towards the door.

“Now now Hal. This is no way to treat a guest. Where are your manners?”

“Aww, c’mon Burt, I was only funnin‘.”

Another husky walked into the small room and looked at Star, and then at Hal.

“Normally, I’d let you have your way, but remember, we still need this one. Since we couldn’t get our main target-”

“For the last time, it was dark! And let’s not mention how some of them started to stir. Lilith and I would have done just fine, had we been able to see that is.” Hal chortled quietly.

“Calm down Brother, it’s all easily fixable.. But speaking of Lilith. Where is Sister anyways?”

“I was hoping you’d know. She seems to have disappeared.”

Burt sat himself down and looked at Hal, breathing in the musty air disdainfully.

“This isn’t good at all. She’s never been late.”

“It doesn’t matter, we can deal without her.”

“What do you want with me?” coughed Star again, trying to be brave.

“It isn’t polite to interrupt my pet. I think you need to be taught a lesson in manners…” Hal said sweetly to Star as he rose his paw up in the air and prepared to strike him once more.

“Hal! Stop!” commanded Burt fiercely, “…Now, I want you to step out so I can have a word with our guest.”

Hal lowered his paw and headed out of the room, muttering quietly. As he passed Burt he whipped his tail into his face before he exited. Burt pretended not to notice as he stood up and pushed the door closed noiselessly. He walked to the other side of the room and dragged a heavy black curtain away from a window and sent a ray of sunlight streaming into the room. There was a sound of breaking dishes from outside the door that caused Star to shake in fear again. Burt didn’t flinch as he started to stare down at Star.

“I’m dreadfully sorry for my brother’s actions. You can say that I’m the most reasonable of our little family, well, maybe except for Lucy, but that should be explained later. But first, I believe you want some answers.. Correct?”

Star thought for a moment before nodding his head cautiously.

“Good good. Now, what better place to start, than the beginning, no?”

He smiled and sat down, still fixated on Star. He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, before opening them once more.

“It all started back when we were young. Our litter totaled five, myself being the second eldest. Unfortunately, both of my parents were humanless, so we were forced to live under the floorboards of an unused room of the butcher shop in Nome. Lucy and Lilith, my sisters, were like two peas in a pod, they told everything to each other. My older brother favored Hal, always playing games. And I just went along with whoever wanted to have fun. Mother did everything in her power to nurture and care for us, it’s a shame that our dear father didn’t do the same. He would push us around and treat us like we were a form lower than dirt, especially to Hal, the runt of our litter, but Lucy, the middle child, was the exception to his anger. He would treat her like his little angel. One day it got particularly bad. We were eight weeks old and our father was in an unusual rage that was worse than normal, and as expected, Hal was the first on his list to torment. Hal received a few swipes from Father’s paw before he stepped in. It was our eldest brother, Gregory, fresh with scars. He had always tried to stand up against our father’s treatment, but every time he was punished for this, but he never gave up. We affectionately called him Steele, like the metal that resembled his firmness. Anyways, our mother tried to stop Father to try and protect any of us for any more harm, but she was quickly struck down with a heavy paw. This was too much for Steele, and he jumped onto Father’s face and began to claw at his face. From my hiding place behind a lonely pipe, the struggle was dreadful. Father cried out in pain and enragement as he rapidly tried to throw Brother off. Brother latched his teeth onto Father’s ears and clamped down harder each time he was swung around. Finally Father tired of this and swung his paw and hit Steele in the gut, winding him and sending him sprawling onto the floor. Just when it seemed like Brother’s time was up, Mother had already stood back up and then she rammed into our father. She had finally gotten the backbone to stand up to him, and she wasn’t going to let him harm any of us any more.

“‘Get out of here you flea-bitten mongrel!’ she had yelled as he fled out of our small home. And from that moment on he would have nothing to do with us. Seeing our father leave had brought most of us joy, but not for Lucy. She became angry with our mother, and things became quite hostile between them. On the eve after we turned twelve weeks old, she was quite careless. She was trying to sneak into the meat locker even after our mom had warned us of the butcher’s new dog. She was caught red-handed with a string of sausages trailing from her mouth by the butcher’s dog. But instead of taking the fall for her own stupidity, she cut a deal with this dog. She would tell him why the meat was disappearing and where our small family hid if he promised to let her stay as another pet of the butcher. He had been reluctant at first, but he agreed. This part came from Lucy’s mouth. But we came in when we were abruptly awoken by the sound of shrill barking. There were loud footsteps that echoed to us as we heard a loud click from above. Then suddenly, everything became quiet. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears interfere with all other sounds as we waited for a sound that would hopefully relieve us. There was a loud bang and a bright flash of light as wood splintered from above us. We all looked up in shock and surprise and that’s when I saw the butcher’s face for the first time. It was a bright red and seemed misshapen as his mustache twitched. He grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun in his big hands and we heard another clicking as he aimed the barrel towards Mother. In the blink of an eye, we found ourselves running through a gale-force blizzard as the butcher stumbled clumsily out of his house, cursing. His dog and Lucy watched us run from the door, both having smug faces. Lilith and Hal had run with Mother, Steele had gone the opposite direction, and I, in my cowardice, hid myself in a fallen trash.” 

Burt paused for a moment and let out a deep sigh, as the memory continued to play in his mind.

“I heard another gunshot that shook both my body and my hiding place. I peaked out, heard a howl, and saw a large dark figure fall to the ground. The two smaller figures to both of her sides stopped briefly before they fled into the storm and I quickly lost sight of them. I shrunk back into my can, feeling a small bit of comfort of not being found by this cruel, cruel man. But I still felt that stinging realization that my mother wouldn’t be there to comfort me, or any of my siblings ever again. I can still remember crying myself to sleep in my despair and loneliness that night.”

The black and white husky blinked twice as he tried to hide a select few tears. He couldn’t remember how many years it had been since he had last cried. Usually he was too busy watching over Lilith and Hal to really think of all they had done. He focused carefully at this small dog at his paws. His fur matted with sweat and littered with scars. He bowed his head silently and continued to speak.

“From there on, our stories have varied, but I’ll try to keep the other stories straight. After that night, I tried to pick up the scent of my sister and youngest brother, but it proved more difficult than I thought. I still made it to the town which they had found refuge in, but it took days longer than I had wanted, and I was quite hungry for I still had no proper skill in hunting. When I entered the town, I collapsed at the front step of a small building. The owner saw me and opened up his door. He leaned down, and gently took me in his arms, carrying me inside the building and feeding me his table scraps. I would soon learn that this was this town’s telegraph man, and I became his loyal companion. So overall, you can say that I’ve had a rather plush life.

“Next came Sister. She was not only devastated by seeing my mother’s life taken from her by her very own eyes, but also by how it had been the sibling she had trusted the most that turned on her. She was never able to trust anyone anymore, except her brother’s of course. Her and Hal had stayed together for a short time, before they had a fierce argument and decided to split up for awhile. She became a regular street dog, fighting for survival every day by digging through trash cans and fighting over the smallest scraps. That did nothing to aid her in her mental instability. She would have been a great leader, had she the capacity to trust another soul. But after I found her again, which is harder than you may think, I took her to our veterinarian, hoping that they could do something to help her, and thank the stars, they actually accepted her. Both the vet and his wife did the best they could to gain her trust, and for a second, I thought they had succeeded and I saw a glimmer of the sister that I once knew, but it was never meant to be. She now fakes her trust with them, and only pretends so she can protect herself. Things have been shaky with her.

“On to Hal, maybe one of the more tragic tales of our small family. He completely lost it once he saw our mom die. He couldn’t handle it, and after he had