To everyone's surprise, Mikey is the first to go. In the evening he's cracking jokes, making them all laugh, bright and alive as ever. In the morning he's quiet and still and shrunken on the bed, as if most of his size came from his personality.
They bury him in the woods, in a little clearing hidden away from the world. His brothers shed no tears as they shovel dirt over his sheet-wrapped body but that's okay because she has enough tears for all of them and doesn't know if she'll ever be able to stop.
But of course she does, because three of them are still alive and they need her and Casey as much as they need each other.
