Chase and Skye were walking around the house, looking for Marshall.
"Find him?" Chase asked.
"Nope," Skye answered, "Oh, wait! There he is!"
Chase and Skye glanced at the small window next to the back door, seeing their Dalmatian friend, sitting by the steps.
"Let's go see him!" Skye said, trotting toward the door. Chase followed as well.
The back door was left open. Pushing it a bit to get through, the two pups approached their quiet and gloomy friend.
"Hi Marshall," Skye started.
"You doing okay?" Chase added. Marshall turned to face his two friends.
"Oh... Hey, Chase! Hey, Skye!" Marshall answered, "W-What are you doing here?"
"We're looking for you. We were worried that you didn't follow us upstairs," Skye replied.
"Right, sorry about that. It's just that... I just felt like I wanted to be alone," Marshall frowned and sighed.
Chase and Skye exchanged glances, concerned about what their friend was worrying about.
"What's the matter, Marshall?" Chase asked.
"Yeah, you can tell us..." Skye comforted.
Marshall looked up at his two friends, breathing in deeply before opening up to them.
"I really thought you were gonna tell them at dinner earlier," Marshall said.
"Tell what?" Chase asked.
"When Mr. Bennett asked about Ryder's parents. I thought you were gonna tell them the truth," Marshall answered, "Then when he asked about it, I began to feel... sad. It's like I'm beginning to miss her a lot again, remembering when I always made her laugh and smile."
Tears began to fall from Marshall's eyes. Chase and Skye hugged the sulking Dalmatian and cried with him.
"We miss her too, Marshall. We all do..." Chase said.
"Ryder doesn't want to tell anybody else about it. And so do we... They won't know, and will never know," Skye added.
"Will there ever be a time when we don't have to feel this sad every day?" Marshall asked.
Chase sighed, not knowing how to answer Marshall's question. But finally, he got the right words to answer him.
"I don't know when, but I'm sure one day this will be over, Marshall."
Skye nodded as the three hugged together again, all sitting together by the steps.
[Skye]
♪ When they look and see the good in us ♪
♪ They start to think, "They don't break down or feel glum." ♪
[Marshall]
♪ But one thing they don't know ♪
♪ We, too, often succumb ♪
♪ Our hearts feel numb ♪
[Chase]
♪ Nobody knows, only we do ♪
♪ The pain we still are going through ♪
♪ Nobody knows, only we know ♪
♪ How we drift away like the first fall of snow ♪
Ryder, meanwhile, was still all alone on the balcony, looking up at the sky as he recalled how they tried to keep on going in their rescues despite all the pain and sadness they had gone through as if everything was all fine. He could feel a tear fall down his face.
[Ryder]
♪ We keep the sadness and gloom ♪
♪ So nobody would assume ♪
♪ Our duties hide what we are ♪
♪ Nobody can see our scars ♪
♪ With that, they will never see at all ♪
♪ The burden we need to haul ♪
♪ Nobody knows, only we do ♪
♪ The pain we are going through ♪
♪ Nobody knows, only we know ♪
♪ How we drift away like the first fall of snow ♪
Ryder walks back into the bedroom to get some sleep, seeing Rocky, Zuma, Rubble, Tracker, Liberty, the Junior Patrollers, and Carlos, all sound asleep.
Marshall, Chase, and Skye returned back upstairs as well, huddling with the other sleeping pups, and went to sleep. Skye curled up under her blanket, sobbing silently in the quiet and dark bedroom.
[Skye]
♪ As we continue to help others ♪
♪ We cover how much we suffer ♪
♪ And having our load to haul ♪
♪ Nobody will know anything at all... ♪
The next morning, Ryder, Carlos, and the pups were still asleep. Except for one pup, Rubble, who just darted noisily into the room to wake up everybody for breakfast.
"WAKE UP, EVERYBODY! BREAKFAST IS READY!"
"Whoa, what in the world?!" Chase yelped.
"Dude, you're so freaking loud!" Zuma growled, angrily.
"Ugh, too early..." Rocky groaned.
"Chase, how can you be still sleeping at a time like this? You're always the one who wakes us up for breakfast!" Rubble questioned.
Chase jolted awake out of bed, hearing what Rubble just said.
"Wait, what?! Shoot, what time is it?"
Carlos quickly got out of bed, glancing at the clock on the side table, with widened eyes as he stared at the digital clock.
"What?! It's 10 am already?!"
"Oh my god! We all overslept, I guess!" Ryder exclaimed.
"What are you all waiting for? I'm starving..." Rubble chuckled.
All the pups, except for Skye, who was still under her blanket, jumped out of bed. Chase tried to wake up the sleeping Cockapoo, gently pulling off the blanket that covered her while everyone else waited for her to wake up.
