Tired. So tired.
Dolly had barely gotten any sleep the previous night. She spent hours tossing and turning, worrying about how she could protect her family when she wasn't nearby, and how she could manage all of them at the same time when she was. It was starting to make her feel bad for Dylan. But unlike Dylan, there was a third problem that made this situation all the more stressful, and that was the fact that she couldn't tell anyone. They'd either think she was crazy, or think she was lying. The dalmatian wasn't exactly fond of either option.
But everything seemed to be going fine so far, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to just relax until she had another vision. Besides, she was still a bit skeptical that she was even experiencing visions of the future at all. It was kind of hot outside when she was with Dizzy and Dee Dee, and it had been a while since she had a drink of water. Perhaps she was just seeing things when that happened.
Then again, everything felt so real, like she was really there. And normally you can still move your body when you're hallucinating, unless you're having sleep paralysis - which it couldn't have been, since she was wide awake when she had the experience.
She didn't have much more time to think as the awful sensation came back. Vertigo, vision blurring, shaky legs... and then she was outside with her family, all of them holding stacks of papers and thumbtacks and walking up to random locations. She in particular was walking up to a pole. As expected, she wasn't able to move on her own. Her body simply walked itself to its destination. When she got to the pole, her front leg moved to grab one of the papers and pin it onto the pole. When she saw what was on the paper, her blood ran cold.
It was a missing poster. A missing poster for Dante. In fact, it seemed all of the papers were missing posters for Dante. Her head turned to the side, seemingly to see how her family was doing, and her heart broke at the sight of Dawkins crying into Dylan's shoulder, repeatedly telling him how much he worried for his brother. Most notably, she was able to make out one particular thing Dawkins said that stuck out to her: "This is all our fault! We ignored him for so long!"
Just then, the vision ended, and now Dolly knew how to save her sibling. She looked off to the side and saw Dante in a corner, looking defeated. Everybody else was laughing and playing with each other except for him, who had no one. Dolly started to walk over to talk to him, when she was suddenly stopped by Dylan.
"Dolly! What was that?! Are you okay?!" He grabbed Dolly's shoulders as he spoke.
Oh dog.
"It's nothing, Dylan! Don't worry about it! Now let me talk to Dante!"
"But you had this... vacant look in your eyes, and you stood completely still! You weren't even blinking!" She could tell her stepbrother was extremely worried for her, and as sweet as it was, she needed to talk to Dante as soon as possible. After all, she had no idea how far into the future the vision took place. It could be less than an hour away!
"Please, Dylan, you wouldn't understand. I need to get to Dante!" It felt like there was a block of ice in her chest. This fear, she had felt it before. She felt it every time her family was in danger. She wanted to scream at Dylan, call him an idiot and push him away. But it wasn't his fault. He didn't know. She couldn't be mean to him like that when he simply wanted to make sure she was okay.
"What could Dante do that I can't?!" The poor thing, he seemed really upset. But she couldn't tell him the truth. It could hurt everyone. They wouldn't believe her, so they wouldn't listen to what she told them anymore, and then she wouldn't be able to stop her visions from coming true.
"Look... Dante just... he looks really sad in that corner, I just want to talk to him and cheer him up." And then she had a thought. Perhaps there was a way to keep everyone happy. "...maybe it would make him feel even better if you came with! The more the merrier, right?"
That seemed to cheer Dylan up just a little bit. His frown shifted into a slight smile, and the light in his eyes seemed to come back, if a little less than before.
"...well, okay. That's fine by me." His tail began to wag softly, though it still hung low. It was clear his worry for his stepsister's health hadn't gone away.
Still, Dolly was happy. She didn't want anybody to feel left out. Especially now that she knew the consequences it could have.
The two dalmatians began to walk over to their younger brother side-by-side, and occasionally they would spare each other a passing glance. There was something about Dylan's expression that Dolly couldn't quite place. If it was worry, it was the deepest worry she had ever seen. It seemed like he cared more about her than he cared about anyone else, even his blood siblings. But... why? What was so special about her? She wasn't smart like Dawkins or talented like DJ or Da Vinci. She couldn't soothe like Deepak, and she wasn't cute like Dizzy and Dee Dee. She was pretty good at skateboarding, but Dylan wasn't exactly the type to be impressed by something like that.
She was so distracted that she almost walked right into Dante. Thankfully, she remembered why she was walking just in time, and turned to face the younger dalmatian.
"Hey, Dante!" Dylan began.
"We wanted to talk to you since we noticed you seemed lonely." Dolly continued.
"You'd... do that for me?" Dante seemed shocked, yet extremely grateful. Nobody had ever shown such compassion towards him before.
Dolly opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by a different voice.
"I would like to speak with you as well."
Dylan and Dolly turned around to see Dawkins standing behind them. Dawkins seemed to care about Dante, just like he did in Dolly's vision. Perhaps he always did, and she just now started noticing it because of the vision she had. Or maybe he heard what she said about Dante being lonely. If it was the latter, it meant Dolly was a bigger hero then she previously thought. She was helping her family bond with each other.
Still, she worried for what the future may hold.
