User blog:InklingBear/Life of Pets - Pain In The Chest

Story #33 - Pain In The Chest
4:00 pm

Lincoln groaned. "This stinks."

It's finally an inevitable Friday afternoon as the whole family's out and about having their fun. Ten sisters, two parents, and one less family member making a trip to witness a brand new movie that everybody's been raving about for weeks on end. As poor old Lincoln was left behind in his room, face polished in light red, thanks to his burning cold in his chest, he glanced over to the reader to explain his unfortunate situation.

"As you all may have known already, my—cough—family's out to watch some movie that everyone's talking about. It's got such a long title that I... can barely remember what it was. I'm surprised that even my older sisters wanted to tag along."

That movie in question was "Pretty Pink Cupcakes in Rainbow Land". He was right about a long title, but it was also supposed to be a girly movie that literally anybody could enjoy. A movie about anthropomorphic food in an imaginary land making memories of a lifetime? What more could anybody want… for those that's not an adult. Did this really have to happen to Lincoln? Having to stay in bed with a cold in his chest while Clyde kindly takes his place, and miss out on the movie that's been on everyone's minds for a while?

"I really hope my family's really gonna enjoy that—cough—movie. It's a real bummer that I somehow got this chest cold. If Lola would've butted out just for one night, I probably wouldn't have been in this—cough—predicament. But for now, I have to… lie here and wait until my sisters and my parents come home in about an hour and a half from now."

The company that made the movie must have worked their butts off with the advertising to get everybody's curiosity to peak to its highest extent. To which case it did. Everyone in the Royal Woods area seemed to gather tickets to see the very first airing that started an hour from now. By the time everyone's probably arguing over snacks, candy and drinks, Lincoln lied back in his bed, letting out a disappointed sigh as he placed his gaze on the ceiling above.

A few minutes later, Charles walked inside the boy's compressed room. A little whine later, he caught Lincoln's attention. Did he think the dog wanted something from him? Maybe it could be another refill in his doggy bowl? Maybe it could be a treat, despite getting one just last night? The answer to that was simple. His whining didn't sound like begging or demanding. Instead, it was a whine for sympathy. He felt sorry for him.

Lincoln shifted his body to the right as he glanced over to his frowning hound as he drooped his ears down slightly.

"Oh, hey Charles," Lincoln said. "You want something?"

Charles shook his head.

"C'mon boy, you gotta be in here for something…"

...But Charles didn't want anything. He just felt bad about his sudden sickness. If anything, he just wanted to bunk with him for a little while so the kid would have some bit of company. If he really wanted to be alone at such short notice, he'd gladly obey his wishes.

"Oh… I see," Lincoln uttered. "Well—sniff—if you don't mind, I'll just be alone for a while…"

Sympathy perked up even more. Charles was sad for the poor child. Surely he wanted to do something for him to help him out in any way. The dog was thinking now. Scratching at his canine head, he figured a simple bowl of soup would soothe that cold of his.

Making his way down the stairs and entering the kitchen, Charles jumped up on the side of the countertop. Struggling to lift himself up on top, he pushed himself up on a drawer to help give him a boost. He was on top now. Progress was already made in such a short time.

As the dog was about to open the cabinets, the cat of the family called out to him.

"Eh, what's up dawg?" Cliff uttered, curious to know what's going on.

"Eh, what's down wit' youse, makin' dat looney reference?" Charles uttered back.

The cat shrugged. "Nothin' much." Still fixated on the hound, he wanted to make a small request. "Hey, while yer up dere, ya mind tossin' down a can of Meow Mix? I'm cravin' em fer sum reason 'n I dunno why."

Charles opened the cabinet, grabbed the cat's requested item and tossed it down. "Yeah sure."

Cliff swiftly licked his lips as he caught the can. "Thank ya kindly."

Walt and Geo came into the scene not long after. Despite their curiosity, they also wanted to make their request as Charles switched his gaze over to the hamster.

