The way it happens, you wouldn’t give it a second thought.

Slowly it starts.

The changes are imperceptible.

You think she’s just being a little crazy.

Stubborn.

Weird.

It’s something else. They get this way when their sugar is too high.

She’ll be fine.

How could you know?

How could any of us know?

Maybe it’s when she stopped watering the flowers in the morning.

Maybe it’s when she stopped getting up to pray.

I don’t know.

By the time we realized what was happening, it seemed so sudden.

I still cannot bring myself to say the word.

Saying it gives it life.

Even when there’s no denying it, I still will not say the word that breaks me when I see others her age thrive.

I will not say the word that makes me question the fairness of life and fight with God.

So I kiss her face, the one they say I so resemble, and caress it softly like a child.

I try to make her focus on me, when she seems miles away.