ALINA'S POV

I'm tired.

You know that deep feeling in your bones, tired? The type of feeling where you don't even have the energy to move a muscle?

That's how I'm currently feeling. I've been feeling like this for a while, but I can't seem to get rid of the feeling.

It feels like a heavy blanket over my whole body which I'm too weak to remove.

Don't get me wrong it's not all bad.

This time of relaxation has allowed me to remember in detail all of my good memories that have happened over the last couple of months with my family.

I've enjoyed myself so much.

This is what life is meant for.

When surrounded by the right people, you want to live forever. Thats what makes life so magical.

My family has made everything seem so magical even the bad parts.

You can't relive your life, so being able to live it to the best of your ability is the only thing you can do.

I'm glad I got to do that, even if it was for a short amount of time. I can't wait to go back and make more memories.

As I remember the first time I truly laughed, thanks to my family, I remember the feeling of not being able to breathe.

I couldn't catch my breath because the smile on my face was so big, and my lungs were fighting for air as I continued laughing

I'm feeling that feeling again, but I'm not laughing.

I can feel the muscles in my lungs stop contracting as they grow tired from working.

My eyes feel heavy as my lungs try and work overtime.

I reassure them that this is relaxation time. There's no need to work anymore. I'm ok without them, replaying my favourite memories of being surrounded by my family as I try and recover from this terrible tiredness.

I think closing my eyes fully and trying to go to sleep will be best.

I'll have a lot more energy when I awake if I go to sleep now

I do love my sleep, and this is starting to feel like the best sleep I've ever had

It feels so comfortable, as the pain that has been racking my body starts to fade away.

This is the best pain reliever I've had!

My favourite memories of me and my family stay with me as the pain fades away.

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SALVATORE'S POV

"Alina"

"Did you really have to leave us?"

I painfully look towards the ground in the back garden to her grave.

The one that was always left empty, now filled with her cold, lifeless body.

Looking at it makes me feel even worse than when it was empty.

There was a possibility of her being alive when the grave was empty and we fed on that as if it was what kept us alive.

Now all that's left is memories and lost time.

It seems the universe allowed a taste of what our perfect life could be like, and took it away as easily as taking candy from a baby.

We can't fight the universe.

If we could, Alina would be right beside us, living the life she deserves.

We held a funeral for her with all of her favourite people.

None of us could bear to answer the question of where Alina was.

What was meant to be a fun little family getaway turned into our worst nightmare right in front of our eyes.

The men of the business also decided to show their honour and loyalty to the head of the house.

She is their saviour, as everything would have gone to shot if I had disappeared.

That doesn't mean I wanted her to take my place! I want her by my side, forever! My bambina.

We made sure to bury her with all of her favourite things so that she was not alone and surrounded by love.

Everybody contributed something that help a space in her and their hearts

Me and Athena contributed her baby blankets. It's something we never thought we would say goodbye to as we cherished it so much. Something we also thought would be true about our little girl.

Raphael contributed all of her favourite snacks as well as his tie, so that she would always be able to straighten it for him even in the afterlife.

He vowed to always wear his tie crooked if Alina wasn't going to be the one to fix it.

As an aspiring artist and mafia leader, he got himself a tattoo of Alina's initials with a Swedish fish underneath above his heart.

Somewhere she will stay in all of us in life and death.

Marco made sure to give her her dragon back so that she was not alone as she made her way to the afterlife

Matheo made sure to give her his AirPods and hers so that she could always be comforted by her favourite music, and so she could drown out any noise that was too loud for her.

I don't know if there's any sound where she is. I don't even know where she is. All that's left is her body

Rocco made sure to give her the recipe for their green smoothies so that she can make friends with the others in the afterlife and so she can make it whenever she likes

Romeo had given her his skateboard so that she could remeber all the time they spend together skating.

Luca had given her his championship game winning soccer ball as it was the one thing they had in common. She was always mesmerised by it as she wanted to win a championship one day as well, so she could impress her family.

