The inevitability of tragedy laughed in the face of the Carter children.
An all too familiar and overbrimming spurge of unalloyed woe shadowed over the three, now orphaned siblings, as they stood alongside their mother's tombstone, her body now bedridden into the soil of the earth for eternity. The early morning brought them utter desolation as they found their mother unresponsive, lying ill eyed in bed. With a simple outstretch of an arm to her mother's unwonted, pale face, Riley Carter knew exactly what the tragic fate of their family had once again summoned upon their forlorn lives.
So now she stood, head held high in front of her mother's grave in a failed attempt of soundness. A brave act. A brave act. Just a little longer. Were the wretched thoughts that consumed the now, fifteen-year old's thoughts ever since that one November day two years prior. The day Gilbert Blythe had left. She hadn't thought about him an awful lot over the past year, however, during the first few months, the grief was eating her alive until he was eventually gone. Nevertheless, there were the odd days when she would reminisce and ponder about how different her life would be if he were just still here. But this. Witnessing her own mother's death was incomparable to any feelings of mournfulness she had ever felt. More so than her father, and even more than Gilbert Blythe. This time, she and her siblings were truly alone.
"That concludes our procession, please make your way into the house." The priest condoned the end of the service as the guests made their way into the depths of the house, muttering small 'condolences' as they passed the unreadable faces of their late acquaintance's children, to which Nicholas replied with a hushed 'thank you'.
Numbness is what Riley felt, her gaze still stiffened towards the grave as her emotions began to flush out, tears cascading down her rosy, cold burnt cheeks as she sniffled each time a tear draped on her red lips.
"She's gone, Riley. What do we do now?" Nicholas exhaled beside her, mirroring her actions.
"I don't k-know." She choked out, muffling her sobs in hopes of not breaking down in front of her younger sister, who was already in the dullness.