"You don't happen to have those little carrot sticks up there somewhere right?" Geo asked, as the dog put his gaze on the bird.

"I don't want anything," Walt said. "I have like a crud-ton of birdseed in my house outside and I'm just curious to know what's happening here."

Charles groaned, grabbing a small pack of carrot sticks from the cabinet. He tossed them down to the hamster before they hit his face, knocking him off his feet.

"Hey!" the hamster irritably uttered.

Charles being the savage animal that he is, simply shrugged it off. "Anyway, da boy's sick upstairs in his room and I feel real bad fer 'em." He grabbed a can of soup. "So I figured, why not whip up somethin' fer him ta chow down on? Ya know, ta help 'em get bettuh?"

"Oh yeah," Cliff said, with his mouth full. "I remembuh overhearin' da kids talkin' 'bout him." He gulped his food down. "Didn't dat filthy kid get sick not too long ago after she was playin' mud wit' ya in da rain?"

"I remember that part all too well." Geo said. "But really, what did anyone expect?"

"I'm surprised that didn't affect the mutt and the puss." Walt added, much to the annoyance of Charles and Cliff.

The feline retaliated as he flicked a piece of his cat food at the bird. It slightly missed him as it was off course. Deciding to mock the cat, Walt shut his eyes and blew a raspberry. What he never saw coming was getting struck by another bag of carrot sticks, grounding him by Charles. Shaking his dizzy head, Walt got back up on his feet.

"One of these days, I swear..." Walt mumbled to himself.

Charles tampered with the stove, causing a flame or two to surprise him as he jumped back from the blazing heat. All he needed now was a pot to warm the canned content.

"Alright now," Charles uttered, in confidence. "Let's get ta cookin'."

"I got a bad feeling about this." Walt said, squinting his eyes.

The bird was somewhat suspicious. He had every right to be, considering what Lincoln's done to everyone in the house before, including the animals. This wouldn't be the first time the kid would manipulate his sisters or his pets for his own personal gain. What if getting sick was just an elaborate trick up his sleeve?

"What do ya mean, bird?" Cliff asked.

"I don't think it's really that necessary for us to go through all this trouble just to do something nice for the boy," Walt said. "I mean, it's like giving up your time to do whatever the heck you want for someone else. When you start catering to him, even when it's a one time thing, then he'll definitely start relying on you to do stuff for him. And the cycle repeats on and on, and THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

"But what kinda pets are we ta just watch him suffer like dat?" Charles said. "He was dere fer me when I needed him in dis house, and I'd be darned if I nevuh got ta return da favor."

"I can tell this is going to end badly…" Geo uttered.

Cliff shifted his vision back and forth on the dog and the bird. He felt conflicted with who to side with in a situation such as this. "...Alright I'm not sayin' I agree wit' da dawg on dis, but I'm sayin' I don't agree wit' da bird eithuh." he said.

"Well den, whose side are ya on?" Charles irritably asked, his eyebrow raising swiftly along with Walt. With the way the dog asked, Cliff definitely knew they would demand an answer out of him. The cat gulped.

"Ehh… I tink I'd rather sit dis one out."

"Yeah, me too." Geo quickly added.

"Well too bad," Charles said. "Yer all on my side wit' dis. Dere ain't no way yer gonna taint yer morality ovuh dis."

Much to the annoyance of the other pets, Cliff, Geo and Walt ultimately groaned. As much as they didn't want to get dragged into this predicament, they had no choice. They all agreed to help the sick boy out, never mind his selfish personality with the family. It was the right thing to do after all.

A few minutes later, the dog of the family grabbed a hold of the handle by his teeth, carrying the steaming pot of soup down to the floor. The others noticed the dog was struggling, but they can't seem to do anything to help since the pot was pretty hot to touch.

Out of sincerity, Cliff asked "...Ya need sum help dere, pal?"

"Eh, mo I got kis." Charles barely answered.

"If this is all for nothing, it's pretty obvious with what I'm gonna do." Walt said, being the angry bird he is.

