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Chapter 4: Ripples of Cause and Effect

A noise woke her up from the fitful sleep that she was in. Groggily, she raised her head from the pillow and took in her surroundings. She was in the comfort of her bedroom, but upon closer inspection her sleep filled mind realized that her things were missing. Her mind went into a panic as she searched around the room for her belongings before reality started to catch up with her. This wasn't her bedroom, at least not now. It was her room for close to a decade, some of her best memories happened here and it was hard for her to let go of it. She sighed as she brought her knees up to her chin.

In truth, Rory was barely twelve when she first met Ashton. It was right after her parents got into another one of their nasty fights, her mother had been drinking while her father was high as a kite. The two were always like gasoline and fire whenever they indulged in their respective vices, and both enjoyed their vices on a daily basis. Rory couldn't remember much from that day, just that she needed to escape from the dark hell of her home and ran as far away as she could. There was no destination for her to head to, no known extended family or friends from school that she could possibly visit. She was alone with nowhere to go and couldn't survive another day there. The only thing that she knew at the time was that she didn't want to return to that purgatory.

The barely audible sound of the door opening and voices in the foyer hallway brought her back to reality again. It also dawned on her that while this was her bedroom for a time, she didn't belong there and that she needed to leave.

She quickly did what she could to fix her disheveled appearance and walked out of the bedroom, fully intending on apologizing for being there. What she wasn't expecting was for Deputy Ryan standing in the living room looking like he was on the hunt.

“Cody… I, ah, good morning." She greeted timidly.

“Rory?" The surprise was evident on the sheppard's face as he turned to see her standing in the hallway. “Uh, morning Rory. What are you doing here?"

Rory shuffled her feet a little before she sheepishly started to give her answer. “Uhm, I know that I'm not supposed to be here but after last night, I just needed to find some solace."

“Uh huh…" Ryan grunted, looking at Rory a bit skeptically. “Say Rory, mind if I ask you a question?"

“What's that?"

“About when did you come here?" He asked.

“Is everything alright deputy?" Another voice asked, interrupting the conversation as a third person came into Rory's view.

Rory faintly recognized the guy that had appeared but yet couldn't quite place where she had seen him before. It was evident that he was also going through the same thought process as her as his face mirrored hers in thoughtful recognition, but also had a bit of confusion mixed in as he also tried to place where he had seen her. It took a little time before the memory of last night came to her and it dawned on her where she had seen this person. Apparently, about the same time, he also remembered where he had seen her before.

“YOU!" They both nearly shouted in stereo. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?! WHAT AM I DOING HERE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! I BELONG HERE! NO YOU DON'T! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO DON'T BELONG HERE! THIS IS MY UNCLE'S HOUSE, NOT YOURS!"

Deputy Cody Ryan groaned at the verbal onslaught that he was unfortunately in the middle of. The two were nearly in perfect sync with each other as they yelled at each other, echoing what the other was saying perfectly. Frankly, it was giving the deputy a royal migraine. Fed up, he stopped the two by blowing out a sharp whistle.

“ENOUGH!" Deputy Ryan shouted, making sure that he had both bickering party's attention. “Both of you, shut up and calm your tails down. Just like the both of you, I want to get to the bottom of this situation but we can't do that if the Both Of You Are SHOUTING!." Both Rory and Frost were quiet after the deputy blew up and Cody let out a sigh of relief before collecting himself again. “Now Rory," He said to the white wolf. “Going back to my earlier question. When did you arrive at the house?"

“Uhm…" Rory fidgeted in place before answering in a low voice. “Last night…"

“WHAT!?!" Frost barked before anyone could say anything else. “Are you telling me that not only did you smash my face in with a pitcher, but you broke into my home and hit me with a frying pan!"

“It was a skillet!" Rory shot back.

“Oh, I'm sorry." The wolf said with venom. “I couldn't tell exactly what it was with the bottom of it Flying Towards MY FACE!" Frost exclaimed as he took a step toward Rory while Deputy Ryan stepped more in between the two, ready to head off the potential violence that might be coming.

“Mister Tavor, please!" Deputy Ryan said, trying to defuse the escalating situation. “I fully understand that you're upset..."

“Upset?" Frost snared. “Of Course I'm Upset! Actually, I think that I am beyond upset! I think that I should be in En-RAGED territory with everything that has happened to me in the last twenty-four hours!"

“Wait..." Rory said unexpectedly. “Did you say “Mister Tavor?"

“Yes." The shepherd answered as he risked a glance back at Rory. “Why?"

“You're related to Ashton Tavor?" She asked, looking over at Frost.

