Rust & Stardust

by T. Greenwood

But Sally still ached to belong, and studied those girls with the same wonder and love with which she studied the laws of the universe. She thought them the sun, and herself simply a small and quiet planet in orbit around them. And she forgave them their meanness. It was no different than forgiving the sun its heat, the moon its tidal pull. This was simply the nature of girls.

This is the cruelty of grief. The way it gathers strength in the night, blooming again and again and again.