metal trash can, drifting lis

hotograph blister, turn blac

d while we were eating gelato in Rome. He had been smiling the

flames. It was the only thing I ha

day

with exhaustion. The blood loss from yesterday had left the world tilting on its axis, and the LVAD

say goodbye

ry, banished far from the manicured lawns of the Vitiello mausoleum. As I crest

as S

ind her, leaning casually against the hood of a black SUV

screamed, the sound te

d sharp. "Oh, good. You're here. I

o the soft, rain-soaked e

to

t. I didn't care about the agony in my che

ried deep; we couldn't afford a concrete vault, o

and pulled out the bronze ur

ssing the urn as if it were a living thing.

nged at her, desperatio

y, and I collapsed into the

stice," she taunted. She

ns leaped out. They were Vitiello guard dogs,

, pouring the gray a

ner

t me to ride a bike, the man who had saved hundreds of lives as a doct

N

e hair. I didn't think. I just wanted to hurt her. I

f me!" Sofi

hrough the air and slammed against a granite tombstone. My head crac

stood

ratch on her cheek, wailing like a child. Then,

call the

! She's crazy!" Sofia cr

s eyes were void of anythin

asked, his voice flat. "Whil

trembling finger at the dogs. "She fe

ecration on the grass, h

as a dog. It s

t ember of fight within me. I looked at him, the man I had sac

ted to

ing sound. Blood bu

hysteria taking over. "It's f

ay sky. The rain began to fall harder, washing the ashe

Sofia," D

ed it tenderly over her shoulde

look at

old the guards. "

ched them drive away throu

the dogs had fed. I gathered a handful of the wet, a

dy," I whispered

oming