Chapter 99 Larger Than Life

• A mournful sigh slipped through Holly's lips as she pushed the laptop away and picked up her now-cold coffee. As much as she wanted to look away, her eyes seemed to have a mind of their own. They remained glued to a Polaroid photo of Isabella taken in one of the studios at the Institute while she was in croisé devant, a pose in which the dancer stands facing a corner at an angle to the audience.
• Knowing what Holly knew now about the circumstances leading up to Isabella's tragic end, it wasn't hard to figure out who had taken the photo. Her own socials were littered with such images, and she always joked that if dancing didn't work out for Cooper, he could always go into photography. Of course, he didn't have the technical know-how. But there was something special about how he captured his subjects...He had a way of making them appear larger than life, like they were the centre of the universe and everything around them existed purely for them.
• Looking at the photos, at the fragments of Isabella's past that resonated so perfectly with Holly's present, it was hard for Holly to believe the other girl was truly gone. She seemed so happy and so alive. And for a time, she was. But then, the unthinkable happened, and not even five months later, she was gone, her star burning no more, and her light extinguished too soon.