//-------------------------------------------------------// Of Takings and Vengeance -by Lil Drabant- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 I hopped out of the shower, wrapping the towel Bright had laid out. Pinkie Pie invited us to the party she has every weekend earlier when I went in to get me and Bright both a Shake. Pinkie was always nice to me, even when we were in school, and not very many people were nice. I had a handful of friends, Pinkie was included. They were all ladies, but I never had any attraction to them, which was weird. They came to be known as the "Elements of Harmony" after Princess Celestia's sister came back after being trapped inside the moon for 1000 years. I find it odd, all this magic. That's why I like being the Pegasus that I am, I just fly. Nothing special, but I don't think I could handle the stress of knowing all these different spells. "Bass, are you out yet? I need to get in." Bright yelled from the bedroom. Bright Sunset. I love this mare. I have since i met her in high school. We were juniors when I first met her, I thought she was absolutely beautiful. I was in my English class, taking my seat assigned by the teacher. And then there she came, walking into the classroom. My jaw dropped slightly as I was in awe. She was amazing. I never got any balls enough to try and talk to her, not until we were put into groups together to do some work. Then I flirted slightly. She did it back, but much more than I did. I hoped she liked me, or at least thought I was cute. It turns out she did like me, I found out when I came home from a winning football game and decided the worst she could say was "Why are you talking to me?", so I IM'd her. We talked for awhile, and I was amazed by her. But with every amazing girl, comes some scars. She had been raped before. She told me this a couple weeks after I asked her to be my girlfriend. My first thought at the time, was how could something like that happen to her? Who would do such a thing to this sweet girl? She'd never do anything to hurt anyone. But when I found out who did this to her, I was infuriated. But not exactly surprised either. This already suspicious kid. He was in the same grade as us. I think he knew that I knew what he did. He always looked at me weird after he knew I asked her out. I never knew why. Not until she told me. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted him to die. But she wouldn't let me do anything, she said it wouldn't take back what he did, and asked me to let it go. It took me some courage and self control, but I swallowed it. I loved her, and I didn't want her to see me like that, nor her to think that I'm that kind of person. "You alright, hun?" She said behind me. I spun around and gave her a big hug, which she returned almost immediately. "Yeah, sorry, Bright. Just thinking. How was work?" I asked, kissing her and turning back toward the mirror to resume grooming my mane. She groaned and dropped her keys and set her glasses down on the counter. "it was terrible, nobody came in today, which was weird because it's a saturday night. It's probably because Pinkie invited everyone in town to her party. She has them all the time, but at least they're good parties." "You got that right. Can you believe that we're already six years out of High School?" I asked. She giggled, and said "Yep! And already two years out of college. We're doing good for ourselves, too. You're working for a Video Game studio here in town, that brings in a few million every month, and then you making your weird "Dubstep" music on the side just helps." "Hey! It isn't weird! Let me tell you what's weird, your "Twenty One Pegasus" Band in High School was weird." I said, chuckling as she gasped. "You liked them too, Bass! You knew their songs like I did!" "I know, I know, i'm just teasing you. I didn't always like Dubstep." "Yeah, you used to be a metalhead. Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, you went to all those concerts. I liked them good too, but Twenty One Pegasus was way better." She laughed, undressing herself and getting into the shower. "Whatever, take your shower, I'm gonna go do a little extra programming on this game for a minute after I get dressed." I said, slapping her on her great ass. She giggled and turned on the water, closing the curtain. I reached into the closet and grabbed a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt. I didn't wear jeans very often, I was more of a sweatpants or sports shorts kind of guy. It's probably because after a couple years of working with a guy I would consider my brother in our office at the studio, it's like our second home. We're actually the leaders of a game in development, we come up with the story and art style, and we have a whole development team. We help out quite a bit as well when we're there, just hop on a computer and get to programming, so we put as much work in as everyone else does. It's an RPG, which means Role Playing Game, set in Wartime Equestria. