PAW Patrol: Road to Recovery || Book Two

(C13) The Perfect Gift

People always say time flies by fast when you're having fun, but no one ever seems to talk about the opposite. The slow and agonizing torture of having nothing to do but waiting for something to change, only for each day to be exactly like the next. Hiding everything from the ones you love and just holding it out until tomorrow where you get to rewind and do it all over again.

The first few days were by far the worst for her. They were the most fear-driven and stressed, the first full day had driven her to a panic attack, which felt like death itself was taking her. She wasn't used to being without Marshall, definitely not under circumstances like these.

Yet somehow, as the days slowly began to merge together into a little over a week, the pain subsided. By no means did she feel better, only numb and lonely. It was like the whole world had faded into the darkness, leaving her isolated and hopeless to fend for herself. Each time the sun set, a fraction of her confidence that he'd survive went away with it, only it didn't come back in the morning.

Even physically she was degrading. Her fur was a tangled mess, the same fur that nearly created a third dog on the bed. Her reddish, baggy eyes were almost always droopy, desperately trying to return her the sleep she never got during the night, and they tended to be pretty good at their job seeing as how much of the day she spent snoring away.

But she was putting in effort, there was no doubt about that. After some convincing that Marshall would be fine with her gone for a couple of hours, she barely agreed to start therapy. And her medication—although not doing much yet—was at least being taken. The few who knew of her situation tried to congratulate her, to let her know she was on the right path, but they were never the ones she wanted to hear it from.

"Hey, Everest, you wanna go outside and just walk for a bit? You never know, you might enjoy it," Katie offered as she walked in to check on her. Over the course of the past week, she had joined the list of her many owners. Not that the girl minded, if anything she enjoyed the company. Besides, taking care of a dog who almost never moved willingly wasn't the hardest task she had dealt with.

The Husky only groaned, rolling over as she tried to get into a more comfortable position in an attempt to add another tally to her hours of sleep. The girl sighed and sat down next to her, lightly stroking her coat. Everest had little to no reaction, not bothering to notice anyone's touch unless it was the spotted fur she was laying her head on.

"C'mon, girl, you gotta get up, you haven't done anything since this morning. We both know that's not healthy, and besides, Ryder is coming over to check on you two." The Husky ignored her as she tried to fall asleep fast enough to avoid the question. Unfortunately, she was never blessed with passing out that fast.

"If he's gonna be in bed, then so am I," she muttered softly, using the same argument Katie had expected to hear for the hundredth time. However, this time she had actually come prepared with a comeback, though at this point it was more of a desperate last resort than anything.

"Hmm, welp, if you're not going to listen to me, I might as well get the next best person." Everest tossed in the towel and sat up, raising an eyebrow as she gave in to curiously. Before she got the chance to ask, the girl had disappeared into thin air, leaving her alone to question how she managed to get out of there so quickly.

After a few minutes, Katie magically appeared in the doorway, Ryder walking in next to her. The Husky rolled her eyes, not exactly the most impressed with the attempt to get her out of bed. No offense to her owner, not by any means, but it wasn't like he hadn't tried before.

"Ryder, don't even bother, I took a walk around the block this morning, isn't that good enough?" she asked, ready for yet another argument over her choices. Despite her claims, her eyes couldn't help but become intrigued by a third figure coming in with them, one who was equally as happy to see her as she was to see once she made out his image.