Sketches of Reality ch 1

Chapter 1:
When it all began...
She couldn't hear anything over the sound of her own panting. It all felt like a horror movie bursting into real life. It was frightening; not knowing what t expect, not aware of the creatures that were lurking about. Being tied up, gagged, close to be slaughtered... it was such an awful experience! Her life had gone downhill ever since that deadly package had arrived in the mail...
~~~
The alarm buzzed in her ears. She groaned, blindly searching for the off button. "Another day," she thought, "another attempt to avoid dying."
~~~
She hummed some tunes in the shower, too shy to actually sing the words to the song aloud. She slathered a squirt of creamy shampoo into her quills, and tilted her head back for some more water.
~~~
Dressed in a white silk shirt, she headed out the door. The sun blazed down on her, which brought discomfort. "I bet someone's gonna get caught on fire," she predicted, her feet burning with every step down the driveway. Whistling echoed down the street. A familiar tall moose in a mail man uniform strode up to Flaky. She sighed. "Hi, Lumpy." She greeted him, with a dull tone lingering in her voice. "Hiya, I gots a package for ya!" He pulled out a small cardboard box out of his sack, handing it to the timid girl. She eyed it very carefully. Nobody ever sends her packages. Even so, her birthday had been last August. She stared at the white label at the top corner. The "From" column was scratched out with marker. "Th-thank you." Flaky croaked, then raced back into her house.
~~~
Shakily, she used a silver knife to rip the box open. She peered in, curious of the contents inside. An object-a book?-was wrapped up in light peach tissue paper. Unfolding, it revealed to be a diary of some sort. She ran her paw down the dusty cover. How old was this? And why was it send, of all people, to Flaky? She opened it up. What caught her eye was the writing in ink inside of the front cover; "Let your imagination roam free! By using the arts, you can express your greatest desires, fears, and emotions in this sketchbook. But be warned, all is not as it appears." The message didn't necessarily get through her head right away, but she still got the part where it said that she could draw inside of the book. "I'm not the 'artist' type..." she decided, storing the sketchbook under one of her soft feather pillows.
~~~
The tiny plastic ball went back and forth for minutes. The paddles slapped it at sonic speed. With one more flick of the wrist, Flaky whacked the ping-pong ball, so that it whizzed past Cuddles. He grinned at her. "You play a good game." He said. Turning to Flippy, who had been watching the game the whole time, Cuddles asked "You wanna play a game against Flaky?" He shrugged. "Nah... I'd probably loose, considering how great she is at it." The war veteran winked at her. Flaky's cheeks got a shade darker than usual. "Really? I mean, you fought in the W.A.R. and all..." Her voice trailed off. "Doesn't mean that I don't suck at sports." He answered. "Cuddles, Giggles is her!" Petunia hollered from the kitchen. He quickly looked at Flippy and Flaky. "Do I look okay?" He asked, stroking the yellow puff of fur at the top of his head. "Ah, just go make out with your girlfriend already." Flippy teased, with Flaky giggling nervously behind him on the couch. For a brief second, Cuddles stuck out his tongue at them, then trotted up the basement stairs, leaving the two all alone. Silence filled the room. "So... wanna go upstairs with the others?" Flippy suggested. "Good idea." Flaky leaned forward to get up, but he put a hand out. She smiled, then took it. "His paw... it feels so warm!" Her mind was screaming. "And HE offered to help me up! Does that mean... he likes me? Or was he just being polite?" She wondered, as she followed next to Flippy.
~~~
"Gaaaah!" Petunia squealed, seeing them hold hands. "You guys are actually touching each other? Think of all the germs!" Pulling out a can, she sprayed them down, making sure that their hands were clean. When the cloud of disinfectant spray faded away, Flaky overheard Flippy say through gritted teeth "Thanks a lot, Petunia..."
~~~
Flaky put her paw on the lamp, just about to turn it off, when she remembered the sketchbook. She took it out from under her pillow. "Greatest desire, huh?" Flaky muttered to herself, grabbing a pencil from the bed stand.