My mother let out a cold laugh.
"Feeling grown now, are you? Is this supposed to scare me?"
She was about to say more when Madison suddenly screamed, "Buttons feels hot!"
The whole family rushed over at once.
"Quick, we need to go back to the animal hospital!"
The door slammed shut.
No one looked at me twice.
I stood there for two seconds, then turned and went upstairs to pack.
It was ten below outside, and the wind cut straight down my collar.
I dragged my chipped suitcase out the front door.
I didn’t look back.
...
I moved back into my college dorm.
The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.
It was the first quiet I had heard in twenty-two years.
Strangely, I didn’t feel lonely.
I felt lighter.
No packages to bring in.
No dog to walk.
No three different kinds of poop to c
