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Desiree Shadowpaw. It is called, Ebony memories, because this story, for better or worse, is the changing point in Sparkle's particularly broken, and hideous existence. You know...the like when the sunrises after a particularly dreadful night.\nA good friend of mine told me to post this, even though I didn't want too...:/\nThis story is in conjunction to my OTHER ebony memory story, but I haven't posted that one...\nThere is no sex in this story, just a looooot of violence.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "An so, We have the traumatic history of J. Desiree Shadowpaw. It is called, Ebony memories, because this story, for better or worse, is the changing point in Sparkle's particularly broken, and hideous existence. You know...the like when the sunrises after a particularly dreadful night.
A good friend of mine told me to post this, even though I didn't want too...:/
This story is in conjunction to my OTHER ebony memory story, but I haven't posted that one...
There is no sex in this story, just a looooot of violence.", "writing": "J should have known something odd was going to happen the moment she woke up that morning. Anne woke her up, and she looked happy. Very happy. Like usual, she was up first, but instead of letting J sleep to noon, like she liked to do, the twin puppy had pounced her sibling in bed and straddled her hips. She was grinning from ear to ear, as if her head would be lopped off at any moment. Her eyes were wide, bright and shining and her tail was wagging so hard J figured it would rip itself off her butt and fly out the window. It was going to be a different sort of day.\n\"Mmph...w, what? Anne? What are yo...?\"\n\"Come on!! Momma has a surprise for us!!\"\n\"...Surprise...whadda talkin' about?\"\n\"Just come on!! Get some clothes on! I'm wearing blue, and a red top.\"\n\"Why do I gotta wear what you're wearing?\"\n\"Cause I woke up first. Thems is the rules! You wake up first one of these days and you get to pick what we wear. Now come on!!!\" The other pup bounded out of the room, and J gave a sigh, falling back into her bed. She closed her eyes for a moment and groaned. She wanted to go back to sleep- but the idea of a surprise was beginning to nag at her. What was it going be? What could it possibly be? Could be anything. Maybe momma won the lottery. Maybe she was leaving dad. Maybe she finally got around to buying them those Christmas presents she'd been promising them for years and years. J sighed softly. It was all too good to be true, but children had a way of hoping beyond hope. It's what kept her going, at least.\nGiving another sigh, the puppy dragged herself from her broken bed and collapsed to the ground before crawling towards the closet. When she finally got there, she stood up and sighed deeply, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and reached in to pull free her matching set of clothes. They had rules to follow. First one up got to pick out what they would wear. It's how they operated as twins and usually, it was Anne who managed to ditch sleep first and dress them for the day. Usually it was a pair of jeans and a variety of shirts they had managed to accumulate over the years. Nothing special, nothing fancy. No outfits- like Laura demanded- just regular street clothes.\nOnce dressed, J started her morning ritual. She glanced at the giant Wile E. Coyote stuffed animal sitting in the corner...and then the several, smaller stuffed animals that surrounded it. From Wile E. Coyote, she counted each and every stuffed animal- until she had the same number she had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before.\nThere were twenty-seven stuffed animals. She gave each of them a firm, lingering hug, knelt before them, as if some sort of plushy alter, and prayed to anyone listening, that there wouldn't be twenty-eight by tomorrow. She always promised she'd never see another one- that her collection was complete. She didn't want to hit thirty...she never wanted to see another one of them... Anne was too good at winning.\n\nA quick trip to the bathroom followed the ritual. Comb the hair, wash the face, brush the teeth. Adjust the clothes, deodorant- out to find Anne. She looked all through the house, even Sylvia's room, which was boarded up from the inside like usual. It was mostly to keep everyone out and to preserve her privacy, but J had been privileged entry four times in her life. The most anyone in the house had ever been allowed in. But after a fair bit of knocking, even that room was completely empty- Sylvia gone as well. The house was frighteningly empty, and finally, after long minutes of searching, she found them; her family, all outside, in the backyard.\nNormally, the backyard was dump. There was an old wooden fence that tried to circle around the property but failed, stopping half way and had fallen to disrepair and rot. The white paint peeling, and several of the boards were cracked and damaged. There were patched of brown and black dirt here and there while stripes of dirty, brown grass, and dying weeds littered everywhere else. There was a weeping willow that had sunk down a bit into the earth, and dead branches and limbs hung down into the yard. An old tire that smelled like mildew was lying on the ground, and some broken toys were scattered about, all of that consisted the entirety of the backyard. A few standing puddles from rainstorms, and dead leaves were there to add character, but what J was looking at, was absolutely amazing.\nUsing a large, jagged tree stump for a table, their mother had placed a table cloth over it, and had all of the girls seated around, as if it were a party. Laura, Anne, Sylvia- and their mother, Karolyn. The sun was shining warmly, and the world suddenly looked welcoming and friendly. The girls all stopped talking, and looked as J slowly stepped out of the house and towards the group of them, looking utterly bewildered.\n\"W....what's going on?\" She asked quietly. Karolyn smiled softly, and reached across the 'table' to point at the open spot, next to Laura and adjacent to Anne.\n\"It's a picnic baby. Come on, sit down, I have something to tell you.\" The elder wolf whispered. J looked around at the three girls sitting at the tree stump and slowly, she padded over, sitting in the space provided for her. Her space. Her spot. Her place. Where she belonged...something inside of her clicked. She was smiling...\n\"I'm...girls. Momma is....I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been away for...well, I'm sorry. Ya know, I woke up this morning, and it dawned on me, that...I don't want you to grow up like this. Not here...not in a place like this. I don't want ya'll to make the same mistakes I made, and there ain't a thing I'm doin to change that. So, I quit my job at the diner. I'm gonna stay home for a while, and make sure to raise you up proper. I'm gonna stop....I'm gonna stop the drugs. I'm gonna stop, cause I don't need it. I'm gonna stop the drugs cause I don't need them anymore, and I'm not gonna let you grow up thinking that...you can hide from all your problems. I won't do it! So today is a new day, alright? It'll be the first day of the rest of you lives...heh. I figured...I figured we might all celebrate, so I bought you this!\" The wolf said happily, reaching down, behind the stump and out of view of the girls. She produced a cake, a three layer, sheet cake she had bought from the store! Target brand, hidden under a plastic covering but it was a cake! A real cake!!! On it, in bright blue icing, it read \"Happy Birthday, Anne, J, Laura, Sylvia.\" There was a pause, the girls all looking at once and other curiously.\n\"Ya'll never had a real cake for any of your birthday's before...so, I decided I was gonna start today. I got my paycheck yesterday, so I went to the store and bought groceries. \"The momma wolf explained. Little eyes lit up. Hearts pounded faster. Was she serious?! Actual groceries?! There was FOOD in the house?!\n\"I...L, like I said, no more drugs...no more...won't do the things I don't want you to do...I'm gonna fix this...I...\"She paused a moment, and burst into tears suddenly. Again, the girls glanced at each other, but the next moment, it was over- the wolf sniffling loudly, rubbing her nose.\n\"I...oh, this...Ok. I'm ok. This is going to be hard...withdrawals...hard...this is...\"She trailed off, mumbling quietly to herself for a few moments, before she turned back to her children.\n\"...Eat. I didn't buy this cake for you to stare at it!! EAT!\" She giggled. Laura, Anne, and J all glanced at each other nervously and reached out to fetch a slice of cake. Momma had provided plates, napkins, forks, and knives and the five of them had a good time. J was confused and thrilled by the odd activities of the day. For the first time in her life, she was having fun with her family. Having fun with the people she cared about, and loved. Was this how real families were all over the world? Was this how her's was going to be from now on, just like mother promised? She found herself lost in thought, even as their mother was poking her with an outstretched finger.\n\n\"Sweetie...I have a question for you?\" The larger wolf asked grinning down at J, who looked up sheepishly.\n\"Momma?\"\n\"Your room...where did all those stuffed animals come from?\"\n\"OH! T-those...W, well...uh...Anne...Anne got them for me. She won 'em all for me at the arcade in town. \"\n\"When'ja y'all go to the arcade?\"\n\"OH! We...It was me and Anne. We were bored one day. \"\n\"And where'd ya'll get money ta play?\"\n\"Um...well I've been saving in my piggy bank, and it's all just a quarter, and the fur who runs it is real nice, and some times, lets us play for free. \" J explained sheepishly- it was only a partial lie. The fur at the arcade did sometimes let them play games for free. Mostly, J figured, it was to watch Annie win at the claw machine game. Of course, the real truth was Anne begging people on the street for quarters. She claimed she was lost and just trying to call home- people fell for it. Every single time.\nThe elder wolf stared at her daughter for a long time, trying to pierce the fabric of lies that had been pulled over her eyes, but then J pulled out her secret weapon; her smile. Less and less these days, had the mother wolf been privy to one of J's smiles, but when she did it, she dazzled. She absolutely seemed to burst from the seams with sunlight, and her soul sparkled like the morning sun. Karolyn giggled in spite of herself, and scooped up her girl gently into her arms, grinning softly.\n\"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes...there's muh lil girl...I haven't seen her in ages. \"\n\"I've been right here the whole time momma!\"\n\"No...dear,...you haven't...but that's ok. That's ok, cause from now on, it's...it's gonna be ok. You don't have to be J anymore.\" The mother wolf whispered quietly to the confused little girl sitting in her lap. J tilted her head slowly.\n\"Wha...what do you mean I'm not gonna be J anymore?\" She asks nervously. Karolyn gave a deep sigh, leaning back against the tree she was sitting under.\n\"Oh...dear, I mean...I mean everything you know about \"J\" is gonna disappear. You are gonna have an entirely new life sweetie...all of us all...no more bad dreams. \" Karolyn whispered, staring into space. J slowly nodded her head. She thought she understood. What mom was saying sort of made sense...Her ears perked when the bigger wolf shifted in position and beamed down at her.\n\"How about Sparkle?\"\n\"Huh?\"\n\"You're new name hun. I figured if we're all gonna get new starts, we might as well have new names. New everything. Nothing to remind of us of the past.\n\"...Ummmm Sparkle?\"\n\"Heh, yes sweetie. It's...your smile. The way you're always trying to be happy, despite all this.\" \"The wolf explained, gesturing towards the decrepit house and the slipshod backyard.\n\"You're always...You've helped Sylvia with her homework when I couldn't...you've helped Laura get to her friend's house in the neighborhood...you're always looking out for Anne,... I, it's your soul sweetie. It Sparkles...you- \"The wolf was cut off when Laura suddenly leapt into her arms, eagerly nudging Sparkle aside with a hip.\n\"I wanna new name too mommy! I'm sick of living in his slime encrusted shit hole!\" She barked, with a wag of her tail. Sparkle's ears twitched and she felt a burst of anger beginning to boil within her.\n\"W, what?! What did you call our house?!\" She snapped at her sibling. Laura looked up at her mother, and then back towards Sparkle, and stuck her tongue out.\n\"Jenny says that our house is a slime encrusted-\n\"And why, would you listen to Jenny?!\" Sparkle snapped. Laura gave her sister a defiant look and raised a shoulder to shunt the other member of her family.\n\"Because Jenny knows everything. Her dad's a lawyer and her mom's a doctor. They gots a huge house and lots and lots and lots of toys. Her mom says the same thing. Their super smart, even smarter then Sylvia. \" She explained, to which Sylvia gave a hot snort from she were was seated. There was silence for a moment, everyone looking towards Sparkle whom was shuddering quietly. How dare she. How dare she pitch the house and the family away as if it were nothing. It was all that they had. ALL that mattered! They only had each other, and this...this shell of a girl in front of her didn't even get it. She didn't even realize it! Sparkle, whom was only seconds away from leaping upon her sister and tearing her to shreds was halted by her mother, whom rested a paw on the girl's chest and pushed her away from Laura.\n\"W, we won't be havin' no fightin' now! Sparkle, don't you dare touch a hair on her head, and Laura, don't ya let me hear you EVER say anything about this place like that again. I know it ain't much, but it's home! We gotta place to live and shelter over our heads! People pray for years n' don't even get that! You'd bettah...\"The wolf paused a moment and trailed off again, staring into space, her ears perked, as if she were trying to listen to someone far away.\n\"I...I'm sorry... Laura...honey. You need to realize, that all of us...all of us here, are all that you can ever count on, ok? Sweetie? You've got everything in the world right here. \" She whispered quietly, rubbing a paw over Laura's face, removing a few strands of blonde hair. The wolf tilted her head, obviously confused, but she knew better then to argue- not in front of her anyway.\n\"So what's my name?\" She asked, unable to quite spare her voice from the irritated whine that riddled it. Karolyn chuckled dryly and looked her over a moment.\n\"Shine...cause of you're bright hair that reminds me of the sun. People always seem to go towards you like light...\" She explained. Shine blinked a moment, narrowed her eyes, and then spit the words out like they were foul.\n\"Shine. \"She groaned quietly, shaking her head. Karolyn chuckled softly, and looked up Anne, who was trying her best to look away, but she kept glancing over at Sparkle and Karolyn expectantly. The older wolf giggled quietly and pointed a finger at Anne, and nodded her head, a slow smile creeping up her lips while she tried to hide her growing excitement. A new name, a new life...a new everything!\n\"Spice.\" She said softly. The girl tilted her head, obviously confused at the name choice, and Karolyn smiled.\nBecause Spice is the type of thing you can add to any food or situation to really get it started. That's what you do. You get things started honey...you're so passionate and eager and ready to go the distance...\" She explained, while Spice's ears flicked and she thought about it. She grinned slowly, nodding her head.\n\"I like Spice. \"She beamed. The three, almost instantly turned to Sylvia, who was sitting quietly on another stump, somewhat away from the group, her nose buried in a book she'd brought with her outside.\n\"What about Sylvia?\" Sparkle asked quietly. Spice gave a wicked grin, and walked over towards her sister, who slowly looked up with a furious glare.\n\"Sugar!\" Spice announced with a cackle. Sugar's lips curled into a slow sneer.\n\"Because she's sooooooo sweet!\" Sparkle giggled. The twins both began laughing uncontrollably, while Sugar just sighed and buried her nose back into the book. It was then, that Shine perked up and glanced at her sisters, and then her mother.\n\"What about you?\" She asked slowly. The twins stopped laughing, and even Sugar perked an ear curiously. The elder wolf tilted her head in confusion.\n\"What about me?\" She asked slowly. Shine nodded her head.\n\"If we're all getting' new names, shouldn't you get one?\" She asked. The momma wolf closed her eyes for a moment thoughtfully, and then looked towards the others, before giving a grin.\n\"Well why don't ya'll come up with a name for me then. \"She smiled. Spark, Spice, and Shine all glanced at each other for a moment, before the three sisters pulled together, Sugar included, as they gathered around her. After a few minutes of deliberation, Sparkle looked towards her mother with a wide birthed grin.\n\"Momma! We've decided! From now on, you're gonna be Shimmer!\" She explained.\n\"Cause your soul shines like gold!\" Spice quipped.\n\"And all that glitters is gold, right?!\" Shine asked. Sugar had no comment to make, but Shimmer could catch a brief nod of approval from her eldest daughter's head. Teary eyed, Shimmer opened her arms, pulling her children close for a hug, excluding Sugar, who remained still and quiet on the stump.\n\"While I hate to disrupt this Kodak moment, I have a recommendation to get from the local college, and professor Perry won't be there much longer. Mother, I assume you'll still give me that ride you promised?\" Sugar asked, her voice low and bitter- like usual. Shimmer glanced up at her daughter, who stood up from her stump and waited expectantly. She gave a nod, and stood up herself, glancing down at her kids, before walking towards Sugar. Only ten and already to head towards college...\n\"Alright girls...We'll talk later tonight about our new lives....we're gonna do it...you'll see!\" Shimmer explained, while she and Sugar moved to head inside. Shine tagged along quickly behind the two.\n\"Wait, wait! Mom! Can you drop me off at Sarah-Allen's house? She's having a birthday party tonight, and I wanna go!\" She shouted. Shimmer glanced towards Sugar, who shrugged her shoulders.\n\"I don't care as long as we get to the college first. You can drop her off on the way back.\" She explained. Shimmer gave a quiet chuckle and glanced behind her towards Sparkle and Spice, who were standing next to one and other, watching their family curiously.\n\"Well...might as well bring ya'll...you girls wanna com-\"\n\"No. \" They replied in unison. Sparkle and Spice despised spending time with Shine in a car, let alone Sugar and Shine. No doubt they all loved each other...but they didn't always like each other.\n\"W, well alright...you girls be good, ok? I might pick up McDonalds on the way home, if ya'll are.\" She smiled warmly. The twins looked at each other with a wag of their tails, and quickly nodded their heads, even as Sugar and Shine tried to lead their mother towards the car. Things really were going to change...Sparkle could feel it...everything was going to be different from now on!!\n\nThings happened all to fast. Much to fast for anyone to really pick up on what was going on. The sisters were in the yard, eating the last few crumbs of cake when they heard the door open and shut to the house. Momma was back already? Maybe she brought McDonalds, like she promised!! And they scurried off- hungry bellies, and eager muzzles grinning to see their new favorite parent! They ran and ran, slipping through the backdoors, into the kitchen, towards the main hall to catch sight of the mother, who was trying to turn their lives around. Instead of a tired muzzle, and gentle eyes, there was a gruff looking growth of beard and a drunken glare. Instead of a bag of fast food, there was a half consumed bottle of liquor. Instead of mother, it was father. It was Ged. He'd come home earlier then normal and he was already drunk...Ged had gotten fired...When the two girls came barreling into the room, he snarled at them, instantly screaming at them, instantly cursing at them, and instantly they turned tail and ran. Get to the hiding spot. That was the drill. They knew the drill by heart now. Get outside to the back yard, pull the grate away from under the house, crawl in, pray. That was the drill. Even if he found them, he couldn't reach them. So they ran. They ran as fast as terrified little legs could run. God how they ran, and Ged chased behind. He wasn't in the mood to play games- he was furious. Spice had gotten outside first, while Sparkle tried to keep up, the girl much less athletic then her twin sister. Spice had gotten into the hiding spot first and was already pulling the grate off it's hinges and Spark was right on her heels. There was more then enough time for her to slide in next to Spice and for them to get out of sight of Ged. To him it would seem like they disappeared into thin air.\nOnly Sparkle tripped. She'd been running outside, slipped out past the door to the backyard, and her foot caught a loose floorboard. Down she went, while Spice watched in horror, the world seeming to suddenly go into slow motion. Her sister slammed into a standing puddle of mud and lay there, whimpering quietly while the bellowing giant of her father closed in behind her. At first, Spice wondered why she didn't stand up and race towards their hiding spot, but then it hit her- if Sparkle moved towards the hiding spot, Ged would find it...he'd catch her before she got in. Sparkle was protecting Spice yet again, and once more, she'd pay the price of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time..