Finis Omnium Bonorum Rem (So must I)

A mother's grief... Title is latin for all good things must come to an end.

Finis Omnium Bonorum Rem

The sprout burst through the ground, potential unfurling in tiny leaves.

The baby slipped out into the arms of a loving father, a loving father that could love just hours ago, but, in the rush to the hospital, not anymore. One thing has ended, but another has begun. And so goes the cycle of life.

Now it had grown into a sapling, a miniature version of what it could be in the years to come.

Kiera giggled as she shot down the road, wind lifting her hair. So free, so innocent, so pure, a whole life ahead of her. She was ready.

But what was she ready for?

…

Autumn came and the first leaf fluttered to the ground, the beginning of an end.

Kiera screamed as the car shot down the road, the wind knocking her down. So free, so innocent, so pure, but her whole life was gone now.

…

I look down at the pile of memories scattered on the table. It was hard to comprehend that she was gone. Dead. Not alive anymore. A month ago I had gone and buried her, just outside, next to her father. It was wrong for a mother to bury her daughter. It was wrong for me to bury her underneath the tree that shared her birthday while it shed its leaves, for seemingly the last time. It was wrong for the world to continue while everything around me ends.

There was a pile of leaves gathering on the ground in which the tree stood. Every breeze added another, a part of its history blown away every year, new ones to grow again. The end of a year in its life, the start of another one.

Her smiling face stares back at me, and a tear rolls down my cheek. If only she hadn’t wandered into the road, she would still be here. I wish I could make this photo true again, and give her life once more. Oh, what I would give for her to be my baby again, and not one succumbed to death so early.

But I must accept the ending.

With a concluding clang I shut the box of memories. I bury it, next to her body, and underneath the tree that had always reminded me of her birth.

The last leaf lets go of the one that gave it life and drifts towards the earth.

So must I.

After all, all good things must come to an end.

Finis omnium bonorum rem.

Author's Note

Please review, be as harsh as you like.

Reviews

[Emily]

Very consistent writing, I always love it when one writes about life and describes it by using seasons. Keeping the story short and simple adds the effect of each death, leaving out any unimportant details that would just make the story longer.
Love the story, keep up the good work!

[Elim]

Thank you so much for the review! I agree about unimportant details, what's the point of wasted time writing it and more wasted time reading it?