PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter XXV Part I

There was a slight hissing of water passing through pipes, and the occasional barely audible yell from downstairs. Olive tried to keep their mind clear of everything, and to focus more on the good things that had happened over the last few days, but Sparky, Rover, and Patches kept re-entering their mind. They used to feel so happy, though now every time they tried to express positivity, it felt harmful, and they kept it to themselves. Whenever their mind wasn't occupied, the thoughts would creep in, and soreness would come to their core that hurt more than anything else they had experienced. 'Heartache' was a very literal term, and each moment had them clutching their chest in the hopes the pain would go away.

"Patchie, why..?" they muttered, feeling tears welling up in their eyes again, and the sinking feeling returned in force. Their depressive mood dampened their normal high pitch.

The hissing of the pipes stopped, and Olive distracted themselves by wondering about why they had started in the first place, where the water was going to. They adjusted their seating on the lid of their seat, with their weight as they put their elbows on their knees, then smushed their face into both paws, trying to rub at it until the need to cry would go away.

"Uh..."

Olive was suddenly shocked by a starkly masculine, deeper tone that broke them from their trance. To their left, Sparky had stuck his bluish translucent head through the bathroom door, scaring the wits out of Olive.

"Hey Olive," he said, a bead of sweat forming at his brow as he let his eyes fall shut and smiled at them. "Sorry, I can't really knock on the door, so..."

"S-Spark-ky, please," Olive whined, their eyes narrowing as they regained their sobbing composure.

Sparky cocked an eyebrow, and stared at them with his unnerving visage. He floated through the rest of the door, concern growing. "Olive, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked, almost a begging tone to his voice.

"P-Please just l-leave me alone..." the mutt said, barely able to vocalize with how choked up they felt. They couldn't look at the dog anymore and covered their mouth nervously.

The husky floated back as if the dog had just attacked him. "I-I..." Sparky was incredulous, unable to vocalize his disbelief. "Olive," he stuttered out, "wh-what happened?"

The red dog didn't respond. They merely burrowed their head back into their paws and whimpered, trying to ignore the ghost a mere meter away from them.

"Did... Did I do something to hurt you?"

Still no response.

Sparky shut his eyes, battering back the tears forming there as worry turned to melancholy. "I'm sorry... I can't remember anything." He sighed, "I- It was a misunderstanding, I'm sure of it. I'd never want to hurt you, please don't cry."

Still, Olive couldn't respond. Their whole body locked up as they brought their knees up and curled into a vertical fetal position, dipping their head into their crossed arms, trying to hide their face.

Sparky grit his canines and squeezed his eyes shut, growling in frustration before looking back up at Olive. "Please, just tell me what I did!" He balled his paws up. "I-I really don't know! I can barely remember anything, I didn't even remember my own name at first! So please, whatever I did, just tell me so I can make up for it!" he exclaimed, full of a desperate hope.

They quivered lightly, then mumbled, "I-It's not your fault." Their voice was filled with sobs, and he recoiled as Olive raised their head. "I g-got you hurt, I'm so sorry Sparky!" They inhaled sharply, desperately trying to hold back tears as their eyes quivered and shook.

"Olive..." Sparky muttered, taking in the mutt's demeanour as they began to hyperventilate. He was deterred but moved closer to the dog anyways, wrapping his ghostly arms around Olive, trying to give them a hug and a pat on the back. "Patches is the one that hurt me, not you."

Olive sobbed harder, the tears wetting their school shorts and sinking into their fur. "But I... I..." they managed to whimper out, totally unable to get more than one syllable at a time from how breathless their crying had left them.

"It's okay," Sparky whispered in a hushed tone. "It's okay. It's not your fault, you'd never want this. Please..."

"I'm sorr-ry."

"It's okay." The husky opened his eyes, looking at his ethereal paws, and how they were sinking into Olive's body, then he grimaced. "I wish I could just hug you right now. You need someone who can do that..." he sucked in air through his braced teeth, "But even then, I won't give up. I can't just let you sit here and hate yourself!" he exclaimed. "You must feel so, so awful... I'm sorry, you really don't deserve this."

"I'm s-sorry..." Olive whined as Sparky paused, their sobs growing calmer as the dog grew more and more exhausted. Wherever Sparky touched left behind a chill of cold, the only sensation, the dog could feel from the husky.

"Please, Olive, tell me why you're sorry, tell me what hurt you."

"I d-don't want you to hate me..."

"Hate you? Why would I- No, I don't care what it is, I'll never hate you over something that would make you this sad." Sparky narrowed his eyes, looking towards the floor with his blue and orange gaze. "Olive, all I want is for you to be happy," his eyelids drooped, and defeat was growing evident by the curling present in his bushy brows. "I... I remember I made a mistake on Halloween. Another dog, I can't remember her name, she used me to hurt you for some reason. I know I was going to... hurt her back but..." Sparky paused to scratch the side of his head where he remembered Olive had delivered a flurry of pillow-like punches towards, "you stopped me. Ginger. That was her name. I'm friends with her now. If I had hurt her, we would've never been able to stop... something."

"P-Please stop..."

"Olive," he tittered, "I wanted to hurt Ginger because I felt like I wasn't doing anything to help- like all I had done was let Ginger hurt everyone else." He looked at Olive with a mournful expression, and addled eyes. "Please, tell me that's not how you feel."

Olive stayed quiet, murmuring as their sobbing almost entirely halted, and they could only stare on towards the tiled floor with a depressed glare. "...I j-just feel so dumb..." they barely muttered, only putting as much effort into the words as was needed for them to be audible.

There was silence as Sparky stewed in Olive's emotions. He didn't know what else he could say, save for repeating the same things over and over. He was sure someone more clever or socially-minded could help them, but...