\n\nSpice wasn't however, transfixed enough to allow her sister's sacrifice to slide by in vain. She pulled herself into the crawl space under the house, wiggling her hips into the opening, and pulled the grate up back against the building, looking through the rusted at the atrocity that was taking place. Sparkle gave one last hopeless glance towards the hiding spot, and then shut her eyes as tightly as she could. They had made a pact. A deal. No matter what happens- they'd never give away the hiding spot. No matter what. Ever. They had wrote up an agreement on a sheet of paper. Signed in blood. They wouldn't give it away...\nEven as Ged walked over to his daughter and buried his boot as hard as he could into the small of her back, forcing a strangled scream of agony from those young lips, she didn't move. He kicked her again, lodging his foot into her side for a moment, before sending her flying across the yard like a football. She landed in a heap, crumpled on the ground, sobbing quietly. She wasn't going to move. Not even if it cost her the miserable existence she sustained. She wouldn't give the spot away.\n\nGed, for the most part, had completely forgotten that he was the sire to twins. \"J\" had run off somewhere, but that was fine. He had Anne, the noise maker- the one that got under his fur. He wasn't going to beat her outside though. No no no, even with the alcohol in his veins, he knew better. He grabbed her by her raven colored hair, and dragged the poor puppy back inside, while Spice watched, a furious new feeling boiling in her soul. This was not they way to start a new life. You didn't start a new life through old habits. She'd been sitting on the side lines for far, far, far to long, and now she was going to do her part.\nShe wasn't going to let it happen again. No! She wasn't going to allow it! She'd never seen Ged beat someone the way he had her sister. Her own SISTER! And this was all under the impression that he thought it was her he was beating. Spice growled quietly, narrowing her eyes, as the idea formed in her mind. The plan that would stop all of this insanity once and for all. A new life? Yes, she was ready to start a new life. She had enough of this. She wasn't going to back down. She'd have no regrets...this was for Sparkle. Quickly, she slid the rusty grating to the side, crawling out of the dingy, dirty hole, and onto her feet. She'd need to be quick, and quiet if she was going to do this.\nShe padded around towards the front of the house, and perked an ear, listening carefully. No sounds. They were on the first floor...there was still time before Ged decided to give the eight year old six inches of punishment. She cracked the door open, peering into her home carefully. The two of them were in the den...\n\nThe second lash snapped across the girl's face, right over her muzzle, leaving a bright red stripe where the power cord had landed. Sparkle nearly screamed, but caught herself before it was too late. Ged hated noise, and she wasn't about to give him more reason to use that cord. Of course, she didn't really need to give him a reason for him to use it. He raised it again, slashing it across her body- this time, the doubled cord lay across her throat, and it sent the poor puppy into a spiral of dizzying coughs and gags. Her body collapsed to the carpet, her paws instantly around her neck as she tried to breathe again, eyes bulged wide and red. The reprieve, if you could call a few hasty seconds of strangled oxygen a reprieve, was short lived. He grabbed her hair in his fingers, and yanked hard, drawing her up to face him...\n\nSpice whimpered, wincing a moment, feeling a sudden prickling on her nose. It only lasted a moment, before suddenly, she caught a shriek building in her throat. Pain!! Such sudden, unbearable pain, and her nose began to gush warm crimson fluid. What the hell was he doing to her?! She narrowed her eyes. No, she didn't have time, the sooner she found it, the sooner she could stop it. The pup was on her paws and knees, digging wildly through her parent's closet. She'd seen it before...she knew it was in there...if she could just find it...just...something silver caught her eye...Spice grinned- and picked up the muzzle of a small silver revolver nestled between a pair of work boots...\n\nSparkle was trying her best to keep quiet, even as Ged dragged her down the hall by her hair, giving a firm tug here and there, yanking the girl off her feet when she went to slowly. He'd decided she'd been punished enough, and now he was going to 'finish' her like he'd been doing for the last few months...He was headed to the bedroom and she stumbled and tripped, trying to keep up with the angry wolf. Why was he so mad? It didn't make any sense, She didn't even do anything this time!!! -But Ged had never needed an excuse before...He walked along casually and as he passed the living room, he heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked behind him. He froze. Sparkle must have heard it too, since she stopped dead in her tracks next to him...\n\n\"Let. Her. Go.\"\n\nSparkle blinked in surprise, turning around slowly along with Ged. She knew that voice. They both did. She opened an eye, and peered at the trembling figure of Spice, standing with both paws wrapped around a shiny, silver pistol. Ged's handgun. Ged's handgun, in Spice's trembling paws. The bigger wolf paused for a moment, staring at Spice's body and frowned. He didn't know if her youth made her less dangerous, or more dangerous, but even with the fog of alcohol in his mind, he wasn't stupid. He let \"Spice\" go, whom scrambled over, on paws and knees, to her twin sister, and knelt at her feet, sniffling quietly.\n\"J...pud dat down...this has nothin to do with you.\" The larger wolf growled quietly.\n\"I'M ANNE! ME! ME, YOU IDIOT! YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL US APART!! YOU'VE BEEN H, HURTING J THE WHOLE TIME!! YOU'VE BEEN HURTING HER!!\" Spice hollered, the gun trembling harder now, the muzzle wobbling back and forth as Spice tried to point towards Ged's head. Ged frowned quietly, his ears perking in realization, that he had been holding the wrong girl. Had he been doing that all along? If there was a smallish pellet of regret stirring in his stomach, it was over shadowed by growing anger as he looked the situation over. His own offspring was pointing HIS own gun at him!\n\"Pud, Thad. DOWN.\" He snarled again. Anne squeezed her paws around the handle, trying to steady herself. She glanced down at J, who was cowering at her feet.\n\"Spice...Please...put it down...someone is gonna get hurt...\" She whispered quietly.\n\"PUD IT DOWN!\" The big wolf hissed, and made his move. He was moving. Towards her! Towards them both! Towards Sparkle... Spice squeezed her eyes shut and just the briefest moment, her heart stopped as she attempted to murder someone for the first time in her life.\n\"No.\" whimpered quietly.\nThe sound of the gun was deafening. The world stopped. The echoing blast ripping through the halls of the empty house, time standing still as the bullet sped towards the papa wolf's head, and into the wall to the left of it- missing by inches. She had been shaking too badly. The intent was there- just not the steel. Things had never been so bad before. Never been so utterly and terribly hopeless. Things were about to get worse.\n\nFirst, was the painful backhand that sent Spice flying before she could get a second shot off. The little puppy went tumbling through the air, landing with a sickening crunch against the carpet in the living room and a howl of agony followed near instantly. Sparkle crawled over towards Spice as quickly as she could hoping that her sister would be all right- She didn't notice Ged pick up his gun...\n\nHow dare they. They had been lying to him the entire time. His own fucking kids. His own flesh and blood, lying to him. And now one of them actually tried to SHOOT him. The one who put food on the table? The one who let them live under his roof?! The one who let them EXIST?!\nHis fingers clenched the worn leather of the gun as he stomped towards the two girls. The alcohol...he groaned. Four girls? There were only two of them...right? He frowned, lifting the firearm shakily towards the siblings. J was saying something...or was it Anne? He couldn't tell. Didn't matter. The both of them were fucking liars. He'd teach them. He'd show them who was in charge. He was the alpha wolf damn it...\n\nSpice's leg felt like it was on fire. Her foot at least. She sprained it, she was sure, or maybe it was broken. One or the other, but either way it didn't matter; she couldn't move. That was the point, and now Sparkle was standing in front of her, begging Ged to let them go. How could she have missed?! HOW! How could she have been so stupid!? She'd seen dozens of movies, hundreds of times when someone fired a shot! It was so easy!! It should have been so easy! How could she have screwed something like that up?! And for Sparkle's sake!! She cursed herself, and promised right then and there; she wouldn't miss again. That was for damn sure. Never again. She growled quietly at herself, trying to somehow figure out a way to rectify the situation. Not only had she fucked up trying to murder her father, but now she'd exposed herself to Ged, which is what Spark had tried so very hard to keep from happening. She growled at herself again, pushing away the guilt and trying to focus on a way for both of them to get to safety. They had to hurry before Ged....Ged? What was he doing? Her thoughts came to a stop the moment she realized what was going on. Ged had the gun pointed at them both...and Sparkle... Sparkle wasn't begging Ged to let Spice go.\nSparkle was begging Ged not to shoot...\nAnd Ged wasn't listening.\n\nThe first shot ripped though Sparkle's right shoulder, splattering out the younger girl's back at an awkward angle and sending a beautiful splattering ribbon or scarlet across Spice's muzzle. Showered in her sister's blood, Spice could only watch helplessly, as the second blast cut though Sparkle's lower abdomen, tearing through her body and out near her tail, spilling a second scarlet river across the carpet and Spice's body. The puppy crumpled to the ground in shock, her eyes wide open, and her mouth frozen in a soundless scream. She was dead. Sparkle Shadowpaw- whom had been promised a brand new start only hours ago, was dead. Her twin sister, murdered in front of her very eyes. Spice tilted her head slowly, as puppies tended to do when faced with a situation they couldn't quite register...\n\"J....\" Was the only word muttered. The only syllable that broke the silence that echoed after the twin shots of hot death Ged had fired. Her legs were moving on their own, even though flame burned in her right ankle, she stood up and hobbled until she was standing in front of her sister. She was going to protect her damn it! She was going to be the one to defend this ti-\n\nThe bullet pierced her chest- the wrong side missing her heart, but it slammed into her all the same. She'd never felt pain like that before. Never felt anything like the roar of her own body screaming in agony. Her ears peeled back, and she snarled quietly, glaring at her father in defiance. She pointed a finger at him. If she had the energy to curse, she would have- only instead, she fell to her knees- as the second bullet tore into her stomach. That one hurt. A lot. She wasn't going to move. She wasn't going to bow down. She didn't care. She stood there, on her knees, in front of her sister, even as the last bullet crashed into her shoulder.\nThree shots. Somewhere in her brain she had counted three shots- but not one of them registered as a hit, even though she felt herself sinking to the floor. She wouldn't give up though. No damn it, she wasn't going to quit! She wasn't going to let Ged hurt J anymore!\nShe couldn't move, but she could pivot, and as she fell, she twisted her body as best she could- until she landed across her sister's form, shielding her corpse from anymore damage.\nShe'd protect her, and she was happy to die doing so.\n\nSparkle could taste blood when she woke up. She hadn't been \"out\" just...somewhere else. Like she'd been day dreaming. Maybe. She wasn't sure. But when her eyes glanced around, no one was in the room with them. Ged was gone. Spice was lying atop of her. For some reason, something in her head clicked when she noticed the bright cream colored phone cord hidden under a stack of messy newspapers nearby on the coffee table. She wanted it. She didn't know why. She didn't have anyone she wanted to call. It was school time, wasn't it? All her friends were busy with study. Something in her head kept screaming to go after it anyway. Her right arm didn't want to work for some reason. It felt stiff, and hurt to move it- like thousands of needles were jabbing into her at once- and both her legs felt like jelly. They burned too, but she HAD to get to that phone. Something bad was going to happen if she didn't. She pushed Spice aside, who mumbled something and rolled over into a pool of ketchup on the floor. Ketchup? That was silly...tomato juice or something, maybe, but why ketchup? Well mom did say something about food in the house. That didn't make sense either. Maybe someone had spilled something. Something in her head was screaming at her to concentrate on the phone. She had a good arm still. That was enough. There was something wrong with Spice. She had to get to the phone to help. Things were coming back to her. Spice wanted to protect her for some reason. She wasn't hiding like she was supposed to. That stupid twin. Where was she going again? Oh yeah, the phone. Get the phone.\n\nSparkle cried softly, tears trickling down her cheeks while she dragged herself along by her left arm. Every movement she made was like being dragged across concrete by your bicycle. Only this was worse. This was thousands of times worse. Like you were being dragged across a cheese grater into a pool of lemon juice or something... Her fingers touched something rubbery. The phone cord. She gave it a weak yank, and yelped as it tumbled from the coffee table and onto her head.\nThe pain jolted everything back. She gave a horse, soundless scream, but righted herself after a few moments. She could do this. She had to do this! There was a dial tone....a bleep. Another bleep...A third....a ring...\n\"Nine one one. What is your emergency?\"\n\".......hhhhhh.\"\n\"Hello? ...Hello?\"\n\"....heelp...he...helll....it...hurts...\" The phone fell from her lips as a gray paw reached down, and plucked it from her fingertips. Sparkle's eyes widened for a moment in terror. It was Ged! He'd come back! In one brief instant, Ged had dashed the only flicker of hope Sparkle had of coming through any of this. The tiniest little light of hope any eight year old had ever dared to have was gone.\n\"This is Sylvia Shadowpaw. I need medical assistance here immediately. An ambulance required. ...1881 Clearwater Drive. I have two eight year olds with multiple gunshot wounds and both in critical condition. ...Yes they are. ...Badly. I require a police unit in addition, as I am under the impression the assailant is still within distance. In fact, I believe he is passed out in his room. No ma'am. Yes ma'am. Incorrect, I am their sister. Ten years old ma'am. No, this is not a joke.\"\nThe flicker of hope suddenly burst into a shinning, dazzling, blinding light. Sparkle would have smiled if she could. Someone was lifting her up, and something suddenly felt like fire was being poured into her shoulder.\n\"Hold still.\" Sugar's cold, angelic voice hissed. Sparkle wanted to shake her head.\n\"A...Annr...Anne...not.........m...\" The little wolf choked the words out as best she could. There was a pause.\n\"Can you hold this against your tummy? Put as much pressure against it as you can, understand?\"\n\"....yish.\" Sparkle whispered quietly. The world moved again as she was placed back down on the floor, the carpet so soft and warm. She was falling asleep. She wanted to. That was what was important. She didn't want to be awake anymore. Her whole body was on fire, but she didn't have any tears left. It hurt...it hurt so badly...\n\"J!\" Something hit her across the face- hard.\n\"W, wha...\"\n\"Do not sleep! Do not go to sleep! Explain to me what happened! Right now! TELL ME!\"\n\"Don't...yell adme...\" Sparkle grumbled, something thing hit her again.\n\"Do, not, go, to, sleep, J. Wake up! What happened?!\"\n\"...Anne....are gun...raas...don't...don't forget...\"\n\"I have attended to Anne's wounds, but you need to remain conscious!\"\n\"...Whyzat?\"\n\"FOCUS! Sparkle! Listen. Listen ok. You need to keep talking. Talk to me. Tell me about...uh...whatever it is, that you watch on T.V. ok? What games did you play today? With Anne?\"\n\"Help....Anne...K.\"\n\"I helped her. I have already assisted Anne. You need to remain focused. Steady. Do not...J, J? J! NO! Nonononono, J?! Spark? HEY! Wake up. Spark!! That's your name now, right?! SPARK! You're suppose to start over again! Silly way to start a new life... You gotta stay awake for me!! Ok? Hang on...just, I...J, J! Stay with me!\n\"...zel...sish...sis...sug...\"\n\"Please...J...Spark...don't...don't leave. Stay awake, ok? Stay here. They're coming. Help is coming! You're gonna be fine, Oh, God, I promise they're coming. I promise, ok...don't...I ...Stay awake, ok?\"\n\"...I...shor...shorry........Su...Sugah.....Taag....tagg car....Anne...\" Sparkle mumbled quietly, her eyes slowly fluttered closed.\n\"J? No, J...Spark...Come on...don't do this. Spark, I can't fix this don't do this. I don't want...I don't know what to do!!!...I'm sorry. I'm sorry J, I...I'm so sorry, I didn't call anyone...I didn't ...I was gathering evidence...I wanted to be special...you always had Anne, and Laura had all her friends. Mom had whoever she was with at night, and dad...had beer, but I...I wanted you to come to me so...so I could...I wanted to fix it. I can fix everything. But I can't fix this...I don't know how...J wake up...I'll buy you whatever you want. I won't go away to college like Jace or Daelyn...I won't leave...just get up ok? J? I should have called child services! I knew he was hurting you, but I didn't think he'd do this!! Just wake up?! Please?! I won't let them split us up...Come on...We'll be a family again, b, but you gotta...J....no...J say something....J?!\" Sylvia whimpered quietly, feeling panic begin to creep over her. All her life she buried her emotions. She didn't want to feel. If you couldn't feel you couldn't suffer. That's the way it was, but even now, she couldn't stop the tears trickling down her face.\n\"Please....God...Don't...don't let this happen?! Oh please...Spark...J wake up....d, don't die...Don't go...please don't go...J...please...I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this is my fault, but...but don't...don't do this. I don't want you to leave...I...\" Sylvia whimpered helplessly, as she watched as her sister faded away. She cried. She cried for the first time in years that day, holding her sister's lifeless form in her arms, while her tears soaked blood stained fur.\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "J should have known something odd was going to happen the moment she woke up that morning. Anne woke her up, and she looked happy. Very happy. Like usual, she was up first, but instead of letting J sleep to noon, like she liked to do, the twin puppy had pounced her sibling in bed and straddled her hips. She was grinning from ear to ear, as if her head would be lopped off at any moment. Her eyes were wide, bright and shining and her tail was wagging so hard J figured it would rip itself off her butt and fly out the window. It was going to be a different sort of day.
"Mmph...w, what? Anne? What are yo...?"
"Come on!! Momma has a surprise for us!!"
"...Surprise...whadda talkin' about?"
"Just come on!! Get some clothes on! I'm wearing blue, and a red top."
"Why do I gotta wear what you're wearing?"
"Cause I woke up first. Thems is the rules! You wake up first one of these days and you get to pick what we wear. Now come on!!!" The other pup bounded out of the room, and J gave a sigh, falling back into her bed. She closed her eyes for a moment and groaned. She wanted to go back to sleep- but the idea of a surprise was beginning to nag at her. What was it going be? What could it possibly be? Could be anything. Maybe momma won the lottery. Maybe she was leaving dad. Maybe she finally got around to buying them those Christmas presents she'd been promising them for years and years. J sighed softly. It was all too good to be true, but children had a way of hoping beyond hope. It's what kept her going, at least.
Giving another sigh, the puppy dragged herself from her broken bed and collapsed to the ground before crawling towards the closet. When she finally got there, she stood up and sighed deeply, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and reached in to pull free her matching set of clothes. They had rules to follow. First one up  got to pick out what they would wear. It's how they operated as twins and usually, it was Anne who managed to ditch sleep first and dress them for the day. Usually it was a pair of jeans and a variety of shirts they had managed to accumulate over the years. Nothing special, nothing fancy. No outfits- like Laura demanded- just regular street clothes.
Once dressed, J started her morning ritual. She glanced at the giant Wile E. Coyote stuffed animal sitting in the corner...and then the several, smaller stuffed animals that surrounded it. From Wile E. Coyote, she counted each and every stuffed animal- until she had the same number she had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before.
There were twenty-seven stuffed animals. She gave each of them a firm, lingering hug, knelt before them, as if some sort of plushy alter, and prayed to anyone listening, that there wouldn't be twenty-eight by tomorrow. She always promised she'd never see another one- that her collection was complete. She didn't want to hit thirty...she never wanted to see another one of them... Anne was too good at winning.

