I woke up to the sound of small feet hitting the pavement. Jenny's face appeared above mine her eyes serious. "What happened?" She asked me.

"I-I just fell asleep for a second." I told her, trying to sit up. Siera appeared behind her daughter and pulled me up. She gently touched my head, looking for bruises.

"I think you should be fine. Rest." She ordered. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the graveyard quite yet."

"No, I have to. My next plane leaves tonight." I explained, "I need to see her."

Siera nodded at me and we exchanged goodbyes. Jenny gave me a squeezing hug, though the highest she could reach was my knees. "Bye, kiddo." I knelt down and hugged her back.

"Bye-bye!" She gave me a sloppy kiss and moved over to her mother. Siera picked her up cradle style and walked back inside. 

I watched them go until the door shut slowly behind them. Then I started to jog down the road, taking all the turns just like Siera had told me to. 

I finally saw a graveyard. It was newer, and therefor there were less graves. Situated right across the old one, it was more cheerful, bright. I walked among the rows, ignoring the school group behind me, until I found my mother's grave. I sat down beside it, not really knowing what to do. I didn't want to talk with the group there, and I didn't have flowers or anything to put down. 

I picked a few stray grasses and looked around. It was a peaceful place to be laid to rest, I supposed. It was open and warm, the grass a bright green. A meadow nearby had hundreds of colorful flowers. The place gave of a cheerful feel, not the one you would usually get from a graveyard. 

I heard someone come up behind me and sit down. It was a girl who looked to be about twelve, with a long brown braid hanging down her back. "What are you doing?" She asked me, handing me a bouquet of lilies that her class had been putting on the graves. 

"I'm visiting my mother." I answered.

"She died?" 

"Yeah. I didn't know until today, but she did." 

"How?" She looked at the gravestone. "Oh, cancer." The girl pointed at a grave under a tree on the other side of the graveyard. "My mom is dead, too."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I told her honestly, "Do you visit her?"

"No," the girl was incredulous, "She died a long time ago. Why would I?"

"Well..." I was taken aback, "Because you love her, right?"

"I did. But she's dead now." She answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That doesn't mean you stop loving her. She wouldn't stop loving you."

The girl looked out at the grave and stood up. She walked away and sat back down under the tree. After a moment she began talking, and though I couldn't hear her, I knew who she was talking to. 

I kissed my mother's gravestone and stood up, wanting to go to one last place before I left. I patted the grave set the lilies against it. "I love you, Mom." I said. 

I crossed the street in a jog, sprinting through the rows until I came to a familiar grave. My father's. 

It had a small American flag propped up on it, showing the rare visitors that he had been a veteran. My father had been serving in Afghanistan when a shell exploded, killing him instantly. He was one of the first to die over there, and received a purple heart for his bravery. 

It always killed me to think that instead of a father, we had gotten a piece of metal. 

I told my dad about Patrick, the plane ride, my failure of a directing career. I half expected him to appear and sit me on his lap the way he used to, insisting that I tell him all my problems so that he could fix them. They way he always did. The way he never again would. 

The sky began to grow dark and I looked at my watch, knowing that I had to get back to the airport. "Love you." I told him with a wave. 

I walked out of the graveyard, noticing that for the first time today, the black spots were gone.