Link Me Closely
an excerpt

I looked around at my large, cluttered room, thinking that even through all these problems I've convinced myself that I have, nothing could ever change what's special to me. The ornament that Mom made me in her pottery class; the paintings that Dad brought back from Russia; the photo of all of us, taken when Daisy was still in elementary school; the photo of Marianne.
Looking at that photo, my heart grew cold and numb, and I forced my eyes away to look instead at the moon that shone through the window. I sat down slowly on the window-seat, gazing outside and drawing a leg up to my chest. Closing my eyes I leaned my head against the cool window-pane, thinking.
Marianne. I didn't know what my feelings were for her now, it had been so long. I just knew that, somewhere deep inside of me, her face would never leave me alone. She would always be with me, wherever I went, whatever I did. Even through the cold that kept descending upon me, I still missed her.
I missed her so, so much.