Why The Sky Grows Bleak

Prologue: Why You Left Us

When The Sky Grows Bleak

Hey guys, Charisma here! All I have to say is, sorry for the agonizingly long wait, here is the story! Or at least the prologue, lol.

Prologue: Why You Left Us

"Chase, it's late. Where are you going?" Chase's mother asked him as he put on a small satchel and proceeded to head out the door to their family's small cardboard house. She was worried for him. He hadn't been acting the same lately, reserving himself from the rest of them, all twenty-three. Three generations of German Shepherds living in this lowly alleyway in the southern edge of Adventure City, scrounging through the garbage in dumpsters and trash cans for food, and even occasionally stealing pastries from the nearby French cafe right from under the noses of those dining outdoors on the vendetta. They all lived in various assortments of boxes, large cans and wood drawers, and even one family -her son and daughter, no less- lived in a big metal safe.

"Out." Chase replied, not wanting to worry her. She was always worried about something, he knew, and father said it was one of her most charming traits, but as of late it only served to annoy Chase. She had been constantly pestering him the last two weeks, saying she was "worried he was becoming too much of an introvert." What was wrong with that? The truth was, he didn't like this life. Digging through mounds of trash in search of anything edible, running dangerously through traffic and narrowly dodging the Pound for a measly piece of a sandwich -it had no end, no purpose to him. He wanted to do something with his life. Something big. Something meaningful. Unlike him, his brother and four sisters were perfectly fine and even well-suited to the life of a street dog, with quick reflexes, large size, and sharp teeth. They were older though by a few months, as they were of his parent's previous litter. Chase had had siblings of the same litter too, but they had all died within a week of birth. He was the sole survivor. He knew that was one of the reasons his mother was so intent on figuring out why he was acting the way he was lately, but he never saw her acting like that to his older brother Dinamite, one of those perfectly equipped and cut out for the job of stealing croissants and running from dog catchers.

Dinamite was tall for his age, not skinny but definitely not fat. He had both street smarts and book smarts. He was good with the ladies, which, if you think about it, were all his sisters and aunts. And he had a sense of humour and yet an air of superiority and seriousness about him at the same time. He only had one brother actually still living with him at home, and that was Chase. They were like best friends, inseparably paired. Except Chase had started to not want to hang out, and instead would wander around the nearby woods farther south of the block the alley was situated in. This hurt Dinamite's heart, and he would constantly ask Chase if he wanted to go "find" some food, or go to the park, or something, anything together. But Chase would rather go off by himself.

Speaking of which, Chase had headed out the door, leaving behind his mother's ever worried mumbling and his brothers disappointed and even hurt expression. He loved the time by himself. He wasn't an introvert, he knew that. He was planning something bigger. He was training. Training to be something better. Training to be a cop. He had found a cop's manual one day after stealing the officer's donut, and since then had been trying to perfect his commanding voice, his reflexes, even his permanent expression of serious determination. He had set up a training area in a secluded part of the forest, with a mirror, a homemade training sandbag made of a couple broken broomsticks, a trash can lid, and a scarecrow's head he found in a dumpster next to a farmers field, among other things.

It was dark out, but he knew his way there by heart. He walked for a couple minutes, turned right, then crossed the river. Except, something wasn't right here. There was no river on the way to his training site. He backtracked across the river, then went farther this time into the woods before turning right. Again, he ran into the river, so he backtracked again and decided to head left. He knew there was a hill there behind the pastry bakery, maybe he could get a better view of where he was supposed to go there. He turned and headed to his left, east, for a full five minutes before realizing there was no hill. He began to get worried as he backtracked again and attempted to head back the opposite way, west, till he found the river so he could get his bearings. However, he kept walking and never saw it. At this point he was on the verge of hysteria. He was lost! In the woods! At NIGHT! This was terrible!