A quick trip to the bathroom followed the ritual. Comb the hair, wash the face, brush the teeth. Adjust the clothes, deodorant- out to find Anne. She looked all through the house, even Sylvia's room, which was boarded up from the inside like usual. It was mostly to keep everyone out and to preserve her privacy, but J had been privileged entry four times in her life. The most anyone in the house had ever been allowed in. But after a fair bit of knocking, even that room was completely empty- Sylvia gone as well. The house was frighteningly empty, and finally, after long minutes of searching, she found them; her family, all outside, in the backyard.
Normally, the backyard was dump. There was an old wooden fence that tried to circle around the property but failed, stopping half way and  had fallen to disrepair and rot. The white paint peeling, and several of the boards were cracked and damaged. There were patched of brown and black dirt here and there while stripes of dirty, brown grass, and dying weeds littered everywhere else. There was a weeping willow that had sunk down a bit into the earth, and dead branches and limbs hung down into the yard. An old tire that smelled like mildew was lying on the ground, and some broken toys were scattered about, all of that consisted the entirety of the backyard. A few standing puddles from rainstorms, and dead leaves were there to add character, but what J was looking at, was absolutely amazing.
Using a large, jagged tree stump for a table, their mother had placed a table cloth over it, and had all of the girls seated around, as if it were a party. Laura, Anne, Sylvia- and their mother, Karolyn.  The sun was shining warmly, and the world suddenly looked welcoming and friendly. The girls all stopped talking, and looked as J slowly stepped out of the house and towards the group of them, looking utterly bewildered.
"W....what's going on?" She asked quietly. Karolyn smiled softly, and reached across the 'table' to point at the open spot, next to Laura and adjacent to Anne.
"It's a picnic baby. Come on, sit down, I have something to tell you." The elder wolf whispered. J looked around at the three girls sitting at the tree stump and slowly, she padded over, sitting in the space provided for her. Her space. Her spot. Her place. Where she belonged...something inside of her clicked. She was smiling...
"I'm...girls. Momma is....I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've been away for...well, I'm sorry. Ya know, I woke up this morning, and it dawned on me, that...I don't want you to grow up like this. Not here...not in a place like this. I don't want ya'll to make the same mistakes I made, and there ain't a thing I'm doin to change that. So, I quit my job at the diner. I'm gonna stay home for a while, and make sure to raise you up proper. I'm gonna stop....I'm gonna stop the drugs. I'm gonna stop, cause I don't need it. I'm gonna stop the drugs cause I don't need them anymore, and I'm not gonna let you grow up thinking that...you can hide from all your problems. I won't do it! So today is a new day, alright? It'll be the first day of the rest of you lives...heh. I figured...I figured we might all celebrate, so I bought you this!" The wolf said happily, reaching down, behind the stump and out of view of the girls. She produced a cake, a three layer, sheet cake she had bought from the store! Target brand, hidden under a plastic covering but it was a cake! A real cake!!! On it, in bright blue icing, it read "Happy Birthday, Anne, J, Laura, Sylvia." There was a pause, the girls all looking at once and other curiously.
"Ya'll never had a real cake for any of your birthday's before...so, I decided I was gonna start today. I got my paycheck yesterday, so I went to the store and bought groceries. "The momma wolf explained. Little eyes lit up. Hearts pounded faster. Was she serious?! Actual groceries?! There was FOOD in the house?!
"I...L, like I said, no more drugs...no more...won't do the things I don't want you to do...I'm gonna fix this...I..."She paused a moment, and burst into tears suddenly. Again, the girls glanced at each other, but the next moment, it was over- the wolf sniffling loudly, rubbing her nose.
"I...oh, this...Ok. I'm ok. This is going to be hard...withdrawals...hard...this is..."She trailed off, mumbling quietly to herself for a few moments, before she turned back to her children.
"...Eat. I didn't buy this cake for you to stare at it!! EAT!" She giggled. Laura, Anne, and J all glanced at each other nervously and reached out to fetch a slice of cake. Momma had provided plates, napkins, forks, and knives and the five of them had a good time. J was confused and thrilled by the odd activities of the day. For the first time in her life, she was having fun with her family. Having fun with the people she cared about, and loved. Was this how real families were all over the world? Was this how her's was going to be from now on, just like mother promised?  She found herself lost in thought, even as their mother was poking her with an outstretched finger.

