A Mother's Grief

Andrew Pantazi: Rayne Perrywinkle sometimes pretends nothing happened. She imagines her Cherish in the kitchen, getting something to eat. Cherish in the bathroom, washing up. Cherish in her mother's bedroom, brushing her hair, trying on her mother's clothes. Maybe she's in California, about to get off the plane to see her father.

On Monday night, three nights after 8-year-old Cherish's body was found, Rayne couldn't fall asleep.

It used to be that when she couldn't sleep, Rayne would draw, sometimes not starting until just before sunrise.

That night, she paced in Cherish's room. The one in the back of the house with the Pepto-Bismol pink walls. Rayne hated those walls. She had wanted to paint them a lighter pink, like cotton candy pink, with Cherish, but when you can't afford to buy new clothes, you can't afford to paint the walls.