[ WP ] Make us fall in love with your character , and then immediately kill them off .

Libby looked up at me with her mismatched eyes, her head cocking to one side like it always did. At first it had been a goofy habit, back when she was all too-big paws and stubby little tail; it was like she just could n't make sense of a world so dull as to be bounded by a flat horizon. Later I thought of it as dapper, the way she'd pose atilt with one ear outstretched and the other tucked back, a jaunty salute for everyone and no one. Now I thought the gesture was world-weary, pained, expressive of sadness and resignation at the cruelty of uncaring fate. 
 
 No, of course that's not how she felt. It's how I felt. 
 
 She could n't really jump up into the car any more, but her tail still wagged as I lifted her into the passenger seat. She was sitting up straighter, now, than she had in the past few weeks; though it took her several tries, she had levered her body up to the window so that she could tilt her head at the sidewalks and parks she was leaving behind. 
 
 When we came to a final stop she stretched her neck out and licked my hand. Her mismatched eyes met mine, level and unblinking.
