We were coming home from a peaceful family road trip
I was surrounded by giggles and smiles from my family until we came home
Our precious dog, Malcolm, was on the ground, we followed his trail of bloody paw prints
And there he had been, on the ground, helpless
We were astounded
My mom started to breathe heavily and tears came to our eyes
My dad picked him up
Malcolm let out an agonizing cry
The pain in his eyes would forever leave a mark in my mind
I thought that would be the last time I ever saw him again

We hovered over him the next morning
He was alive.
The vet, Dr. Adkin, had a pitiful, guilty look on her face.
She walked uneasily toward us in her lab coat
Her relishing red, bouncy hair pinned up behind her
She stood over him in dismay
"I'm sorry to inform you that your dog has bone cancer, his bones are extremely fragile
The best thing to do right now is to be by his side and let him rest.”
We stood there, speechless.
We looked at Dr. Adkin, her face grew pale. How could this be? I thought. 
Our outgoing and vigorous dog is suffering and there is nothing we can do but watch him die in pain.

We eventually accepted it.
He was ill and wasn’t going to get better
There was nothing we could do but come in every day and stand by his side
His eyes became red and he could barely move his paws
It was so painful to see him in this condition, but it only progressed aggressively
Every day that had gone by a piece of him died
His bones thinner than the day before
His eyes redder than yesterday
His vivacious tail now tucked in between his legs, frightened
He communicated with me through his eyes
His vibrant nutt-brown eyes soon turned into deadly dark black
His eyes read that he couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't live.
He would be better off elsewhere

The clock had been ticking, his time was up
His pulse was weak
We cherished his last couple of breathes
Malcolm took one deep breath
We knew this was it
He sucked in all the air he could,  he sucked in his whole life
His adventures as a puppy, his dog shows, when he learned to swim, his journey throughout life everyday, he sucked it all in
And after that one powerful breath, he never breathed again