Adrian gave her his everything. He gave her almost all of his possessions as it reminded him of her. He didn't want her casket to be empty.

He made sure to keep some of the most memorable things they shared so that he can always be comforted by them.

The realisation in the hospital that Alina had infact not survived the coma and that she wasn't playing games with us like someone her age should be doing, was so sudden and severe.

The sounds I heard from my family after the doctor called her time of death are ones I will never be able to drown out in my lifetime.

The sound of the flatline continues to haunt me.

The only reason the sound stopped was because the machine was turned off, not because her heart was beating full of life again.

Having to peel my wife's body off of my daughter corpse after 2 days of her relentlessly begging Alina to open her eyes, is a memory I wish to erase from my mind.

I wish I could say she passed away peacefully but with the infection racking her body, I believe it entirely the opposite.

I didn't know how to comfort her in her last moments.

Did I do a good job of making sure she was comfortable or not!? I wish she was alive to at least reassure me! I need her!

Seeing the life fade away from Alina's body until she started to turn grey didn't make her any less beautiful but it filled me with absolute outrage.

Her spark was gone, blown out like the flame of a candle.

It seems that our sparks are dimming as time goes on as the light in our lives has disappeared

You can't light something without the initial spark.

Without Alina, it seems our lives will be filled with darkness

It's affecting everyone.

Adrian has not left Alina's room. He didn't lock the door as he allowed everyone else to come in and mourn when they needed to.

He spend his days under the blanket of Alina's bed as he held the bear she gifted him tight as if it was his lifeline.

It was.

I know he hasn't been sleeping from the bags under his eyes after I check up on him daily.

It will a long, uphill battle to make sure he is able to get some sleep at night as I doubt he will want to take his tablets.

There's no greater pain than having a taste of the life you truly want only for it to be snatched away from right under your nose.

He got his wish of wanting his sister back. He, just like us didn't expect it to be for such a short while.

You thought we'd all be out of tears by now, as we've all been crying for about a week straight but the tears always seem to find a way out.

Athena refuses to move from the mural she has of Alina which now features updated photos of her.

Our saviour.

She's scared that if she looks away for even a second she'll forget the little details of her face.

Like the little scar on her right ear, or the slightly bigger freckle on her left cheek.

We will honour and preserve her memory to perfection.

Everything I do from now on will be in her name and honour.

The boys have all been mourning in their own ways.

Some deal with the situation through violence and some through crying.

They've all kept each other company, knowing it's vital. They can't loose anyone else.

They won't.

I make sure to comfort them. I now I can't bring her back but I will try my best to make sure our missing piece is never forgotten. We must stick together, if not for our sake but for Alina's.

We will not let her life and sacrifice be in vain.

I can't have had my daughter die protecting me just for me to finish myself off.

I refuse to.

I need to be strong for her and the rest of my family.

They too will be feeling the same as me as we all try and retain every little thing that has happened these past 8 months.

My daughter only got to live for 8 months.

8 months of seeing what life was truly like.

Did she not deserve more? Did she not deserve to see what her future would hold? What her talents could bring her?

She was starting to take interests in college, something that she never thought would be possible.

Why have her dreams been taken from her?

She didn't even go with a full belly of food.

She went after being starved and beaten.

Thats no way for anyone to go.

Could the universe not have waited for her to have been sent off comfortably?

Was that really too much to ask!? Had she not suffered enough?

Had we not suffered enough?

I sit hugging her grave, keeping her warm and dry from the rain droplets from the dark sky that had just opened and my tears.

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The cycle began again.

The 6 stages of grief.

Denial

Anger

Bargaining

Depression

Acceptance

Revenge - the whole world would burn in memory of Alina Giovanni. The family would make sure of it.

The family was already rich in money, was it really fair for them to be rich in love as well whilst billions of others in the world lacked both?

Life isn't fair.

It never has been and it never will be, but there are times where the universe gives you a glimpse of perfection.

A taste of what life is truly for.

It not able to be sustained, and so you you cherish those the little time you have with big moments with the ones you love.

"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them" - Andy Dwyer, The Office