marsha

Chapter 1

may 18, 2003

As I sat on the floor of my living room, I felt nothing but a sense of pain that no one should ever have to feel, let alone a 14 year old.
"Why are you crying, Krissy?" my 6 year old sister, Bailey, asked. I knew she was too young to understand the comcept of death, but I told it to her straightforward anyway.
"Marsha's dying." I said, my voice breaking as I cried.
"Oh." she replied in a whisper.
Marsha was my best friend. She was a 16 year old German shepherd that had been with me since birth, and even before. She'd gotten very sick within the last few years of her life, and could barely walk.
I knew she was at the end of her rope, so I stayed by her side at all times. Never knowing when our last moments together would be.
I sat with her for hours.
Until about 3pm, she took her last breath in my arms.
"Marsha.." I said and my tears fell onto her face.
"Mom!!" I yelled.
My mom came in and she already knew by the look on my face that Marsha was gone.
"Oh my God, Kris."
"I know." I could barely get out.
I was in shock. It felt surreal. Marsha had been with me my entire life and I couldn't imagine life without her. But now I was gonna have to live it.
My mom was in pure devastation too, as she'd gotten her when she got out of college and had been with her ever since.
My mom and I spent a few last moments with her until we put her body into a trash bag and set it outside. We were going to take her to get cremated in the morning.