**My mother was alive.**
I backed away so quickly that I struck the desk.
“No.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Emily.”
“No.”
“Please—”
“I buried you.”
“You buried an empty casket.”
The words were so impossible that I laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the mind refuses to accept horror and absurdity at the same time.
Claire lowered her gun slightly.
“You knew she was alive?”
Margaret looked
