But after months of scouring the ocean, the search was finally called off. Natalie had no choice but to hold a funeral without a body to bury. The finality of it crushed her. No grave to visit, no final goodbye—just an aching void where her father once was.
Natalie took a long absence from work as she searched for her father’s body. But as months turned to an entire year, she realized she couldn’t continue like this. One day, when she looked at herself in the mirror, she barely recognized the person staring back.