Chapter 224

• TESS
• My hand tightened on the stems of red roses, my mother’s favorite flowers. Thorns pricked my fingers, but I didn’t notice the pain. Physical hurt couldn’t compare to the emotional cave inside my heart. I had spiraled down into that hole, a downward fall into an engulfing darkness.
• I attempted to crouch down to lay the flowers, but the bulge of my stomach made it difficult, so I reached out for the gravestone for support but ended up nearly slipping.