PA 3.5: End of a Tail

Chapter IX Part III

As time went on, the thing had grown more and more red, feeling like tenderized chicken breast as the crunchy sensation of his bone creaking just underneath caught his attention. Patches poked it a few more times, ignoring the small amount of pain it caused, purely out of interest at how the sensation of bone grinding against bone felt.

"I'm pretty sure it not hurting as much is a bad thing. It'd be a real damn shame if I died from something like this," he stated plainly, sighing and then placing his uniform back over the wound, hating the sensation of his ointment-soaked fur rubbing up against the fabric. When that was done, he reached over to the nightstand, opening it up and rifling through the mostly tidy contents until he found a single, sturdy black cotton t-shirt. The door began to open, letting Dell see Patches casually folding her clothing.

"What are you doing?" she said bemused.

Patches ignored Dell for a moment, very aware of how awkward the current situation might seem. When he finished folding, he put the clothing onto the nightstand neatly and went to a comfortable sitting position, trying not to groan as the rib shifted in his chest. Dell walked over to Patches, depositing a tray with a stacked bacon sandwich, yogurt cup, and glass of milk on it. He graciously accepted the impromptu meal, only now realizing just how hungry he was.

"I think I'm finally understanding why dogs love pork so much," he said, grabbing the milk and placing it on the nightstand before starting to down the yogurt with heaping spoonfuls.

"Hey, so, why were you folding my stuff?" Dell asked sternly.

Patches wiped a bit of yogurt off his lips. "Well, I suppose it was very awkward for you to come in and see that, but we're going to use it to make a splint for myself."

"First: not that one, second: why not just use the bandage?"

"We're going to need to wrap my stitches. Dog knows they're full of dirt right now- I'd be terrified of getting an infection, but we have far more important things to worry about."

Dell rolled her eyes, pulling up her desk chair to sit on and then rifling through her nightstand to swap the black shirt for one that looked to be made of nylon. It was incredibly gaudy, made to look shiny and golden, with silver stars adorning them.

"What, your mom get you this?" Patches snickered.

Dell averted her eyes and crossed her arms. "When I got into Hachiko, yeah." She made a flippant gesture. "You know, the whole star student thing- most embarrassing gift of my life."

"I doubt that." Patches looked unappetized at the prospect of using something like that, frowning and dulling his eyes, but holding off his complaints. He took the item and dropped it on the nightstand, not bothering to fold something already so ugly.

Patches returned to the cup, not realizing he was licking it clean until Dell coughed into a paw to get his attention again.

"Yes, yes, we're getting there," he said, swiping some of the yogurt off of his muzzle. He put the spoon aside, dropping the cup into the waste bin.

Dell silently sat and watched him eat. He kept his eyes averted from her, but the judging glare told him she would listen to his words closely and carefully.

"Alright. Feel free to skip ahead if you've heard this one before," he began, taking a sip from the milk as Dell very patiently waited for him to stop stalling. "So... a few days before Halloween, that Coco girl you're such a fan of came into the school and murdered everyone there.

"I, being the man I was, realized that my life was absolutely going to end in a few hours, and so became determined to find the cat responsible after she had swept through the library and murdered everyone there. Before I left, however, I found a little red mutt named Olive-"