Pauline squealed, holding the camera up as she rushed into the living room. She ran her fingers along the elegant coffee table, then flopped onto the plush sofa.
"It's so pretty!"
My dad had specially installed a projector on the ceiling. The moment the lights came on, it would cast a starry sky across the walls.
I threw myself at Allan, begging him to make her leave.
"Get out! You're not welcome here!"
A sharp crack pierced my ears. I spun around.
Pauline stuck her tongue out playfully, pointing at the shattered ceramic on the floor.
"Sorry. I bumped into it by accident."
My mind went blank.
I dropped to my knees, fingers trembling as I tried to piece the broken ceramic doll back together.
My mother had made it with me and my dad the day before she died.
She told me the ceramic doll would stay with me forever in her place.
Tears burst from me like a dam breaking. I cradled the fragments and sobbed until no sound came out.
Allan glanced at the mess on the floor, barely sparing it a look, and swept every last piece into the trash.
"No..."
But he couldn't hear me.
Even if he could, he wouldn't have cared.