A Graduation Gift

"I honestly have no idea why this occurs. She seldom relapses into that state, to be completely honest. Moreover, she appears to fear her own cat whenever her disease attacks recently, which I might add, has never happened before,"

Whitney answered, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"That's weird, I thought she loved her cat," Cassandra wondered out loud. Her face indicated that she too, was quite puzzled.

She could still picture in her mind how Courtney was holding her cat in her arms when they met for the first time. It was a white bi-eyed Persian cat that left a strong impression on Cassandra.

"She does. She has always loved animals ever since she was little. She did develop some fear awhile back, but gradually grew to adore them as she grew older. It's just odd to see her sudden bouts of fear for them every once in a while. I tried asking her the reason, but she outright refused to tell me..."

Whitney sighed with despair clear as day in her eyes. She had always thought of herself as a capable woman. But when it came to her daughter and her ailment, she would become so worried and helpless like any other ordinary mother in an instant.

They kept talking about Courtney's current condition, and failed to notice that Cloris was staring at them with a weird look on her face.

Staring straight ahead, she anxiously bit her lip as if she wanted to get away from something as fast as possible.

Tears formed in Whitney's eyes as she spoke. Cassandra quickly grabbed a tissue from the table and handed it to her. It pained her to see the tears of a poor mother.

'If only Courtney could recover, ' Cassandra sadly thought, 'Whitney wouldn't suffer so much.'

At that moment, the bedroom door swung open. A long figure with a look of terror on her face appeared in the doorway—it was Courtney.

"Mom, the bunny... the bunny is dead!"

in a shaking voice, her face contorted in agony and distress. She stood there like a dear caught in a car's headlights, looking at

her surprise, Cassandra noticed Cloris wince as

more on it, since Courtney had taken a

fell to her knees and covered

brief second, then

the frightened girl for comfort. "Mother's

repeating the words as she rocked her daughter's head in their embrace,

we should take her to

condition was worrying, and Whitney's comforting didn't seem

a word. Cassandra could only sigh deeply

bed rest without disturbance might be the best for now since Smithers wasn't around

do you want to go home

asked her daughter while gently stroking her back, trying to calm her

was her, mom. She killed the bunny.

tears. She wailed like a heart-broken child.

you have a nightmare, you poor thing?" Whitney asked in a soft voice. "It's okay. It's all over now.

in a choked voice. She hugged

screamed. "Mother, believe me, I know it was her!

she pointed at Cloris who had been watching from the nearby corner, wordless the whole ordeal. There were innocence

accusation. Whitney and Cassandra looked at Cloris, both at

was a lump in her throat as she swallowed. As she met their gaze, she gradually became breathless. She finally opened her mouth after a few seconds, "You're talking