The blue sky turned pink over Sonja’s house as the afternoon rolled into evening. Inside, Cotton peered from behind the Kitchen doorway as she watched Sonja prepare dinner. Her jaw hung up as she took in the gorgeous smell emanating from the top of stove.

“Chicken, cooked in tomato sauce with flavored yellow rice and black beans”, she sighed. “Wasn’t too into Spanish food before but I am now!”

She watched for a minute as Sonja quietly stirred the chicken in the pot before putting the spoon down and making her way out of the kitchen and down the hall to the bathroom. At this, Cotton smiled deviously, seeing that in her haste, Sonja had forgotten to put the lid back on the pot. Sprinting into the kitchen, the Pomeranian hopped on counter and slowly inched toward the stove top. Droll hung from the little dog’s mouth and her eyes bulging out of her skull as she got closer.

“Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!”, she chanted, reaching out a paw

“Hey!”

Spinning around, she saw Oli glaring up at her.

“Get down from there!”, he ordered. “That food is not for you!”

Cotton rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? With food nirvana right in front of me?!”

“Cotton!”, shouted a voice.

Before she could get any closer, Cotton felt warm fingers wrap around her torso and lift her up. She squirmed in protest at the sight of Sonja’s disapproving look.

“That’s a naughty dog!”, she scolded, “You could’ve burned yourself!”

Kneeling, she placed her onto the floor in front of a food bowl.

“You’re dinner’s right here. Eat up girl”

Cotton looked down at the bowl below her and gasped in horror. What lay below her was dog kibble. No chicken. No rice. Not even fries or beans. Just bland, stale dog kibble. She groaned in agitation as Oli shoved his bowl next to hers.

“Well”, he smiled, “Time to eat!”

With no hesitation, he dug into his bowel hungrily while Cotton only poked at her meal.

“I forgot how bad you house pets have it”, she said, picking up a piece of dog kibble and inspecting it. “I would die if I was forced to eat this everyday”

She plopped it into her mouth, nearly gagging at the taste. But pushing through it, she chewed and swallowed it before letting out a disgusted sigh.

“What are you talking about?”, Oli asked, chewing as he spoke, “This stuff is delicious! Besides, human food isn’t good for us didn’t you know? I overheard Sonja say they put a bunch of seasoning and stuff in it that us dogs cant eat”

“Right”, Cotton replied, not really buying it. “Well its never been a problem for me. I’ve eaten almost anything humans make, from sushi to even chocolate”

Oli choked and spat out his food. “You ate chocolate?!”, he gasped.

“Yeah, a couple of times actually”

Oli leaned in close to her. “What did it taste like?”

Cotton thought for a moment, then said, “Tasted sweet, I guess”

“Wow”, Oli gasped, taking in this information. “And you’re still alive?”

She nodded. “What’s the big deal?”

“Chocolate’s infamous for killing dogs”, he explained. “I heard a story that some kid in the neighborhood accidentally fed his dog some chocolate during Halloween. Thankfully the dog survived but he could’ve easily died if their family hadn’t acted quickly”.

Cotton was taken aback. “Strange”, she said. “It’s never happened to me but then again, I’m not really like other dogs. Im sure you already know from your aura thingy”

Oli nodded. “Yeah. When read your aura, I felt this tremendous force emanating from you”, he said. “I’ve never felt anything like it! How are so strong?”

“I don’t know. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been like this. Never understood why Im like this, but I guess I just am”, she then turned to face him. “Kind of like you, Oli” 

Oli looked down at the floor in deep contemplation. He knew she wasn’t telling the truth, but it wasn’t because she was lying, but because she genuinely didn’t know. Consciously at least. Somewhere deep in her subconscious, he felt she already had that answer, but couldn’t access it for whatever reason.

“I’m sure you’ll find out eventually”, he finally said.

The two sat in silence, Oli happily eating away while Cotton only ate her meal piece by piece. Finally, she broke the silence.

“By the way, Oli, do you know what a Lunite is?”, she asked.

Oli popped his head up.

“Last night, I was attacked by some dog catchers and one of them called me a Lunite before he passed out”, she explained. “You wouldn’t happen to know what he was talking about right?”

He shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t”, he admitted, but then his eyes lit up, “Wait, pass out!?”

“After I attacked him. Im actually surprised at how much damage I did to him”, she said in disbelief, “I didn’t think I was that strong but then again, I also recently found out bullets don’t hurt me. Go figure”

Oli jumped back, putting the pieces together in his mind. “Wait! You’re the wild beast Sonja was trying to capture?!”

Cotton nodded.

“But what about the thing that attacked you?”

Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked down at her food.

“Oh yeah that’s right”, she began, “I almost forgot about the bastard that blindsided me”

She could remember hoping from roof top to roof top, completely fine one second, and then crippled the next by some…..thing.

“I swear, if I ever find that guy again, Im gonna-”

“Oliver!”

They both turned to see Tommy walking into the kitchen, leash in his hands. Seeing this, Oli sat up and dashed up to the child.

“Come on! Its time for your walk”, he said as he clipped the chain onto the schnauzer’s collar. He then looked up at Cotton, noticing her bowl had remained mostly untouched compared to Oli’s now empty one. Walking up to her, she patted her on the head.

“Eat your food Cotton”, he said, “or it’ll go bad”.

He turned around and with Oli, exited through the front door. Now alone, Cotton felt her stomach grumble, which led her to turn back to her bowl.

“Fine I’ll eat it”, she groaned.

