When Silence Speaks of Regret

When Mom found me through our mind-link, I was curled up on the ground. My nails had gouged out deep scratches in the floor.

Dad was criticizing Mom. "Is this how you raise our pup? She has no table manners at all! She threw up her food onto the table right in front of the host! That was disgraceful.

"I just reprimanded her slightly, and she immediately started pretending to be sick. You spoiled her. I must teach her a lesson—"

Mom snapped. She slapped Dad before scooping me into her arms and sprinting toward the Healing Hut.

I hovered in midair as I followed her closely.

Tears streamed down her face. She had once laughed and said that I had grown too big for her to carry. But now, she ran so swiftly that she didn't even seem to feel my weight.

I suddenly disliked Dad. In fact, I kind of hated him.

Why did he have to treat us this way?

His heart used to ache for me, even if I had only tripped while walking. Now, I had died right in front of him, and he still didn't even look at me.

Yes. I had died.

So, this was what death felt like. When the old lady next door passed away last year, did she drift along in the air like this too?

However, I hadn't seen her at the time. Did that mean that Mom and Dad couldn't see me now, either?

The thought made me a little upset, and I looked down at Mom.

She was carrying me, and her face was pale from crying. The healer in the Healing Hut didn't even take me from her arms. He just sighed and shook his head at Mom.

…

Mom hadn't slept in two days. She had done everything on her own. My body was placed in a wooden crate and buried beneath the largest tree in the forest.

Mom sat against the tree trunk, staring dazedly at the patch of earth where I had been buried. She only went home when it got dark.

Her eyes were swollen from crying as she lay on the bed. She lay there without moving an inch, like my body that had been sealed inside that wooden crate.

I hovered beside her and tried to pat her back, the way she had always put me to sleep. However, my hand went right through her body.

I screamed in fright, but Mom didn't react at all.

I tried to take the stuffed toy on the bed and the glass of water on the nightstand. However, I couldn't touch either of them.

There was no helping it. So, I lay back down meekly beside Mom. It was good to just silently keep her company as well.

Wasn't Mom hungry, though? She kept lying there. She hadn't even had a sip of water.

I began to miss the nutritious meals that Mom had made for me. She would always make the food I liked to eat and make sure I was full.

Dad used to like her cooking too. He once said that Mom was the best cook among the werewolves in the Moonflash pack.

However, after that, he said that the raw meat spreads that Judy made were 100 times better than Mom's home-cooked meals.

I didn't like raw meat, and I was allergic to it. The dishes that Mom made were my favorite.

But now I was dead. Did that mean I would never get to eat her cooking ever again?

I counted on my fingers to see how much time had passed. When the third day came, Mom finally got out of bed.

She picked up her phone. The chat window between her and Dad was filled with the messages that she had sent to him three days ago. He hadn't replied to any of them.

I was dead, and Mom had been grieving alone for days. However, Dad hadn't even called her.

Were the fathers of other pups like this too?

But Dad hadn't been like that. He and Mom had always had endless topics to talk about, and no matter how late it was, he would always come home. He used to call her every single day.

He would even take me hunting and to the theme park for fun.

However, after meeting Judy, Dad called less and less often. Mom once brought me to see him, but he scolded her. "Don't you have anything of your own to do? Can't you be independent and strong like Judy? Don't keep coming to see me! Judy's right, women with pups are so fussy…"

After that day, Mom never tried to visit Dad again.