Greetings, Readers ~

Here is another excerpt from Just Keep Breathing. This work is not yet formally edited.

Be Well,

Jana
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The officer returned a half-smile and nodded. Taking a slow breath, he paused and surveyed the room before he spoke to me.

“I regret to inform you that your son, Lewis, has passed away.”

I felt nothing. He was wrong, just like my family had been wrong. A split second later, something inside me began to give way, but I still fought it. I intended to correct this officer, the man that accompanied him, and my family.

I simply shook my head and said, “No.”

He nodded and then lowered his head again, shuffling the piece of paper he held in his hands. For a moment, the room fell silent. It felt like time suspended itself between him and me. I could no longer hear the clock ticking. I do not know how much time passed before I spoke, I just know that something within me shifted and I began to plead.

“You know, Lewis has a friend that looks just like him. Tall, red hair. People get them confused all the time. This could be a mistake in identity.” Desperately fighting the emotional blow that I knew was coming, I silently begged for this not to be my truth.

I looked intently at him, waiting for him to doubt the information he’d been given. But even as the words left my mouth, I knew. My mind had done everything in its power to avoid a fall over the emotional cliff I had been standing near all day. Despite its protective efforts, I fell anyway. I was betrayed by the branches I had been clinging too. That foliage was strong, and it had been intentionally placed in my mind so that I could not be hurt by such horrible things. They all broke at once, and I sank into a darkness that intended to consume me.

He very politely, but directly, responded. “We are sure it is your son.”

I desperately looked around the room at my family for someone to tell him he was wrong, but they were stronger than me. Resolved. Waiting. I then realized they had asked him to come and deliver a second notification in hopes that I would be released from the denial and shock that had held me captive since the morning hours.

It worked.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copyright 2013, Jana Brock. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Just Keep Breathing (Excerpt)
Author: Jana Brock