was... Was this the person that Bandit had told me about?

With my assumption thrown out the window, I looked behind to see Bandit with Chilli and their two daughters all looking at me, Chilli nodding as if telling me to answer the stranger's question.

"...Yes." I merely responded, looking back at the German Shepherd who wrote on his clipboard before continuing.

"Very good, that answers a few things I had in mind."

"Okay, mate, do you mind telling us what's going on now?" Bandit now inquired, getting a little fed up with how cryptic the dog was acting.

"Oh of course, my apologies, Mr. Heeler." The dog in the suit replied before clearing his throat. "My name is Andrew Kahlon, I'm a Professional Investigator and was tasked by the local association to investigate a case regarding a plane crash and a sighting of a young human person in the premises."

My eyes slightly widened at this. My mind was telling me that the plane crash Andrew was talking about was possibly the one I was involved in.

"And I believe this the very human I've been looking for. I just need to take him with me for an interview and to ask him for something." He continued as suddenly I heard gasps come from Bluey and Bingo before feeling their arms wrap around my legs, making me look down to see them both looking at Andrew with sad faces. They must've thought that Andrew meant taking me away from them and worst case scenario, possibly exiling me.

"Now now, no need to worry, you two. I'll be sure to return him to you when we are done. He's in safe hands." Andrew reassured the two girls who looked up at me and all I could do was nod to them, signalling them to let me go.

"Wait. What exactly do you want to ask him?" It was Chilli's turn to question Andrew. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Heeler, but that's classified information until further notice. Rest assured that no harm will come to you or your human companion." He responded before turning to me and gesturing me to follow him. I walked behind him to see a black SUV parked on the road outside as Andrew entered in the driver's seat. Before I joined him in the passenger seat however, I turned and knelt down to Bluey and Bingo and gave them a hug to ease their worries before getting into the vehicle.


The drive surprisingly wasn't too long. I had noticed however that we were now miles away from civilisation as I could see the city that the Heeler's lived at in the distance. Andrew stopped and exited the SUV as I followed suit to find that we had stopped at a rocky wharf that was devoid of any other life. I looked behind the SUV to see that we had driven through an automated gate that served as the only entryway past a tall metal fence that bordered the current area we were in.

I then turned to see a tall cliffside with a plain black square building against the cliff's wall, the only thing that stuck out were very few windows and a set of double doors, a sign at the front of the building that said "CPIA" as Andrew and I approached the aforementioned doors. Andrew tapped onto a keypad and opened the doors as I followed him inside.

Andrew and I passed multiple rooms to which I often glanced and noticed dogs of other breeds in the same suit Andrew was in before we both stopped in a large room that contained a long table with a set of chairs. Andrew signalled me to take a seat as I did as instructed to which he then sat down opposite of me.

"Now then, young sir. Before we get into the details, I'd just like to know about you first. Is that alright with you?" Andrew asked with that slight smile again. I responded with a nod, allowing him to continue.

"First of all, may I know your name and age?" I should've probably expected this to be the first question so as clearly as possible, I gave him my answer.

"Nathan Faulkner. 14 years old." Andrew wrote what I could assume was my answer on his clipboard before continuing.

"Very good, Mr. Faulkner. Now, do you know how long you've been here for?" This one required me to think for a moment as I recalled to when I first woke up and looked at my phone.

"...Since 3rd of August." Andrew wrote on the clipboard again.

"I see. Next question: Do you remember your first encounter with one of my kind and how did you react?" I thought back again to my time in the forest. It honestly felt like it had been longer than just maybe a week but I managed to recall my first time encountering a bipedal dog.

"I do... The first dog I encountered in this world was Bluey. She was the small blue heeler hugging my leg back at her house. As for my reaction... I felt like I was hallucinating. I didn't make a noise or do anything to her. I just walked away. I thought I was going insane because..." I hesitated on continuing my answer, uncertain of how Andrew would take the rest of it. "...because where I come from... dogs don't walk on two legs... or talk, or pretty much interact and act like humans." Andrew's eyebrows raised a little at this as he looked down in thought.

"I see..." He murmured before resuming the interview.

"...Did you have any encounters with my kind that ended negatively or... were possibly life threatening?" He hesitated on finishing his question. I frowned as the memories of that pug and his mom followed by the basset hound with the shotgun came back into my mind which I told him of, his look of concern when I told him about the mother pug was replaced with wide-eyed shock when I then told him about the basset hound, like he was saying "...Yikes.".

It was there and then that I remembered another encounter I had with bipedal dogs back at the forest, where I practically had to run and hide from two of them. As I told Andrew this, his eyebrows raised again.