"Come on, Skye! Time for breakfast," Chase invited.
"Ugh, what time is it, Chase?" Skye groaned, rubbing her eyes.
Everyone began to stare silently at her, seeing her eyes which seemed red from crying so much.
"What? Why is everyone staring at me?" Skye questioned in confusion.
"Skye? Are you okay?" Carlos asked.
"You look like you've been crying a lot or something..." Liberty added.
Chase, Marshall, and Skye, who were the only ones who knew what happened last night, exchanged glances in embarrassment.
"Marshall, what's with the face?" Tracker questioned.
"Eh, I... uhm..." Marshall stuttered, while Chase glared at him, but Skye immediately cut him off.
"I-I'm fine. I just... had an allergy last night. That's all."
Rocky, Zuma, Tracker, and Liberty stared at each other, all confused at what was going on.
"I'm... gonna go get some breakfast downstairs because I'm really hungry. I'm sure you all are, right? Buh bye," Marshall said in one breath, running off down the hallway.
"Wait for me, Marshall!" Rubble yelled, following him out of the room.
Chase, who didn't want to look suspicious or strange either, followed Marshall and Rubble, with Skye by his tail.
"I'm going to have some breakfast too... Let's go, Skye."
Skye nodded and agreed to go without a word coming out of her mouth.
"What the heck was that?" Rocky asked.
"No idea..." Carlos answered him.
"Ryder, does Skye really have allergies? 'Cause I thought only Chase has allergies," Liberty said.
"Chase? Allergies?" Tracker brought up.
"Not important, Tracker," Liberty whispered.
"Dude, it's not even Spring yet. Is it?" Zuma added but seemed unsure of his answer.
"No, it's not, Zuma... Spring just ended like months ago here," Carlos said.
"I... don't know. But I'll go talk to Skye later," Ryder paused before replying. But it seemed to the rest of them that Ryder was hiding something.
Ryder went downstairs to join the other pups for breakfast. Carlos, Tracker, Liberty, Rocky, Zuma, and the Junior Patrollers were left, exchanging glances of confusion and suspicions.
"Something is off today with all of them," Liberty said.
"Off? Well, the lights are off because it's daytime already." Nano replied.
"Dudes, she didn't mean that kind of 'off'," Zuma corrected, "She meant that something is wrong with them."
"Oh, right... I get it," Tot nodded.
"Ryder seemed fine to me," Tracker answered.
"You were too focused on Chase's allergies, weren't you, Tracker?" Rocky guessed.
"I don't know... It seemed like Ryder knew what was wrong, but he wouldn't tell us," Carlos inferred.
"Yeah. But why? Why wouldn't they tell us?" Mini asked.
"I think there's one way to find out," Liberty answered, "We talk to them."
On the other hand, Ryder approached Rubble, Chase, Marshall, and Skye, who were having breakfast together. Chase felt him coming and went up to him.
"Hi, Ryder... Can I tell you something?"
"What is it, Chase?" Ryder asked.
"It's about Skye... We've been sulking a lot last night. Me, Marshall, and Skye. I don't have to tell the reason since there's only one reason why," Chase told him, directly.
"Yeah, Chase... I know," Ryder replied.
"Wait, you knew about it already? How?" Chase questioned.
"This wasn't the first time Skye cried so much, even at night," Ryder answered.
Flashback... (2 years ago)
It's been almost a month since Kathy died. But to Ryder and the pups, it felt like just yesterday. Ryder was alone in his bedroom, about to turn off the light to go to bed when he heard some scratching on his door. He went to the door and opened it, seeing a sullen Cockapoo, sniffling and her eyes were red from crying so much.
"Ryder..." Skye said, "I'm sorry, I just can't sleep. Can I sleep with you tonight?"
Ryder felt bad, seeing Skye crying a lot in front of him made him shed tears in front of her. He gently carried Skye in his arms and closed the door of his bedroom. He put her down on his bed before turning out the light, comforting the sobbing pup next to him before they both fell asleep.
End of Flashback
"...Many times she cried more than I did," Ryder said, as he recalled the several times when Skye was really sad.
"I didn't know..." Chase said.
Chase could only frown and had nothing else to say at that moment. He had no idea that Skye had been even more sadder than he thought.
Author's note: Hey, guys! Thanks for your patience. Took days of brainstorming to get all of this writing done on a Sunday night. I kept writing this and rereading it until 11:18 pm. I know, it's the latest time for me to write. The weather is just so hot here it keeps me awake. With a little music for motivation, I got it done before midnight. Anyway, let me know in the comments what you think. I hope it wasn't too sad, though. Well, that's all for now and good night! Now, I think it's time for me to sleep.