Wishing For Better Days

It's been less than a year since Juliet died, leaving her younger sister lost and unable to move on. Her parents act as if Juliet had never existed at all, expecting Beatrice to take the role as oldest sibling. And so she carries on as if she is okay, attending college classes and work, keeping her grief under wraps. It's only in the privacy of her room or when she loses herself in a bottle that Beatrice is allowed to process the pain of her sister's loss. When Beatrice falls pregnant from a one-night stand, it seems as if her plans for the future are put on hold. Realizing this is her last opportunity to honor her sister's dying wish, she hits the road with Cyrus, the man who got her pregnant. On the road trip she had planned with her sister, Beatrice discovers herself and learns how to live a life without Juliet.

*

"Juliet was the sun most of the time. Too bright and powerful to look at directly, but you knew you were better off having her in your life. But there were moments she would soften, sunrise instead of noon. She would tell me how she loved me and wanted only the best for me and that she would always protect me. And she did."

*

"She gave up so much of her life to protect me in the only way she knew how. And as soon as I lose her, I ruin the opportunities she gave me and there is nothing I can do to change that!"

Shaking, I turn away and start walking. Hurried footsteps behind me, a calloused hand grasping my bicep, a gentle embrace from behind. A whisper in my ear, "She would have wanted you to be happy and safe. Everything else is just a bonus. You haven't thrown your life away. Darling, your life is just beginning. This is only the start. You just have to trust yourself to be okay with the path your headed down."

Tear tracks on my cheeks, I clutch at his arms. Sobs escape me and my knees buckle. "I miss her so much. She was my everything, and now she's just...ashes and lost memories."