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I think it's going to turn out pretty good. My friend, the one I'd consider a brother, is the adopted brother of Applejack, Element of Honesty. His formal name is Applebuck, but I just call him Buck. We've had plans to be game designers for years. I don't know where i'd be without that guy. I love him just like a real brother. Real respectful to Bright, as well. He's got a girlfriend of his own as well, her name is Silver Swirl. Her father is a Jeweler that lives in Canterlot, So I can order specialized jewelry if I wanted to. I got dressed and went down to the basement of the house, taking a seat at the computer chair. The basement is my man cave, where I watch football games, play video games when Bright isn't home, and where I make my dubstep. I had Black Lights strung up everywhere so stuff lit up. I always keep a safe locked up in here as well. I keep two cases of bottled water, some cans of food, and a Sig Sauer P226 in the safe, just in case something went down. Like if another nation decided to invade Equestria, or a deadly sickness, or god forbid, zombies, came around. I'm no Doomsday Prepper, but it wouldn't hurt to have a few things to keep us prepared. I logged onto my computer and looked at my developing program for a little side indie game I was making, but I also saw Fallout 4 staring me in the eye, and I turned that on. While it was loading up, I opened the drawer and pulled out a tiny little box. I opened it and the ring I had inside sat there. I was going to propose to Bright tonight after Pinkie's party. I was ready for a marriage and a family with her. I smiled, and pocketed the box in my hoodie that I brought downstairs with me. As fallout loaded up, Bright came walking down the stairs, and I groaned. "Aw, come on! You don't take enough time!" I said, groaning some more. She giggled, sitting in my lap and taking my hand in hers, looking at me and said "You can play for a minute, I just had to come down here for a minute." "What's the matter, sweetheart?" I said. I took my total focus off the screen, looking up at her. Whenever she speaks like this, nothing else mattered to me. I wanted to know what was going on. "I just... I thought about Pants today." Pants. Jason Pants. His name was literally a shit joke, like, literally shit. This guy, he was Bright's happiness before she met me, but the weird part was, she was Sixteen at the time. He was Twenty Two. They had sex, which was very illegal. But Bright asked me not to tell the cops, or to fight him. She swore to me that his friends and him both were dangerous. I was about two hundred and fifty pounds at five foot eleven. He was one hundred and ten pounds at five foot eight. She was certain he'd shoot me, or stab me. This guy was a junkie. I've seen pictures of him, he's a junkie. He sits in his living room eating and shooting heroin. He did it then, and I know he does now, because I had to go to his house. He was rather disrespectful to me. It was because he started loving and appreciating Bright after she stopped loving him. And loved me. Another one of her ex boyfriends, Spirit Searcher, was kind of the same way. He was kind of an asshole, but he still accepted that she didn't love him anymore. I didn't want to fight him. He was still rather odd whenever Bright was in his line of sight, and I knew it wasn't awkwardness, either. Me and Bright just let him be. I still see him in the store from time to time. I also see her rapist. Smith Wesson. His father was a gunsmith, and tried to fight that Smith never touched Bright. But i know he did. Every time I see him, he just looks at me. Like he's waiting. It just makes me even more angry. But whenever I ask Bright to let me try to do something so he'd stop staring at me, she just hugs me, tells me she loves me, and to just let it go. She always calms me down. Even when I'm at my angriest, it just only takes her to stop it. I love her. I wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her tight, she did the same to me around my neck. I held her for a minute until we released each other. I looked up at her, stroking her cheek and smiling at her. "Don't worry, he hasn't come around in a few years. I think he's gone." I said. She looked down at me, a tear running down her cheek. "That isn't what I'm worried about. I still kind of care about him as a friend, I just hope he's doing alright, Bass, that's all..." she sniffled and kissed me. I hugged her again and let her get off my lap. I got up and put on my hoodie, making sure the ring was still inside. I walked outside with her, locking up the house and giving her the key. "Hey, since Pinkie's house is just a short walk from here, should we walk to her house, babe, instead of taking my truck?" I asked, looking over at her. "Sure! It'll only take about five minutes to get there." She said, taking my hand in hers, and we walked down the street. Literally not a minute later, Buck comes rolling up in his titan sized truck, blaring Disturbed through the