"Sweetie...I have a question for you?" The larger wolf asked grinning down at J, who looked up sheepishly.
"Momma?"
"Your room...where did all those stuffed animals come from?"
"OH! T-those...W, well...uh...Anne...Anne got them for me. She won 'em all for me at the arcade in town. "
"When'ja y'all go to the arcade?"
"OH! We...It was me and Anne. We were bored one day. "
"And where'd ya'll get money ta play?"
"Um...well I've been saving in my piggy bank, and it's all just a quarter, and the fur who runs it is real nice, and some times, lets us play for free. " J explained sheepishly- it was only a partial lie. The fur at the arcade did sometimes let them play games for free. Mostly, J figured, it was to watch Annie win at the claw machine game. Of course, the real truth was Anne begging people on the street for quarters. She claimed she was lost and just trying to call home- people fell for it. Every single time.
The elder wolf stared at her daughter for a long time, trying to pierce the fabric of lies that had been pulled over her eyes, but then J pulled out her secret weapon; her smile. Less and less these days, had the mother wolf been privy to one of J's smiles, but when she did it, she dazzled. She absolutely seemed to burst from the seams with sunlight, and her soul sparkled like the morning sun. Karolyn giggled in spite of herself, and scooped up her girl gently into her arms, grinning softly.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes...there's muh lil girl...I haven't seen her in ages. "
"I've been right here the whole time momma!"
"No...dear,...you haven't...but that's ok. That's ok, cause from now on, it's...it's gonna be ok. You don't have to be J anymore." The mother wolf whispered quietly to the confused little girl sitting in her lap. J tilted her head slowly.
"Wha...what do you mean I'm not gonna be J anymore?" She asks nervously. Karolyn gave a deep sigh, leaning back against the tree she was sitting under.
"Oh...dear, I mean...I mean everything you know about "J" is gonna disappear. You are gonna have an entirely new life sweetie...all of us all...no more bad dreams. " Karolyn whispered, staring into space. J slowly nodded her head. She thought she understood. What mom was saying sort of made sense...Her ears perked when the bigger wolf shifted in position and beamed down at her.
"How about Sparkle?"
"Huh?"
"You're new name hun. I figured if we're all gonna get new starts, we might as well have new names. New everything. Nothing to remind of us of the past.
"...Ummmm Sparkle?"
"Heh, yes sweetie. It's...your smile. The way you're always trying to be happy, despite all this." "The wolf explained, gesturing towards the decrepit house and the slipshod backyard.
"You're always...You've helped Sylvia with her homework when I couldn't...you've helped Laura get to her friend's house in the neighborhood...you're always looking out for Anne,... I, it's your soul sweetie. It Sparkles...you- "The wolf was cut off when Laura suddenly leapt into her arms, eagerly nudging Sparkle aside with a hip.
"I wanna new name too mommy! I'm sick of living in his slime encrusted shit hole!" She barked, with a wag of her tail. Sparkle's ears twitched and she felt a burst of anger beginning to boil within her.
"W, what?! What did you call our house?!" She snapped at her sibling. Laura looked up at her mother, and then back towards Sparkle, and stuck her tongue out.
"Jenny says that our house is a slime encrusted-
"And why, would you listen to Jenny?!" Sparkle snapped. Laura gave her sister a defiant look and raised a shoulder to shunt the other member of her family.
"Because Jenny knows everything. Her dad's a lawyer and her mom's a doctor. They gots a huge house and lots and lots and lots of toys. Her mom says the same thing. Their super smart, even smarter then Sylvia. " She explained, to which Sylvia gave a hot snort from she were was seated. There was silence for a moment, everyone looking towards Sparkle whom was shuddering quietly. How dare she. How dare she pitch the house and the family away as if it were nothing. It was all that they had. ALL that mattered! They only had each other, and this...this shell of a girl in front of her didn't even get it. She didn't even realize it! Sparkle, whom was only seconds away from leaping upon her sister and tearing her to shreds was halted by her mother, whom rested a paw on the girl's chest and pushed her away from Laura.
"W, we won't be havin' no fightin' now! Sparkle, don't you dare touch a hair on her head, and Laura, don't ya let me hear you EVER say anything about this place like that again. I know it ain't much, but it's home! We gotta place to live and shelter over our heads! People pray for years n' don't even get that! You'd bettah..."The wolf paused a moment and trailed off again, staring into space, her ears perked, as if she were trying to listen to someone far away.
"I...I'm sorry... Laura...honey. You need to realize, that all of us...all of us here, are all that you can ever count on, ok? Sweetie? You've got everything in the world right here. " She whispered quietly, rubbing a paw over Laura's face, removing a few strands of blonde hair. The wolf tilted her head, obviously confused, but she knew better then to argue- not in front of her anyway.
"So what's my name?" She asked, unable to quite spare her voice from the irritated whine that riddled it. Karolyn chuckled dryly and looked her over a moment.
"Shine...cause of you're bright hair that reminds me of the sun. People always seem to go towards you like light..." She explained. Shine blinked a moment, narrowed her eyes, and then spit the words out like they were foul.
"Shine. "She groaned quietly, shaking her head. Karolyn chuckled softly, and looked up Anne, who was trying her best to look away, but she kept glancing over at Sparkle and Karolyn expectantly. The older wolf giggled quietly and pointed a finger at Anne, and nodded her head, a slow smile creeping up her lips while she tried to hide her growing excitement. A new name, a new life...a new everything!
"Spice." She said softly. The girl tilted her head, obviously confused at the name choice, and Karolyn smiled.
Because Spice is the type of thing you can add to any food or situation to really get it started. That's what you do. You get things started honey...you're so passionate and eager and ready to go the distance..." She explained, while Spice's ears flicked and she thought about it. She grinned slowly, nodding her head.
"I like Spice. "She beamed. The three, almost instantly turned to Sylvia, who was sitting quietly on another stump, somewhat away from the group, her nose buried in a book she'd brought with her outside.
"What about Sylvia?" Sparkle asked quietly. Spice gave a wicked grin, and walked over towards her sister, who slowly looked up with a furious glare.
"Sugar!" Spice announced with a cackle. Sugar's lips curled into a slow sneer.
"Because she's sooooooo sweet!" Sparkle giggled. The twins both began laughing uncontrollably, while Sugar just sighed and buried her nose back into the book. It was then, that Shine perked up and glanced at her sisters, and then her mother.
"What about you?" She asked slowly. The twins stopped laughing, and even Sugar perked an ear curiously. The elder wolf tilted her head in confusion.
"What about me?" She asked slowly. Shine nodded her head.
"If we're all getting' new names, shouldn't you get one?" She asked. The momma wolf closed her eyes for a moment thoughtfully, and then looked towards the others, before giving a grin.
"Well why don't ya'll come up with a name for me then. "She smiled. Spark, Spice, and Shine all glanced at each other for a moment, before the three sisters pulled together, Sugar included, as they gathered around her. After a few minutes of deliberation, Sparkle looked towards her mother with a wide birthed grin.
"Momma! We've decided! From now on, you're gonna be Shimmer!" She explained.
"Cause your soul shines like gold!" Spice quipped.
"And all that glitters is gold, right?!" Shine asked. Sugar had no comment to make, but Shimmer could catch a brief nod of approval from her eldest daughter's head. Teary eyed, Shimmer opened her arms, pulling her children close for a hug, excluding Sugar, who remained still and quiet on the stump.
"While I hate to disrupt this Kodak moment, I have a recommendation to get from the local college, and professor Perry won't be there much longer. Mother, I assume you'll still give me that ride you promised?" Sugar asked, her voice low and bitter- like usual. Shimmer glanced up at her daughter, who stood up from her stump and waited expectantly.  She gave a nod, and stood up herself, glancing down at her kids, before walking towards Sugar. Only ten and already to head towards college...
"Alright girls...We'll talk later tonight about our new lives....we're gonna do it...you'll see!" Shimmer explained, while she and Sugar moved to head inside. Shine tagged along quickly behind the two.
"Wait, wait! Mom! Can you drop me off at Sarah-Allen's house? She's having a birthday party tonight, and I wanna go!" She shouted. Shimmer glanced towards Sugar, who shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't care as long as we get to the college first. You can drop her off on the way back." She explained. Shimmer gave a quiet chuckle and glanced behind her towards Sparkle and Spice, who were standing next to one and other, watching their family curiously.
"Well...might as well bring ya'll...you girls wanna com-"
"No. " They replied in unison. Sparkle and Spice despised spending time with Shine in a car, let alone Sugar and Shine. No doubt they all loved each other...but they didn't always like each other.
"W, well alright...you girls be good, ok? I might pick up McDonalds on the way home, if ya'll are." She smiled warmly. The twins looked at each other with a wag of their tails, and quickly nodded their heads, even as Sugar and Shine tried to lead their mother towards the car. Things really were going to change...Sparkle could feel it...everything was going to be different from now on!!

