Aria POV
Ten months after the fire
I stared at the gravestone, a heaviness in my heart at what it read. Heather, my best friend, lay in a coffin in the mud beneath my feet. I couldn’t begin to grasp how quickly her life had been over, the fire taking her from us. With my hands shoved into my jeans pockets, I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to.
She’d been my best friend, my only one in the past few years.
Like so many times when I came to visit her, I was overcome with such utter sadness. Tears filled my eyes and fell down my cheeks. I swiped them away just as fast.
“You must be bored of me crying here all the time.” I sighed. “I know you wouldn’t want me to be sad, and I try not to be, but it’s so hard. I miss you so much.”
I cleared my throat as it suddenly felt thick and tight.
“I gu