speakers. He turned it down and poked his head out the window. "Hey, fuckface. Get you and your lady in the back of my truck and let's go, Bass!" He said, rather elated about this party. "Nah, we kind of wanted to walk without crazy rednecks with trucks." I made fun of Buck for being from the country part of town, but not around his adopted sister, Applejack. She'd hang me from a tree by my underwear. And I knew I made a big mistake in saying that when the left backseat window rolled down, Applejack staring right at me. "I do believe I beg your pardon." She simply stated. I froze up, eyes wide and I nodded. She just rolled the window back up, and Buck was laughing his ass off in the front seat. "Shut your damn mouth and i'll see you at the party, asshole." I said, kicking his oversized truck wheel. He nodded and took back off down the road, turning soon. I looked over at Bright, and she was shaking her head. "You will try to fight any guy that looks at you or me the wrong way, But you're scared of a little country girl." She stated, laughing. I blushed and looked forward, letting go of her hand. I do this because it makes her kind of mad, and she'll try to take my hand back. "Hey! Come on, I was kidding." "Nope. You don't get to hold my hand." I said. "I love you.." She said, trying to sound slightly pitiful. I sighed, I hated when she'd come back with that because I think it's too cute, and I let her hold my hand again. She readjusts her glasses and holds my hand with both of her hands. As we walked, there was a car just sitting there. there are cars everywhere, but this one had someone in it. The windows were really tinted, so I couldn't see who it was, but I could see that their head was following us. Which was very weird. I just brushed it off and continued on with Bright. As we rounded the corner, an abandoned apartment building sat at the corner. It had been gutted, but it's water still ran. My father owns it. He told me that I should fix it up and rent it out, which i've thought about before, but I haven't had too much interest. Maybe when i'm a little bit older with Bright. We soon arrived at Pinkie's house, and there were already a horde of ponies there. I made sure I had Bright's hand as we worked our way through the crowd, trying to find Buck and Silver. We soon found them by the food table with Buck stuffing his face with a bunch of different goodies, Silver looked over at us and smiled. While Buck was bent over the food table, and since he hadn't noticed us, I slowly snuck up on him, smacking him on the back as hard as I could, making him spit his food all over the place. He coughed and got up, trying to wrestle me to the floor. While I had been in fights and scraps in my life, and he has as well along side me, I'm just more skilled and patient, i just locked him into a quick choke hold and held him for a minute while he slowly went to sleep with food all over him. I let him go before he passed out, and he coughed, looking at me. "Asshole, why would you do that?" He said, coughing. "I don't know, why would you drive up in your massive, loud ass truck while me and Bright are having a quiet walk?" I said, laughing. He just hugged me, patted my back, and said "Well, this party just started. And i'm already having fun. You want some Whiskey, Bass?" He asked, pulling a bottle of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey out of his vest, shaking it. It was my favorite alcoholic drink. But I shook my head, and put my arm around Bright. "Nah, not tonight. Bring some over tomorrow and i'll kick your ass in Call of Duty while we get smashed." I said, laughing. She shrugged and took a swig, taking Silver over to the couch and sitting down with her. Bright looked up at me for a moment, with a bit of an odd expression. "What's wrong, babe?" I asked, taking her hand. "I'm...well...I kind of...started bleeding..." She said, looking down. "Oh, do we need to go?" I asked, picking up two mini sub sandwiches and giving her one. She took a bite and shook her head "No, don't worry about it. I can just go get a tampon, I'll be back in about five minutes, okay?" "I can walk you home and back." I said, taking a bite as well. 'No, no, you don't have to. I'll be right back, just go sit on the couch with Buck, i'll know you're there." She said, kissing me. I shrugged and let her go, watching her walk off, happily eating her sub. It was already night time. I walked over to the couch and sat next to Buck. Him and Silver were busy talking, so I just figure I sit and watch all the ponies have fun. But a man walked up to me, with a top hat on, and a long, white beard. I looked up at him, and he had a big smile on his face. "Why, Hello, Bass!" He said, it was Discord. Discord used to be an enemy of Princess Celestia, but he wanted to be good, and to be on our side. So we gave him a chance, and he proved himself. He's even helped other ponies in town out of the goodness of his own heart. I'm proud of him. I smiled and replied "Hey, Discord! How's it going, buddy?" He