AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
ABIGAIL
Rain pelts down on the umbrella someone holds over me, the wind howling around us.
It’s a miserable day.
Cold. Dark. Bleak.
But it matches my mood. The endless stream of tears rolling down my cheeks. The angry storm battering my insides.
I feel like I haven’t taken a breath since I heard the words.
He’s gone.
My father. The one person I had left in the world.
I always knew this day would come—sooner than it should have because of his ill health—but I didn’t know.
I didn’t?—
“Abi,” Raine gently squeezes my arm. “It’s time.”
“W-what?” I blink at her. Empty. Hollow.
Numb.
“The rose.” She motions to the open grave. The dark black hole they lowered my father’s casket into.
I take a step forward, and another. “Goodbye,” I whisper, throwing the lone stem into the abyss, watching as it disappears.
“We should get you inside,” she says, wrapping her arm around me. “This storm isn’t going to pass anytime soon.”
I nod, letting her lead me away.
Wondering when the pain will stop.
Wondering how I’ll ever piece myself back together after this.
* * *
Idon’t know how long I’ve been sitting here, hiding in my bedroom. But eventually, a knock pierces the silence. My sanctuary.
“Abigail?” a soft voice calls. “It’s me.” Olivia slips inside. “There you are.” She offers me a sad smile. “We were worried.”
“I… I can’t.”
“I know, gosh, babe.” She hurries to my side and takes my hand in hers. “I know. Can I get you anything? Something to eat? Drink?”
Something to take it all away, I swallow the words.
She would never do that though. Maybe her boyfriend’s friends Theo and Oakley would. Give me a pill to tamp down the pain. But not Liv. Not Tally or Raine.
My friends.
The only people I have left expect Maureen, my father’s carer. And now he’s gone, I suppose she’ll?—
I shove down the wave of grief before it consumes me fully.
