Tragedy in the classroom

A child in Audrey's class passed away this week. Her teacher called to tell me. She told me there was a fire and that this child got in the closet with his little sister. The smoke caused brain damage and they did not make it. I had to tell Audrey before she went to school. I couldn't sleep all night trying to figure out how do you tell a child that a friend is gone. I spent half the night laying in her bed holding her. The other half laying in the guest room wide awake trying to find the words that would break my daughters heart. She woke up and came and got in bed with me. It was morning so I told her I needed to tell her something really important. She first thought I was joking when she realized I wasn't she started to cry I held her tight until she stopped. We got out of bed and she went downstairs to eat breakfast. When I got down stairs she was sitting at the table crying. I held her some more. It was a sad day at school.