To Taft Conlin,
I hope you are in a better place now.

She took in a deep breath as she read the news on the paper. Her mind was taking it all in. Since she started prosecuting sex crimes, there have been many times where she cursed the world. Why did bad things happen to good people? Why did there have to be such a thing as tragedy. Why did bad things have to happen to good people? Just once, couldn't there be a day where everyone was at piece?

"Hey, Alex!" It was her friend. She looked up from the computer, startled. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts to even notice her friend walk into the office.

"Oh! Liv!" She exclaimed, "Hey. What do you need?"

Olivia gave her a blank stare. The detective had what could only be described as a spidy-sense. She always knew when something was up with her.

"We were going to run over my testimony for the Amelton case…remember?"

Alex suddenly remembered. Her eyes darted to the clock. Sure enough, it was noon. The exact time she told Liv to be at her office.

"Yeah. Right," she sighed, "Come on. Sit down."

Olivia sat down, slowly. She was analyzing the situation, trying to figure out what could be wrong with the ADA.

"Do you want to talk about anything before we start?" Liv asked. Her eyes seemed to stare straight into the prosecutor's soul. There was absolutely no point in hiding anything.

Alex didn't like telling her emotions to people. However, she knew that she couldn't go the day just ignoring everything.

"A kid from my hometown died," she said simply, "He got caught in an avalanche." Olivia's eyes widened with concern and shock.

"Alex! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. Alex sighed. Of course Olivia would react like this.

"Don't be," she said, "It's no big deal, really. I didn't know the kid at all. It's just that…."

She paused at the statement, and bit her lip. She didn't know what to say. Normally, she was a master with words. Words were her ally. She could easily manipulate language as if it were a puppet on a string. But the words didn't come. She didn't even know what they were. Olivia stayed silent, as if to wait for Alex to get her thoughts together.

"It might be that have the same hometown," Alex finally said. Her mouth took control from her brain. Her lips knew what she wanted to say, "That would make sense, wouldn't it? It's not like I grew up here, where there are millions of people. My town was small."

"Maybe," Liv added. She was letting Alex do the talking. She was letting her friend get everything out.

"Or maybe it's that he was so young. He was only thirteen."

She noticed Olivia cringe.

"At least he only died in an Avalanche," Liv finally said. To most people, that statement would seem very insensitive. However, Alex knew it was true. The boy had never been raped. He wasn't molested by a family member. He wasn't killed after being tortured for days. He was taken by nature. That was a bright side, at least.

"He was apparently skiing in a closed off area," Alex continued, "I mean, that was incredibly stupid. They close off areas for a reason. But…it doesn't such any less, I can tell you that much."

Olivia nodded. She smiled one of her signature smiles. It was wonderful.

"Do you want to take a break?" Olivia asked her, "I mean, we could go to lunch. I think you need to clear you head a little bit."

Alex couldn't agree with Olivia more. She got up from her desk without a second thought. Her bosses could deal with it.

"I would love to."

Olivia smiled one more time. It was a wonderful smile.

"That's one more thing you can say about his death," she continued. Alex smiled again. She actually knew exactly what Olivia was going to say.

"He died doing what he loved," Alex finished. Olivia nodded.

The boy's death would haunt her for the rest of the day.

But at least she could find some solace in that thought.

May you rest in peace.

A kid from my hometown was killed in an avalanche today. I did not know this kid, but I found myself oddly effected by it. My thoughts go out to his friends and family. I asked that you please give the Conlin family a special place in your thoughts, just for today. Thank you for reading.