Vitiel

pposed to be cleans

e hum of the furnace was a low, hungry vibrati

re burn

with trembling hands. The woman who had waited up f

cold tile floor. I put my head in my hands, th

e opposite wall, smoking a cigarette she wasn't suppos

," she said, her voice

mo

months in my mind, and t

r anniversary. I had looked Elena in the e

her to di

t was an ugly, guttural sound,

to die," I

. She just watched me wi

ned to you

wing at my throat. "I would have saved her. I woul

he didn't want your pity. She wanted

m groaned open. The director came

feet. I reached fo

my wife,

ed the urn before I could touch it.

she

e, Giulia. I a

pulled a folded document from

a's

ns," I read, my vision blurring. "I explicitly forbid Dante

. The words swam befo

she forb

see you in Hell, D

r heel and walke

umbling after her. "Whe

't find," she said

ot, the rain beginning to slick

r begged for anything in my lif

nd on her arm, then up at my tear-s

ocket and pulled out a

chest. I fumbled to ca

her car door. "Read the texts. See exactly wha

ar, slammed the do

rain, holding a dead phon