She padded silently and quickly, her face contorted into a silent frown and her eyes refusing to look back. She knew she was being followed, and it rubbed her the wrong way. She tried to forget it, to just pretend she was alone. But she wasn’t. Even if she didn’t look back, she could hear his chubby paws stomping the hard pavement, the soft pants. He had kept up with her all day, but was now starting to tire and lag behind. He wouldn’t be able to follow her for much longer, and yet the pup persisted, huffing and puffing and struggling to move faster on his short chubby paws. Alyth, much more slender and graceful, proceeded with a quick and efficient step, but finally stopped when the chubby steps ceased.

He had sat down, blue eyes staring at her helplessly, pleading. He was panting and exhausted, and his legs had started to ache. With an exasperated sigh, Altyh stopped, turning around to face the pup with a stern frown. However, the frown escaped suddenly when she saw him, panting and tired, watching her with those big blue eyes and waving his tail miserably. She walked over to him, nuzzling him for moment, feeling some strange affection for the little bundle of fur, however inconvenient he could be, most of the time. Right now, for example. “I told you to stay with your grandma.” She said, soft but accusing. What could she do? One day, she had been free and wild, and now, she had this nasty pup following her around. And it wasn’t just him, either.

She sighed, troubled. How had this happened? She had loved him so much, more than she thought she could stand. But what had he done? She had been so certain he was the one, the one everyone always talked about and the one everyone was searching for. She’d been left with only the puppies to looks after, and yet no will to do so. They were a pain, a really big one, with their needs and what not. Alyth was grateful for Aidith’s tender patience, for her understanding, her help dealing with the kids. And yet even such a thing didn’t bring her complete peace, and Aidith’s blue gaze and unnerving, making Alyth’s smile tremble uncertainly, making her feel defenseless. Her mother knew something was wrong. Aidith could see right through Alyth’s charade, she gazed at her with those knowing eyes, and Alyth just prayed she didn’t know what was wrong, just that something was wrong.

Oh, so many thoughts ran through her mind, making her feel weak and uncertain. She had lived a pretty happy life, and she had ruined it somehow. All her life she had known what she wanted to do, who she was. Now she didn’t know. She didn’t want to think about it. She had other things to worry about, like Andrei. He had not moved, only watching her silently. The little pup did not understand what was wrong with his mom, or why her face had acquired that strange expression. He could feel she was troubled, but could not comprehend why.

“C’mon. Your siblings should be playing in the park or something.” She certainly hoped they were. If they weren’t, then they could be anywhere in this goddamned city, and with the folk that you could find in it, that was not a good thing. It would be her fault too. Picking up the pup by the scruff of his neck, as gently as she could, she padded on. He was quite light, quite small. Even if he was big for his age, she found it very easy to carry him. However, her gait still changed to adjust to this new package and it’s weigh, and she did not like having him in her mouth in such an awkward fashion. Still, she couldn’t leave him all alone.

Soon she reached the park, letting Andrei fall softly in the soft spring grass. The pup looked up at her with a smile and a wagging tail, and yet his expression turned serious when he noticed the troubled frown in his mother’s face. He was too young to understand what worried her, but he knew something was wrong with this creature; he could sense her troubled mind and could tell something was not right, not right at all. “Why don’t you search for your siblings?” Sometime he unnerved her. He would just gaze at her with those big innocent blue eyes, and that face that was so similar to Stitch’s face, in a puppy version, and in a scar free version. She still loved him.

And maybe someday I will breathe