"I'm deliverin' claws." Cliff added.

"I'm sending out my chompers!" Geo said.

"I runno arout rat ruys…" Charles said, almost fumbling the pot. The pets decided to follow him, in case he needed some help.

"Don't chatter as much," Cliff said to the pup. "We'll help ya if ya need it."

Two minutes in, the pets made their way into Lincoln's tight little closet. As the middle child just glanced to the side from quietly re-reading his comic again, he noticed the pets giving him a little surprise. With a bark, a peaceful meow and two skeptical looks from Geo and Walt, it put a thoughtful smile on his face.

"Wow. You guys didn't have to do that." Lincoln said. "I could've gotten up myself and made my own but that's—cough—thoughtful of you guys."

Charles and Cliff smiled innocently while Walt and Geo rolled their eyes.

"If it's not much trouble, I could use something to satisfy my thirst…"

Glances were thrown towards each pet. As much they didn't want to do this for him, they just had to. It's what family's for.

Back in the kitchen now, suspicions arose in the bird's mind. As Charles opened the fridge to find Lincoln something to drink, Walt landed in front of the food inside it, trying to pause Charles in his place.

"Stop." the bird said.

"Ergh, what is it, bird?" Charles asked, as the cat and the hamster also paid the bird in mind.

Walt crossed his wings. "You don't hear what the boy just said? Now he's asking you guys to do something for him!"

"So?" Cliff said, chewing on more of his cat food. "S'wrong wit' dat?"

Walt groaned irritably. "You know what? I'm not in the mood to repeat myself again. But the minute that boy starts using you guys as his assistants, then don't say you didn't see any of this coming."

Before any of the pets could get a word out, the bird angrily stormed off.

"Hey, wait up!" Geo said, following Walt wherever he went.

"Wh-wait…" Cliff uttered.

"Hold on now…" Charles added. "You two get yer butts back here!"

Too late for Charles. They didn't come back. It was up to Charles and Cliff now. Unbeknownst to the two, the bird and the hamster had other plans to prove the cat and the dog wrong.

"I can't believe dey just did dat ta us." Cliff muttered.

"Oh, I'll show dem," Charles said, growling under his breath. "I'll show dem alright."

As the dog angrily grabbed some soda from the fridge, Cliff sighed. "As much as I really don't wanna choose sides here, I guess I'm stuck here wit' youse."

Charles patted the cat on the head. "I just wanted ta teach ya a ting about great morality, cat. We're just tryin' ta be good pets, loyal ta our own family 'n such. Ya know how much pain it'll put on our conscience if we just left him be?"

Cliff gulped. "Eh, I see yer little point dere. I can understand ya somethin' like dis." He shrugged. "What da heck. I don't suppose helpin' him out for a little while ain't gonna put a dent on us. He oughta feel bettuh eventually."

One Hour Later

"Charles! Where are you?!" Lincoln yelled.

His room was filled with loads of junk. The dog in question happened to walk into his room, wearing a collar. Cliff followed from behind, equipped with a bonnet and a duster. Yeah, this was getting ridiculous. They didn't look too pleased in the slightest. Those old sayings in life definitely came back to bite them back in their bum. If anything, this could prove that Walt was right about his suspicions all along. As long that this entire situation wasn't an elaborate scheme to manipulate his own animals, making them exert all of their efforts for nothing, then there wasn't a problem to be located.

The boy crossed his arms. "Oh, there you are! It's about time you got here! My charger over there isn't gonna slither itself over here."

Charles whined to Lincoln. He felt tired, and wanted some rest. That went for the cat as well.

Lincoln lifted his laptop up a little. "C'mon now, hurry up! The dang—cough—battery's about to die here!"

The dog emitted a low growl, grabbing the kid's charger while Cliff leered at him. Putting the cord in his owner's hand, Lincoln spat a simple "Thank you." He plugged his computer up, finally getting some juice. Pushing his laptop away from him, Lincoln had another request to give out.