“That's right!" Frost growled “I'm his nephew, Frost Tavor. The person that you apparently not only assaulted twice, but also tried to send down the river without a Damn Paddle!"

“I assaulted..." Memories of the last twenty-four hours started to play through her mind as the deputy tried to de-escalate the situation.

“Mister Tavor." The German Shepherd spoke up as he turned to face Frost. “Your outbursts isn't helping the situation."

“And then I..." The voices faded into the background as her mind tried to wrap itself around what was happening around her.

“Of course." Frost threw up his hands in frustration. “It's my fault isn't it."

“No..." Her head started to spin as her surroundings faded from her perception, her breath was becoming shallow and ragged.

“That's not what I'm saying." The Deputy said, also getting frustrated.

“No..." She grasped her head as it felt like the world was falling away. She was having trouble staying upright as her breathing continued to get shorter.

“Way everyone's acting today, it might as well be! With everything that has happened, I'm ready to say screw this place, screw my uncle, and screw his last wish of getting me to take over his stupid Business!"

“No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No-No..."

Everything felt like it was crumbling away and the world was spinning as she continued to fade. The last thing she could remember was her body hitting something and the weightlessness of her body falling...

-

Amber sighed as she stepped back around to her car door after circling around the house, looking for any signs of its occupant. The snow leopard had tried to call her friend earlier, however her calls went straight into voicemail. Worried and after trying multiple times throughout the morning, she gave up trying to contact Rory with the phone and drove over once she had a free moment. When she arrived though, the house was dark and there were no signs that Rory had even come home the previous night. Having circled the home twice to see if she had missed something, Amber was worried for her friend and wanted to know where she had disappeared to.

As she was getting ready to get in her car and leave, a noise in the distance caught her attention. She was confused for several moments, wondering if she was hearing things until the source of the sound became clearer and drove by. She stood there dumbfounded for a moment as the scene replayed and slowly registered in her mind. To her knowledge, there was only one other house beyond Rory's place and that should still be empty as far as she knew. So why did an ambulance just go flying by?

Curiosity got the better of the snow leopard and she jumped into the car to chase the ambulance.

It barely took a full minute for her to reach the driveway and go up its length to where the house was and thankfully there was room for her to park her car off to the side without her being in the way of the ambulance leaving. Having arrived, Amber hesitated behind the wheel as EMTs rushed in and out of the house.

“Why am I even here?" She mumbled to herself as she sat and watched as time ticked by. After several long minutes, she watched as the EMTs wheeled out a stretcher with someone strapped to it. It took a minute for her to realize that the person on the stretcher looked just like the one who she had been looking for.

“Rory?" She called out as she got out of the car. Now outside and with a higher perspective, she could see that it was her friend that was strapped to the stretcher and was being loaded into the ambulance. “Rory!" Amber shouted as she rushed to the ambulance, one of the EMTs moved to intercept her.

“Ma'am, you need to stay back." The EMT said firmly.

“That's my friend." Amber said, nearly pushing the first responder backwards. “What happened to her? Is she okay? Where are you taking her?" she rattled off without much thought as some of her questions she had asked were obvious. Making her feel silly when she would think back on this later.

“She collapses and we're taking her to the hospital." The EMT said plainly. “If you excuse me." They said as the ambulance's doors were closed and they climbed into the cab and shortly drove off. Amber could only watch as the ambulance drove off with their lights going as she just stood there, bewildered at what she had just seen.

“Miss Snowden?" A voice said behind her. “What are you doing here?" Amber turned to see Deputy Ryan standing by the front door of the house with a familiar wolf standing slightly behind the German Shepherd.

“Cody?" Amber was surprised to see the deputy standing there. “What are you doing here?"

“I asked first." He said.

“Uhm..." Amber hesitated as her mind did a reboot from the shock of seeing Rory taken by ambulance. “I was looking for Rory." She finally answered. “She wasn't home so I thought I'd check here since I know she occasionally gets home sick when she's dealing with a lot of stress."

“I see." Ryan said thoughtfully. “That might explain a few things."

“Explain a few things? Cody, what is going on? Why was Rory taken to the hospital? And…" Amber looked over at the wolf. “What are you doing here? Ever since you showed up last night things are going topsy-turvy."

-

It was an hour later that she found herself sitting across the table from the wolf and him re-accounting the last few days. Deputy Ryan was there for a while, but a more urgent call came over the radio and required the German Shepard to return to his duties. This left the snow leopard with the newcomer who was kind enough to invite her in and offer her some tea.

