All Chapters of Eight Years Invisible: I Died Going Back to Them: Chapter 11

"Danny, happy birthday. I remembered this time, so go ahead and have some cake," Mom said through sobs.Dad kneeled at the grave, gently wiping my photo on the headstone with a handkerchief, as if I might wake."Danny, I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I shouldn't have said you dawdled. I shouldn't have left without picking you up. Please forgive me…"Joe placed a small bouquet of white flowers on the grave, and Lyra laid down her favorite doll.Through the pines and cypresses, the wind whispered, seeming to answer—or maybe to mourn with him.After that day, Uncle Ben's family seldom came to our house. The argument had frozen relations between our families. Outwardly, we still maintained appearances, but everyone knew the crack would never mend.Grandma often sighed, "How did our happy family end up like this?"Sometimes, Mom would wake with a start in the night and shake Dad awake. "Listen, isn't that Danny crying? I hear him. He's cold…"Dad could only wrap his arms around her, whis