Life had suddenly gone still, and I seemed to be the only one that existed. Dad died three days ago, and my sense of living seemed to have died with me.

I couldn’t bring myself to muster any energy left to do the simplest things in life anymore. Duke and Doctor Martin had found me lying across Dad’s chest a few minutes after he died.

I held on to him for so long that they had to pry me off his body when the deniers came to pick him up. It had been a struggle as my head didn’t want to believe that Dad was going away for good.

I...