Page 124 of Fractured
Loudly.
Then I looked at my husband and worked on letting the self-depreciation I still felt about myself slowly start to slip away.
I had been working on it over the years, but when something happens to you in your formative years... it stays with you for the rest of your life.
My phone pinged just then.
I picked it up, put my glasses on, and then gasped.
‘If they don’t act like you in a crisis, you didn’t raise them right.’
– Talia’s Secret Thoughts.
Epilogue III
Isaiah
Seventeen Years Old
I sat on the back porch steps as I thought about how to share my news with my mom and dad.
Dad would be mad.
Mom? She would be livid.
My brother sat down beside me.
“You ready to tell them?” He asked.
I shook my head.
Zada came out of the house then and sat down beside me.
Then she said, “Whatever you need. We have your back.”
An hour later, over dinner, I said, “Mom? Dad? I have something I want to tell you.”
Ryder
Nineteen Years Old
I commended my brother for his choice.
Seriously.
I admired him.
And he was proud of me for mine.
Did you know that you can come up with insane cuss words in your head when you didn’t want to get in trouble?
Especially with your squad leader.
Zada
Twenty Years Old
I stood there as I thought about what I wanted to do.
