"Kayla, I don't think we should go." Kayla turned to her, "Why not?" Auroa looked out the window, "Because, it's really bad out their, and the roads are ice." she paused and her voice lowerd, "What if we crash?" Kayla nugded her reassuringly, "Come on Auroa, Jens a great driver. We'll be fine." Auroa still seemed hesitent, "But--" she started, "Come on Auroa, please?" Kayla urged. Finnaly, Auroa gave a small smile and got up. "All right, but if we crash and die, I'll blame you." she teased. Kayla gave her a small shove and they ran out to the truck where Jen was waiting.

The truck was warm inside and Kayla hoped in back with Auroa. The truck rocked as it hit the rough dirt road coated in ice.  "This is crazy." Auroa mutterd under her breathe. Kayla nudged her slightly, "Don't be such a worry-wort. We'll be fine." she assured her. Then the truck hit a bump just then and she tumbled off the seat. Shaking her head, she looked up at Auroa, who had stayed on the seat. Her eyes were wide with fear. Kayla looked ahead and froze. Something was standing in the middle of the road, and it wasn't moving.  Jen swerverd to avoid crashing into it, but the tires slipped on the icy road.

Kayla felt the truck as it started falling over. "Auroa!" she screamed. There was a bang, a sicking feeling of falling, and then nothing.

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Kayla's eyes flutterd open. She was surrounded by darkness. She sat straight up, but a sharp pain shot through her head and leg and she caught her breathe. "Ow!" she gasped. "Kayla?" she stopped, she knew that voice. "Ty?" she asked slowly. She heard a sigh of what sounded like relif. "Oh Kayla your finnaly awake!" she felt him nuzzle her, but she couldn't see him. "Ty, why, why is it so dark?" she asked. She heard him breathe, but it sounded sharp. "Ty? Where are we?" she felt a wave of dizziness, but ignored it. "Your at the vets. You've been out for two days." he paused, "Do you, remeber anything?" 

Kayla shook her head. "Wheres Auroa?" As soon as the words came out, she remeberd. The road. The creature. "We crashed!" she gasped. "Yeah." Ty said softly. "Oh no. Is Jen okay?" she gasped as she sat up, ignoring the pain that shot threw her. "And Auroa?" Ty didn't anserw. "Ty?" she felt her heart suddenly somersault with fear. "Ty! Wheres Auroa? Is she here to?" she demanded, her voice catching. Ty took a shaky breathe. "Jen's in the hospital. Shes fine, just a few broken bones. But Auroa.." he hesitate, then took a deep breathe, "Auroa's gone, Kayla." Kayla felt sick. "No." she whisperd. She starred into the darkness. It couldn't be true. "No! No, No, No! She can't be! She can't be de ad! Your lying!" she cried. "I'm sorry." Ty whisperd softly. "The vet said nothing could be done." he told her.

"No!" Kayla cried, pain erupting out of her. Her cry turned into a howling scream. She couldn't stop it, she didn't want to. She was vaugly aware of Ty's barking, calling the vet and a assintent in. She barley felt something her shoulder. Her howl faded to a whimper, then sleep closed in on her, dragging her into more darkness.

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The next few days, Kayla lay in a recovery cage at the vets. She cried as if her heart would break. She had broken a few ribs and her head ached, and the vet had said something about her eyes, but she welcomed the physical pain, despretly wanting to block out the emotional. It was all her fault. If she hadn't pushed Auroa to go with her, then she'd still be alive. The team had been found, they had seeken shelter in a cave, and were fine. But Kayla didn't care. Auroa was gone, and it was all her fault.

Her parents, Ty, Caption, her other brother, and Ivory, Captions mate, sometimes stopped by.  "How are you feeling?" Caption asked her. Kayla starred at the direction of his voice, then the words just burst out of her. "It was my fault!" Caption didn't speak for a minute, "What do you mean?" he sounded confused. "I killed Auroa!" she cried. "I made her go! She didn't want to! I made her!" She heard Caption place his paws on the cage. "No, don't say that!" he exclaimed intensly. "You didn't kill her! She wouldn't have gone if she hadn't wanted to! You know that!" She felt his tounge licking her cheek gently. "She wouldn't have gone if it weren't for me." her voice sounded like a croak. "It's all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself."

