DOVE
My hands trembled, and hot tears streaked down my face before I could even process what was happening. My heart clenched, twisting painfully in grief, the overwhelming feeling of loss suffocating me.
"Dad..." I croaked, my voice barely recognizable—shaky, broken.
"Can you please tell me what is going on?" I cried, vision blurring as I stared across the yard at the man who had always been my protector, my hero—now standing there like a stranger.
He didn't answer.
Didn't move.
Just stood there, his face locked in a grimace, his eyes darting over me in disbelief. Like if he just looked hard enough, searched long enough, I would change—become someone else, someone that made sense. As if I were just a trick of the light, a cruel illusion that could be willed away.
And the thought of
