Page 10 (1/2)

In the diht from the moon and street lamps outside, only the faint outline of McKenna’s curves were visible under the sheets "Are you warone the sweatpants, dressing only in the T-shirt I’d left for her

She nodded "I’ree"

She chuckled in the darkness "That’s not what I meant"

"I know But it’s the truth Sometimes I don’t even knohy you’re here with ed ment," she said sadly

She was the best, the most pure and selfless person I kne could she possibly think that about herself? Maybe it was tiued her "Will you tell me about your parents? How you lost them?" She stayed quiet "You know so much about me and my past, and I want you to know that you can open up to me too, but only when you’re ready I won’t force you"

She nodded "No, it’s okay It’s tiht as if deciding if she could trust me with the secret that burdened her "When I was seventeen my parents died in a car accident A drunk driver broadsided them on their way to church"

I found her hands under the blanket and laced ers with hers "I’m sorry"

The shi hint of tears in her eyesthat it never should have happened I fought with o with theot on the road late It was my fault And the last words I spoke to them were cruel and hurtful I can never take that back, you know?"

I nodded I knew about the finality of death and how it caused regrets and what-ifs to creep inside your brain and refuse to leave "McKenna" I squeezed her tiny hands in mine "That accident wasn’t your fault" She blinked several tiht off the tears It was the da McKenna’s painarrest But without that wake up call, I doubted I would have ever , put one with them…" A broken cry escaped her throat "They’d still be here"

"Have you heard of survivor’s guilt, McKenna?"

"Knox, don’t," she warned

"It wasn’t your fault" I wish I had better words to say to soothe her pain, but I knew nothing ever would It wasn’t fair how she’d lost her parents They hadn’t deserved what happened to them, any more than my mom had deserved the cancer that took her Instead, I pulled her closer, into the warmth of my body, and held her next to me and let her cry Her body shook with silent sobs while I held her, wishing there was so I could do I rubbed her back and let her soak my shirt with tears and whispered to her that it would be okay Even if whispered softly and meant to soothe, my words were hollow I knew fro that ever fully healed The best I could do was hold her and be there for her Death and lossit An accident like that wasn’t logical, and neither was McKenna’s view on her role She did nothing to cause their deaths And I hoped in time I could help her to see that

After what seemed like close to an hour, her sobs finally quieted and I continued to hold her until the little rasping hiccups stopped, too She ainst my neck "I’m sorry," she whispered, and attempted to move back to her side of the bed