“I miss you, ma,” he whispered, as he bent his knees, resting his elbows on top of them as he clasped his hands together. He bowed his head, as his eyes burned. He felt her loss all over again, each time he visited. He had thought wounds healed over time, but this type never stopped bleeding. The same, sharp pain dwelled within his chest every day, never letting up. “Mo is gonna hear. After all this time, she’s going to be able to speak and hear and laugh. She’s gonna be alright. I know you wanted that for her. Your wants are my wants, love. I’ve tried to do right by her, by you. I wish you could see her. She’s beautiful. She looks like you, and you shine through Eazy so brightly that I forget he never got to know you. Even Bella still remembers you. She prays for you every night. She likes to think you and her mother are friends and are watching out for her. We’re just floating down here, Rae. It’s hard without you to keep us grounded, to build a home with…a life with…I’m lost, Raven.” He stood and sniffed away the tears that never fell. The sound of crying caught his attention and he looked around. All he saw were tombstones, but the cries were too real to ignore. He walked toward the sound and what he discovered tore his heart out his chest. Alani laid, curled in a fetal position, beside the hole where her daughter’s casket rested. It was still uncovered. The dirt hadn’t even been thrown over it yet and Alani refused to move. He felt like he had intruded in on a private moment, but he had seen her now. He couldn’t leave her there, not like this. He bent down and scooped her up, effortlessly, in his arms. She had been lying there all day, unable to move, unable to go.

“I can’t leave her,” she whispered. “They haven’t even come to cover her yet. Where are they?!” she was irrational, panicked, and distraught. “Please, don’t leave her in a wide-open hole. She’s my baby. She might get cold.”

“Okay, okay,” he whispered.