The Wounds We Heal

Chapter forty-nine: Burning The Night Oil

"So what now?" Chase asked, as they were tossing the dirty rags and brushes into a bucket for Katie to take away.

"Well, I'll clean those tomorrow with some of the other ones I have, and then I'll run my shop like always." Katie said. "But for tonight,.. we should probably think about going to bed.."

And Chase slightly perked up.

"What? But.. why not play a game?" Chase suggested, and he made sure not to sound too rushed. "I mean, what fun is a slumber party if we don't play at least one game?"

"Okay. But aren't you tired? We've been running around all day," Snowflake pointed out.

"What no.. I'm good, that bath was all the 'nap' I needed." Chase deflected. "Let's play!"

"Ok.." Katie complied, a little more forwardly. "But we shouldn't be up too late.. Ryder would probably like us to get to bed at a decent time."

Sounds about right. Chase thought regrettably.

"Alright, what would you like to play?" Katie sighed, a bit reluctantly.

"She's right. But I guess we have time to play a game," Snowflake replied.

'What is he up to?' the husky thought suspiciously.

"Ok, but.. what?" Chase wondered thoughtfully..

"Well we could play tag.." Katie suggested.. "or Simon says.. maybe that'll help tire you out."

I don't know about that.. Chase thought.

"Tag sounds fine," Snowflake agreed.

"Hey,.. let's actually make it, Flashlight Tag like at my birthday that one time." Chase suggested, heading over to put his paws up onto the front counter, and search around for any flashlights.

"Hm.. not a bad idea." Katie thought. "But let's be careful.. don't want anybody to get hurt, now do we."

What's she talking about? I'm always careful. Chase wondered at her subtle emphasis, which he sensed was directed at him. But then he recalled the blow from his retreat and the reset he'd endured afterwards..

Oh.. he remembered almost reliving the pain for a brief moment. Wait,.. do they know what happened?!

"Yes. We should be careful," Snowflake said, before she too started looking around for flashlights in the cupboards.

"Well we'll have flashlights.. so we'll be fine." Chase decided. "Now come on!"

Snowflake then ran to the light switch and turned it off. The only light was from the flashlights.

"Who's it?" she asked curiously.

"Me!" Chase blurted out.

"You better find good hiding spots.." he added as Katie set a lit flashlight, handle up in front of the pup. "I wanna make this sort of a challenge."

"Alright, but we'll only stay in this main area." Katie decided. "No escapes to the back rooms or anything."

"Got it," the two pups complied. Then Katie and Snowflake took off, while Chase picked up the flashlight in his mouth to shine it up in front of himself.

Snowflake ran behind the tub, then next to the stack of towels in the room.

As Chase stalked by with the flashlight, she barely made a sound..

'I hope I didn't pick too easy a hiding spot' Snowflake thought to herself.

Then Chase felt like he sensed something and stopped, but the scent of bubbles and soap made him shake his head and continue forward.