Prolouge/Chapter 1

The funny thing about the day that changes your life forever is that it’ll start like any other day. You’ll wake up in the morning, like you did the day before, and life will be normal. Maybe you’ll roll out of bed and head straight to the coffee maker; maybe you’ll go straight to the cabinet and mix that formula for that baby that's crying in her crib, hungry. Maybe you’ll roll and kiss your significant other good morning, or maybe you’ll avoid pressing snooze and you’ll drag yourself to the bathroom to shower because you simply cannot be late to work again, the last time your boss nearly had your butt mounted on his wall. But no matter how your day started, it’ll progress normally. You'll head to work, you'll start cleaning the house, or maybe you'll get the kids to school and stop for coffee. Sometime during the day something will happen, and it’ll make you stop in your tracks, it’ll cause your eyes to widen and your breathing to slow, and suddenly an average day becomes a day you'll never forget. Something will happen that day that will impact you in a way you never thought possible.

We never think the bad things will happen to us. That crazy break-in where the robbers take all you own, the freak accident that will nearly take your best friend or even a house fire that will claim your grandparents. You hear about it on the news or read about it in the paper; you'll shake your head and send up a prayer, thankful it was no one you knew. But somebody knew that person; somebody woke up that morning not expecting tragedy to strike in their lives. We take life for granted, and often we don’t realize that those things that we think won’t ever happen to us, can.

~

My sister was 19 when she died. It was six months after my birthday, in the middle of a December blizzard. I remember receiving the call, and laughing over the boisterous noises of my family, telling them I was on the phone and to be silent. They all seemingly got louder and I just shook my head at them and set my youngest daughter down before sliding behind my grandpa and out of the door onto the snow covered porch rubbing my arms and shivering as I apologized and asked the woman on the other end to repeat herself, and nothing could have prepared me for the conversation that followed. It started simple; she asked me if I knew someone by the name of Abigail Brailen. I immediately said that had known her, feeling my blood run cold at the mention of my younger sisters name. We were all waiting for her at the Christmas party, she was supposed to come on her way home from work, it was nearing 8:30 and she should have been nearly there by now. The questions continued. I was top of her emergency contact list on her phone, what was my relation to her? Sister and legal guardian since she was 15, was she ok? The woman informed there had been an accident and I was needed down at the hospital as soon as possible, and then she hung up. I pulled my phone from my ear and stared at the screen through the darkness of the porch until it faded out and left me in the black night. I'm still not sure to this day, how I made it inside. I don’t remember getting the words out in my husband’s ear, and I don’t remember asking my aunt to watch the kids, but I did.

See, the thing about the day your life changes forever, is that you'll make it through, you might be in a daze and a mess of tears, but you'll make it. It’s the second day that's the worst. It’s the second day that you need to watch out for. It’s the day when you wake and have to face the reality of yesterday. You'll try to keep your eyes closed for a few moments longer, ignoring the alarm or the baby winding up in the crib in the next room, because you don’t know how to manage. Finally you'll be able to open your eyes, and you'll stare at the ceiling for a few moments. Eventually, you'll find the will to get out of bed and face your new life. You'll drag yourself out of bed, knowing it’ll never be the same wakeup as yesterday.

Author's Note

Any (constructive and polite) criticism is most definitely welcome and encouraged!