leaned on the couch, a drink in his hand and he sipped it. He wore a mix and matched suit. He was a good guy, but he still tried to make as much chaos as possible. Just harmless. Like his own stuff. This suit had white arms and a blue torso with red and green striped pants. I didn't judge, I just let him be him. "It's going good. Pinkie Pie really did it up this weekend, lots of ponies here. Where's your lady, Bright?" He asked, raising a bushy eyebrow. "Oh, she just had to go take care of one of her mare things, she'll be back here in a minute, She's been gone for a little while. she said ten minutes. Been about 5 now. What about Fluttershy? Aren't you two together?" I asked. "Oh! Right! I'm supposed to meet her here, I better go find her out front before she gets too mad at me." He chuckled, tipping his hat to me, turning heel, and heading back toward the front yard. I continued to sit and wait for Bright patiently. It had been well over ten minutes, so I got a little bit concerned. I stopped Rainbow Dash while she walked by, smiling at me. "Hey, have you seen Bright anywhere?" I asked her. "Yeah, she was heading outside like forty five minutes ago, why?" She replied, tilting her head. "She said she'd be back in ten minutes, like forty five minutes ago. You haven't seen her after?" "Nope. Do you need my help looking for her?" She asked me. "Yeah, sure." I looked over at Buck. "Buck, would you try to find Bright for me?" I asked him. "Yeah, no problem, Bass." He said, him and Silver both getting up and walking into the crowd. I got up and walked outside, Rainbow Dash following me outside. "Alright, Rainbow, I want you to fly up into the sky and circle around about a mile radius of Pinkie's house, see if you can find her." I said. She nodded and took off, flapping hard to get into the air. I walked the route we came from back to the house. Everything was still there, nothing was out of place. Except the weird car from earlier was gone. That's all I noticed. I got to the house and tried opening up the front door, but it was still locked from when I locked up the house earlier. I rung the doorbell a couple of times, trying to get her attention. But after about a minute of waiting, there was no response. "Bright, Open the door!" I yelled in. She was trying to mess with me, I know it. "Bright Sunset, Open the fucking door! This isn't funny!" I yelled again, but still no answer. I walked around to the front of the house, and muscled the garage open. I walked into the house through the garage door around my truck, and yelled when I got inside. "Bright!" There still wasn't an answer. I figure she was messing with me, so I searched through the house. But she wasn't anywhere in it. I couldn't find her. "Alright Bright, cut it out, come out here!" I yelled out one last time. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary in the house. I closed up the garage and went walking back to the party, Buck and Rainbow were standing outside, but Bright wasn't anywhere around them. I jogged up to them. I'm kind of worried now. "Any luck, guys?" I asked, looking at them desperate. Buck shook his head. "Nope, no sign of her here. I checked everywhere on the premesis." "I did an extra two mile radius, I couldn't find her, not anywhere." Rainbow said. "Any ideas, Bass?" Buck said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Well. . . there was this really weird car on our way here." I said. "well, I'm sorry, kid, but you're going to have to say a little more than "weird car". I've seen a lot of weird cars in my time." Buck replied. "Alright, it was like, all black, and the windows were a custom tint, so you could barely see inside them. But from what i did see, somebody was just sitting in the car, and their head was following us, but I couldn't see who it was." "Alright, then we go there." Buck said. I led them down the path that me and Bright came, pointing at the exact spot. "It was here. I swear it was here." I said, kind of freaking out. Buck stood, shaking his head. "well it isn't here now, it could be just a pony watcher. People sit in cars and watch ponies, you know." "Um, guys? Pinkie had mini subs from Subway at the party, right?" Rainbow said from behind me. "Yeah, but now isn't the time for eating, Rainbow." Buck said over my shoulder. "No, look. . ." Rainbow said, slowly, point at the ground. Where she pointed, was a half eaten mini sub. A few condiments had been scattered. Right behind where the black, dark tinted car would have been. