A Paw Patrol Story

Hurting the Ones you Love

Both Zuma and Rocky, stay quiet staring at me with a frown on their faces

"So . . . when are we going to do this?" Rocky asks as I take a small sip of my glass of water

Then Zuma frightfully raises his paw like a kid would do with their strict teacher "Do you think you could explain it again? I-I wasn't really paying attention"

I sigh, slightly leaning on the small table to point at the different objects that I placed as a reference of a map "In summary. The salt is Adventure Bay, this fork over here-" I point "-is the mountain rage. The sugar packet is foggy bottom and the spoon is that town. I always forget the name. The knife is that other town, but we are leaving it for another day"

"Zuma, you are going to go southwest, to the spoon, and start asking for the others. And Rocky, you are coming with me to the fork. Let's get ready today, and leave tomorrow morning" I finish leaning back on my chair

And Rocky rests his chin on his paw as he suggests "Why don't I go to the sugar packet or the knife? I mean, we should be able to cover more ground that way"

They both dart their look at me one more time, both quiet

But I quickly stand up "No"

"Why not?" Rocky asks, quickly forming an intrigued grin on his face

I start organizing the different objects back to their original spot

Zuma doesn't dare to say a word as Rocky reaches to grab my paw "Marshall?"

"I said no!" I reply, unconsciously banging the table with a fist

Rocky stands up as well and leans forward, close to my ear, then whispers "Why did you get all worked up all of a sudden? And Why not?"

"It's out of the question" I whisper back, turning to head to the coffee shop's door

And he follows me, grabbing me by my shoulder "Why is it out of the question?"

"That's the plan, Rocky. Let's not change it" I insist, leaving the cafeteria

"What are you so scared of?"

A sharp headache quickly fills my head as I start walking down the street

Rocky follows as he keeps asking "Talk to me, Marshall. What are you afraid of?"

I turn around, taking him by his shoulders "I'm scared of losing you!"

He stays quiet.

Everything stays quiet. Then he smiles and takes his paw to my cheek

That feeling I felt while I was gone is unbearable. A dreadful, disgusting sensation of something more than loneliness. I don't want to feel that again, no one would. If you could only understand Rocky . . .

I just sight, gently closing my eyes "Okay. . ."

And the coffee shop's door opens, making a 'Ding' sound as Zuma peeks his head through "So?"

"We are meeting up in this exact spot tomorrow, same time" Rocky announces, not taking his eyes off me

The Labrador nods and, without saying another word, just walks away

Rocky then reaches to grab my paw as he turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction where Zuma went

We wandered around the town.

Shared a couple of words every now and then, but our walk was mostly quiet, yet not awkward

We even sat down under the park's biggest tree, glancing at the golden statue and the very few people passing by