Things happened all to fast. Much to fast for anyone to really pick up on what was going on. The sisters were in the yard, eating the last few crumbs of cake when they heard the door open and shut to the house. Momma was back already? Maybe she brought McDonalds, like she promised!! And they scurried off- hungry bellies, and eager muzzles grinning to see their new favorite parent! They ran and ran, slipping through the backdoors, into the kitchen, towards the main hall to catch sight of the mother, who was trying to turn their lives around.  Instead of a tired muzzle, and gentle eyes, there was a gruff looking growth of beard and a drunken glare. Instead of a bag of fast food, there was a half consumed bottle of liquor. Instead of mother, it was father.  It was Ged. He'd come home earlier then normal and he was already drunk...Ged had gotten fired...When the two girls came barreling into the room, he snarled at them, instantly screaming at them, instantly cursing at them, and instantly they turned tail and ran. Get to the hiding spot. That was the drill. They knew the drill by heart now. Get outside to the back yard, pull the grate away from under the house, crawl in, pray. That was the drill. Even if he found them, he couldn't reach them. So they ran. They ran as fast as terrified little legs could run. God how they ran, and Ged chased behind. He wasn't in the mood to play games- he was furious. Spice had gotten outside first, while Sparkle tried to keep up, the girl much less athletic then her twin sister. Spice had gotten into the hiding spot first and was already pulling the grate off it's hinges and  Spark was right on her heels. There was more then enough time for her to slide in next to Spice and for them to get out of sight of Ged. To him it would seem like they disappeared into thin air.
Only Sparkle tripped. She'd been running outside, slipped out past the door to the backyard, and her foot caught a loose floorboard.  Down she went, while Spice watched in  horror, the world seeming to suddenly go into slow motion. Her sister slammed into a standing puddle of mud and lay there, whimpering quietly while the bellowing giant of her father closed in behind her. At first, Spice wondered why she didn't stand up and race towards their hiding spot, but then it hit her- if Sparkle moved towards the hiding spot, Ged would find it...he'd catch her before she got in. Sparkle was protecting Spice yet again, and once more, she'd pay the price of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time..