“… And then as the EMTs were talking the girl away, you showed up." Frost finished before taking a sip of freshly brewed sweet tea.

“Oh my God!" Was all that Amber could bring herself to say “I am so, so sorry to hear that had all happened to you. That's just… I have no words. What was Rory thinking?"

“Don't know, don't care." Frost said dismissively. “But her actions have left me feeling very angry to the point that I am very much ready to pack my bags and leave this town behind."

“WHAT?!? You can't do that!" Amber blurted out without much thought, but the neutral expression on Frost's face made her rethink her outburst. “No..." She said meekly as she settled back down into her chair and looked down at the table. “I'm sorry. You have every right to pack up and leave Delows Valley behind. We've haven't shown you any real hospitality since you've come here and all you had was a hard time." Amber sighed as she hung her head dejectedly while Frost was silent, listening to her. “You don't have any ties here nor are you invested in this place, just some request from your uncle that you haven't had much contact with in recent years." The place fell into silence after Amber was done, both were lost in thought for different reasons.

Frost sighed. “So..." He broke the silence, looking at the snow leopard. “What is that girl's story?" He asked, trying to keep the ire he felt out of his voice. “At least the parts that you know and want to tell anyway. It didn't escape my notice that she called my uncle her own earlier, so any idea how she knew him and what their relationship was together?"

Amber was quiet, gathering her thoughts on how and if she should reveal her friend's story. A good part of it was personal, and there were no questions there. Still, if Frost learns about Rory's past, there might be a chance that he'd be willing to overlook some things. Though that might be impossible, given what had happened to him in the past twenty-four hours thanks to the not so small part that Rory played.

Taking a deep breath, Amber came to a decision and decided to reveal what she knew.

“Her full name is Rory Woods," She said as she took a sip of her cooling tea. “And she's my best friend."

“I see." Frost injected, waiting for her to continue.

“I'm sorry..." Amber sighed as she rubbed her forehead in frustration. “It's... It's that there's quite a bit to go through and properly explain."

“Take your time." Frost said as he leaned back in the chair. “I have time and really, have nowhere to go."

“Right. Well... Where should I start?" Amber thought out loud to herself.

“Why not the beginning?" The wolf shrugged. “At least as you know it. I think that It's as good of a place as any to start."

“The beginning… Right…" She sighed, looking at her cup of tea. “I don't know much of what happened before I met Rory, or what her true relationship was with your uncle. She never opened up to me about her life before she came here and no one would clarify any answer that they gave."

Frost snorted a little and shook his head. “Guess they thought that what people don't know won't hurt."

“I guess. I never understood it though." Amber sighed. Well, the first time I saw Rory, we were in seventh grade or at least I was when she was first brought to the school. I had seen her around during lunch period, but she always sat alone and away from everyone. When anyone would try to talk to her, she would often give curt, one word responses if she even acknowledged the person. What I would later learn was that she was taking some kind of remedial refresher courses to get her to where she was supposed to be academically."

Amber took a sip of tea before she continued.

“It wasn't until the next year in eighth grade when she was introduced to our class and I finally interacted with her. I remember how closed off she was and how she tried to avoid people when she could. In fact, most of the student body avoided her as much as she avoided them."

“But, I'm guessing you were different." Frost said, making Amber giggle a little timidly.

“Yeah... Heh... I never considered myself that outgoing or one of the popular kids, but I did like to make friends. My mom says that I'm one of those people that if I see something wrong or that I don't like, I have to make every effort to correct it. Be it helping friends or strangers, I always try to intervene. At least that's what my mother says."

“Well, there's nothing wrong with that. At least in my opinion."

“I guess. But yeah... It took about two months for me to finally get Rory to start giving me more than simple answers and soon afterwards, we became best friends since then. Yes there have been times when our friendship has been tested, but in the end we still remain as close as sisters."

“I see..." Frost mused.

“I know it's not the full story, but that's how our friendship started." Amber sighed. “If you really want to know more about Rory and your Uncle, I'd suggest talking with my mother. I know that he and my mother had something going on behind closed doors but I never knew the extent of their relationship."

“Your mother?"

“Ahh, right." Amber sheepishly said. “You haven't been formally introduced to everyone. Officially she's the manager of the diner, though unofficially, she helps Rory manage the Markets when Mr. Tavor wasn't around."

“You mean the older snow leopard that talked to me after that... Incident?"

“Yes, that's my mother."

“I suppose I'm going to have to formally introduce myself to everyone there." Frost sighed.