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 2 The second I saw the sandwich lying on the ground, I knew what happened. Somebody took her from me. Nobody just drops a half eaten sandwich on the ground with the intent on throwing the condiments everywhere. It doesn't make sense. She never does that. I didn’t cry, or break down, I just stared blankly at it. “Bass.” Buck said beside me. “Now, we don’t know what happened. But that’s her sandwich, right?” I nodded. He could say that we don’t know what happened, but I knew better. I knew that car was suspicious. I should have came back with her despite her wishes. Maybe she’d still be here. Unless there was somebody else I had no idea about, and she had been seeing behind my back. But there’s no way. I ran up the driveway of the house the car was parked in front of, and started pounding on the door. “Hello?! Is anybody here?!” I yelled, continuing to pound on the door. And elderly mare, an earth pony, around her 70’s answered the door with a knife in her hand. “What do you want, boy? It’s 10 at night!” She said, poking the knife out the door. “Please, have you heard anything odd in the last couple of hours? Please, anything.” I was panting now. “Why?” “My girlfriend, we can’t find her, we think something might have happened to her.” "Oh. . . I heard some screaming outside while I was heading into bed, but I thought it was just some kids messing around. . .Pinkie Pie's Party is tonight after all." She said, having lowered the knife. My eyes began tearing up, I couldn't believe that this was happening. No, there was no guarantee she'd been taken. Not yet. I bid the mare goodnight, and walked back down the driveway, trying to think logically of anything else that could have happened. Buck and Rainbow Dash were still at the edge of the driveway, trying to figure out what they could about this. Rainbow was on her phone, she had called the Royal Guard. She hung up the phone and looked over to me. "Celestia's Missing Ponies squad is on their way here now. I still think she might be wandering around somewhere, just going for a walk." She said to me. "No. She would have told me if she were going to go do something like that. She wouldn't just go without telling somebody. That isn't Bright." I said. Like Rainbow had said, Celestia's royal guard were there rather quickly. The leader of the investigation, Detective Magnifying Glass, pulled us aside. We just called him Mag when we saw him with Twilight's brother. He was fairly tall, almost at my height, standing about Six foot two. He had his coat on. From what I understand, he's solved every case he's ever been put on. I hope and pray to God that this doesn't become the first case he doesn't solve. Even if somebody took her life, I want to know. "Bass? I have some questions for you." Mag said, trying to get my attention. I shook my head and nodded. "Mhm, go ahead, Detective." I replied. The police everywhere examining the spot of the car, her sandwich, and then going to the party to ask questions made me slightly uneasy. "Now, when did you see her last?" "I fucking told you. At the party. Why do you need to question me?" "It's just protocol, we need to question everybody at the scene. Okay, Buck and Rainbow Dash over there have already answered my questions. Now I know you're worried, but just bear with me, okay?" Mag said. "Alright... She told me she went on her period, and she was going home to get a tampon. She said she'd be back in ten minutes. Rainbow Dash called you about two hours after we went looking for her." "Okay, now, Buck said that you said something about a black car? Would you tell me about that?" "Yes, it was a black car, and the windows, there were like, custom tinted. Like whoever owned the car told the Mechanic, or automobile worker that he wanted them ridiculously tinted like this. There was somebody in the fucking car too! Their head was following us while we were walking. And since the windows were so unbelievably tinted, I couldn't see inside. All I know is, that somebody was sitting in the car, and they were fucking watching us." "Do you think that there is any chance Miss Bright could have just ran off with somebody else?" "No, no, not at all. I'd sooner believe she'd been fucking kidnapped. Is that what happened Detective?" I said. Mag shook his head. "Now there is no complete proof that is what happened. It's a likely possibility, I'm sorry to say, but there is not proof. Now, might you tell me what she looks like?" "Alright.. She was wearing glasses. They're black. She has a red mane, and an orange coat. She's about 5 feet 8 inches tall. about D cup breasts, round butt, small hands. She was wearing a turtleneck and galaxy leggings to the party. . .Please Detective, please bring her back. . ." I said. I was on the verge of sobbing. Bright was all I had. Her and Buck of course, but mainly her. I was in love with her. I can't even last a couple days while I'm on a trip to E3 with Buck without her. I pulled the ring out of my hoodie pocket. "I was going to propose to her tonight, Mag. We've been together for six years for fuck's sake. . ." I began sobbing. I couldn't hold it back anymore. Mag patted my shoulder. "Hey. I'm going to bring her back, okay? I've yet to let a case go unsolved, and I'll be damned to hell by God himself before this becomes my first unsolved case." He patted my shoulder, and pulled a cigarette from his pack. He offered me one. I hadn't smoked a cigarette in years. I took one. I lit it up with his lighter, inhaling