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Dogday couldn’t understand why everyone was avoiding him. He couldn’t really remember what happened the day before and he was never really told about it.
“Guys?” Dogday said quietly.
Everyone either backed away or started to hide as soon as he came in. Feeling hurt that his friends turned say from him, Dogday ran out of the room.
Catnap was coming back after getting a drink of water when he saw his friend run past him.
“Dogday?”
But the puppy critter didn’t hear him and he ran out of the school. Catnap was concerned and went back to the classroom and saw everyone gathering around.
“Seriously, I can’t relax around him anymore!” Picky said nervously.
“I know!” Hoppy agreed, “If I play ball with him again, he may kill me this time!”
“He’s so mean and dangerous!” Bobby said sadly.
Catnap was watching them agree and talk amongst themselves about Dogday and he was not happy about what he was hearing.
Not wanting to wait anymore, he went inside and confronted the other critters.
“Will you guys stop already?” He said a little loudly, “You’re acting like he’s a criminal!”
“Catnap, did you not see how he acted yesterday?” Bubba asked, “He was really out of control!”
“Yeah! He was acting like a jerk!” Kickin added.
“For once, the jerk chicken was right.” Hoppy crossed her arms.
“Hey!”
“Dogday is never like this.” Craftycorn said softly, “It’s like he’s been possessed or something.”
“That’s because that wasn’t really Dogday!” Catnap blurted out, “It was Baba Chops inside his body!”
Everyone stared at him in shock. Was Dogday not really Dogday the whole time?
“Wait, are you serious?” asked Kickin.
That’s when their teacher came in and he heard what Catnap had said.
“Catnap dear, how did you know that?” Miss Delight asked before she stopped herself.
“Miss Delight, you knew the whole time?” Bobby stared at her.
“Uhh well….” The teacher laughed nervously, “An accident happened during the night class and let’s just say they spent the day in each other’s shoes.”
“Why did you tell us?” asked an irritated Bubba, “We all thought Dogday was being mean for no reason!”
“Well, I didn’t want to cause a fuss and possible get arrested for reckless endangerment.” She muttered at the last part.
Everyone gave her a “really?” stare and now realized why Dogday was acting so strange the day before.
They started to feel bad for not seeing the problem and now, their friend is all alone.
“Oh no…” Bobby said sadly, “We really hurt Dogday’s feelings, didn’t we?”
“Looks like it.” Bubba nodded, “I guess we didn’t ask why he was like that or did any research on the matter.”
“The point is that we need to talk to him.” Picky said.
“Good idea.” Catnap agreed, “Lets go find him.”
The seven critters left the classroom and started to look for their friend. They searched all around the school, the playground, and their own houses but there was no sign of their leader.
It wasn’t until a couple hours when they found Dogday alone in the forest sitting on a tree stump and it sounded like he was crying.
“Why….” Dogday sobbed quietly, “Why is everyone treating me like this? I know I don’t remember what happened yesterday but…why is everyone avoiding me?”
“Dogday…”
The young critter gasped and turned h around to see his friends standing behind him with sad faces.
“Guys?”
“You okay, buddy?” asked Kickin.
“We looked everywhere for you!” Crafty said.
“Dogday, thank goodness you’re alright!” Bobby ran up to hug him.
He was surprised that he was receiving hugs again and his friends weren’t afraid of him anymore.
“But…why?” Dogday asked in confusion, “I thought you guys were avoiding me?”
“I told them everything and so did Miss Delight.” Catnap explained, “Don’t worry.”
“You did?”
“Of course he did!” Bubba spoke up, “Dogday, we’re so sorry! We didn’t understand what was going on!”
“We didn’t know that was really you!” Picky did the same, “But, that doesn’t mean we don’t like you! You’re our friend!”
“Yeah!” Hoppy said next, “We should’ve known better! We’re so sorry.”
Overcome with emotion, Dogday started to cry into Bobby’s arms and hugged her back. He was so happy that his friends trust him again and they now realize it’s all just a big misunderstanding.
“I’m so sorry, Critter Crew!” Dogday sobbed, “I didn’t know what Baba was doing! I wish I could’ve stopped it! I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay, Dogday.” Bobby rubbed his back, “We know now that you’re never like that. We’re just sorry that we never realized it sooner.”
“But Dogday, why didn’t you come tell us while you were in Baba’s body?” Picky asked.
“Well, I wanted to give the Nightmare Critters a happy and cheery day and I hoped that Baba would have told you guys even know she was in my body.” Dogday explained before sighing, “I’m so sorry, guys. I really wasn’t thinking straight.”
“So, that’s what happened.”
The critters turned to see Poe and Baba walking towards them.
“Poe? Baba? What are you guys doing here?” Hoppy asked.
“We were taking a walk when we heard you guys talking.” Poe said, “I had a feeling that Baba wasn’t acting like her gloomy self and we were gonna talk to Miss Delight about what happened, but after hearing you guys, it all makes sense now.”
“I wanted to have fun and I didn’t think it was needed to tell you guys.” Baba said before she mumbled, “Not that I wanted to…”
“Well, if you had just said something in the first place, we wouldn’t have to be afraid!” Bubba scolded her.
“Well, excuse me for not being a happy go lucky critter like you smiling freaks!”
“Hey hey calm down!” Poe said, “How about the next time something like this happens, will be more aware and figure out how to fix it instead of being left in the dark?”
“Yeah. Good idea. Sure. Okay!” Everyone said in agreement.
Even though things have been resolved, there was one thing that Baba was still wondering about.
“Hey Dogday? What did you do while you were in my body?” She asked nervously.
“Well, you see…” Dogday started to say.
Explained how he was trying to get the Nightmare Critters in a good mood and do happy things for them in Babas body, which made her stare at him in horror and her eyes were twitching.
“Hehehe…” the dog critter chuckled nervously.
“Why you little!!” Baba brandished a knife.
“Don’t kill me!”
Dogday ran as Baba gave chase while the other critters chased after them,
Miss Delight follow the critters to make sure none of them got into any trouble, but would she saw the chase going on, she just sighed to herself.
“I don’t know whether I should stop them or just take a very very long break.” Miss Delight said.
(The End)