The Echoing Silence

Previously

…He carefully reached under her fingers, his heart pounding in his chest. He pulled out a small, smooth stone, no bigger than his thumb. It was painted, not with a symbol of love or fear, but with a single, perfect, tiny tear. A tear. Kaito looked at the stone, then at Lily’s peaceful face. The ‘accident’ narrative, so readily apparent, suddenly felt hollow. The tear wasn’t a symbol of her own sadness. It was a symbol of someone else’s grief. Someone else’s loss. The echoing silence of the woods seemed to deepen, filled now not just with the absence of Lily, but with the chilling implication of another presence, another story, hidden just beneath the surface of this tragic tableau.