Lily stared at them like she was trying to memorize every detail before it disappeared.
Her hands trembled.
Then—
A tear.
Then another.
Minutes passed.
Finally, her voice broke through the silence.
“She’s gone…”
Clara nodded gently.
“I know.”
Lily pressed a photo to her chest.
“No matter how long I wait… she’s not coming back.”
Clara swallowed.
“That kind of pain… doesn’t go away easily.”
Lily looked at her—really looked this time.
“My dad doesn’t talk to me anymore,” she whispered. “He just works. I think he blames me.”
Clara shook her head firmly.
“No. He’s hurting. And sometimes when people hurt that much… they don’t know how to love properly. They pull away—not because they stopped loving, but because they don’t know how to stay.”
Lily’s voice cracked.
“I don’t want to eat,” she confessed. “Because when I do… I forget for a few minutes. And if I forget… it’s like she never existed.”
Clara’s heart broke.
She gently took Lily’s cold hands.
“Listen to me. Eating won’t erase your mom. Nothing can. She’s part of you—your memories, your stories, everything she gave you.”
She paused.
“And if she were here… what would she want?”
Lily didn’t answer.
Clara whispered:
“She’d want you to live.”
Lily broke.