Just wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
I stare at the TV, watching as volunteers pick through rubble, like it's a game almost. Who can find the first dead body.
No one can. There isn't much to find, besides char, char, and more char.
The reporters on the TV cry, because there is no other emotion to have. Their red-rimmed eyes are filled with tears as they watch the horror only become more horrifying by the day. The death toll rises, the missing remain missing, the dead remain dead.
What used to be a beautiful city is now the city of ashes. Burnt to the ground in a horrible tragedy that will surely live on for the rest of time. It's all anyone talks about. There is no TV anymore. It's only news stations reporting our disaster.
Our little group at the shop was brought to the hospital, and after an all clear I was brought home. By who? I don't know. What time or day? No clue. I don't know much of anything, besides the fact that I'm here and showered. I don't know when I last ate. I don't know how long it's been since I've slept.
I don't even know how many days it's been.
All I know is that he's gone. Nothing, not even our love, will bring him back this time.
I feel it in the depths of my soul.
Roman is gone.
Swept away like he was never here in the first place.
Except he was, because the imprint on my soul is so much deeper than anything else in the world could ever be.
Roman is everything, and now he's nothing.
I blink, and blink, and blink, staring at the TV for I'm not sure how long. Watching the same stories on repeat.
War.
Tragedy.
Death.
So. Much. Death.
Thousands.
I wish I could reach into my chest and rip out my heart, tossing it into the rubble with everything else. What do I need it for now?
What is the point?
Knock, knock.
I ignore it, much like I ignore everything else. People come by, checking up on us. Everyone checks up on everyone, suddenly close-knit even though I barely spoke to anyone before. I don't want to talk.
I don't want to breathe.
Knock, knock.
"Luna!" My mom's terrified voice rings from the other side of the door, and my entire body deflates. With relief, with grief.
So much grief.