Chapter 315: Trial

The shower was hot, the steam filling the entire room by the time I stepped out. My skin was tight, but I at least felt clean at last.

On the outside.

Mom's clothes were a shroud, wrapping me in her protection, as though I could don her skin and shed my own. Her reflection stared back at me, the scent of her all around me, keeping my head straight, my priorities in order.

My mother. She was the only one who mattered today.

The rest would have to wait.

Meira's eyes were red-rimmed, her skin deeper crimson than usual. I sat with her for a bit, more guilt joining the pain I already felt that I'd left my sister out. I'd let Sassy deal with her when we arrived home, stumbled off to the shower and the retreat from reality it offered, the quiet and stillness of Mom's room, Mom's memory.

But now I needed to be with my sister, if only for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry about Alison." Meira sniffled, wiping her nose with the corner of her sleeve in the warm sunlight of the kitchen. I handed he