Burning Eden (9 page)

Chapter 28

I lay down some freshly cut wild flowers on the makeshift grave we made for Kairo behind the barn.
I kneeled down in the freshly churned earth and patted it slightly. I whispered a soft “I love you” as a tear fell from my cheek to the ground.

I knew things would never be the same without Kai and that there would forever be an empty space in my heart that no one would ever be able to fill. I also knew I would always blame myself for his death.

I rose and made my way through the back of the barn heading to the house to help prepare lunch. I stopped and looked up at the loft where I had spent so many nights trying to escape reality with a man that never really cared about me. The guilt never left. I wondered if it ever would. I wondered if this feeling of foolishness would ever let me be.

The hay had been moved around some since the last time Jesse and I were there and I noticed what looked to be a small piece of paper sticking out of the hay. I was going to just keep on walking but something told me to see what it was.

I climbed up the ladder to the loft and pulled on the corner of the paper as I tugged an envelope came out of the hay. I turned the envelope over and on the front of it my name was written. I had an idea who had written and left it there.

I sat down on the edge of the loft contemplating whether I should even bother opening it. What would it matter now?  My son was still dead and Jesse was still gone, I highly doubted that whatever words written inside would make me feel any better.

I looked outside the front of the barn where they had the barn doors open to air it out while the animals were in the pasture. I noticed they had a bonfire going and Cain and Uncle Dave were throwing some bodies of the biters we had recently found on the edge of the farm into the fire.

I looked from Cain back down to the letter and made my decision. I quickly climbed back down and made my way to the fire. I stood beside Cain and he looked over at me curiously. I showed him the letter and he just shrugged.

I turned the envelope over in my hands a few times fixated on the crackling of the bodies in the fire. Fire cleanses everything I thought and quickly threw the letter in the fire. As I watched it burn Cain put his arm around me and pulled me close. I knew I had made the right decision. Some things were only meant to burn in the flames.