I Came Home Early For My Daughter’s Birthday

chair, the Styrofoam cup now a mangled mess on the floor. Her face was a mask of grief. It looked so real.

I didn’t say a word. I just sat down next to her and held out my phone. I didn’t press play. I just showed her the frozen image: her brother’s smiling face in our doorway.

Her breath hitched. A sound of a balloon popping. She didn’t look at me. continue reading …