The ink after goodbye

Chapter One. Ashlyn pov : -------- The Silence Beneath the Rain They say funerals are for closure. I don’t feel anything close to it. I’m sitting in the front row. People behind me are whispering, crying, pretending they knew him. Maybe they did. Maybe I never did. It’s raining outside. Of course it is. The sky always weeps when I can’t. I keep staring at the casket like it’s going to disappear. Like someone will shake me awake and say, “Relax, Ashlyn. It was just a dream.” But no one does. Because this isn’t a dream. It’s a nightmare wide awake. His picture is framed in gold—typical him. Smirking like he knew something I didn’t. God, I loved that stupid smile. The way his eyes could undo me. The way he said my name like it was a promise. Asher Blackwood. Just saying his name in my head hurts. We met in a library. Not the romantic kind, no. He bumped into me, ruined my stack of books, then flirted like it was my fault. And I fell. God, I fell so hard. Every touch, every fight, every late-night phone call—we built a world together. And now he’s just… gone. I press the rose tighter in my hand. He hated flowers. “They die too quickly,” he said once, handing me a bouquet anyway. “But you smile when you get them, so I’ll keep buying.” I would’ve married that man. I would’ve followed him anywhere. Now I can’t even follow him into the ground. People keep coming up to me. Hugging me. Saying they’re sorry. Sorry for what? That he died? That I’m alone? That I didn’t get to say goodbye? They say time heals. But they don’t tell you about the hours that won’t move. The nights that won’t end. The ache that pretends to be memory. I place the rose on his coffin. My fingers brush the wood like maybe—just maybe—it’ll be warm. It isn’t. “You promised me forever…” I whisper. But forever was shorter than I thought.