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!"

stood there like a dear caught in a car's headlights, looking at the three of them in extreme panic.

noticed Cloris wince as if

had no time to think more on it, since Courtney had taken a turn for the worse.

and covered her

brief second, then

whispered over and over to the frightened girl for comfort. "Mother's here now. There's no bunny, not even one.

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

think we should take

current condition was worrying, and Whitney's comforting

without a word. Cassandra could only sigh deeply

bed rest without disturbance might

me, do you want to go home now? Or do you want

gently stroking her

She killed the bunny. It was

out as she burst into tears.

a soft voice. "It's okay. It's all over now. I'm here with you, hon. You

voice. She hugged her

believe me, I know it was her! Cloris killed

pointed at Cloris who had been watching from the nearby

stunned to silence upon hearing her accusation. Whitney and Cassandra looked at Cloris, both at the

lump in her throat as she swallowed. As she met their gaze, she gradually became breathless. She finally opened