Suicide Watch

Epilogue

Temi POV

I'm sorry.

Please don't blame yourself, Temi.

I just couldn't anymore.

Thank you for giving me a reason to smile.

I love you, please forgive me.

I will forever be your best friend, even when we're not physically together.

Don't be afraid to open your heart up again. Live for the both of us.

I love you.

Yours always,

Grace.

The first time I read Grace's letter, I was angry and confused. I couldn't believe that this was all she had to say. It felt like years of our lives together were summed up in those few lines. Discarded in those few lines. I never read the letter again, because I couldn't bring myself to. I just couldn't do it.

For the longest time, I was in pain. The pain is still there. I retreated from everyone and everything. I shut everything out.

I'm putting this out there to be vulnerable with all of you, all my followers, and everyone that's been reading my poetry blog, wondering where I am, and what I've been up to.

It's been a hell of a year. I've been grieving, but it gets easier.

I think I understand Grace a lot better now. I think I'm understanding those I love much better now, too. I feel Grace in me every day. She lives now and forever in me, in my thoughts, and in my memories. She lives in my heart.

After all, what is grief, if not love persevering?

There's a knock on my door, and I look up just as Isa appears in the doorway. She's leaning against the doorframe as usual.

I take in how beautiful she is, like I've done a thousand times before. She runs her hand through her hair, which she recently cut to a bob length, pushing it to the side. She pulls this off so effortlessly and I take her in, loving every bit.

"Are you ready for senior year? Summer is almost over," Isa says.

She's right. This past summer has been different. First, it was my first summer without Grace, and I also spent so much time with both Isa and my mom. It was refreshing; different. But I embraced every moment.

"It's weird, going into Senior year of college without Grace. She had been here with me for literally all my other years," I say truthfully.

Isa nods her head, walking over to me. She reaches out and rubs her thumb gently against my face.

I shut my eyes, leaning into her hands, so my face is now resting in her palms. We stay like this for a moment.

"I think I'm going to reach out to my dad," I suddenly blurt out.

I open my eyes slowly. Isa is looking up at me with a serious expression on her face. She nods her head supportively, before leaning down and placing a kiss on my forehead.

"Do whatever you need to do. I will be here with you, throughout."

I'll be lying if I said I didn't think about my father ever since I saw the picture of him when I was kidnapped earlier this year.

I had asked my mom about it, and for the first time she had opened up about my father, confirming what Katherine said to be true. She told me I had every right to get in contact with him and apologized for avoiding conversations about my father whenever I had previously brought him up.