almost

1

Koralee

Packing all of their things into a box labeled "past" was harder than it should have been. The necklace Eden bought her, all of Eden's t-shirts and pullovers, hand-written notes, and even their pictures. Koralee lingered on a particular picture. Eden's hazel eyes were staring into Kora's blue eyes, Kora's fingers were laced through the curls in Eden's mousy blond hair, and each of their smiles were glowing. It was her favorite picture of them.
It had been four days since the accident and two days since the funeral. Cause of death: suicide. Kora scoffed at the idea. She knew Eden inside and out; there was no way she willingly killed herself. There was more to the story. There was always more to the story where Eden was involved. Her thoughts drifted back to the funeral, to the boy she'd never met before. Eden kept many secrets from Kora, including family and friends. Once upon a time, Eden told her that her parents died when she was young. The truth was that her parents didn't know Eden was dating a girl, and Eden didn't want the extra pressure from Kora to come out.
Putting the final items in the storage box, Kora taped it shut. Dust fell into her onyx hair when she pulled the ladder that leads to the attic down. She put the box under a few sleeping bags. A memory; finalized, locked away, over...
***
Kora did not sleep that night. She tossed, turned, and all of her thoughts drifted to the sullen boy at Eden's funeral. His name? Unknown. Eden only ever introduced Kora to one friend: Raven. Raven didn't know much about Eden and Kora's relationship, she only knew that Kora was a lesbian and Eden was very close to her. Raven mentioned someone one time, asked Eden if he knew. What was his name? Ashton? Asher? That was it. Asher.
She recalled the conversation. After all, blocking memories of Eden out of her head wasn't something she was particularly good at. "Yeah, Eden. The secret's safe with me. Who else knows?" Raven's eyes grew larger, "Oh my God, Eden! Does Asher know?" Eden shrugged the question off with a simple no, not offering any details.
Kora was tired of every thought, every thing, reminding her of fucking Eden. Those long nights, long mornings, and even long goodbyes. Every I love you, every I miss you, and every promise whether broken or not. Every fight that was well worth it and every memory that brought a smile to her lips or a few tears to her eyes. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, the only word to cross her mind: fuck.