Then, everything changed. Just as I was getting ready for bed, my phone buzzed — a message from my sister:
“Did you see the news? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know how to tell you… There was an accident.
Their car… they were on their way to you.”
I froze. My hands went numb. I opened the news.
The first headline I saw:
“C.rash on the highway… three d-ead…”
The screen blurred as my heart sank. It was them. My friends.
All three. In the same car. 
They really were coming.
They hadn’t forgotten. That night, I couldn’t cry. I just sat there in the dark, listening to the steady drip of the kitchen tap.
The wine glass sat untouched. The plates remained on the table — as if waiting for guests who’d never arrive. And I… so caught up in my own pain… never once considered something tragic could have happened.
I thought I’d been abandoned. But the truth was far, far worse. 😢
