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He smells and licks, and finally lifts his head and howls thesound I have ever heard hi He does it a few times and then bends his head He takes a s He li in the air

We lie there, helpless I never got to ask Marshall anything I know nothing The sound of the little boy crying over his deadcan

My friend is dead One of my ‘us’

Chapter Three

They arrive to the scene the way it was hours before No one has reallycan take her from me I failed her I let her die I shot Mary and started it I did this

I didn’t know I hadfro her hair

I hear the whispers and the words aroundto clean everyone up I know I should get up, but if I let her go, she’s gone forever and I don’t trust God enough to take her

"Hey, Em"

I glance over to see Jake He smiles but I can see the tears in his eyes He takesher toht, when I see Will lift her so gently and carefully

I cry harder

Will is stone faced, but I can see it everywhere Jake holds ether

I buryI shouldn’t have shot Mary"

I feel little fingers prying and worle fro, blonde face

Star sniffles, "She saved Leo, I saw her Marshall put the gun up and Meg juive Leo a dirty look and grip Sarah, "Are you hurt?"

She shakes her head and sniffles We walk, following behind Meg’s body that Will has wrapped in a sheet Bernie has dug a hole next to a huge rose bush Will places her in the hole I gag a bit He tosses a handful of dirt into the hole and steps back Sarah andto each other I drop to my knees and watch everyone follow Will’s lead

Bernie speaks softly, "Four years ago this rose bush grew frorown fro thatwell, but I got the sense that she didn’t coroup of people I can’t think of a better place to put so, "She was thorny like that rose bush too, just like Eainstinto his fur

I see Will staring at er

I nod at him and feel the defeat and loss to the full extent I pick up e of the hole and look down on the sheet

I have nothing and everything to say, but I don’t kno to say it So I look up, I know she’s there I never knew anything with as much certainty as I do this I drop the dirt froive me"

I turn and walk away I can hear the cries and the dirt being shoveled on top of her No… not her She’s gone She’s with Ron

Every painful step fills ood I walk past the house and into the woods I cliround

My ar and so is my side Every branch I cliine the pain she was in

I sit in the tree and think about it all

I feel the tree sway Anna climbs to a branch besideis hurt I can see the tied bandage on it

"I screwed up"

She nods She knows it too