Spice wasn't however, transfixed enough to allow her sister's sacrifice to slide by in vain. She pulled herself into the crawl space under the house, wiggling her hips into the opening, and pulled the grate up back against the building, looking through the rusted at the atrocity that was taking place. Sparkle gave one last hopeless glance towards the hiding spot, and then shut her eyes as tightly as she could. They had made a pact. A deal. No matter what happens- they'd never give away the hiding spot. No matter what. Ever. They had wrote up an agreement on a sheet of paper. Signed in blood. They wouldn't give it away...
Even as Ged walked over to his daughter and buried his boot as hard as he could into the small of her back, forcing a strangled scream of agony from those young lips, she didn't move. He kicked her again, lodging his foot into her side for a moment, before sending her flying across the yard like a football. She landed in a heap, crumpled on the ground, sobbing quietly. She wasn't going to move. Not even if it cost her the miserable existence she sustained. She wouldn't give the spot away.

Ged, for the most part, had completely forgotten that he was the sire to twins. "J" had run off somewhere, but that was fine. He had Anne, the noise maker- the one that got under his fur. He wasn't going to beat her outside though. No no no, even with the alcohol in his veins, he knew better. He grabbed her by her raven colored hair, and dragged the poor puppy back inside, while Spice watched, a furious new feeling boiling in her soul. This was not they way to start a new life. You didn't start a new life through old habits. She'd been sitting on the side lines for far, far, far to long, and now she was going to do her part.
She wasn't going to let it happen again. No! She wasn't going to allow it! She'd never seen Ged beat someone the way he had her sister. Her own SISTER! And this was all under the impression that he thought it was her he was beating. Spice growled quietly, narrowing her eyes, as the idea formed in her mind. The plan that would stop all of this insanity once and for all. A new life? Yes, she was ready to start a new life. She had enough of this.  She wasn't going to back down. She'd have no regrets...this was for Sparkle. Quickly, she slid the rusty grating to the side, crawling out of the dingy, dirty hole, and onto her feet. She'd need to be quick, and quiet if she was going to do this.
She padded around towards the front of the house, and perked an ear, listening carefully. No sounds. They were on the first floor...there was still time before Ged decided to give the eight year old six inches of punishment. She cracked the door open, peering into her home carefully. The two of them were in the den...

