Written for LJ's Tinman100 community. The prompt was 'tragic'.

The title (and inspiration) come from the Dixie Chicks song of the same name.

I own neither the song or the characters/situations listed herein.


The quiet used to be soothing solace, shielding her from a tempestuous world.

Now it was a tragic reminder that the joyous squeals of two little girls playing, learning, living, laughing, growing, were a long time gone.

Now the silence was death incarnate to her.

She used to curl up on DG's bed every night, inhaling the scent still lingering on the pillows. She ordered herself to burn the memories of her old life into her brain before they too slipped away.

She'd hang on to those memories as she had not been able to hang on to her children.