56

ADELINE

They say ignorance is bliss.

Whoever said that has never buried their brother.

I stand in the rain, dressed in all black, clutching an umbrella like it can hold me together. But nothing can. Not today.

My eyes blur as I stare at the headstone:

Sebastian James Montgomery

(1995–2018)

Just seeing it makes it hard to breathe.

In front of me, my mother — always perfect, always cold — is on the