Mariah blew air out of her mouth into a celebratory confetti air horn, carrying a white cake in her hand that she'd made and decorated by herself. It wasn't the best, but it was something, hell.

"Congratulations!" She smiled big, showing off her pearly white teeth. How happy she was put identical smiles on both Solana and Sage's faces as the cake was placed on the table in front of them.

Neither of the three knew the exact date, but it had been at least two months since Sage and Solana had self-harmed, so Mariah made a cake for them to celebrate. She was such a proud girlfriend. This type of growth made her so happy, she couldn't even explain it.

Sage had only known them for around two weeks before he stopped cutting, so Mariah didn't really know how bad it was for him; but she'd been with Solana for years and knew first-hand how cutting affected her after all she'd been through, so this moment meant a lot to Mariah. It had been a long time coming.

As bad as she'd tried, she never really was able to understand why they did it. It didn't make sense to harm yourself after already being hurt, because what did that solve? She had to realize it wasn't for her to understand though. All she needed to do was be there for them, and she would always do that as best as she could.

The cake that she made was made from vanilla batter, and covered in white and pink fondant that was strawberry flavored, and then she made letters out of more fondant that said 'Congratulations!'. Of course she had to add drops of blood on the cake too, just for a little dark humor. They loved it.

"For the anniversary we should all do it. You too." Sage told Mariah, basically saying that to celebrate, all of them should cut. Again, more dark humor.

"Sage!" She frowned at him, and he smiled at the same time that Solana laughed.

"Stop before she think you being serious." Solana hit his shoulder, and he just shrugged, putting his hand over hers to help cut the cake.

"His lil' demon ass probably is. You into witch craft, ain't it? You tryna do voodoo over me or something.." Mariah curled her lip up in fake disgust, laughing once he just shrugged again.

"Thank you for the cake. I love you." He leaned over to kiss her cheek, and then he carried his plate back towards the living room where Boondocks was playing.

"He's so-I don't even know. ThAnK yOu fOr tHe CaKe, lOvE yOu." Mariah mocked his voice as best as she could, earning a laugh from Solana. He was so cute and child-like that it was funny.

"Mariah I can still hear you." He frowned at her from the couch, and she put on an innocent smile before laughing along with Solana. He then rolled his eyes at both of them, putting his focus completely on the TV to zone them out.

"Why you mock him so good though?" Solana chuckled, lifting a piece of cake to her mouth. Mariah just smiled, resting her head in the palm of her hand.

She lowered her eyes to Solana's wrist, seeing all of the healed scars. None of the wounds were red, which meant none of them were fresh. Mariah was so damn proud of her to sticking to her healing process, and she loved being able to see just how happy Solana had become.

A part of Mariah felt like if they had never met Sage, Solana probably would've never got better. She wouldn't admit that out loud, but it was the truth. She had tried so hard to help Solana through her problems, but nothing she did was ever good enough. It didn't hurt her feelings that Sage was able to help Solana better than she could though.

Mariah didn't care who helped or who did what; as long as Solana was doing good, Mariah was doing great.

Having somebody to directly relate to the same thing she was going through showed Solana just how much her actions were affecting Mariah. The way Sage made her feel the night she saw his scars really opened her eyes and gave her the extra push she needed to get control of her life and emotions again.

She was thankful for both Mariah and Sage. Life would've definitely done her bad if she didn't have them. It had taken some time-a lot of time-but she finally realized that she wasn't in this alone. Whenever she felt like giving up, Mariah and Sage would be there to make sure she didn't. She loved them so much.

"What was that for?" Mariah smiled, licking over her lips after Solana had gave her a random kiss.

"No reason. I just love you." She told her, picking one of the letter off of the cake to eat it. She loved the texture of fondant in her mouth.

"I love you too baby. I'm so proud of you." Mariah rubbed her cheek, pulling her closer to return the same kiss.

"You so cute." Solana chuckled, her nails clicking against the screen of her phone as she checked the weather for today.

They weren't in Atlanta today, having flown into Chicago two days ago for something Sage needed to do. He told them that he would be taking them to meet his grandma, which they were both excited and nervous about. Solana wasn't familiar with the weather here though, so she had to check it to see what outfit she would be wearing today.

It felt kind of foreign to Mariah too. She hadn't been back in her city in almost six years, and had promised herself when she left that she wouldn't ever come back. Meeting Sage's grandma was a good reason to return though, so here she was.

Speaking of meeting her; it was about time for them to start getting ready because the girls could take hours to get dressed for a simple outing, so Sage knew they were about to take forever. They always had to overdo it.

It took them almost two hours to get completely ready, but only took Sage like fifteen minutes tops. He didn't understand why it took them so long because they rarely did makeup-and when they did, it was a super light beat-and their hair was already done. What could possibly cause them to take so long? He didn't and probably would never know.

Then they had to take pictures of course, but couldn't find the right lighting for the back camera photos so they both just utilized the mirror in their hotel room, and posted on Instagram afterwards.

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"Mariah you don't need all of that room girl." Solana rolled her eyes once the weight of Mariah's leg rested on her, but she just pretended she couldn't hear.

Whenever Sage was driving, both girls shared the passenger seat because neither of them liked riding in the back. Luckily, the seats could usual fit both of them-which was surprising since they were both built pretty solid.

Since it was so last minute, they had to rent a Kia instead of the usual big cars-Solana's Urus truck and Mariah's Benz-they drove at home. Mariah was currently trying to stretch her body out since her jeans were a little too tight, but their rental car wasn't big enough for her to be doing all of that.

"Sit in my lap so I can sit how I want." Mariah tapped her thigh, and she raised up, letting Mariah move to the middle of the seat. She then sat down in her lap, and put her legs over the armrest in Sage's lap.

