Riley's Redemption

1. Freedom

Riley Ruckus looked up at the night sky, breathing a sigh of relief. Finally, after all those years, she was finally free. As she sat on Rosco's back she got nervous that they were still being watched. She leaned up to his ear and whispered.

"Rosco, we have to run far so that he won't find us, even with the car."

Rosco nodded in the way only a giant dog can do, and started to run, Riley holding onto his collar. They were still running as dawn broke and well into the next day, slowing only when the buildings came closer together and stopping only when the buildings came too close for comfort. They ducked into an alleyway, and rested there for a few hours.

Riley stared up at the sky as it slowly got clouded and darker. She knew that this meant it would rain soon, and while she was confident she'd be fine in the rain she wasn't so sure about Rosco. She quickly developed a plan and turned to Rosco to tell him.

"Rosco, we should take over a human place, scare them so they dare not show their face. I'll pretend that I am lifeless, then when I'm taken you follow us."

Rosco gave a low ruff of uncertainty. Riley rolled her eyes slightly as the first drops of rain started to fall.

"Come on Rosco, we'll be fine, have some faith in this plan of mine. If things go bad we can each hold our own, and this could lead to a better place to call home."

Rosco gave a slightly louder yip and laid down near the back of the alley, behind old rubbish to hide. Riley, seeing that she had convinced him, went to the front of the alley near the sidewalk, and laid there motionless in the hopes of baiting a human into picking her up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jane Kendricks was in a rush to get back to her car before the rain got any worse. She had just been at the hospital visiting her friend, Alex, who'd been missing for a couple days before turning back up with their mouth sewn shut and clutching a one-armed handpuppet.

That had been a week ago, and the hospital released them that day, so that was when Jane and her friends met up to help out Alex. Jane thought to herself about the strange story Alex told them about what happened, and what they'd have done had they brought their bat to that old studio.

Jane looked to see how far she was to her car, before spotting something unusual at the edge of an alleyway. She slowed from a run to a walk, stopping and kneeling down to get a better look at what had caught her eye.

'Is that...? No, there's no possible way. Nuh uh.'

But despite what her inner monologue told her, the proof was in front of her eyes. The wooden figure of Riley Ruckus lay there on the pavement. Jane poked her cautiously with her shoe, but upon there being no movement she shrugged and picked her up.

'Well, this is interesting. I'll have to call Alex tomorrow or so to tell them. I better take her with me so no unsuspecting person picks her up and gets hurt.'

Jane thought to herself as she swiftly made her way to her car, placing Riley in the backseat as she got in front. Jane was so focused on getting home that she missed the puppet getting up and looking out the back window. She also missed the giant dog following discreetly after her car.