I snatched her up from the bed and into my arms, probably gave her a heart attack. Her body felt lighter than it had when she’d left, when I’d sent her away.
She opened sad bloodshot eyes and looked at me like I wasn’t real. “Kitten, baby?” I kept my voice low to hide the horror of what I was feeling. It had only been a little more than a week, this couldn’t have happened in that short amount of time could it?
I looked around for someone to scream at, how could they have let this happen? But even as I thought it I knew it was my doing.
I don’t know how long I sat there with her in my arms rocking her, talking to her, promising to take better care of her.
I knew she was awake and listening when she started to cry, when her body shook with weak little sobs that tore my heart out and left it a bloody mess on the floor of that ole farmhouse.