Ivory

by Hadley Quinn

I always went to the cemetery for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, but I was grateful for a friend that knew what I needed outside of the regular routine. When I’d allow it to happen, a visit was like a purging sometimes. My soul would bare everything it could, just let it all out, and then I felt like I had some space to fill up with something else. It was an interesting system. All my heartache came from them, and then all my inspiration came from them immediately after. It was just hard to go through all of that exhaustion sometimes. And I had different things to say to Lily than I did to Annalise. It was like I held back because I didn’t want my little girl to hear such grown up issues. It’s not that I didn’t like visiting their gravesites; I just felt like I needed to be ready mentally, physically, and emotionally. I needed to be in top-notch shape for a damn marathon.