You must be so ashamed of me

---

Neci’s eyes narrowed at his words, her lips curling up in a silent snarl. She opened her mouth to snap back at him, only to realize the words stuck in her throat. Turkish appraised her with a curious look in his green eyes, before that stupid grin returned to her face.

“Well, girly, I’ll be in town if you need me. Remember what I said!” he snickered. “And don’t be a stranger!”

And with that, he was gone, back into the bushes – as if he had completed some sort of mission, and now had permission to take his leave. Neci was left standing in the middle of the forest, her mouth still open. Her mind was stuck. She didn’t know what to do.

It was at times like these that Chase would take her paw and tell her that everything would be alright, because they would work through it together. But now she was alone, and she had to face her terrible decisions by herself. The thought was, in all honesty, terrifying to the young girl. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been alone.

Numbly, she took a claw and touched the choker that was now tied around her neck. Remember for Chase.

She swallowed. Was . . . was she really in the wrong for all of this?

Not wanting to be here any long, she turned and fled back up the path, back to Tao, back to her place of nightmares. She hated it here, hated this place. She wanted so desperately to leave again, But something held her here, held her in the place where she had lost everything. And she didn’t know what it was, or when she would ever know.

The first raindrops started to fall when she made it back to Tao, her blue eyes still wide and full of confusion. Was she really that bad? Pushing everyone away . . . th-they didn’t really all care about her, did they? No, of course not, she told herself. It was their fault Chase was gone. It was all their fault.

Chase had died by their paws, by their actions. It wasn’t her fault. No, Turkish was wrong – that stupid Eevee was just trying to get to her, like he did when he had been training her. He was all about those silly, stupid mind games. Yes, that was it. It wasn’t her fault at all. THEY had done this. They killed Chase. No one cared. They were murders.

But the faces of Zenda and Alex flashed before her mind’s eye, and she stumbled. They cared about her.

The realization hit her right in the stomach, and she had to sit down before she fell over (luckily, she was right back where she started – at the bench she had been sleeping on). Staring down at her paws, she tried to catch the breath that she had once again lost; this time, due to an overwhelming sense of guilt and regret. She had been so awful. She had abandoned her friends. She had been so selfish, so full of hatred, that she had only thought about herself. Tears stung her eyes as she thought about how terrible she had been to the people who had only been trying to help.

“Oh, Chase,” she whispered in a broken whisper as the rain began to soak her fur. “You must be so ashamed of me.”

---

I can't draw raaaaaaaain

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NIGHT RUNNER APPLICATION

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