The second lash snapped across the girl's face, right over her muzzle, leaving a bright red stripe where the power cord had landed. Sparkle nearly screamed, but caught herself before it was too late. Ged hated noise, and she wasn't about to give him more reason to use that cord. Of course, she didn't really need to give him a reason for him to use it. He raised it again, slashing it across her body- this time, the doubled cord lay across her throat, and it sent the poor puppy into a spiral of dizzying coughs and gags. Her body collapsed to the carpet, her paws instantly around her neck as she tried to breathe again, eyes bulged wide and red. The reprieve, if you could call a few hasty seconds of strangled oxygen a reprieve, was short lived. He grabbed her hair in his fingers, and yanked hard, drawing her up to face him...

Spice whimpered, wincing a moment, feeling a sudden prickling on her nose. It only lasted a moment, before suddenly, she caught a shriek building in her throat. Pain!! Such sudden, unbearable pain, and her nose began to gush warm crimson fluid. What the hell was he doing to her?! She narrowed her eyes. No, she didn't have time, the sooner she found it, the sooner she could stop it. The pup was on her paws and knees, digging wildly through her parent's closet. She'd seen it before...she knew it was in there...if she could just find it...just...something silver caught her eye...Spice grinned- and picked up the muzzle of a small silver revolver nestled between a pair of work boots...

Sparkle was trying her best to keep quiet, even as Ged dragged her down the hall by her hair, giving a firm tug here and there, yanking the girl off her feet when she went to slowly. He'd decided she'd been punished enough, and now he was going to 'finish' her like he'd been doing for the last few months...He was headed to the bedroom and she stumbled and tripped, trying to keep up with the angry wolf. Why was he so mad? It didn't make any sense, She didn't even do anything this time!!! -But Ged had never needed an excuse before...He walked along casually and as he passed the living room, he heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked behind him. He froze. Sparkle must have heard it too, since she stopped dead in her tracks next to him...

"Let. Her. Go."

Sparkle blinked in surprise, turning around slowly along with Ged. She knew that voice. They both did. She opened an eye, and peered at the trembling figure of Spice, standing with both paws wrapped around a shiny, silver pistol. Ged's handgun. Ged's handgun, in Spice's trembling paws. The bigger wolf paused for a moment, staring at Spice's body and frowned. He didn't know if her youth made her less dangerous, or more dangerous, but even with the fog of alcohol in his mind, he wasn't stupid.  He let "Spice" go, whom scrambled over, on paws and knees, to her twin sister, and knelt at her feet, sniffling quietly.
"J...pud dat down...this has nothin to do with you." The larger wolf growled quietly.
"I'M ANNE! ME! ME, YOU IDIOT! YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL US APART!! YOU'VE BEEN H, HURTING J THE WHOLE TIME!! YOU'VE BEEN HURTING HER!!" Spice hollered, the gun trembling harder now, the muzzle wobbling back and forth as Spice tried to point towards Ged's head. Ged frowned quietly, his ears perking in realization, that he had been holding the wrong girl. Had he been doing that all along?  If there was a smallish pellet of regret stirring in his stomach, it was over shadowed by growing anger as he looked the situation over. His own offspring was pointing HIS own gun at him!
"Pud, Thad. DOWN." He snarled again. Anne squeezed her paws around the handle, trying to steady herself. She glanced down at J, who was cowering at her feet.
"Spice...Please...put it down...someone is gonna get hurt..." She whispered quietly.
"PUD IT DOWN!" The big wolf hissed, and made his move. He was moving. Towards her! Towards them both! Towards Sparkle... Spice squeezed her eyes shut and just the briefest moment, her heart stopped as she attempted to murder someone for the first time in her life.
"No." whimpered quietly.
The sound of the gun was deafening.  The world stopped. The echoing blast ripping through the halls of the empty house, time standing still as the bullet sped towards the papa wolf's head, and into the wall to the left of it- missing by inches. She had been shaking too badly. The intent was there- just not the steel. Things had never been so bad before. Never been so utterly and terribly hopeless. Things were about to get worse.

First, was the painful backhand that sent Spice flying before she could get a second shot off. The little puppy went tumbling through the air, landing with a sickening crunch against the carpet in the living room and a howl of agony followed near instantly. Sparkle crawled over towards Spice as quickly as she could hoping that her sister would be all right- She didn't notice Ged pick up his gun...

How dare they. They had been lying to him the entire time. His own fucking kids. His own flesh and blood, lying to him. And now one of them actually tried to SHOOT him. The one who put food on the table? The one who let them live under his roof?! The one who let them EXIST?!
His fingers clenched the worn leather of the gun as he stomped towards the two girls. The alcohol...he groaned. Four girls? There were only two of them...right? He frowned, lifting the firearm shakily towards the siblings. J was saying something...or was it Anne? He couldn't tell. Didn't matter. The both of them were fucking liars. He'd teach them. He'd show them who was in charge. He was the alpha wolf damn it...

Spice's leg felt like it was on fire. Her foot at least. She sprained it, she was sure, or maybe it was broken. One or the other, but either way it didn't matter; she couldn't move. That was the point, and now Sparkle was standing in front of her, begging Ged to let them go. How could she have missed?! HOW! How could she have been so stupid!? She'd seen dozens of movies, hundreds of times when someone fired a shot! It was so easy!! It should have been so easy! How could she have screwed something like that up?! And for Sparkle's sake!! She cursed herself, and promised right then and there; she wouldn't miss again. That was for damn sure. Never again.  She growled quietly at herself, trying to somehow figure out a way to rectify the situation. Not only had she fucked up trying to murder her father, but now she'd exposed herself to Ged, which is what Spark had tried so very hard to keep from happening. She growled at herself again, pushing away the guilt and trying to focus on a way for both of them to get to safety. They had to hurry before Ged....Ged? What was he doing? Her thoughts came to a stop the moment she realized what was going on. Ged had the gun pointed at them both...and Sparkle... Sparkle wasn't begging Ged to let Spice go.
Sparkle was begging Ged not to shoot...
And Ged wasn't listening.