"Oh, and while you're still here Cliff, I hope you don't mind dusting off my screen?"

As Charles leered back at the cat, Cliff jumped up on the bed, dusting off particles off his laptop's screen. "I appreciate you doing that. Now I'm in the mood for some Mac 'n cheese balls. There should be some still in the fridge if nobody messed with them like the last time."

With an audible groan, Charles and Cliff left the room irritably. The moment that Lincoln was in the clear, he resumed playing around on his laptop.

Back in the kitchen, Charles and Cliff were understandably confused, yet furious at the same time.

"Dat tears it," Cliff spat. "Dis is gettin' ridiculous! Who does he think he is, havin' us be his service animals while he lazes about?"

"I don't unduhstand!" Charles said. "I thought family's supposed ta be about helpin' and takin' care of each othuh. I know he's sick and all, but I didn't count on gettin' used like dat! It's like dose badly executed episodes where a certain protagonist gets thrown around like a chew toy!"

After approaching the fridge, opening it up with his paw, Cliff faced the dog. "Da bird was right about him after all! I can't believe this!"

Walt and Geo approached the dog and the cat now. With the smirks on their faces, they couldn't help themselves but rub their situation in their faces.

"Ha. Didn't I tell you guys?" Walt said.

"Now's not da time fer ya ta rub it in our faces." Charles said. "I'm so upset!"

"What are we gonna do?" Cliff worriedly asked, stuffing his face back into some more cat food.

Charles placed his paws over his head. "Are we gonna be reduced ta livin' in such a terrible nightmare?!"

"I have no idea." Geo answered. "But do you want to know how you can break free from all of this?"

A short glance, Charles got on his knees, along with Cliff. "Oh please!" the dog said.

"Anythin'!" the cat added shortly after. Walt left them be to retrieve an item.

Geo threw in a catch. "First off, would you promise me to take over my playtime with the baby of the bunch for the next couple of days?"

Cliff groaned. "Aw c'mon! Don't make us do dat!"

Charles crossed his arms. "Yeah! Last time we took over fer ya, she farted in mah face!"

Cliff pointed at himself. "She blamed me fer peein' on da couch!"

Walt rolled his eyes. "Alright, are you guys just making these excuses up? I don't remember the babbling baby doing anything like that."

"How would ya know? You weren't dere!" Cliff uttered back, justifying their words.

Geo barely shook his head. "Eh, I don't care. Would you do this for me or not?"

The question had the two animals thinking together. Before they would give an answer, Lincoln called out to them. He really wanted his request completed as soon as possible.

"Hey! Charles! Cliff!" the boy yelled, with a snappish attitude. "What's taking so long?!"

The dog and the cat looked back to Geo. "Alright, we'll take it!" Charles said, voice breaking.

"Just help a brudder out here fer pete's sake!" Cliff added. They were really desperate.

Hitting the expectations the hamster needed, Walt came back with a tape recorder, breaking down the details on what they've done on their part. With a little determined smile, he let his beak do all the talking.

"Alright, so while you two were here in the kitchen, grabbing yet another plastic cup for the boy to drink out of, we decided to do some detective work." he said.

"We set up a tape recorder that we took from the scientist's room and found some bit of spicy content," Geo added. "But trust me, you don't wanna know what was already on it before we did the recording."

Walt twitched his eye. "It sounded scarring to my fragile little-"

"Yeah yeah, get on wit' dis already!" Charles spat impatiently.

"We haven't got all day ya know." Cliff added. Immediately after, the cat felt like he was about to puke. As he rushed out the doggy door, Walt pressed the play button on the device.

"Just listen..." he said.

''"Yeah, I did." Lincoln laughed. "I only faked being sick so I could get out of that movie, so I'll have some time to chat with you! And I can't believe I pulled it off!"''

Charles gasped. He was speechless. The dog's hard effort, all into good waste of his time.

