Chapter Text
A camera flipped on, revealing the face of a young Dalmatian. A voice behind the camera spoke.
“Okay, I think we’re ready. Please state your name and how you feel today.”
The Dalmatian cleared his throat.
“Uh, hi. My names Dylan. Um, first off… Well, I’m gonna be honest. When I first heard about this whole thing, I wasn’t sure about it. I know talking about bad things can help but… I don’t know. Especially since so many of the pups are so young… But I promised mum, so. Go ahead…”
“Tell us about what happened to you and your family.”
“Well, as I’m sure most people already know… A little over a year ago. A woman broke into our house… And kidnapped my brothers and sisters, mum, and dad… So she could make a coat… Out of their skins… Yup…” He nodded as reassuring himself that that’s what happened. “A puppy-skin coat…” He looks at the camera. “That’s messed up.”
“And was her reason for doing this purely… Criminal? Like, was it just YOUR family because you were the largest number of Dalmatians that were, pardon the expression, convenient?”
Dylan gave a dry, empty chuckle. “Heh, of course not… She was doing that to get revenge on my great-great-great grandparents… Because of course that was the reason. Of course my family has a psychopathic archenemy… Which I didn’t know about until that day…”
“And now that you know… How do you feel?”
“How do I feel? Well, let me put it like this… How would you feel if you found out that someone wanted to kill you, and your family, and then wear your skin as a demented trophy? I feel kinda sick to my stomach.”
“How has the incident affected you during day-to-day life?”
“What kind of question is that? My life was hectic enough, now add 97 cases of childhood trauma on top of it?! Yeah, it’s affected my day-to-day life a lot!”
He stopped and took a drink of water from a nearby bowl.
“Sorry… Got a little… But if you knew my siblings, you wouldn’t have asked that.”
“I see. I take it they are deeply affected by this as well?”
“Yeah… They are.” Dylan rubbed his head. “I wish I could just make them forget it all. Go back to normal but… It’s like they’re different dogs, now… Like…” He sniffed. “Like their innocence is gone…”
“I see. What about your parents?”
“They’ve done what they can, same as us all. They still have to work, so they can’t be here every day… Sad thing is… I think the pups are used to it.”
“Do you bear them any resentment? For not telling you about the woman?”
Dylan was quiet for a minute…
“I don’t know…. I mean, I get WHY they wouldn’t have. But at the same time… That would have been at least a little helpful to know… Thing is, I can’t be certain it would’ve made a difference.”
“Why do you think they didn’t tell you?”
“I guess they didn’t want us to be afraid. They seemed just as shocked as we were, so maybe they thought she’d never show up again… Guess we all taken by surprise that day.”
“Does this change you view of you parents at all? Ate their other things you fear they may not be telling you?”
“No… Like I said, I understand why they wouldn’t have told us. Besides, it’s not like they’ve gone unaffected. They call us twice a day, make sure everything’s okay. They did an entire overhaul of the houses security. Now only us older pups can access the paw-print scanner. And they think we don’t hear them but… They have nightmares too. I hear them sometimes, Mum wakes up sobbing in the middle of the night, dad… I don’t think he even sleeps much anymore.”
“What about you? Has the incident caused you any personal issues, sleeping?”
“I assume you mean other the nightmare I have almost weekly where I witness a living corpse, throw my siblings, one-by-one screaming into a machine that mutilates them until all that’s left is fur?”
“Yes. Besides that.”
“Well, I do lot more playing therapist than I usually do. Convincing my siblings that an evil woman isn’t going to skin them while they sleep.”
“And how often does that happen?”
“Only once a night.”
“I see. Now, answer me this. Was it not you and your sister that foiled this woman’s plans?”
“I mean, yeah. Kinda. We did get caught and were almost killed but… Our friends saved us.”
“Yes. The fox and his friends. Tell me about their involvement in this.”
Dylan shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you much, all I know is, they were already on the boat when we landed on it…”
“Landed?”
“Yeah, long story. But well… Geez, thinking back it, they kinda had things under control. They knew just what to do and Fergus… He fought that woman with know hesitation. It was kinda amazing.”
“And they helped free you and your siblings?”
“Yeah… I can safely say none of us would be here if wasn’t for them…”
“Interesting. If I may be so bold, I would say that it seems that, despite the horrifying situation you went through, things turned out… Well, not as bad as they could have in the end.”
“I mean… Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. I prefer this version of events over what might have happened but… If I could choose. I would prefer this never happening in the first place.”
“I imagine. Now, one more question. What is your plan moving forward? Where do you see things going for you and your family?”
Dylan shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t really have a plan, just take each day as it comes. The only thing I can do is just be there for my family when they need me. And I believe we’ll move past this, but it’s gonna take some time.”
“Well, your family sounds lucky to have someone as steadfast as you to depend on.”
“Actually. I think it’s me that’s depending on them… Just knowing they survived, seeing the progress they have made… It keeps me going.”
“Well that’s good to hear.”
“Yeah… Maybe this did help a little bit…”
“I hope so, Mr. Dylan. I hope so.”