2 | Defiance Discipline Dream Repeat

54 Good Dog - Zander's POV

I slow down as the collie accompanying me on my evening run diverts from the dirt track into the woods. Peering into the woods, I can no longer see her, but I hear her bark echoing. A part of me wants to explore what she found, while another part of me wants to run home and not be traumatised and entangled in a murder case. When she doesn't come back when I call and whistle, I take the risk and bound into the woods.

The woodland is dense, and you don't need to walk far to be camouflaged from anyone on the track. I find the dog quickly under a big spruce, barking and scrabbling at a pile of broken-off branches and sticks. I watch her scrabble and dig, uncovering what looks like a hole - it's rather shadowy.

''What the hell?'' I breathe, seeing her pull out a bag of dog treats that she leaps away with.

I turn my phone's flashlight on to see clearly before I lower to kind of crawl under its lush branches to look into it myself.
The hole is filled with tatty plastic bags - some of them transparent freezer bags, containing a bath bomb each. Sophia's bath bombs, I assume. And among all of it, plenty of dirt-stained wooden spoons and spatulas are thrown in.

I grab one of the sticks to fish some bags out, discovering a bunch of old shoe boxes enveloped in plastic wrap at the bottom. Multiple empty packs of plastic wrap are even dumped in the hole.

How much time did the little shit actually spend plotting and doing this?

Before crawling out, I readily pull my phone out to take pictures and send them to basically everyone but Bella, sharing that the dog has found her hiding place.

Sooner than I expected, Elias comes on his quad bike. We gather everything we find, loading it on the quad bike to bring back. Whilst he drives back, I choose to complete my exercise and run home...

My parents, Sebastian and Alexander are here when I come back, out of breath. Bella's parents, and the oldest twins, too. One of them appears to be quite upset about finding his lifeless cockroaches in a plastic bag, and their dad tries to calm him down. I don't understand why because he feeds them to his animals, anyway.
Both Alexander and Mum approach me with hugs and kisses, but as I am drowning in sweat and my mouth is as dry as a desert, I push them away. I'm disgusted myself and cannot wait to shower.

The culprit, Bella, is nowhere to be seen, heard or found. I wonder if she's dug herself a hole in the woods to hide in. She certainly has been told that she's been digging her own grave, and she takes things literally.

''What a clever move to put dog treats among your hidden swag,'' Dad remarks ironically, delighted to have found the TV cord - his Friday night is saved, though I suppose he's going to the Bailey's after this.

''I guess she dug that hole when she walked the dogs and forgot the dog treats there,'' Jody sighs. ''I'm so terribly sorry about this."

''She's probably burrowing somewhere with a chocolate bar now,'' I quip.