She sprang at me. I took that chance to try to rush past her, but she caught me before I could, and moved back to protect them. Them. She didn’t care about me. As long as her precious humans were safe. I ran side to side, looking for a hole in her defenses. I knew she wouldn’t let me break through. I knew she would protect them with her life. Why? What did it matter to her? Why wasn’t I as important to her?












She just didn’t understand how much better it would be like this. If she needed them this much…Then she should have them. Only the best for her...Though I wasn’t quite sure if this small “family” of hers was the greatest. Why couldn’t I be enough family for her? I was certainly better than them. I broke to the left, but she circled around, catching me from behind. Damn! Why wouldn’t she stop being such a...











Her mother picked a vase off from the table, and threw it at me. She had bad aim, and a bad arm. It didn’t come near me. She was off by three feet. It flew past Zoey, and I hoped it would distract her. Just one bite on each of them. That was all I had to get. She wasn’t distracted though. That was a first. Her attention was easy to divert…Didn’t she know how much I loved her? I would never do anything that would hurt her. She had to know that I knew it was for the best. Later, down the road, she would appreciate what I’d done. And so would her mother and sister. Especially her mother. Since she was trying so hard to take her away from me.

“Zoey. Come on, it’s better this way. I won’t kill them. Then you can be with them, and you don’t have to be sad anymore. Everything will be perfect then.” Could the two humans even catch what I was saying? I wanted them to, so that maybe they would see what I was trying to do, and they would want it. It would be just that much easier. I thought I spoke too fast though.





“No! They deserve a life!” she hollered in that perfect, beautiful voice of hers. God, why was she so selfless? Why couldn’t she be selfish, just this once? Or at least try to make me happy. Did she want them to take her away from me?



“So do you!” I retorted. She had to see that she was also important. Actually, much more important than her family. Way, way more valuable.



“It’s too late for me, and that’s your fault! So back off and leave them alone…Everything will be all right if we just go. Nothing has to change; it can all stay the same.” Oh, god, how I wished that were true. But, whether she liked it or not, her mother and I were going to keep playing tug-a-war with her until one of us pulled her on our side. And if she took Zoey away from me…I would be forced to kill her. This was the only way to prevent that from happening. And what did she mean by saying it was too late for her? She deserved happiness. Just because she wasn’t alive, just because she was having a rough time, didn’t mean she couldn’t be happy. Didn’t mean I couldn’t make her blissful. And I would. I’d do whatever it took.
I flung myself at her. I had to stop it all before she got any more of these horrible thoughts. I couldn’t let her think this of herself. I didn’t try to run past her this time, but I ran into her, and she wasn’t braced for this. I crashed into her, hoping I hadn’t hurt her too much. Then I attempted to spring at her mother, wishing to get to her before Zoey gathered her thoughts and herself.


Crap. She took a strong hold of my legs as I stood up, racing forward.

She wasn’t giving up. Not yet. Hopefully she would though, once she realized that I wasn’t either.