MOURNING

She reminds him of another woman: the hazel-gray eyes, the dark hair. She is more child than woman; yet her simple words break the shell encasing what's left of his heart.

Is your life really that empty that you don't care whether you live or die?

She sees good in him. Despite her maddening chatter, she could be an earthly disguise for his dead love's soul, back to reclaim his own.

She dies for him: another innocent, dead because of him. When he weeps over her, he mourns not only her but the woman he was never allowed to mourn.