Chapter 97

Except this year. It was home but it was a home I could no longer touch. It hurt deep inside to be near it and yet I longed so desperately to go through that door and join them. They would welcome me with open arms of course. They'd be glad to see me, I was family. But I couldn't. Something was broken in me, had been for a long time but now was shattered, there was no ignoring the pain that demanded to be heard. The pain of lost love. Lost family.

Is this how it feels to be an orphan? Does the pain ever fade?