They Cuffed Me, I Destroyed Their World

Chapter 5

The smell of disinfectant lingered stubbornly. Adele had just caught her breath after another round of violent vomiting.

Suddenly, the phone on her bedside table rang sharply. Her heart skipped inexplicably, and with trembling fingers, she swiped to answer the call.

"Hello, Mrs. Sanchez," a gentle female voice came from the other end of the line. "We have already delivered the puppy Naomi boarded with us back to your home. One of your family members has already signed for it."

"What?" Adele's voice shot up instantly. Her heart felt as if it was being squeezed hard by an invisible hand. "Why didn't you notify me in advance?!"

Startled by her outburst, the shop clerk stammered, "W-Well... the person who signed for it was your younger sister, so we..."

Dora!

Adele's vision went black, and she nearly toppled off the hospital bed.

The very next moment, she slammed the phone down. Without a second thought, she threw off the covers and rushed out of the ward.

The wounds on her body had split open and were bleeding, and nausea roiled in her stomach, but she did not care about any of it.

Naomi was the puppy she had adopted when she was pregnant. The little dog had stayed by her side through the hardest months of her pregnancy. Not long ago, Naomi caught a cold, so she had boarded it at the pet hospital for treatment...

A nurse standing outside the door saw her and hurried over to stop her. "Mrs. Sanchez, you cannot be discharged yet! You are still very weak; it's dangerous to leave now!"

"Get out of my way!" Adele shoved the nurse hard, her voice thick with desperate urgency. "Naomi! I have to save my Naomi!"

Adele stumbled out of the ward. She did not even have time to change her shoes, and her bare feet hit the cold hospital corridor floor. Blood seeped out of her wounds, but she felt no pain. Nothing but the image of her puppy filled her mind.

She hailed a taxi. Her voice was still shaking uncontrollably when she gave the driver her home address.

The entire ride, she clutched the hem of her hospital gown tightly with both hands, praying over and over in her heart...

*****

The car finally stopped at the neighborhood gate. Adele paid the fare and practically scrambled out before running toward her home. She skidded to a sudden halt the moment she reached the garden entrance.

Dora was crouching in the corner of the garden, holding a small shovel, filling the hole with soil one scoop at a time. Next to her sat an empty dog crate.

"Dora Clark!" Adele's voice was squeezed out through her clenched throat, raw with heart-shredding terror. "What are you doing? Where is Naomi?!"

Dora was startled by Adele's shout. The shovel slipped from her hand and clattered to the ground. She turned her head, an innocent smile on her face. "You're home, Adele. I'm planting a puppy!"

"Planting a puppy?" Adele froze mid-step. All her blood turned to ice. "What do you mean?"

"Mommy told me that you reap what you sow." Dora giggled, pointing at the hole. "I planted the puppy in the soil, and tomorrow, lots of little puppies will grow out to play with me!"

Adele could not believe what she had just heard, and even less could she believe what was unfolding before her eyes.

She let out a scream and threw herself at the pit, staring intently at a tuft of white fur peeking out from the edge of the soil.

"No... It's not real..." Adele's voice began to tremble. She sank to her knees and frantically started digging with her hands; her nails split, her skin was cut open by gravel, but she felt nothing.

"Naomi! Naomi, come out!" She dug with her bare hands as she cried, her tears mixing with the blood running down her forehead and dripping onto the ground.

Her fingers were soon covered in blood, but she did not pause for a single moment. She dug frantically, not daring to waste a single second.

As the dirt was cleared away little by little, more and more white fur was exposed, and at last, Naomi's small body came into view.

Its eyes were still open, filled with fear and pain, its tiny body stiff. Her Naomi would never wag its tail and rush to her again.