Graveyards are the final resting place for the dead. They are where the endless souls dance for eternity under a moonlit forever. The souls of the cemetery held onto Jeremy but didn't take him down into the land of Hades. He fought, and he held onto life just for me. Death is where the ravens swirl in their endless circles. Hunger finds them, and nails dig into their prey. We are all called by death in the end. The grim reaper himself holds his scythe and carries it along as a walking stick. Walking sticks are used to guide souls on the path to Hades. If I discover Hades, I will find my mom. I will find her there beneath the bones of her final breath.All the feels take away my breath,When funerals approach and force me to face death,I think of the heavens parting like glass,Hoping her last days have come at last,The grim reaper is a soul deliverer taking souls away,If he walks too far into the depths, the souls will try to stay,There l

Time has slowed down. All my dreams are in red. Red is the color of roses and the color of blood. Both describe my mother. Blood for her death and roses for her grave. Blood at her murder scene and roses at her funeral.When I dream in red, I don't sleep well. The dreams always end with Kelly laughing. Last night, I didn't dream about my mother. Instead, I dreamed about Gerald McLaren. He was standing in the ruins of the Vineyard church, holding eggs. He threw the eggs to the side and hugged me. He apologized to me for bullying me. I forgave him, and then Kelly entered my dream. I woke up panicked. Being covered in sweat in my bed is a horrible sticky feeling."Lily, are you okay? I heard screaming," dad says, rushing into my room.His coffee spills a little on the side and moves around in his mug. Since mom died, dad has been sporting an ugly red bathrobe that retired in the 1960s. Pretty sure my dad inherited it from his old man. It hasn't been washed since th

It's time for the funeral. I've prepared a poem in memory of my mom. I'm nervous about sharing it and have asked Jeremy to read it if I start crying too much.I'm glad Jeremy can attend the funeral like it's normal again. No police or criminal ankle bracelet. Mr. Davis will be attending the funeral as well. Amy and Tia had their own trials and are facing jail time like Kelly. Kelly got the longest sentence for life. Amy and Tia got twenty-five years if I heard the judge correctly. The KAT trio is all behind bars. This means there can be no disrespect at the funeral.I put on the only black dress in the house. It's a black sundress. It's fitting that it belonged to mom. She was more into shopping, beauty, and vanity than I ever was.I put my hair in a long French braid down my back. I haven't felt pretty in a long time—the sparrow pecks on the windowsill with its beak. I put birdseed out for it the night before. I'm glad to hear it and see if feeding today

My dad was right. I needed a girls' day after all the shit that has happened over this last year—especially these last few months. I'm not a good dancer. I can't be as bad as dad. It's rumored he fell during his wedding day dance. I'm not sure I believe him since there are no photos to back up the story.Knowing mom, she would have insisted on photos being constantly clicked and taken. Every angle and every moment would have been captured. I've seen the wedding photos. There are no pictures of dad falling during his wedding dance.I hate girl shoes. They go between your feet in unnatural ways, like flip flops, and make your heels ache. Beauty is painful. We have years of human history to back that up. My mom told me about the ancient Chinese performing a foot binding on their women's feet. I didn't understand what she meant until she showed a thirteen-year-old me the pictures of tiny shoes and broken feet. After she educated me, I was terrified of wearing lady's