Nothing but ashes. Midnight ash, psychotic embers still spinning around the remains of the chimney. The only recognisable structure in this blackened wasteland. My shock at the sight of this desert which once contained my home - my trees, my garden, my house, my memories - is immeasurable. My pain reminds me of how I felt at the news of Hope's condition. My stomach tightened, twisted, my heart strained to leap right out of my …showed first 75 words of 1028 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1028 total…you a direct relative of Miss Hope Garrethy?" Ye... yes." Oh god, she'd had a relapse, the operations hadn't worked, it was starting again. Hope wasn't going to be happy. - in the end, she was too perfect. "Dear, I'm very sorry to inform you..." Too perfect for this earth, "...that Hope has been killed in a car accident. The driver appears to have been drunk at the time of the crash." for this mortal.