The Devastation

"Will you let me take care of you before you go?" Seth asks, somewhere in the bedroom.

I nod as I lie on the bed, staring up at the ceiling through swollen eyes and puffy cheeks. I see Dad's face. I see our faces together. Every memory I have of him plays out in vivid color and it chews me up. He was too young, too full of life. Working with Seth, Dad finally had everything he wanted. He was living his dream, and it was taken away in the blink of an eye. How could the universe be so cruel? How could God let it happen?

The sound of the shower cascading across tiles floods the bedroom as Seth prepares it for me. When he returns, he scoops me up again, as if my legs don't work, or the floor is lava. He brings me into the bathroom, and I squint under the bright lights.

Placing me down by the shower entry, he grips the hem of my dress and tugs the baby pink fabric up over my head. He folds it and sets it nicely on the basin behind me. I watch him bleary-eyed as he curls his fingers around t