24 – Eternally
Furia awoke the next day, refreshed and not surprised to see Doug gone, the exits closed and locked. She could hear her father moving around downstairs, crashing and bulling needlessly through the extra-large house.
Like a pig, rooting and wallering, but happy.
Furia threw on fresh schoolclothes and began to head downstairs, then stopped.
She turned to the leather jacket.
It hung lovingly on the only intact hangar in her closet.
Furia reached into the left pocket, fingers clasping as gently as they were able
.
She fished it out of the jacket, together the only two things she still had to remember.
Furia Angron opened the locket and looked at the faded picture, ensconced eternally behind rose-colored glass, and smiled sadly, a tear just broaching the corner of her eye.
Mom.