Oli and Tommy walked through the neighborhood as the sound of the subway echoed in the distance. The boy then looked down at his watch.

“Titi should be done with dinner by now”, he stated. “Come Oli, let’s go-”

He froze when looked back up. Completely surrounding them was a pack of dogs, all glaring and blaring their teeth at them. Oli and Tommy took a step back as a Doberman walked up from the crowd. It was Butch.

“Good evenin’”, he said, putting on mask of politeness.

Oli gasped, instantly realizing what they were doing. “So that’s what that cat was doing. You’re for Co- I mean the Golden Flash right?”

“Bingo”, the Doberman sung. “Yous' wouldn’t happen to know where she is, do ya?”

Oli was about answer but closed his mouth. The pup had always been truthful, but for the sake of Cotton, he couldn’t rat her out. He shook his head from side to side in defiance.

“Well then, be that way”

Butch clicked his tounge and within a second, one of the dogs kept and tackled Tommy, pinning him to the floor.

“TOMMY!”, Oli hollowed in horror, before the anger he felt earlier overcame him again. Running at the dog he yelled, “YOU GET OFF OF HIM!”

He leapt and head butted him in the shoulder, sending him off Tommy and tumbling across the pavement. Butch starred in shock. ‘Him too!?’

Oli glared at him, panting heavily before he came back to his senses. Looking up, he saw the pack of dogs now glaring angrily at him. The pup squirmed in fear, knowing they were about to pounce and attack him. But before they could, Butch jumped in front Oli.

“What are ya guys doing!?”, he barked. “We have a potential hostage situation”

Bitting down on Oli’s collar, he ripped it off and flung it away. It landed at the foot of Tommy’s feet, who was beginning to get up.

“I know ya can’t understand us but me thinks you know what I’m bouta tell ya”, Butch said, bitting the scruff on Oli’s neck. “Bring that collar to the Golden Flash or else you’ll never see your precious pet again!”

And with that, he and the rest of the pack ran off, leaving Tommy completely petrified. Standing up, he looked down and saw Oli’s collar ripped in half. Picking it up, he began sprinting back home.

“TITI!”, he shouted as he burst through the door.

Sonja ran out of the kitchen and up to her nephew.

“What happened?!”, she asked with concern. “Where’s Oliver?”

At this, Tommy began to break down in tears.

“A bunch of dogs took him! They ran way with him! They didn’t take his collar though”

Cotton had finished eating when she heard the commotion from outside the kitchen. Popping her head from the doorway, she saw the boy crying as his aunt tried comforting him. Noticing Oli’s color in his hands, she curiously walked up and sniffed it. Immediately, she recognized the scent.

“Butch…”, she gasped.

They had somehow found her, and had kidnapped Oli as a way of making her join their stupid pack, she realized in an instant. She then noticed that the door was wide open. And before she knew it, she found herself dashing through the threshold, down the street and out of sight.

“Cotton! Come back!”, Sonja shouted. But it was too late, she was gone.

Cotton dashed down the road, making her way to the neighborhood’s edge. Her chance at escape had come, and she was now a free dog once again. She didn’t need to worry about Sonja, Tommy or even…….Oli. She stopped in her tracks, remembering that he had just been kidnapped by the Coyote brothers. He was in danger. He would be killed if…

Cotton shook her head. “Get a grip of yourself, Cotton!”, she said. “Stop worrying about that damn schnauzer. He doesn’t care about you. No one does. No one cares about you, so why should you care about them?”

‘No one cares about you, so why should you care about them?’ That’s something Cotton would always tell herself whenever she would begin to get attached to anyone. It was her way of protecting herself from the hurt caused by heartbreak and betrayal, something she experienced a lot in the past after she wound up on the streets. And Oli was just another one who would eventually betray her. But something bothered her. Since he had been kidnapped while out on a walk, Oli would’ve possibly had an opportunity to rat her out. But, seeing as how they took him, he hadn’t.

“Why didn’t you rat my out you idiot?”, she mumbled. “You could’ve saved yourself if you had. So why?!”

Its okay. I won’t tell if you’re shy about it.

Instantly, her thoughts went back to their conversation from earlier.

But honestly, I think ‘Cotton’ suits you. Sure, it’s not the most badass name but it feels right. And I think you know it too.

“Think you know it too..”, she repeated. She never understood why she kept the name her mother gave her at birth. One would think she would want to distance herself from her old life and the trauma that came from it entirely, but she couldn’t. She felt that doing away with her old name would erase her mother, and deep down she didn’t want that to happen. And she didn’t realize this on her own. It was thanks to Oli that made her realize why she kept it, despite her insistence on being called the ‘Golden Flash’. He was the first person to ever understand her. And, perhaps, he cared…

“Stop!”, Cotton yelled, again trying to dissuade herself from the unspoken truth. “No one cares about you, so why should you care about them? No one cares about you, so why should you care about them? No one cares about you, so why should you care about them? No one cares about you, so why should you care about him!?!”

Tears began to roll down her cheeks, her voice slowly rising with each chant of the sentence. Before finally, she broke, shouting out into the night.

“DAMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

Spinning around, she raced down the sidewalk, following trail of Butch as best she could.

‘Oli, you son of a bitch!’, she growled internally. ‘One of the unspoken rules of the streets is that you care about yourself. But you made me break it! You made me care!’

The game had changed. No longer was she going to go back to her old life as she had planned. She was going to go and beat the crap out of the Coyote brothers. She was going to save Oli.