I’d seen my sister do this once. I held sympathy for her, but in the back of my mind, I wondered how she could be so weak. How could she walk on shaky legs up to a casket? How could she sit there with tears streaming down her face, and not hide her pain?
Sure, I was supportive, but I didn’t understand.
Not until now.
Now, I’m walking up to an open casket on shaky legs. Alone. Terrified…. Because I know this is goodbye forever.
I feel as if I’ve experienced too much loss for one lifetime. Yet here we are again. With my mother, there was no funeral. Nor for my father. Sam, Nico, and I weren’t close. Even then, I think I always knew it would be Brody. Of course I wouldn’t have wished death on them, but their loss didn’t affect me in the way that it had Brielle.
I failed Viper. Her d