“The workers are all good people." Amber injected. “Most are from Delows Valley, though a few do travel from other local towns. I've either grown up with or have known them for years and are like extended family. I wouldn't want to think of what would happen if the Markets close down."

“What do you mean?" Frost asked, curiously. “Please don't forget that I'm new and a stranger in this little town."

“Well..." Amber started, looking down a bit nervously. “The General Markets is basically the heart of the town, it's what's letting Delows Valley survive for as long as it has. I think that you might have noticed, but there's nothing around here. The town itself is like a dozen or so homes, with more scattered around the countryside like your uncle's home. Depending on what is going on, the General Markets is the community center of the valley. Without the store and the buildings that are a part of it, the community would eventually die out. Just leaving a few of those that like country living over being closer to town."

Frost crossed his arms, eyes closed while he was apparently deep in thought and Amber couldn't begin to guess what might be going through the wolf's mind. On one hand, Frost had every right to say screw Delows Valley and leave this place. On the other hand though, there was something about him that gave the snow leopard hope. She couldn't quite place a finger on it, but there was a gut feeling that she felt that despite all the hardships of the last twenty-four hours that he just might stick around and give things a try.

The ring tone of a cell phone interrupted both their train of thought and realizing that it was her's, pulled the device out of her pocket and answered it without really checking who it was.

“Hello?"

“AMBER!" An irritated voice said over the call. “Where are you! Don't you know what time it is?"

“Time?" Amber looked around for a clock and when she saw the time, her eyes bugged out in realization. “Oh Shit! I'm sorry, I lost track of time."

“Language young lady!" The voice scolded. “Just… Hurry up and get here, you're late for your shift."

“I'm sorry, mom. I'll be right there." Amber said before she hung up the phone. “Crap… I lost track of time and I have to get going!"

“I understand." Frost said as he got up to escort her to the door. “It's time to go back to adulting."

“Heh, yeah." Amber chuckled as she put her coat on. “Well, thanks for the tea, I did enjoy it as well as the company." She said with a slight blush. She mentally kicked herself once the words left her mouth, it wasn't something that she wanted to say out loud but the words just flowed out. She looked at Frost nervously to see what his reaction was, she thought that she saw his ear tick in surprise but he didn't give any other outward indication that she noticed.

“Well." He stared, “Despite the topics that we've talked about, I enjoyed our conversation too." She smiled and was ready to walk out the door when Frost spoke up. “Say, umh…" Amber hesitated at the door and turned to look at the wolf. Frost fidgeted for a moment before he continued. “Do you think we could meet up a little later, to continue our conversation? I mean, only if you want…"

“I would like that." Amber said with a smile on her face. “I normally have a break around five. So… Maybe see you around then?' Frost returned her smile, she couldn't help but giggle at how the wolf's tail was wagging behind him.

“Sounds like a plan." He said. “It will give myself time to settle down from this morning's events and properly freshen up."

“Yeah. From what you've told me, you really need a chance to properly unwind."

Frost nodded in agreement. “Yeah… Anyway, I won't hold you up any more."

“Thanks, who knows what my mother will say or do when I get there." Amber sighed as she slumped slightly at the thought. “Well, see you around five."

“See you then, take care and drive safely."

“You too."

Amber went to her car with a slight swagger to her step. She didn't look back at the house until she got behind the wheel and noticed that Frost was still by the front door, seeing her off. She couldn't help but to sheepishly smile and wave at the wolf, who returned the wave with one of his own as she put the car in gear and left the place.

-

The breaks hissed as the bus came to a stop in the parking lot and once the door opened, several young kids hurriedly exited the school bus and ran to their expecting parents. A few of the older students waited for the rush to be over before they too excited the bus. Gina was among the last of the students to leave the bus before it closed the doors and left to return to its route. The snow leopard waved at her friends and classmates as they all scattered in various directions. Gina sighed as she stretched her lanky frame body, having every school age child from Delows Valley crammed onto a bus for twenty minutes did not make for a comfortable ride. Continuing with her near daily routine, Gina walked into the General Markets and headed to an open booth to get her homework out of the way for the night.

“Hey Bee." The girl turned and saw her sister stopping what she was doing to greet her.

“Hey Amber." The younger sibling returned with a smile just as she noticed a few things that seemed off. “Say, where's mom?" Typically, the elder snow leopard was among the first people to greet her but she didn't see her mother anywhere.

“She's at the hospital…"

“OMG!" Gina interrupted her sister in shock. “What happened? Is she sick? Did she injure herself?"

“She's okay," Amber sighed. “Nothing happened to her."

“Then why is she at the hospital?"

