A Healing Heart Read Online Free PDF

some reason, that night I did. I climbed in the back behind my little sister’s seat. My sister had fallen asleep almost before we backed out of the driveway. My brother was watching the TV screen on the back of my dad’s seat. It was just like every other trip home except that night we never made it home.” My voice broke on the last syllable.
    Closing my eyes, I tried to shut out the rest of it, but it wouldn’t go away. I doubted it would ever go away. Opening my eyes, I checked to make sure Riley was still okay. He and Lacey were going up and down the slides. I turned to look back at Collin, who was watching me intently.
    “ And?”
    What was I doing? I never talked like this. Opening it all up was only going to make things worse, I was sure. But I had started this. I had to finish. Taking a deep breath, I continued.
    “ I don’t remember everything, mostly what I was told afterwards. A drunk driver had been on the road that night. He was weaving along the two-lane road and was headed straight for us on our side of the road. My parents’ scream woke me. My dad tried to swerve in the opposite direction, but the roads were slippery, and he lost control. The Suburban fishtailed and impacted with the oncoming car. We went over the embankment, and the truck flipped over and over. I thought it would never stop. On the last thud, I hit my head hard on the side of the car and was knocked out.
    “ Apparently, the drunk driver had passed out after the accident. No one knew we were down the embankment for hours. Finally, a car passed by, noticed the wreckage, and called it in.
    “ My parents were pronounced dead at the scene. Brandon had sustained a lot of internal injuries. He’d broken both legs, had several broken ribs. He made it until morning. I heard the doctors tell my aunt later that if they had gotten him to the hospital quicker, they might’ve been able to save him. They thought Brooke actually might pull through. The doctors had been able to stop her internal bleeding. She had several surgeries, and during one of them, they had removed one of her kidneys. After a week of improvement, she got an infection. It spread so quickly. She’d been through so much, her little body just couldn’t fight anymore. Sitting by her side, I would hold her hand. She was so scared, always holding my hand so tightly. I could see the fear in her eyes, all the tubes connected to her, and then in an instant, she was gone.
    “ It sent me into shock. I had sustained a concussion; my right arm and right leg were broken. The ribs on my right side had taken a beating and were bruised. My aunt and uncle took me home; it took over a week before I came out of the murky darkness that had surrounded me. If it hadn’t been for the pain I was in, I would have thought the whole thing was just a nightmare. From the moment I woke up in my own bed, with my aunt sitting next to me and not my mom, I knew deep down inside, nothing would ever be the same again.”
    There. I’d actually gotten it all out. Collin was silent for several seconds before he looked right into my eyes. “Oh, Bailey, I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say.” He leaned over, wrapped his arms around me, and pulled me to his chest. He settled his chin softly on the top of my head.
    It startled me a little, but then it felt so good and so warm to be there in his strong arms. I could smell his cologne on his shirt, and I breathed it in deeply, the intoxicating scent relaxing me just slightly. As much as I would have loved to stay there forever, I pulled back slightly, and he released me.
    Trying to smile and pull myself together, I looked back into his eyes. “Yeah, well, I really try not to think about it. I wonder if the pain will ever ease. Sometimes it’s worse than others. Like yesterday, when I saw Lacey sitting there in the sand, the pain of losing Brooke was so strong. They have some similar features; Lacey is the same age Brook was. Those are times when it