Big Salmon Lake The wreckoning.

Alivia accepted the thanks with a bob of her purple muzzle. 

"Yeah um.. we found a good doctor, and Mom, she's good, she, she-"

She sucked a rattling breath in, trying not to choke up. Here was the moment of truth. Here was what she had been avoiding while she wandered in circles all winter, all the while getting thinner and thinner and more and more ashamed of herself. 

"-Actually, she's gone. She passed last fall." Alivia's throat ached from holding in a sob. "I miss her every day too." 

Saying it out loud made it real. 

But real wasn't necessarily bad. After delivering the news, a sense of closure settled upon the young woman, and the ache in her heart dulled somewhat. She opened her mouth to speak again, but she didn't know what to say. Instead of words, a hiccup emerged. Another followed shortly after.