Rose - A Poppy Playtime Story

Chapter 16 - Couple

(Five)

The sun shined down on the grassy field, bathing every inch of grass with its light. Children ran around, laughing together.

Though instead of playing with them all of the critters were sitting in a circle in the corner.

"Okay, so how is everyone doing?" Bobby asked. Dogday gave her a weak smile, Crafty had tears in her eyes, and Catnap was in his own little world.

Kickin', Hoppy, and Picky just stared at her, but luckily Bubba said something. "Well...we can all see that we're a little...upset, but we've survived this before..." He said trying to lighten the mood.

It didn't work.

"I'm going to miss them...I know it's going to happen every time, but it still hurts." Hoppy muttered, she blinked rapidly to get rid of tears.

"We do this at the end of every month." Kickin' practically whispered, doing the same as Hoppy.

"We're strong, stronger than anyone thinks...we can do this..." Dogday said, though he didn't sound too confident.

"Dogday's right we can handle...anything." Bobby said next to him, though she didn't sound confident either.

The month was coming to an end, and so were the children they had grown so fond of.

This happened every single time. The critters would gather in a circle near the end of the month, and try to motivate each other.

Crafty gave a concerned look at Catnap. It was his first time dealing with this, so she had expected him to have more of a reaction.

When it was her first time they had to send her home. She couldn't bear being near a child, but when the new children arrived she put on a happy face just like all the others had done.

Though Catnap seemed almost frozen, just staring. People did deal with grief in different ways, maybe this was Catnap's way.

Though she couldn't just let him get caught up in his own head. She didn't want him to suffer, he was their friend.

Crafty bumped him with her cyan hoof while the others kept the conversation. As soon as she made contact Catnap flinch, gasping loudly.

He turned to her, his eyes wide from the shock.

"Are you alright, Catnap?" She asked softly, Catnap swallowed. He looked back to his hands, his purple paws started to fidget with themselves.

"I'll be fine...we'll be fine." He didn't look at her when he said it, but it sounded true. Crafty put her hoof on his shoulder, bringing him into a hug.

Catnap wrapped his tail around her.

The other critters seemed to be oblivious to this, though it was common for the critters to hug and comfort each other at this time.

A bell rang.

The critters immediately sprung up, wiping any tears that were present. The kids in the field had come to a complete stop, all of them looking around.

The critters ran towards the children making sure that everyone was accounted for.

They were supposed to lead them to a room for a 'check up', it seemed innocent enough.