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When the vet said Kayla could go home, he reviled more news. "Mr. and Mrs. Forester?" he had poked in as Jen was lifting Kayla out of the cage. Amy looked up at him, "Mr. Scott, what are these things on her eyes?" Kayla wonderd if that was why she couldn't see, she was blindfolded. She heard Dr. Scott sigh, "Those are to protect her eyes until she was fully recoverd from surgery." he told them. Kayla's ears ed, surgery? She had surgery? "Can we take them off?" she heard Jen ask. Dr. Scott didn't anserw for a minute, "Yes, but." he sounded hesitent. 'But what?" Jen demanded, hugging Kayla closer. Kayla heard the vet sigh, "Mr. Scott, did something go wrong with the surgery?" Mrs. Forester asked. Dr. Scott took a deep breathe,  "The surgery went well and she is recoverd, but, I'm sorry to inform you, that shes blind."

The words made silence fall around the room. Jen was the first to speak, "Blind? You mean you couldn't save her eyesight?" Kayla just sat there in her arms. She'd heard the words, but she didn't really care. "So this is my punishment for Auroa huh?" she said to herself. There went any chances of being a sled dog, though she couldn't imagene being on a sled team without Auroa.  "That doesn't mean she has to be.." Amy asked quietly, not daring to voice her fears. "Oh no. There are many blind dogs that live happy lives, they just need to readjust to their surroundings, and special training wouldn't hurt." Kaylay heard the rustle of paper. "Thank you Dr. Scott." Mrs. Forester said.

Once they got home, Jen took Kayla up to her room. Kayla knew it was Jen's room because she smelled the lavander scented flowers Jen kept. Jen laid her on her bed gently. Kayla sighed and laid her head on Jen's lap. 'I'm sorry Kayla." she heard a catch in Jen's voice. Was she crying? Kayla looked up in the direction of her voice. Jen wrapped her arms around her neck. "I didn't mean to do this to you. I didn't mean to kill Auroa." she cried. Kayla licked what she hoped was Jen's cheek. "You didn't kill her, I did." she told her, even though she knew Jen couldn't hear. Jen burried her face in Kayla's neck and sobbed.

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That night Kayla tossed and turned in her sleep. Auroa's voice kept playing over in her head. "If we crash and die, I'll blame you." Kayla found herself standing in darkness. Auroa was ahead of her, glowing. Tears were streaming down her face. "Why'd you make me go?" her voice echoed around Kayla. "I, I didn't know what would happen!" Kayla told her. Auroa suddenly disappered. "It's all your fault. You killed her." the strange voices echoed around her. "I-I- I'm sorry!" she cried out despretly. "You killed her. It's your fault." the voice still echoed and seemed to grow louder. Kayla felt tears streaming down her face. "Please stop!" The voice grew louder and louder, and then. "Kayla? Kayla?" something was shaking her. Kayla snapped her head up. She could feel Jen stroking her. "Whats the matter?" Kayla just gave a small whine and crawled closer. Jen wrapped her in a hug. "Bad dream to huh?" Kayla nuzzled Jens arm, then drifted off into sleep once more.

Later that day her parents came over. "Kayla?" she heard her mother, Melody, say gently. Kayla just looked in their direction. She heard her mother come to her and her father not to far behind. "How are you feeling?" her father, Jake, asked. Kayla just starred in the direction of his voice. Meldoy sighed, "Well, we just wanted to see how you were doing."  Kayla sighed and turned away from them. "Well, we'll come by again, okay?" Jake asked. He seemed to wait for a anserw, but Kayla gave him none. With a sigh, he and Meldoy left.

Ty came by later that same day. "Heya sis." he sounded pleased, but Kayla didn't greet him. "Guess what?" he asked. Kayla knew he was trying to get her to talk, but she didn't. "Ol' Capt said he'd stop by later with little Ivey." he sounded hopeful. Ivey was one of Captions and Ivorys pups, and Kayla was her favorite aunt. Kayla loved the little pup as well, but even the thought of her coming did'nt lift her mood. Ty gave a depressed sigh, " Aw come on, you don't want little Ivey to see you all bummed out like this do ya?" he nugded her shoulder. Kayla just got up and moved. "How'd you do that?" Ty asked