Chapter 9
In my whole life, I’d only seen Dad cry twice.
Once was the night my mom passed away from an illness.
And the other time… was now.
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“Snoopy…” he muttered under his breath. “Where’s his body? I want to see Snoopy one last time.”
Dad turned to look at Dixie.
Before she could say a word, Uncle Slater slapped her hard across the face. He grabbed her hair, his voice breaking into a furious roar. “You wretched thing! Do you even understand how many honors Snoopy earned?!”
“Do you understand how much blood did he shed?! Do you know much lives he saved?! Why? Why the hell did you beat him to death!” Uncle Slater was completely falling apart. “I wish it had been me instead!”
Years ago, Snoopy had pulled Uncle Slater out of a pile of corpses in a disaster zone.
From that moment on, Snoopy wasn’t just a dog to him–he was a lifesaver, a hero.
Besides Dad, Uncle Slater was the only other person who saw Snoopy as more important than his own life.
“Tell me! Where is his body?!” he roared at Dixie, tears pouring down his face like rain.
Dixie’s eyes darted to the big bowl of casserole sitting on the table.
Then she stammered in terror, “I–I made him into a casserole…”
Uncle Slater’s knees buckled as he staggered toward the casserole.
And when he looked inside, when he saw the meat… his eyes went wide.
Overwhelmed with fury, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
People behind him rushed forward, their eyes red with fury, catching him before he collapsed completely.
“I swear to God, I’m gonna kill you!” Dad threatened.
The veins on my his forehead bulged, and even three or four men couldn’t hold him back.
Uncle Casimir blacked out from rage and collapsed on the spot.
Seeing that things had spiraled out of control, Dixie’s parents panicked. They turned on her in a blind rage, hitting and kicking her.
“This is all your fault, you monster!” Othello shouted. “If you hadn’t dragged us into this mess to go catch that so–called ‘sponsored student,’ none of this would’ve happened!” Turning to Dad and his guests, his wife said, “Mr. Constable, respected elders, we had nothing to do with this–this was all Dixie’s doing!”
The two of them dropped to their knees in front of Dad and Uncle Slater, begging for
mercy.
06:00 Thu, 17 JU
The entire place descended into chaos.
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Dixie, her face twisted in hatred, suddenly pointed at her father and yelled, “It was him! He’s the one who beat Snoopy to death with a broom handle!”
Othello looked terrified, collapsed to the ground, and begged for his life.
The guards, who had rushed toward Snoopy’s room, found the blood–stained wooden handle in the bathroom.
The blood on it was shocking to see. The handle had been broken clean in two from the beating.
Since I was a kid, Dad always reminded me again and again–Snoopy wasn’t just a dog.
He was a war hero, a guide dog who’d saved countless lives.
He was family, the one we depended on.
We used to eat meals together, go shopping together, even travel together.
To me, he was more than a companion. He was the one who raised me–my guardian, my closest kin.
Dad didn’t say a single word. He just walked straight over to Othello… and broke both his arms and legs.
The screams of agony echoed across the entire villa estate.
Dad had lost all reason.
“Take them away!” an elderly officer shouted, afraid of what might happen next. He waved to the security, who dragged Dixie and her parents out.
When Dad walked over to the cassrole, he dropped to his knees with a heavy thud.
He didn’t speak. He just stared quietly into the bowl.
But I could feel just how deep his pain ran.
The guilt of not protecting his old buddy… The fury over what Dixie’s family had done to me, leaving me covered in injuries…
It had all turned into a guilt so intense it was tearing him apart inside and out…
Soon, I was taken to the hospital.
After a night of emergency care, I finally made it through the danger.