“Well, if you let me finish." Amber hissed at her sister, a bit irritated at being interrupted before she could explain. When Gina was quiet and waiting for Amber to continue, Amber sighed as she took a breath. “Mom left to go check up on Rory…"

“What!" Gina interrupted again. “Is she alright? Why is she in the hospital?..." She stopped herself when she noticed that Amber was giving her 'The Look" with her arms crossed. “Sorry…" She apologized, while Amber just shook her head with a huff.

“Yes, Rory is alright but they're going to keep her overnight for observations." Amber said.

“Oh my God." Whimpered Gina. “What happened?"

“The short form of it was that she collapsed due to stress."

“The short form…" Repeated Gina to herself. “Are you telling me that there is more to this story?"

“Unfortunately yes," Amber sighed. “There's quite a bit more, and potentially quite a bit of a mess that she has created in the process. But, that's going to have to wait for now. I need you to clock in and help me, with mom gone it's only me, Mr Wards, and Mr. Malone running the diner and deli while Sasha and Quinn are keeping an eye on the store."

Gina made a dramatic sigh as she glanced around the area and sure enough, she could see that tables needed to be bused, cleaned, and customers in need of being waited on. “Fine..." The girl huffed in annoyance. It wasn't the fact that she was being put to work immediately, it was more of the fact that the teenager knew that there was something going on and she wasn't in the loop. Yet. “But you're telling me Everything when things calm back down!"

“Later tonight, I swear." Amber promised. “Hopefully with mom around so I don't have to repeat myself." She let out a breath as she turned to go back to what she was doing before and muttering to herself. “Just like I hope she will be back before five."

“Wait, what?" Gina said as she cocked her head at her sister before hurrying after her. “What do you mean that you hope mom will be back by five?"

Amber eyes grew wide when she realized that her sister had heard all of what she had said. “Nothing. Okay."

“Don't tell me it's nothing!" Gina shot back. “It has to be something for you to have that look of a cat that ate the canary."

A cleared throat, a few whispers and some stifling laughter around the girls reminded them that they were not alone, a quick glance around told the two that they had the attention of everyone in the general vicinity. One group of customers that were sitting at a nearby table had started whispering to each other and occasionally let out a chuckle, giving the snow leopard siblings a knowing grin. At another table sat a family of four with the two kids wondering what was going on while the father was whispering to his wife about remembering when they were younger.

If it wasn't for their fur, both girls would probably be red as a beat. Especially Amber, who looked horrified standing there in front of everyone. Thankfully, Gina was quick to regain her composure and shove her sister out back away from everyone since Amber was still frozen.

“Alright." Gina said when they were out of earshot of everyone, snapping Amber back to reality. “Spill it! Tell me what is going on, and no 'It's nothing' or 'I'll tell you later.' crap! If you don't, believe me when I say that I will be digging at every little lead I get until I DO find out. Even if I got to get mom involved!"

“Alright, alright..." Amber huffed in defeat. “I... I'm going to meet someone for dinner."

“Oh.. My... GOD!" Gina nearly squealed. “Who is it? WhoisitWhoisitWhoisit? Whhoooo Issss It...?"

“Jeez... Settle down Gina." Amber deadpanned with a sigh. “You remember that wolf from last night?"

“You're not talking about that creepy one who Rory clocked with a pitcher are you?"

“Uhm..." Amber fidgeted a little. “Yes..." She squeaked out.

“No..."

“Yes..."

“Oh my GOD Amber, you're kidding me!"

Amber shook her head. “No. I'm not."

“Jeez, Amber. What's got into you? Do you like creeps now or something?"

“NO! God Gina, he's not a creep!" Amber exclaimed in irritation. “That was just what Rory thought! He's actually a good guy and there was a reason why he was hanging around the place."

“Okay, fine. Why was he hanging around here?!?"

“Hey!" Another voice cut in, causing both girls to turn and see a head sticking out into the hall. A chipmunk's head was sticking in the hall and was glaring at the two. “Can you two hurry up! We got customers needing service and food dying on the ready counter."

“Sorry Mr. Malone." Amber called back. “We will be there in a second." The chipmunk snorted and disappeared back into the kitchen. The snow leopard sighed as she looked back at her sister. “Look, we don't have time anymore. I promise to tell you and mom everything once I am able to. But for now, just be patient. Okay?"

“Ffft, fine…" Gina huffed. Amber gave her a hug before she left the hallway. Gina could only watch as her sister went back to work with a sigh. Shaking her head, the school age girl couldn't do anything about what was going on besides helping her sister out by getting to work.