PAW Patrol: Ghosts Of The Past || Book Three

(C1) Celebration Of The Ages

The switching of the seasons was finally starting to be visible, the Autum weather pushing away the bright, shining summer and claiming its place amongst the calendar. Leaves were starting to turn into a vibrant mix of red, yellow, and orange, some of them already falling to the ground to wait for someone to come along and step on them—a promising crunch waiting in return. And better yet, the temperatures were finally starting to drop—thankfully, hot weather was miserable for dogs, especially those with heavy coats of fur. There was no need for the weather to be a fight for survival, it was about time that it had gotten colder.

Most of the famous PAW Patrol was still at the lookout, doing what they thought was a flawless job at keeping their real intentions a secret. They did everything they could to keep everything hidden, and for a while, they did a pretty good job—it wasn't like she was the well-known detective among them. But even if she never asked for it, a pair of inside sources had given all the spoilers one could ever need (and they should be lucky that these weren't movie spoilers, those would be a death sentence). However, she didn't have the heart to say anything, not when everyone seemed so excited about it.

But for the time being, the Border Collie sat alone in the damp alley, with a purple blanket around her neck and the ends draped against her shoulders, as well as her tag hanging below.

Well, technically she was alone, though that didn't mean she had to feel alone here. It was far from a pretty place, but in all fairness, it was about as clean as one would expect a city alley to be—with a slight breeze in between the buildings that sent a shiver through her fur. But that was pretty bearable, it never outweighed the warm, comforting peace this place would usually give.

Her paws clenched the almost unrecognizable dog bed laying against the grimy concrete. She was sort of hesitant to hold onto it, if she hadn't known better she would've assumed the thing would fall apart with even the lightest touch. She was amazed to see any physical tokens from her younger days still around, laying here in silence after all these years with her as its only friend—how lucky this old piece of cotton was to hear her talk.

"Hey, Mom and Dad, I just wanted to stop by since it's, you know, kinda my big day. We're celebrating my birthday today, so, sorry if today isn't actually my birthday, today was just the day we settled on," she softly spoke, her head lowering to the ground—though her voice hopefully trailed higher and into the ears of her parents.

In all honesty, a part of her really wanted to know if today was actually the day she was born, knowing her age sort of felt like something she should be certain about. Of course, she was smart enough to know that digging for an answer would probably be (assuming it was even possible) a rabbit hole that was too much trouble than it was worth. Oh well, the family she had now had it all under control.

"Everything's been going...okay, I guess. No seizures in the past few days, mentally I'm still hanging in there. My dumb head hasn't completely screwed me over yet!" she proclaimed with a laugh, albeit a short one as her voice slowly drifted off into the wind, leaving her still expression to fend for itself. "I'm...doing the best that I can. Stuff has still been kinda hard, but hey, it could be worse, right?"

The Border Collie sighed and brought her paw up, resting it on her forehead as her other paw gently trailed across the softness of her old bed, the artifact of what once was. She knew that she had wanted to come down here today for a while, one would've thought she would've brainstormed more to talk about.

However, the sudden buzz coming from her tag—one that totally didn't make her jump in surprise—stabbed the awkward silence through the heart. Both her and the ghosts of her biological parents were probably thankful for that.