(FLASHBACK ONE)

The memory does not come to me in pieces; it hits me all at once, like a wave of ice water that freezes my blood. As I sit in the dimly lit hospital room, watching the green line of Santino’s heart monitor. I am twelve again, a small girl with long pigtails and a heart full of confusion.

It was the summer the world turned grey. A week before that day, my brother Matteo had left for "work" with my father. I remember watching them walk to the car. Matteo looked different that ...