Where We Left Off (A Hunter Hayes Fanfiction, Book 2 of the HunTia Trilogy)

Chapter Twenty-Two

TIA'S POV:

We walk inside, and we're hit by a horrible stench. It smells like something died in here.

Did something die in here?

"Olive!" I yell, trying not to breathe through my nose. I take a huge breath in through my mouth instead. Oh crap, big mistake. Now I can taste it.

"Olive, here girl!" yells Hunter, looking under the table where she had been before. We both search the house again, and I'm fearing the worst. We find little pools of sick all over the place, all of which stink worse than the last.

Finally, I hear a strange noise coming from the guest bedroom. I see Olive throwing up again.

"Oh, you poor puppy," I murmur, trying to hold her. She looks sicker than before.

"Tee, have you found her?" calls Hunter.

"I'm taking her to the vet," I say, my voice shaking. She's sicker than she was before, that's certain. I hope it's nothing serious.

Hunter runs into the room and stops at the sight of sickly looking Olive.

"Oh," he murmurs. "She's gotten worse."  

I nod, willing myself not to cry. Stupid hormones, messing me up to the point of having a good cry every day.

"Do you know the way to the vet's?" he asks, before noticing how close I am to breaking. "Tee?"

"I just hope she's okay," I say, a couple of tears falling.

"Don't cry, love," he says softly, wiping my tears away. "She'll be as good as new when she comes back, don't you worry."

I nod, but I'm still worried. Hunter hugs me, gently rubbing my back, and gives me a soft peck on the lips.

"She'll be okay," he murmurs into my ear, and I let a few more tears fall. Olive makes a whining noise, and Hunter and I pull apart.

"Will you be okay on your own?" he asks, wiping my tears again.

"I should be." We clean up the sick, and I cradle Olive in my arms. I say goodbye to Hunter, before making my way to my car. Dark, ominous clouds roll overhead, and I shiver involuntarily. I've always had a fear of thunderstorms, I have no idea why. But I still remember being stuck in the gloomy, dark, wet cellar of my old house with Ashley and Thomas, the storm raging around me. That only made it worse.

I drive to the vet's clinic and wait with Olive. I see an assortment of animals going past. Cats, dogs, lizards, snakes, birds; it's actually crazy to see all these animals together in the same room. It's like a small petting zoo in here.

Slowly, the waiting room empties, until finally, I'm still sitting there with Olive, who's gone limp in my arms. She looks terrible.

"Tia Hayes and Olive?" calls the vet, and I slowly go inside.

"I'm Dr Madigan, Ms Hayes. Is this little Olive?" she asks, giving Olive a small scratch behind the ears. Her tail wags feebly.

"Yeah."

Dr Madigan adjusts her glasses. "What seems to be the problem?"

"She's been throwing up a lot since this morning. We were worried about her." I stroke Olive's soft fur.

"How old is she?"

"About six months old."

"So she's gone off puppy food?"

"Yeah."

"What did you feed her while she was a puppy?" asks the doctor.

"Umm, tinned puppy food."