The gray expanse before them fit their mood. No black, no white. The view was suffocating. Signs of past lives stood erect, marking the lonely homes of former loved ones. Totems built by the living, in hopes of atoning for broken relationships.

“I think it’s over here.”

They walked over, careful not to step on any graves. Neither were superstitious, nor did they believe in the children’s stories, but they still were cautious. They had been to far too many graveyards in the last month. When you’re around the dead so much, you begin to wonder if they really are.

It had been so long since they heard from her. They hadn’t talked since the fight. Neither one was willing to back down, to say sorry. The rift grew into an expanse only a death could cross.

Reading gravestones never became easier, no matter how many they saw.

Eventually, they came to what they were looking for.

“I wonder how it ended for her?”

It couldn’t have been too bad, she at least ended up in a grave.