Behind The Mask

Chase's Past Part 3

 CLANK

Chase once again was back to chopping up wood, delivering them to the people, and the result was getting fewer pennies.

Every now and then, Chase would pass by the toy stand and the same man he met about two days ago. He would take side glances at the mask which was still hanging there, staring at him...as if it was like the smile was staring directly towards Chase.

Chase didn't know why, but every time he would pass by and look over at that smile imprinted on the mask, he would get this weird, uncomfortable aura. It made Chase feel...depressed, almost like he needs to live away from it.

But each time that feeling comes back, for some reason, he would have that urge to feel that pain again. As if it was like he enjoyed it, but nonetheless, he didn't care as all he cared about was buying the addictive liquor for his parents.

CLANK

Another piece of wood has been chopped into half. The promise was all that he could keep on his mind. Each pant, sweat dropped from his face, wearing the ripped and stained hoodie made the working conditions harder and more painful. His thoughts were then interrupted with rustling in the bushes behind him.

"W-Who's there?" Chase called out, immediately frightened.

There was no response except a few more rustling.

"Stop messing around! Who's there?" Chase called out once again, trying to act tough, and then the rustling stopped, and Chase looked ahead to a bush, to see it's leaves being pulled apart and a dog appearing from the bushes.

A Bernese Mountain Dog, he was way taller and seemed older than Chase, but not an adult. He looked more like a teenaged dog.

"Woah, relax man." The dog said, as two other dogs, that were the same age as this one, appeared behind him.

"Who are you?" Chase asked as he calmed himself down.

"We were just passing by. We didn't mean to scare you." The Mountain Dog explained.

Chase looked over the dog to the left of the Mountain Dog, a German Shepherd, who seemed a bit more confused than anything.

"Woah, what happened to you?" The tall German Shepherd pointed at his hoodie and Chase frowned, now looking at his hoodie, which was still stained, ripped and dirty.

"I...I've been working." Chase answered them.

"Seems like you've been working a little too hard." The Bernese Mountain Dog said and pointed at Chase's paw which earned a frown from Chase.

"Hehe. The name's Archie." The Bernese introduced himself coolly and backed up to the two other dogs. "And these are my two friends. The German Shepherd is Lucky, and this is my girlfriend, Arya." Archie introduced the German Shepherd and the Husky.

"I can introduce myself, you know?" Lucky said in a hint of annoyance.

"Haha, well, I might just do it again." Archie said jokingly and Lucky playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Anyways, what's your name?" Arya asked, looking at Chase.

Silence fell upon them, it was so silent, you can even hear the crickets.

Lucky didn't take his eyes off of the pup and whispered to Archie.

"Uhhh, I don't think he wants to tell us his name."

"Nah, that's not it," Archie dismissed and looked at Chase. "It's probably because he's tired. I mean, look at all of that." Archie pointed and all of the pups saw the chopped up wood. Archie then turned to Chase.

"I bet you're hungry after working like that. Ya wanna eat?" Archie asked in a cheerful grin, and Chase slightly gasped as he heard that question. He's never been asked that before. He would usually have to ask or even beg to eat. Chase was wondering if he should trust these pups, considering he just met them. But at the same time, due to not eating for a whole week, Chase's stomach growled, making the young German Shepherd blush in embarrassment.

"Ha, looks like you are. I'll bring ya some food. And the good kind too. Just, not the gross vegetables that Lucky likes to eat." Archie said, sticking his tongue, disgusted even thinking about it.

"Gross!?" Lucky yelled, taking offense to his choice of food, making Archie and Arya laugh. Archie then directed his attention to Chase.

"Sounds good to you, little dude?" Archie asked in a cheerful grin.

Chase didn't respond, but just gave a slight nod.

"Cool, I'll be back in a bit. Watch him, Lucky!" Archie said and dashed off.

"Where will he even go!?" Lucky yelled back, but Archie was now long gone, making Lucky heavily sigh and glanced back at the young German Shepherd.

A few minutes have gone by and the dogs have been sitting between nothing but silence.

"So...what's a pup like you doing work like this?" Lucky asked, not wanting to sit in silence until his best friend came back. Chase only looked at Lucky with a blank expression, which kind of threw Lucky off a little bit.

"Uh...I mean, don't your parents usually do the work?" Lucky then asked.

"W-Well...they are working, it's just, we're...kind of...poor, so I want to h-help out as much as I can." Chase stuttered between the lies.

"Wait, are you from Manuel Antonio?" Arya asked in a nice, calming tone and Chase responded with a nod, making both of the pups wince.

"Geez, it must be rough." Lucky commented and based on that sentence, a question came to Chase's mind.

"Where are you guys from?" Chase politely asked.

"Both of us were born in San Jose." Arya answered. Chase has heard wonderful things about San Jose, one of the most beautiful cities in Costa Rica. Chase then noticed that Arya said, "both of us", not including Archie

"What about Archie?" Chase asked. Both dogs looked at each other, quickly wondering if they should tell him, but considering that he was living in Manuel Antonio, they decided to answer him.

"He's from Cahuita." Lucky answered.

"I haven't heard of a place like that here." Chase responded.

"Trust me man, it's not really the nicest place here." Lucky said with a nervous smile.

"Oh."

Noticing the atmosphere was about to get quiet, Arya spoke up.

"So...what's your name?" She asked.

Chase hesitated. He was told that he shouldn't trust anybody, but for some reason, these dogs had some sort of safe feeling radiating from them. Deciding to follow his gut, Chase opened his mouth.

"I'm Chase. Nice to meet you."