Chapter 46: Break That Cycle
Lizzie
The day after Aunt Flora’s funeral, the house felt… different.
Not lighter, exactly. Grief didn’t disappear overnight like that. It didn’t politely pack its bags and leave just because the burial was over and the condolences had dried up. But something had shifted. Something subtle, almost fragile, like the air after rain—still heavy, still damp, but no longer suffocating.
Savannah moved like that too.
Not whole, not entirely herself, but closer to it than she had been in the days leading up to the funeral.
The hollow look in her eyes had softened. The silence that used to cling to her like a second skin had loosened its grip. She spoke more. Laughed, even—soft, careful laughter that felt like it had to ask for permission before existing.
We wer
