7 Chapter 7
A smile played on Sarah’s lips, but I saw a tear slide from the corner of her eye. “A cheating fiancé and a pair of cruel, heartless parents–why don’t you all just die?” Sarah stopped walking, unwilling to move, like a lost child who couldn’t find her way home. Saved once only to be abandoned again, she now stood alone at a crossroads, adrift and utterly lost.
“You want me to give Emily back to you? In your dreams! Your favoritism and your cold hearts pushed her to her death. Victoria and Jake were the murderers–but you’re all murderers, too! Emily would never want to go back with you.”
If I had known our love would end in such a brutal tragedy, I would have spent more time with Sarah, the only person who loved me unconditionally.
Someone silently lifted my urn from the altar.
“Em, you saved me from that hell when we were kids. Now, it’s my turn to save you. Can you visit me in my dreams more often? It’s so lonely being alive by myself. I wish it had been me instead. You were so good, so kind. You deserved the best of
everything…”
My mother collapsed to her knees, begging Sarah hysterically to return the urn.
I wanted to wipe it away, but my hand passed right through her.
But Sarah just hugged it tighter, her face a mask of suspicion and hostility.
The rain began to subside, and sunlight broke through the clouds.
The girl who was once like the sun–always laughing, always fighting, unbeatable- couldn’t smile anymore.
“Child! My dear child! Please, give Emily back to me! I’m begging you!”
Love can do so much, but it also can’t do so much.
I was laid to rest under the giant oak tree where Sarah and Lused to play as kids.
My heart ached with a bitter sorrow that I couldn’t soothe.
*** 7 Chapter
“Em, do you remember? When we were little, my dad got drunk and beat me so badly I couldn’t stand up. He locked me in the attic, no food or water, just left me there to die.
The church was a sea of black and white, but his eyes were bloodshot.
Behind Sarah, my parents and Daniel came running, out of breath.
As everyone was lost in their grief, a dark figure slipped through an unnoticed corner.
It was still raining outside. The person held the urn tightly against their chest, so carefully, as if trying to shield me from the rain.
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.”
“My mom knew I was locked up, knew I was being beaten to death, but she did nothing. The only one who came to save me was you, Emily.”
Sarah gently stroked the urn, and a hot tear fell onto its surface.
He regretted that we could have grown old together, but were now separated forever by death.
He regretted everything. He regretted agreeing to Victoria’s absurd request, regretted not cherishing me, regretted being intimate with another woman, time and time again. Her words were like nails, pinning the three of them to the spot.
“After you got me out, you bought me a hot dog with the allowance you’d been saving for so long. We split it. It was the best thing I’d ever eaten in my life. Nothing ever
tasted that good again…”
She looked terrible, too.
Sarah hummed the lullaby we loved as children, her steps growing lighter and quicker. The wind carried the scent of freedom.
It was Sarah.
“When you found out, you dragged a ladder from who knows where and climbed up. The house was so tall, and you were so small and skinny. You were always so scar heights.”
of
Daniel didn’t dare look in the direction of
my urn.
7 Chapter 7
Heavy dark circles hung under her eyes, and she radiated an unshakable exhaustion.
I stood beside her, stroking her hair over and over. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I broke my promise after all. I didn’t find my love, and I let you down…”
We walked quietly down the street, just like when we used to skip school together as
kids.
More tears fell onto the urn.
He heard the low curses muttered behind him but didn’t react. In his heart, he knew
he deserved every single one. He was human garbage.
They watched as the thin woman in black walked away, clutching my urn, and this time, they didn’t follow.
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