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PROLOGUE
JADE
Senior year of high school
She’s gone.
Completely, irrevocably gone.
I blink, staring at the dark ceiling. I can hear voices coming from downstairs. People have come to pay respects. How can they be down there, talking and laughing as if nothing has happened?
As if she were still here?
As if I haven’t lost the only parent I had left?
Gone, gone, gone…
I cover my ears, trying to muffle the word that echoes on repeat in my mind.
A gut-wrenching sob escapes me. It’s so loud it makes my whole body shake. I grab the pillow and cover my head with it, but it’s not enough.
Nothing is ever enough to muffle the noises anymore.
Not the sound of her soft wheezing as she was struggling to breathe.
Not thebeepingof the heart machine as it signaled the moment she was gone.
Not the sound of people mingling around living their life while she is dead.
I grip my head, covering my ears as I let out a frustrated cry.
I have to make it go away.
I have to stop thinking.
Stop feeling.
And justbreathe.
Shoving the pillow away, I get to my feet, my eyes focusing on the bathroom. Not bothering to wipe away my tears, I cross the short distance to the bathroom while ripping the itchy dress over my head and tossing it on the tiled floor.
With a quick flick of my wrist, the water is on, filling the big, white tub. The one I begged my dad to install when we were remodeling my bathroom.
Before my life fell apart.
When we were still a family.
But it’s all gone now.
She is dead, and he left.
Gone.
Both of them.
Gone.
Taking the rest of my clothes off, I don’t wait for the water to fill the tub before sliding inside.
