Excerpt: Falling Petals

Rosa still knows when someone has died. The very essence of their being disappears; it's a sweet, tangible thing, so violent it leaves behind a scent that can never be washed out. It's not that she has seen many deaths, it's just that since that first one – watching the elderly woman's soul leave her body without any complaints – Rosa has had a keen sense for the whole experience.
With tears in her eyes, the girl had run from the scene of her guardian's passing, completely disregarding shouts from both her peers and her elders to come back. She had gone straight to the woods, where she had met an equally as distraught Raziel. The two had sat in the woods and cried until Sister Giuliana came. Rosa wouldn't eat for days, could barely sleep, and refused to attend mass. It continued like this for weeks, past the funeral which she didn't take part in, and past the first, very rare snow which the other orphans frolicked and rolled in despite the air of mourning still resting over the Sanctuario.
The next journal entry had no date, but Rosa remembered when it was written if only because it was such a horrible day in her life. November eighth.