32
Astrid
He thought he broke me, but he shouldn’t have let me pick up the pieces because what doesn’t kill me, better run.
* * *
My forehead presses against the tombstone as I breathe in the smell of dirt.
I’ve been crying on Mum’s grave for the past hour or so, but the pain inside me feels like a breathing, living being.
It’s so alive.
So heavy.
So real.
"Make it stop, Mum," I cry in a hoarse voice. "Make it all stop, please."
If she were here, she would’ve said the right words to make me feel better.
She would’ve hugged me until I was strong enough to pick up all my broken pieces.
Levi's betrayal dug a deep, black hole in my chest that keeps getting bigger with every breath I take.
It’s all my fault.
I should’ve never let my guard down around him. He’s the king and I’m just the pawn he decided to play with.
Why was I stupid to believe there could be something more?
“Astrid?”
My back snaps into a rigid line at the voice coming from behind me.
I wipe at my eyes with the back of my hand, sitting up. "D-Dad?"
His brows draw as he stares down on me. He’s carrying red tulips. Mum’s favourites.
I’m surprised he remembers that. Hell, I’m taken aback by seeing him in the cemetery in the first place.
In her will, Mum asked to never be visited on the anniversary of her death, but I’m always here on my birthdays.
Technically, I’m not defying her will if I come on the anniversary of her funeral.
In all the three years Mum died, I was the only visitor she had.
Or so I thought.
Is Dad the secret visitor who always leaves red tulips at Mum’s tombstone?
"What are you doing here, Dad?"
He places the flowers at the tombstone and sits beside me, not caring that his pressed Gucci suit wouldn't be good friends with the dirt. "I should be asking you that. Shouldn't you be at school?"
I wince at the reminder of school.
Dad narrows his eyes slightly. "Are you skipping? Do I need to talk to the principal?"