"You okay papa? You said you wouldn't get sad." Solana's eyebrows slowly furrowed together with worry, watching him rest his hand on her ankle.

"I'm fine. Just thinking." He answered with a voice of no emotion, causing Mariah and Solana to briefly glance at one another.

Sage found out a week ago that his grandma passed away around the same time he stopped sending letters to her. He had finally gained the courage to search her name on Facebook, and the first thing that popped up was her church friends posting about their memories and her obituary.

He didn't even react when he read over the posts, at least for a while he didn't. But as he felt the love for his grandma through the posts, the tears fell from his eyes without him even realizing. She sounded like such a beautiful woman and it broke his heart that the mature version of him didn't get to witness that.

All she knew of him before dying was that bad-ass kid that she worked her ass off for, just to be repeatedly disrespected; when she was literally the only person that ever truly cared about his well-being as a child. He never got to show her that he could do better.

Although he was taking Mariah and Solana to her gravesite, his grandma would never really be able to meet them. He wouldn't be able to tell her about all of the drawings he'd made of what he assumed she would look like today. He wouldn't be able to take care of her like he had always promised to as a kid.

That hurt him so bad, and he didn't know how to express it. Crying wouldn't fix anything so he wasn't going to do that anymore-or at least would try not to. He told the girls about how he felt but even their words of encouragement didn't help like usual. He just felt, numb. He didn't feel anything at all.

Well, he did feel regret. A lot of regret.

He should've reached out much sooner. He wished he would've never even joined the military in the first place, but he was too busy trying to build a bond with his dad who ended up dying on him too-and that bond never even happened. It was all just a waste of time.

Before Sage knew it, he was standing in front of a dirt covered grave-which he wasn't even sure if it was his Grandma's because the tombstone was covered in mud and other guck. Nobody had been taking care of her.

"Take your time, okay? We'll clean it." Mariah stood on her tippy toes to softly kiss his lips after wiping his face, causing him to notice that he was crying yet again, after he'd already told himself that he wouldn't.

He didn't respond to her nor did he move, but kept his tear filled eyes on both her and Solana as they began to wash the grey tombstone. They had stopped at Walmart for cleaning products just in case, and it was good that they did.

First they used a portable pressure washer to get as much dirt off of the stone as they could, before going in with some Ajax and a stainless steel sponge to get the rest off. Once it was back to the original color, Sage read over it.

Savannah Mae Bennett
07/21/1958 - 04/11/2017
Beloved mom, grandmother, wife, sister, and faithful servant to her Lord and Jesus Christ. Forever in our hearts.

She was buried right next to Sage's grandfather. She had always said that when her time finally came around to make sure she was buried right beside the love of her life. She even arranged her burial plans the day after his funeral.

Looking down at both graves that were now cleaned up, Sage wondered if they had reconnected in the end. He hoped his grandfather, James, helped his grandma transition nicely over to the afterlife. Sage hoped it was painless for them both, and that they were now filled with eternal happiness-as promised in the Bible.

He hoped that James was still showing her around the endless corners of Heaven. She often spoke about what she assumed it would be like, especially after her husband passed away. Sage knew a part of her died that day too, but she still fought on for five years more. Sage was so proud of her.

"She looks so pretty now, right?" Solana pulled off her latex gloves, her jeans now dirty from sitting in the grass to make sure all of the flowers and decorations were placed nicely.

Savannah used to love candles, so Sage purchased some to light today. He got some decorative glass birds too since they were her favorite animals, and Walmart so happened to have some in stock, as if Savannah knew he was visiting her today.

He wondered if she was upset with him, or if she had been before she passed. He wouldn't even be mad if she was because he definitely deserved it. The fact that he would never be able to redeem himself made his stomach queasy with anger at his younger self.

"Yeah." Sage answered Solana's question, slowly sitting down between the two gravesites. A feeling of pressure rested on his shoulders as the wind blew, giving him the sensation of being hugged. That broke him down, unable to hold his tears back.

He was so sorry. So, so sorry. He wished he could tell her that over and over again, he wanted her to know how bad he felt for treating her how he did. He was just a dumb kid, he didn't know any better. Oh how he wished he had though.

When Mariah and Solana both wrapped him up in a hug at the same time, his cries softened a bit, but still didn't stop completely. He was so thankful for them and the way they catered to making sure he was okay.

Sage had never met anyone else who got him like they did. He was always solving puzzles, but he had never solved the puzzle to life; yet he was sure that Solana and Mariah were the last pieces he needed to solve it. They made everything so much better.

There was nothing more that he wanted other than for them to meet his grandma, and it saddened him that he wasn't able to do it how he had hoped. This was good enough for him though. He hoped Savannah had been watching how good they'd been treating him.

"She's so proud of you pumpkin. I know you won't ever be able to actually hear it from her, but you can feel it. Every sunrise, every time your pillow is cold, every time your favorite puzzle is back in stock-it's her. You have to think about that way. She's with you everywhere, okay?" Solana rubbed his hand that she was holding, feeling him nod his head.

"I just wish I had more time. It w-w-wasn't enough." He managed to get out, his eyebrows furrowing once a butterfly with yellow patterns landed right on top of Savannah's tombstone. Her favorite color was yellow.

"You still have it, Sage. She's still with you." Mariah looked ahead at the butterfly too, all three of them watching as it flew to land on the tip of Sage's shoe.

He felt like his heart caved inside of his chest, knowing that she really was still here with him. As stupid as this may seem to others-believing a butterfly could be carrying the spirit of his grandma-it made him happy. It gave him a sense of relief.

Everything was going to be alright. With Savannah's guidance and the love from his two favorite people, he knew that life would treat him just fine. Even with trials and tribulations, he wouldn't be going through it alone. This had been a long time coming.

The End. 🤭