Chapter 7.7 - Sudden Goodbyes

 Shiba had been an elder for almost a year now and although she didn't play as much as she use to Lexi still loved being around her. She had become her closest friend and it seemed like Lexi had a feeling two weeks later that something was wrong with Shiba.

"Mum, I think something is wrong with Shiba," Lexi said with tears in her eyes "Can you call the vet?"

"Why do you think that hunny?"

"Shiba isn't playing anymore..."

"Well, she is getting old Lexi, it's not uncommon for an elder to pet to not want to play as much."

"Mum, that's not all! She wont anything, she has been laying around all the time, and if I try to pet her she backs away and starts growling a little."

  I did not understand this at all, Shiba loved Lexi and I have never heard her growl at anyone, not even the racoons that often get into our garbage. As I went to check on Shiba (who was in mine and Luca's room) I got a bad feeling and as soon as I walked into our room and past our bed I saw what gave me the bad feeling..the Grim Reaper.

  I did not want the kids seeing this so I quickly sent Luca a text (even though he was just in the living room) telling him what was going on and to NOT let the kids come in here, especially Lexi. I tried to plead with Grim but before I knew it Shiba was headed for the light and they were both gone in an instant and all that was left of Shiba was her remains in an urn. I didn't know what to do or what to say to the kids, I just stood there crying.

  When I finally went back into the living room and told the kids what happened our house became chaotic. Everyone began crying, even Chase who didn't really care for animals. After we all calmed down we went to the cemetery and buried Shiba near my parents.

  Little did we know something was happening at our house and our chaotic day was just beginning. The kids decided to go hang out in their tree house when we got home, even Brielle who assumed Scarlet was napping since she did not see her in the yard and decided to leave her alone. But this was not the case when I decided to go in the barn to put more hay out for her. She was gone and a note was stuck to her gate.

  Abruzzi Family ~

      Your entrapment of a unicorn is disgusting and selfish. Unicorns are not meant to be a part of a family, they are to be left in the wild for everyone to enjoy, not just one family. Think about this before acting next time. We will force the law to handle this next time if this happens again.

                                                                                                             ~Anonymous


  I could not believe this, it was like the purposely waited until we were all out of the house and to come onto private property too! UGH, this just pissed me off so much. I told Luca about it and then I called Brielle out of the tree house, showed her the letter and explained the situation.

"It's okay mommy, I don't really like horse and unicorns anymore. I like cats, I wish we had one." She said before running back to the tree house.

  It seemed like they all felt better now because it sounded like they were pretending to have a grand feast. You would think we had a lot of kids in that tree house with all the noise they were making.
 

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  A few weeks later Luca and I went shopping for some belated presents for the triplets. We both felt bad that we couldn't get them something sooner since we had to wait for Luca to get paid and then all the chaos we had to deal with with Shiba and Scarlet. When the kids came home from school we anxiously waited for them to finish their homework and then took them upstairs. Chase got to see his present first.

"Sweet, a chemistry set! Thank you!" he said before going to discover potions.

"Now don't go using any potions on us," Luca said with a smile.

  Then we took the girls into their room and watched them run over to the crates that were sitting in the middle of their room and pull off the blankets that were covering them

"Oh my gosh! Awwww!," They both said with excitement.

"Lexi the puppy is for you and Brielle the kitty is yours. They don't have names yet so you girls get to pick out names." I said happy that they were so excited.

"Make sure you girls take care of them too," Luca said looking over at Brielle more than Lexi "They are not toys that you decide to just throw to the side and not play with anymore."

"We will!" The girls said in unison hugging their new pets.

Brielle named her kitty Roxy and Lexi named her puppy Cleo.