The first shot ripped though Sparkle's right shoulder, splattering out the younger girl's back at an awkward angle and sending a beautiful splattering ribbon or scarlet across Spice's muzzle. Showered in her sister's blood, Spice could only watch helplessly, as the second blast cut though Sparkle's lower abdomen, tearing through her body and out near her tail, spilling a second scarlet river across the carpet and Spice's body. The puppy crumpled to the ground in shock, her eyes wide open, and her mouth frozen in a soundless scream. She was dead. Sparkle Shadowpaw- whom had been promised a brand new start only hours ago, was dead.  Her twin sister, murdered in front of her very eyes. Spice tilted her head slowly, as puppies tended to do when faced with a situation they couldn't quite register...
"J...." Was the only word muttered. The only syllable that broke the silence that echoed after the twin shots of hot death Ged had fired. Her legs were moving on their own, even though flame burned in her right ankle, she stood up and hobbled until she was standing in front of her sister. She was going to protect her damn it! She was going to be the one to defend this ti-

The bullet pierced her chest- the wrong side missing her heart, but it slammed into her all the same. She'd never felt pain like that before. Never felt anything like the roar of her own body screaming in agony. Her ears peeled back, and she snarled quietly, glaring at her father in defiance. She pointed a finger at him. If she had the energy to curse, she would have- only instead, she fell to her knees- as the second bullet tore into her stomach. That one hurt. A lot. She wasn't going to move. She wasn't going to bow down. She didn't care. She stood there, on her knees, in front of her sister, even as the last bullet crashed into her shoulder.
Three shots. Somewhere in her brain she had counted three shots- but not one of them registered as a hit, even though she felt herself sinking to the floor. She wouldn't give up though. No damn it, she wasn't going to quit! She wasn't going to let Ged hurt J anymore!
She couldn't move, but she could pivot, and as she fell, she twisted her body as best she could- until she landed across her sister's form, shielding her corpse from anymore damage.
She'd protect her, and she was happy to die doing so.

Sparkle could taste blood when she woke up. She hadn't been "out" just...somewhere else. Like she'd been day dreaming. Maybe. She wasn't sure. But when her eyes glanced around, no one was in the room with them. Ged was gone. Spice was lying atop of her. For some reason, something in her head clicked when she noticed the bright cream colored phone cord hidden under a stack of messy newspapers nearby on the coffee table.  She wanted it. She didn't know why. She didn't have anyone she wanted to call. It was school time, wasn't it? All her friends were busy with study. Something in her head kept screaming to go after it anyway. Her right arm didn't want to work for some reason. It felt stiff, and hurt to move it- like thousands of needles were jabbing into her at once- and both her legs felt like jelly. They burned too, but she HAD to get to that phone. Something bad was going to happen if she didn't.  She pushed Spice aside, who mumbled something and rolled over into a pool of ketchup on the floor. Ketchup? That was silly...tomato juice or something, maybe, but why ketchup? Well mom did say something about food in the house.  That didn't make sense either. Maybe someone had spilled something. Something in her head was screaming at her to concentrate on the phone. She had a good arm still. That was enough. There was something wrong with Spice. She had to get to the phone to help. Things were coming back to her. Spice wanted to protect her for some reason. She wasn't hiding like she was supposed to. That stupid twin. Where was she going again? Oh yeah, the phone. Get the phone.

Sparkle cried softly, tears trickling down her cheeks while she dragged herself along by her left arm. Every movement she made was like being dragged across concrete by your bicycle. Only this was worse. This was thousands of times worse. Like you were being dragged across a cheese grater into a pool of lemon juice or something...  Her fingers touched something rubbery. The phone cord. She gave it a weak yank, and yelped as it tumbled from the coffee table and onto her head.
The pain jolted everything back. She gave a horse, soundless scream, but righted herself after a few moments. She could do this. She had to do this! There was a dial tone....a bleep. Another bleep...A third....a ring...
"Nine one one. What is your emergency?"
".......hhhhhh."
"Hello? ...Hello?"
"....heelp...he...helll....it...hurts..." The phone fell from her lips as a gray paw reached down, and plucked it from her fingertips. Sparkle's eyes widened for a moment in terror. It was Ged! He'd come back! In one brief instant, Ged had dashed the only flicker of hope Sparkle had of coming through any of this. The tiniest little light of hope any eight year old had ever dared to have was gone.
"This is Sylvia Shadowpaw. I need medical assistance here immediately. An ambulance required. ...1881 Clearwater Drive. I have two eight year olds with multiple gunshot wounds and both in critical condition. ...Yes they are. ...Badly.  I require a police unit in addition, as I am under the impression the assailant is still within distance. In fact, I believe he is passed out in his room. No ma'am. Yes ma'am. Incorrect, I am their sister. Ten years old ma'am. No, this is not a joke."
The flicker of hope suddenly burst into a shinning, dazzling, blinding light. Sparkle would have smiled if she could. Someone was lifting her up, and something suddenly felt like fire was being poured into her shoulder.
"Hold still." Sugar's cold, angelic voice hissed. Sparkle wanted to shake her head.
"A...Annr...Anne...not.........m..." The little wolf choked the words out as best she could. There was a pause.
"Can you hold this against your tummy? Put as much pressure against it as you can, understand?"
"....yish." Sparkle whispered quietly. The world moved again as she was placed back down on the floor, the carpet so soft and warm. She was falling asleep. She wanted to. That was what was important. She didn't want to be awake anymore. Her whole body was on fire, but she didn't have any tears left. It hurt...it hurt so badly...
"J!" Something hit her across the face- hard.
"W, wha..."
"Do not sleep! Do not go to sleep!  Explain to me what happened! Right now! TELL ME!"
"Don't...yell adme..." Sparkle grumbled, something thing hit her again.
"Do, not, go, to, sleep, J. Wake up! What happened?!"
"...Anne....are gun...raas...don't...don't forget..."
"I have attended to Anne's wounds, but you need to remain conscious!"
"...Whyzat?"
"FOCUS! Sparkle! Listen. Listen ok. You need to keep talking. Talk to me. Tell me about...uh...whatever it is, that you watch on T.V. ok? What games did you play today? With Anne?"
"Help....Anne...K."
"I helped her. I have already assisted Anne. You need to remain focused. Steady. Do not...J, J? J! NO! Nonononono, J?! Spark? HEY! Wake up. Spark!! That's your name now, right?! SPARK! You're suppose to start over again! Silly way to start a new life... You gotta stay awake for me!! Ok? Hang on...just, I...J, J! Stay with me!
"...zel...sish...sis...sug..."
"Please...J...Spark...don't...don't leave. Stay awake, ok? Stay here. They're coming. Help is coming! You're gonna be fine, Oh, God, I promise they're coming. I promise, ok...don't...I ...Stay awake, ok?"
"...I...shor...shorry........Su...Sugah.....Taag....tagg car....Anne..." Sparkle mumbled quietly, her eyes slowly fluttered closed.
"J? No, J...Spark...Come on...don't do this. Spark, I can't fix this don't do this. I don't want...I don't know what to do!!!...I'm sorry. I'm sorry J, I...I'm so sorry, I didn't call anyone...I didn't ...I was gathering evidence...I wanted to be special...you always had Anne, and Laura had all her friends. Mom had whoever she was with at night, and dad...had beer, but I...I wanted you to come to me so...so I could...I wanted to fix it. I can fix everything. But I can't fix this...I don't know how...J wake up...I'll buy you whatever you want. I won't go away to college like Jace or Daelyn...I won't leave...just get up ok? J? I should have called child services! I knew he was hurting you, but I didn't think he'd do this!! Just wake up?! Please?! I won't let them split us up...Come on...We'll be a family again, b, but you gotta...J....no...J say something....J?!" Sylvia whimpered quietly, feeling panic begin to creep over her. All her life she buried her emotions. She didn't want to feel. If you couldn't feel you couldn't suffer.  That's the way it was, but even now, she couldn't stop the tears trickling down her face.
"Please....God...Don't...don't let this happen?! Oh please...Spark...J wake up....d, don't die...Don't go...please don't go...J...please...I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this is my fault, but...but don't...don't do this. I don't want you to leave...I..." Sylvia whimpered helplessly, as she watched as her sister faded away. She cried. She cried for the first time in years that day, holding her sister's lifeless form in her arms, while her tears soaked blood stained fur.
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