The 'Rashes' (Sheriff Labrador fanfic)

Chapter 1: Cause and Effect

Sheriff Labrador ran and ran on down the cobbled streets, bread in mouth, running as if he were the main character in a high school anime series. The bright rays of sun shone lightly onto his face as the clouds seemed to have faded away into a crisp. He was late for work, which was unusual because he was always the one to arrive at least two hours early. He didn't know what went wrong to make him late. He didn't oversleep, or, atleast he thought he didn't anyway. He made sure to go to bed on time before 8pm sharp, and he ate well. He had it all ticked on his checklist. But still, why was he late? Was his clock telling the wrong time? Was he hallucinating the entire thing? He didn't know. All he did know was that he was late and his energetic teammates, Dobie and Papillon, would be asking so many questions. In fact, he was so lost in his thoughts of being late that he didn't notice he was running right into the door of the police station. Unable to stop in time, the sheriff crashed right through it and was sent rolling across the floor, right to where Papillon's feet were. He looked up at her and put on a sheepish smile.

"Hi..?" he muttered awkwardly, making a waving gesture with one of his hands.

"Are you alright, sir?" Papillon asked worriedly, helping him to stand up. It was clear that she had been waiting for him for a long time, and she would've fallen asleep if he didn't come any sooner. But hey, at least he was here. She swished her hair back and took a good look at her boss' face, trying to find out why he was late: no dark circles so he definitely didn't oversleep, his clothes were neat and tidy so he didn't rush to put them on. She couldn't see any other clues, apart from the half-eaten bread on the floor that Sheriff Labrador accidentally dropped when he fell. Other than that, he looked smart as a pair of new glasses. Giving up, she decided to just ask him the cause of being late. "Why were you late?"

"I don't know," he replied, scratching his head. "That's what I was thinking on my way here. 'Why was I late?' I have everything on my self-care checklist ticked off."

Papillon scratched her head too. She didn't even know the sheriff had a self-care checklist.

"Where's Dobie? Is he late too?" Sheriff Labrador continued, looking around in confusion. The short female officer quietly sighed and pointed towards the restroom, where he could hear the toilet flushing. His face went blank. Even his clumsy partner came much earlier than him. He watched as the lavatory doorknob twisted and the door swished open, revealing that Dobie was indeed there.

"Oh, hi sir!" Dobie immediately greeted as soon as he saw him. Sheriff Labrador suddenly felt an itch on his eye, and just by looking at Dobie made his blood boil. When he looked back at Papillon though, he felt his blood boil even more than before. What was wrong with him? Why does he feel.. so.. uncollected? He suddenly wanted to flip a table at that moment. He swallowed the feeling down and waved back at his partner. The way his hand trembled gave Dobie the clue the something was off. He gazed towards Papillon, but she just blinked in curiousity. She didn't seem to be suspicious of anything.

"Are you okay?" he asked, walking up to Sheriff Labrador. "You are trembling."

Sheriff Labrador sucked in his breath and nodded.

"Okay, that is a clear sign for me to help you."

Without warning, he picked up the sheriff in his arms, catching him off-guard. Making sure each of his steps was careful, he laid the shaking boss onto the couch in the office. He gestured him to sit up, kneeling down to his level.

"Did you eat today?"

Sheriff Labrador nodded.

"And you drank water?"

Sheriff Labrador nodded again, this time a bit less hastily.

"Didn't oversleep? Get distracted? Injure yourself?"

"Mhm, mhm and yes," Sheriff Labrador replied instead of nodding once more. Dobie stared at him with squinted eyes, before standing up and sighing.

"I hope you're not be lying to me sir," he said, gazing deep into the glimmering, grey eyes of his teammate. "Please take care of yourself. And, get some rest for now, just in case."

And with that, he walked away.

Sheriff Labrador lay down and chuckled to himself. He was grateful there were people out there who actually cared about him. He quite liked Dobie. He always had. And then with Papillon, again, his heart fluttered for her. They both cared about him as much as he cared about them. If it would ever happen, they would argue about who cared about each other the most. He believed them, and he believed himself too. Suddenly, that same itching feeling came back into his eyes. He started to feel warmer, althought there was a cool breeze blowing in from the window. Almost panicking, his hands automatically went up to his head and massaged his temples thoroughly. He stopped midway through. The itching feeling had gone again. The breeze was gone now too, but he felt much cooler. But he was still worried. It might happen again. It kept messing with his thoughts. But until he found out was was going on, he tried to keep calm. Dobie was right. He needed rest. Sheriff Labrador 'turned off his mind' and lay down once more.