deeply. Now, since I smoke weed with Bright every other weekend, and a little during the week, smoke didn't bother me. But I swore I'd never smoke again. But I needed it. I didn't know what the fuck else to do. It was disgusting. "Is there anybody you could say has any reason to kidnap her?" Mag asked me after taking a couple puffs. I didn't even need to think. "Yes. I can think of a few people." I said almost immediately in response. "Would you mind giving me their names? I'll talk to them about this." Mag said, pulling his detective's notebook out of his coat. "Smith Wesson. . .Jason Pants. . . and Spirit Searcher." I said, slowly as the thoughts of my rage toward each of them came back. He nodded and said "Alright, I'll go interview this Jason Pants character tonight. Is his name literally Jason Pants?" He asked. I nodded. I sighed and leaned against Mag's car. This wasn't happening, I refuse to believe that my baby was taken from me. She was playing a trick, that's it. She's just hiding and everybody is in on it. I'd go home and she'd be in bed on her laptop, like she is every night. I would hug her, kiss her, tell her I love her, and we'd cuddle and fall asleep. I knew that wasn't the reality. Deep down, I know what happened to her. Someone kidnapped her. I knew. Mag looked over at me, seeing the small Cross laying across my chest. "Bass, are you a religious man?" I nodded. "Yes, sir. I read my bible here and there. I wear my cross." "What's you're favorite Bible verse?" "Matthews 6:9-10." "Would you mind repeating it to me?' He asked, taking a puff of his cigarette before flicking it to the ground. ". . .After this manner therefor pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven." I said, taking my last puff before flicking my cigarette down as well. "You have your faith. Now, I need you to have faith in the Royal Guard and in me that we will bring Bright back, alright, big guy?" He patted my chest, pocketing his notebook. I nodded and sniffled. "Oh, one more thing-" He pulled a pair of glasses out of his other coat pocket. I recognized them immediately. "The scavengers found this in the grass. Do these belong to her?" I choked back on my tears, nodding. He handed them over to me. "I'll let you keep these. We're gonna stage a search party to go searching through the woods and fields surrounding the town. We'll take volunteers, and some of the police will be there as well. I'd advise you go help out as well, it's the most you can do by now. You need to go home, Okay kid?" "Don't call me kid, just find my fucking girlfriend." I said. I didn't take my eyes off her glasses. I turned and started walking toward home. Buck chased up beside me. "Bass! Hey, i've been calling you. Will me and Rainbow see you tomorrow?" He asked, keeping a hand on my shoulder. I nodded slowly, still staring at her glasses. I opened the two flaps of the frame, and put them on. Buck smiled at me. "Those look nice on you. We'll have to get you a pair when Bright Sunset comes home, buddy." He hugged me tight. Not like we usually do, he just held me. He knew I was hurting. He let me go and patted my shoulder before going back to Silver's side. I kept walking, noticing how the Glasses didn't much affect me. She uses them because she's blind as a bat without them or contacts, but I see just fine with them on. I decided i'd wear them. She'd need them when she came home. I walked up the side of the house, turning the door knob. I forgot she had the house key. I saw them have her purse for evidence, It was probably in there. I walked back around the side and muscled open the garage like last time. I stepped in and closed it, walking through the garage door into the house. I opened the drawer in the kitchen and took out the spare key, placing it in my wallet. I opened the freezer, pulling out the bottle of wine I had bought for us to drink after she agreed to marry me. I took it and went down to my Man Cave. I rolled a joint and lit it up, smoking off of it and drinking down the wine. I was miserable without her. Even being the few hours, knowing what could have happened to her by now, I was miserable. I loved her. I needed to find her. I decided I'd go to every search party I could to find her. My mind pondered on what could possibly have happened by now. She could have been raped by now. She could have been tortured, she could have been burned. She could have been murdered. I sat in my chair and cried. I didn't know what else do, I just cried and cried. Until I finished the wine and my weed. I got enough strength to pull myself upstairs and into bed. As I got undressed to go to sleep, I noticed the picture of me and her she had on her side of the bed. It was about a year ago when it was taken, at one of her friend's weddings. It was of me and her kissing, and she was wearing the Bride's headdress. She was beautiful. So beautiful. I loved her so much, I still couldn't believe she was gone. I held that photo in my hand as I slowly drifted off to sleep, lightly sobbing. I Need her.