There was a scarf tied to the branches of the tree. It was blue, the only colour on the otherwise bare plant.

I don't know why the scarf made such an impression on me. Maybe because of how artistic it looked. Maybe because showed me there was still some good in the world. Maybe because it reminded me of myself. Bare. Stripped of everything but this bold scrap of colour. Artificial. It doesn't connect, but it looks alright. And looks are everything.

Except when they're not.

He's dead.

The only thing I can think.

I feel… empty. I feel broken.

I feel nothing.

I'm in shock. I know I am, but I can't register it. I can't register much of anything.

He's dead.

But how can he be? He was always so full of energy, of power, of life! How can he be gone now?
How?

People are moving on, all around me people are putting it behind them.

Can't even say it. I can't even contemplate.

Is that my life now? Hiding from the truth because it hurts too much.

How can he be gone?

How can my best friend be nothing more than a slab of marble?

I won't believe it.

I can't.

My best friend, my soulmate, gone.

Never coming back.

Without him I feel as cold as the marble bearing his name.

I feel numb.

Without him…

I am nothing.