His words echoed in my ears and reverberated through my mind like a painful reminder from the past. For a moment, I was transported back to my own darkest days — the devastating loss of my father, followed shortly by the death of my closest friend. I remembered the suffocating emptiness, the heavy silence of a house with no one left to console me, no warm arms to hold me through the grief. The loneliness had nearly broken me.
Looking at Teddy now, my heart twisted with genuine pity. He was so young, so suddenly alone in the world. How would he handle the crushing weight of this kind of isolation? The heat of grief, the cold nights, the endless questions with no answers — no one should have to endure that at his age.
“Oh, Teddy…” I whispered, immediately pulling him into my arms. I hugged
