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He died in an instant.
There was no way to save him, though people on the scene tried. First responders tried. But he was gone the moment that truck hit him. The car went up in flames, and there was no way to get to him.
I look over at my mother, who is sitting to my left, and I can see her staring out into space. No doubt reliving memories of her life with him. She’s been quiet, withdrawn. A shell of the person she was.
People have come over to help, but I stay locked up in my room or the garage. The only time I see people or my mother is when I come around to eat.
I just want to be left alone.
Looking down at my hands, I feel the weight of the small snow globe I hold. And it feels like the weight of the world.
This is the last one I’ll ever be able to buy him. And I’ll never get another one from him. Our tradition, broken. Gone.
I shake it in my hand. The pink glittery snow falls all over the butterfly that sits on a pink cherry blossom branch. Mesmerized by the falling snow, I get lost in the globe. The noise around me is just that: noise.
At some point, the people around my mom and me leave. The priest is there talking to my mom, comforting her, I’m sure.
But I just stare at the casket holding my dad.
My stomach twists in pain. The thought that this is it. When he gets lowered into the ground, that cements that all of this really happened. He is truly and forever gone.
He won’t be there to wake me up for school.
My dad won’t be waiting for me in the kitchen as he makes pancakes and bacon for me.
He won’t get to see me graduate high school, or even college. My father will never walk me down the aisle when I marry the love of my life.
He will never get to meet his grandchildren.
My dad was taken from his future.
My dad was taken from me.
Tears pour out of my eyes as I let out a sob. I was cheated. The anger boils up in me as I scream out at the casket in front of me. I take the snow globe in my hand and throw it to the ground.
Dropping to my knees, I weep as hands wrap around my arms. No doubt my mother’s. But I don’t move. I stare at the snow globe before me. The pink snow covering the ground in front of me. Shattered into broken shards of glass.
Shattered. Just like my heart will forever be. Shattered pieces I will never put back together. My life torn to shreds by the tragedy of losing my daddy.
Broken, jagged little pieces.
My heart will always remain shattered.
Chapter One
AURORA
“This is bullshit. Complete fucking bullshit.”I look up at the house in front of me. Right smack dab in the fucking middle of nowheresville.
“Enough of your language, Rory. And cut the attitude.” My mother sighs as she pulls a suitcase from the trunk of our car. Her small five-foot-three frame struggles to reach deep into the trunk. She drops it in front of her, brushing her caramel hair away from her face. I should help her, but she’s the reason I’m in this small-as-fuck town.
I can already feel the hay getting stuck in my hair.
“Why couldn’t I have just stayed in Las Vegas? Gone to UNLV? They have an architecture program there. A good one. It’s where Dad wanted me to go. What the hell am I going to learn how to build out here? A barn?” I scoff.
“Goddamn it, Aurora! Can you be a bit more grateful that you have the chance to go to a great school that you don’t have to take out any loans for? He didn’t have to do that.”
She’s right. He didn’t have to. And I didn’t want him to.