"Why are you crying?" Asked the little brown rat, inquisitively watching the girl as she sobbed into her frazzled fur.

The girl turned to face the rat, the tiny eyes of the creature tired, with her whiskers ruffled and strained. The rat pulled out a tiny handkerchief, blowing with her little hands into it. Blood splattered across the blank tissue, which only made the girl cry more.

"I did this to you...this is all my fault...you don't deserve this...you shouldn't be so sick...look at you...you're suffering..."

Twitching her nose, the tiny rat burrowed into the blue fleece of the girl's housecoat, each step a paralytic struggle.

"But you loved me. And you gave me everything. You gave me everything you could, despite having little. You gave me your love. You gave me bits of your favourite cake on your birthday, you gave me veggies despite running late most days. You held me despite dying inside, watching as your baby suffered."

The girl was silent.

"It's time to let me go." The rat continued, tired brown eyes staring into the girl's ocean green ones.

"I can't do this. I have no one."

"No - you only let yourself believe you have no one. The two baby ratties - they need you now. Make sure they get the medicine my sister and I didn't. It wasn't your fault."

The girl buried her face in her hands.

The rat wiped her nose with her tiny hands, sniffling. "Moana sailed on a small raft over an ocean only moments after losing the person closest to her. But she wasn't alone. She knew her grandmother was with her, despite being in another place." The rat paused again. "There is nowhere you can go that I won't be with you."

The girl wiped her eyes. "I'll miss you both..."

"We'll be waiting at the golden gate."

A single tear fell from the girl's cheek, reluctantly looking back at her little baby. She glanced up at the painting on her wall - the one with the rat on the raft, sailing merrily into the sunset over a clear blue sea.

"I promise, Claire."