CHAPTER TWELVE

I arrive home after a long drive. I was able to hitch a ride with a few humans. I open the house door, expecting to smell Mom's scent, but I don't. She’s been gone for too long that her scent has faded away. The whole place is turned upside down. The living room looks like someone was trying to tear it down. There are pillows everywhere, and the TV is broken. Did they fight in here? The kitchen is like the living room, but my breath catches in my throat when I see blood on the kitchen counter.

There’s a weird smell in the kitchen, but I realize what it was, and I wish I didn't. Please, I hope it's not Mom's. I sniff the blood to find out if it has the scent of Mom, but I can't tell because it’s too decayed. I empty my stomach in the kitchen sink because the blood smelt so bad. I think it's been here for days. The amount is so tiny I can't tell who the blood belongs to. I feel little comfort knowing that if it belonged to Mom, she didn’t bleed a lot.

I walk upstairs to check the rooms