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!"

uttered in a shaking voice, her face contorted in agony and distress. She stood there like a dear caught in

Cassandra noticed Cloris wince as if something Courtney said had struck her.

think more on it, since Courtney had taken a turn for the

fell to her knees and covered her head with her

to move for a brief second, then immediately rushed

my dear," she whispered over and over to the frightened girl for comfort. "Mother's here now. There's no bunny,

her daughter's head in their embrace, tears streaming down

take her to the doctor,

in a soft voice. Courtney's current condition was worrying,

word. Cassandra could only sigh deeply

of the doctors here. As for Courtney, proper bed rest without disturbance might be the best for now since

to go home now? Or do you want

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

was her, mom. She killed the bunny. It

blurted out as she burst into tears. She wailed like

you poor thing?" Whitney asked in a soft voice. "It's okay. It's all over now. I'm

in a choked voice. She hugged

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

she pointed at Cloris who had been watching from the nearby corner, wordless the whole

were all stunned to silence upon hearing her accusation. Whitney and Cassandra looked at

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 nonsense!" she shouted. "I