It was a quiet Tuesday morning on the outskirts of Chicago, Illinois, when a 12-year-old girl named Emily found herself in a situation no child should ever face.
Home sick from school with a bad cold, Emily was curled up on the couch under a blanket when she noticed something wrong.
Her new puppy, Max, only a few weeks old, was gasping for air — his tiny chest rising and falling in distress.
She called out for her mother, who worked a double shift at a local hospital, but no one answered. Panic started to set in.
The puppy whimpered softly, and Emily’s hands shook as she realized she was running out of time.
Her mother’s phone went straight to voicemail.
Emily looked at Max, then at the car keys lying on the kitchen counter.
“I can’t just watch him die,” she whispered.
Although she had never driven a car before, …
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