Day 21

She’d be more than pretty. She’d be strong.

The pain was so new, so raw, she hardly knew what shape it would take, what sort of scars it would leave. If her chest was going to burn like this for the rest of her life.

“I love you.” She couldn’t count the number of times she’d said those words, but they seemed different now. She could hear the echo of every past I love you in them, and the promise of a lifetime more.