Violet knelt beside her, wrapping an arm around Cindy's shoulders and pulling her close. "I wish I had an answer, Cindy," she said, her voice thick with emotion. "But all we can do is keep going, keep fighting, and hope that somehow, someway, we'll get through this."
Cindy's mind was a whirlwind of memories and emotions, each one crashing into the next with relentless force. She remembered the day she found out about Carmen's illness—how the revelation had struck her like a bolt of lightning, paralyzing her with guilt and disbelief. Carmen had been sick for months, but Cindy hadn't known until it was too late. She hadn't been there for her sister in the way she should have been, and that knowledge haunted her every day. The pain of losing Carmen was still fresh, a wound that hadn't healed, and now the thought of losing Alexander too was more than she could bear.