Behind The Mask

Little Sister At Home

     A few minutes had gone by, but it felt like an hour for Chase as he listened on as Maya kept directing him to where she lives. He had to go off of the sidewalk which kind of confused him, but realized why when he finally arrived at Maya's home.

Needless to say, it was...kind of sad to stare at.

The house seemed run down. The white wood was damaged and had gray spots growing over it. Lots of it was damaged, some holes in the house and complete open windows. This thing almost looked like it could collapse any second. The house was also leaning to its side, as if one last tiny bit of damage would knock this whole thing down. There was no other way to put it, it was worse than worse. So terrible that nothing, even words, can't describe it.

"That's it." He heard Maya sigh and he glanced back at her in shock. How can someone so cute and innocent as her live in this kind of place?

Flash Back

After what felt like a long walk, Chase has finally made it back to his "home". Unfortunately, the sun was already beginning to set and during that time, that's when his parents considered Chase to arrive home late. It was a medium sized, run down shack in the woods. Due to not having any sort of job or trying at least making single amounts of money, Chase's parents couldn't afford to live in better conditions.

"I'm home."

Chase softly greeted himself as he slowly opened the door, creaking until it was opened fully, revealing his parents' voices slowly rising. The roaring from his father and the cries and shouts from his mother was heard at the rundown kitchen of the shack.

His parents were arguing again.

Flash Back Ends

This didn't make sense to him at all. He looked back at Maya who was looking at her house up and down.

"Are you sure? That, this is your place?" The German Shepherd asked. He just couldn't believe that a small pup like her was living in these conditions.

"Yeah, it is. But it does keep a roof over my head. Plus, I have my sister so I'm okay with it." She happily shrugged and jumped from Chase's back, along with the bags of pup-treats.

"Thank you so much, for everything." She said as she placed the bags down and quickly wrapped herself around Chase's front, left leg. She really loves hugs. Chase chuckled inside his mind as he returned the hug once again.

The two hugged for a couple minutes and Maya limped over to her bags, and faced Chase once again.

"You'll visit again, right?" She asked in a hopeful voice and Chase warmly smiled at her.

"Yeah, and trust me, I already got something' planned." He said in an exciting but cool voice which made her excited.

"Yay! See you tomorrow, big bro!" She said which made Chase smile even more.

"Of course, squirt." Chase responded before placing a paw on her head before the two separated and began walking their opposite ways.

But Chase stopped for a second before he looked back to see Maya limping inside the house which made him sadly frown. I can't believe she lives in a place like this. The Police pup thought to himself, and quickly spun his head around and began jogging back to the Lookout. Now, he was more determined to help Maya out more than ever.

With Maya

Maya walked inside the house. The house had two floors but both floors were open rooms with barely any furniture inside. On the first floor there was a torn up couch with a broken TV on the other side. There was also a blanket on top of a ripped up mattress on one of the corners where she and her sister would usually sleep and finally, in another corner were stairs that led up to the second floor which was filled with nothing since they didn't have any use for it. The second floor was empty aside from some debris that lived up there.

Suddenly, a cold breeze and Maya shuddered a little bit as she looked over at the open windows...except, they weren't windows, but open squares that can't be closed. Even if they had windows, it wouldn't keep the cold out due to the damaged holes in the house.

But just when she came inside the house, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and she looked over and happily smiled at the sight of her older sister walking down to her. The two made eye contact and Maya's sister couldn't help but slightly gasp and run up to her, pulling her little sister in a hug.

"Where were you? I was worried!" She exclaimed. Her voice didn't break nor did she sound like she was going to cry, but her voice did have genuine concern over her. For a while, Maya's sister has been acting as tough as she can for her little sister and the small blue shepherd could see right through it.

"Don't worry, sis. I'm home now." She said and her older sister noticed Maya wincing a little bit and she noticed right before she pulled Maya into a hug, she one her paw raised as if she didn't want to put pressure on it.

The older blue pup softly pulled away from the hug and slowly raised Maya's paw up to her, making sure to be gentle, quickly noticing the bruise.

"How'd you get hurt?" She asked and looked back at her little sister's eyes. Knowing that look, Maya couldn't lie to her.

"I...I was chased down by some guys that tried to capture me." She answered and her older sister sighed.

"Seriously? What have I told you about running off on your own?" She asked in a motherly, but also said tone which made Maya whimper a little bit.

"I'm sorry...I just...things are tough right now and I just wanted to help." Maya said, almost tearing up for disappointing her sister, but then she was pulled into a hug.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter right now. I'm just glad you're safe. How'd you escape them though?" Her older sister then asked.

"I didn't. Some pup saved me and brought me back home." Maya answered and her older sister pulled from the hug once again.

"Really?" She asked in quite a surprised voice, not expecting some random dog to come and help her sister.

"Yeah, he even got us pup-treats for me and you." Maya said as she pointed at the two bags. Her older sister got up and walked up to the bags, using her paw to open them and was surprised to see both of them full of treats. Wow, I didn't think we'd actually eat tonight. The older sister thought.

Maya then walked up to her and took a bite of the pup-treat.

"Dig in, sis! It's really yummy!" She said and her older sister only chuckled.

"Alright, let's dig in."

An hour passed as Maya and her older sister ate a little bit of their pup-treats, making sure to save some for the next couple days. Now, the two wrapped each other in a hug as they had the blanket over them, laying on top of the ripped up mattress. But snuggled against each other.

"Hey, sis?" Maya whispered, seeing her older sister's eyes open a little bit, she opened her mouth.

"How's...how's work?" She asked and her older sister sighed a little bit.

"It's tough, there's some unexpected things going on. But don't worry, soon enough, we'll live in a better place. Something better than you ever dreamed of." Her older sister reassured and nuzzled her little sister's head.

"Thank you sis. But...you're not...getting hurt, right?" Maya asked with a little worried tone as she knew there were some jobs that involved people, even animals, getting hurt. But her older sister chuckled.

"Don't worry, everything's fine." She reassured once again and nuzzled her little sister, getting a small smile.

"Now let's get some sleep." The older shepherd said and Maya quickly positioned her head under her older sisters.

"Okay." She sighed as she felt and savored every bit of warmth radiating from her older sister, keeping herself warm from the coldness blowing in. The older sister put her paw around her little sister's body, keeping her even more warm.

"Goodnight, Maya."

And right before both of them fell asleep, Maya returned the phrase.

"Goodnight...Arya."