"...You were chased by two of us? Did you see what they looked like?" I shook my head no, but I did tell him that it was during the night of my first day in the forest and that was when he blinked, almost as if he realised something. But he shook his head a little to go back to interviewing me.

"A-Ahem. Well, Nathan, all I can say is that I apologise for you having to endure those experiences. It has been years since humans lived among dogs, especially here in Canistralia."

"Canistralia?" I instinctively said in confusion. Andrew blinked before scratching one of his own ears.

"Ah... I should probably explain the situation to you now, shouldn't I?" He asked before walking to a door. "But before I do that, I think I know who it was you were evading back in the forest." He said before opening the door as two more dogs walked in, one whom appeared to be a blonde coloured dachshund in what looked like a park ranger outfit and the other a yorkshire terrier in a work shirt. The two took one look at me and their eyes briefly widened when they did.

"...Is that... the human we saw at the forest?" The dachshund in a feminine voice asked the terrier who replied with a male voice.

"Seems like it."

"Nathan, I would like you to meet Danielle and Michael." Andrew introduced me to the two as the Dacshund whom was supposedly Danielle gave a small wave to me.

"Wait... You were the ones who were chasing me?" I asked as Michael brought his hands up defensively.

"N-No, no! You have the wrong idea! We weren't going to hurt you!" Michael quickly protested as Danielle stepped in.

"You see, we work undercover for the Canistralia Personal Investigators Association. One of our superiors here reported a crash in the forest near Lake Eacham and we went to investigate... And when we found that the passengers were humans, we tried to look for survivors until we found you." Danielle explained before looking down. "...We're sorry if you thought we were like, going to kill you or something. You see, we actually need a human for a very important proposition."

I blinked curiously as Danielle mentioned a proposition, whatever the proposition was had to wait however as I quickly remembered how they mentioned the crash.

"W-Wait! What about my parents? Are they okay?!" I spluttered with worry, making Danielle, Michael and Andrew share worried looks at each other.

"Nathan... Sweetie... I... I don't know how to explain this... It's probably best if we show you instead." The dachshund said to me before leaving the room and returning a few seconds later, holding something in her hands which she held up to me.

...It was a burnt but recognisable shirt, the very same shirt my dad had worn on the flight, coated in black scorch marks and the lower half and one sleeve missing but a part of the colour remained intact.

"...We found this within a pile of charred bones... We didn't want to believe it but... we did a DNA test and... they belonged to them..."

The information hit me like a wall of bricks. A part of me didn't want to believe a word of what the Dachshund had just said but the singed shirt was enough evidence to tell me that it was real...

"N-No no, please! Please tell me this isn't real! PLEASE TELL ME THEY'RE NOT DEAD!" I begged loudly as my face became wet with flowing tears.

"...They didn't survive the crash. I'm really sorry, Nathan..." Andrew said sympathetically as I slowly reached out, taking dad's destroyed shirt before collapsing to my knees, breaking into sobs.

"This isn't a good time to discuss the proposition with you... I'll give you all the time you need to recover from this." Andrew said before pulling out his phone and calling someone whilst Danielle knelt down to me and rubbed my back to comfort me.


I stared down at the ground silently as the metal gate to the association building slowly closed with a droned out squeak before I slowly looked up to see the Heeler family. The looks on their faces could tell that my miserable expression was impossible to not notice.

"...Nathan, what happened?" Bluey asked me worriedly as I let out a sniffle and my answer came tumbling out.

"Y-You know how I came here from a plane crash?" The heelers nodded. "W-Well, I found them... My parents..." It only took a second for Chilli to realise what I was about to say as her eyebrows creased with sadness.

"They... T-They didn't survive the crash... They're dead..." I finally finished as it was taking all of my willpower to not break down into a crying mess.

"O-Oh Nathan, I'm so sorry..." Chilli mumbled out, looking like she was about to shed a few tears as well.

"Come here, mate..." Bandit reached his arms out to me with a mournful look on his face also. I did not hesitate to walk over to him as I felt his furry arms gently wrap around me. That hug was what broke the camel's back for me as I finally burst into sobs once more because Bandit's hug reminded me of the hugs my dad used to give me. And now that him and mom were gone, I'd never be able to experience those kinds of hugs again.

I continued to cry in Bandit's arms for what felt like the longest time as I felt Bluey and Bingo hug my legs, no doubt feeling just as sad for me as Chilli and Bandit did. As the Heeler family kept me in their soft embrace, one question was racing through my broken mind.

...Why?

...Why did the plane have to crash and take away my parents?