Ever since I could remember , Mommy and I played this weird game where she pretended to be dead . The first time I found her just lying there - super still , not breathing at all - I got really , really scared and cried so hard . But after a while , I figured out that Mommy was just playing pretend with me , so I wasn't scared anymore . Then one day , there was this big ceremony at this huge cemetery place . Everything felt really sad and quiet , and there was a big hole in the ground with a wooden box covered in a flag sitting right next to it . All the grown - ups around me were crying really loud . But not me . Instead , I looked at that flag on the box and thought , " Wow , Mommy's being super good at pretending this time . She even made Daddy cry for real ! " Slowly , the box went down , down , down into the hole , and suddenly everyone started crying even louder than before . So I pulled on Daddy's sleeve and asked , " Are we done playing now ? I wanna go home and wait for Mommy ! " Right away , Daddy picked me up and I could see he was crying too . " Betty , baby ... Mommy can't come home anymore . " But I just touched the shiny metal tag around my neck that Mommy gave me and shook my head really hard . " Nuh - uh ! Mommy said she'd come back ! She promised ! " However , nobody would listen to me . They all kept saying stuff like I was " sick " or something dumb like that . Later on , Daddy brought home this lady and said she was gonna be my " new mommy . " That's so silly ! My real mommy is still here - I saw her ! If Daddy won't believe me , then fine . I'll just go find Mommy ALL BY MYSELF ! The rain kept hitting the black umbrellas , making this dull , constant drumming sound . In the cemetery , everything was just ... black everywhere . Sad sniffling sounds came from all around me , and every single grown - up had red , puffy eyes . Daddy's back looked all hunched over now , and his shoulders were shaking while tears dripped down his face . This game seemed way bigger than usual - even Uncle Mike was there , and I hardly ever saw him ! Then Uncle Mike got down on one knee and put Mommy's shiny metal thing around my neck . " Betty , sweetie , this is the only thing your mom left behind . You keep it safe , okay ? " I watched as dirt got scooped up and dropped down , covering up the red , white and blue flag . Everyone around me was super sad and crying . Everyone except me . I was just waiting for Mommy to suddenly jump out from behind a tree or something , laughing really loud while she picked me up and spun me around . saying , " Gotcha ! My brave little Betty ! " We'd played this game like a million times before . Under the bed , inside the closet , and one time Mommy even squeezed herself into that old trunk up in the attic . Every single time , I'd find her and we'd end up laughing and rolling around together . 22-17 From Beloved Daughter to Dead Burdon ? Now Watch Your ' Perfect Family BURN ! 18.0 % Chapter 1 Mommy would always say " Another round of hide - and - seek goes to Betty ! " So this time had to be the same thing . Even though they made it super fancy this time with lots of people watching . But this was definitely just part of the game - Mommy probably made up new rules to make it seem more real . After everyone started leaving , I asked Daddy " Is the game over now ? I wanna go home and wait for Mommy ! " Then Daddy hugged me really , really tight - like , so tight it kinda hurt . His voice sounded all scratchy " Betty , baby ... Mommy's not coming back . " I looked at the big stone with words on it and said back , " When the game's over , Mommy will come back . " " There's no game ... " Daddy squeezed me even tighter . " Mommy's GONE ! She's DEAD ! She's NEVER coming back ! " I couldn't breathe with Daddy hugging me so hard , so I figured maybe he just forgot how the game worked . I pushed his shoulder a little bit to remind him . " But Daddy , they just buried Mommy's clothes down there , not actually Mommy ." All of a sudden , Daddy stopped crying completely . Like someone just covered his mouth or something . He opened his mouth and his lips were shaking really bad , but no words came out at all . That's when Uncle Mike pulled Daddy over to talk by themselves . The rain was super loud , but I listened really hard and still heard what Uncle Mike said . " She was too close to the explosion , Sullivan . There was nothing left to recover . " " We only found pieces of her uniform . Had to do our best to make it presentable . " " I know this is hard , but this was all we could manage . I'm sorry for your loss . "