"You did that too? Wow! Have I influenced you a lot lately? I've never thought you'd… well given your unique personality, I could totally see you doing that."

The dog was growling now. Cliff walked back in through the doggy door, curious to know what was happening.

"Alright now, I guess I'll chat with you later, I guess I'll just go online, checking out some more of these sweet deals they have on these strips, and have some leftovers."

The recorder's play button popped back up. That was all that was recorded on the tape.

The cat stripped his bonnet off his head as he wiped his mouth off. "Did I miss somethin' here?" Cliff asked.

"Ya mean ta tell me… dat all dis overwhelmin' bidness we took care of fer mah boy was all just a ruse?!" Charles angrily spat.

"I'm… pretty sure we can't make that any clearer…" Geo answered.

"Way to dupe yourselves ya big dumbos." Walt spat, closing his eyes as he smirked. "This wouldn't have happened if you would just heed my little advice."

Cliff squinted his eyes. As much as they were infuriated, the bird was right. If Lincoln could manipulate any of his siblings in the family just so he could get his way, there was no stopping him from giving the pets the same exact treatment. If anything, he'd do it to just about anybody, if given the chance.

"I hate ta say dis bird, but yer right." Charles uneasily admitted. "Who knew dat mah boy could be such a lazy, manipulative jerk?"

"I say, we get 'em back fer dis!" Cliff suggested sinisterly.

"I second dat, cat." Charles agreed. "It's time fer revenge!"

"Ooh, might I join?" Geo asked.

"Count me in too you guys," Walt said. "I've got an interesting idea…"

Thirty Minutes Later

The second Vanzilla pulled up in the driveway, the pets' plan had just begun. As Lincoln decided to leave his room to do his business, the boy approached the bathroom door opening it. He was met with an ticked off Geo and Cliff. Just the sight of them threw Lincoln off guard. The hamster twisted a faucet knob, as the cat adjusted the pipes, spraying water all over the unsuspecting middle child as it washed away the red on his face. Knocked down from the huge blast of fluids as it cleared up, Lincoln was baffled.

"What the heck was that about?!" the boy asked.

Walt flew around the boy with a half pound worth of powder, fogging the hallway up with its dense clouds. Lincoln ducked for cover, thinking the bird would attack him. What he didn't count on was Charles coming from behind him, literally kicking him on the butt. The force was accurate to the point it sent him tumbling down the stairs, right in front of the door.

The poor boy didn't even get a chance to react as his gaze caught a glimpse of the moving front door. Open all the way, there were twelve mouth agape family members staring down at the fallen boy as they gasped. They hoped he had an explanation to how all of this went down.

"Huh?"

"Whoa!"

"Wow..."

"What the..?"

"Oh my..."

"Okay, what happened in here hon?" Rita asked, understandably suspicious.

"Why are you literally soaking wet?" Lori added, causing Luan to snort and giggle.

"How come your face isn't red anymore?" Lynn curiously asked.

Lincoln sweated a drop. He had to try to the best of his ability to come up with a way out of this one at such short notice.

"H...how was the movie?" Lincoln nervously asked.

"Oh, it was terrible!" Lola answered.

"Huge waste of our time dude." Luna added.

"You guys, it wasn't that bad…" Leni sincerely said.

"We can discuss more about this later," Lynn Sr. said, before turning to Lincoln. "I wanna know what happened while we were gone!"

Lincoln was pretty much in a stump. Even though he knows that this was all the pets' doing, there's a high chance that nobody would believe a single word he would say.

"I…" Lincoln barely uttered, before simply giving up, planting his face on the carpet.

The pets managed to accomplish something today. Each side learning their valuable lesson left and right. The pets came together as one. Charles and Cliff gave high fives as Walt landed on Cliff's head.

"Looks like dat dam a his should be leakin' any second now." Charles quietly spat, looking at the reader. With a wink and a smile, he simply chuckled.

~End~

Trivia

 * The idea was suggested by TheStoryImage.
 * I would argue that this story isn't my best one so far.