Chapter Eleven
In those few short moments, I flashed to the child who had just learned her mother was gone and was reminded of the emotions that had washed over me and threatened to take up permanent residence on my soul.
Sadness.
Agony.
Despair.
Guilt.
I collapsed to my knees and cried.
For the father who had abandoned me.
For the mother who couldn’t bear to live.
For Tara, who never had the chance.
And when the tears would no longer come, I grasped the bracelet much in the way I had the trinket my mother had given me after hearing of her death. And like before, I rocked back and forth, humming as though it would offer me solace, hoping the pain would stop and when I opened my eyes, it would have all just been a bad dream.
My father had never left.
My mother had never walked o
