The car tires hummed along the familiar stretch, her eyes scanning the roadside before she even reached the spot. She told herself it was only curiosity, and that she’d not really get involved. Yet her chest tightened, dread coiling like a spring as the ditch came into view.
There he was. The same dog, in exactly the same place, hunched miserably over the bundle. His fur looked dustier now, his body thinner in the dimming light. And still—still—that ragged blanket lay pinned beneath his chest as if stitched onto his skin.