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After burying her eight-year-old daughter, Lily, Ashley returns home, deep in grief and exhaustion. But something unexpected awaits her in her garden, tearing her out of her stupor and confronting her with a mystery she never expected.
I wasn't ready to say goodbye, even though I thought I was. They said it would end peacefully, and maybe it was for Lily, too. But for me, the pain was deeper than I could have ever imagined. My little daughter was gone, and I didn't know how to understand a world without her.
A grieving woman | Source: Pexels
It's been a week since we laid her to rest. The days before her death were a blur: hospital beds, whispered prayers, and the slow, gruesome fading of her laughter. Today we buried her, but it didn't feel real. I moved through the funeral like a shadow of myself. Family and friends arrived, their faces blurred by my tears.
"Ashley, I'm so sorry," Aunt Ruth said, wrapping me in her arms. Her perfume was too strong. I didn't want to be hugged. I just wanted Lily.
