"Come back home, love... and take it back."
"No, I’ll die today, by your side, right here with you."
"Come back home... I love you."
"No!!!"
Then, darkness...
INTRODUCTION
“Miss… excuse me, miss, but we’re about to close. You need to leave the premises.”
“Please, just let me stay here a little longer.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that. You have to go now. Besides, it’s getting really cold. If you keep lying on the ground like this, you could get sick. It hasn’t stopped snowing, and it’s going to keep snowing all night. The temperature’s only going to drop further. Go home—your family must be worried about you.”
“I don’t have a home, or a family,” Sam replies, her voice heavy with the remnants of the tears that have drained her until now. “The only family I ever had is right here, and all I have left of them are the names carved on these headstones. Please, just let me stay a little longer. I promise I won’t move from this spot.”
“That’s exactly why I can’t let you stay. You could freeze to death out here in this weather.”
“And what if I do? You’d be doing me a favor if my eyes never saw another sunrise. Just go. If I die, it’s my choice. No one cares anyway.”
“I care,” the cemetery watchman responds, “or at least my job does. I’ll get fired if I don’t stick to the schedule. I have to lock the gates at eight sharp, and for that, I need you out of here. Please don’t make me call the authorities.”
Sam pulls herself together, gathering her grief from the cold ground. On her knees, she presses a couple of tender kisses to the names of Richard and her son etched into the stone.
“Goodbye, I love you. Mommy loves you,” she whispers, her fingers lingering over the carved name of her baby with a gentle caress.