After the Sky Fell Down by Megan Nugen Isbell Read Free Book Online

she would never share any of those things with him again.  Her chest began to swell with a pain that caused her knees to buckle again, forcing her to lean against the kitchen counter for support.  She felt her dad’s arms around her, picking her up again so she stood straight once more.  Her mother was there a second later, linking her arm around Kathryn’s waist.
    “Can I get you something to eat?” her mom asked.
    Kathryn just shook her head, unable to speak.  The thought of food made her stomach turn.  There was only one thing she wanted right now and she knew he wasn’t coming.
    “Let’s get you upstairs,” her mother said, leading her to the staircase.
    Kathryn grasped the railing with her right hand, and held onto her mother’s arm with her left.  Just as it had been walking out of the hospital, her feet felt likes blocks of cement and she was exhausted once she reached the top of the stairs and approached the doorway to her room. 
    When she stepped inside, she felt as if she’d been transported back in time.  Her parents had hardly changed the room in the year and a half she’d been away at college.  The same white quilt with pink and lavender flowers covered her bed and her vanity was still lined with the senior pictures of her friends.  As she looked at the mirror across the room, her vision locked immediately on one photograph in particular: she and Ben on graduation night.  They were both draped in red graduation gowns and they were holding their diplomas, while their free hands were wrapped around each other.  Their smiling faces had been filled with hope and endless possibilities.  Never in a million years would she have guessed that Ben would be gone a year and half later.  Her chest once again filled with pain and she found herself struggling to breathe again. 
    “Mom…” Kathryn wheezed and lunged into her mother’s arms, the tears beginning to flow.
    She held her as Kathryn shook uncontrollably, not knowing what to do to help her daughter.  Kathryn’s father appeared in the room a moment later and carefully pried her from her mother’s grasp, gently picking her up and carrying her over to the bed.  He pulled back the covers and laid her down on the soft mattress.  Her mother sat at the end of the bed and removed her shoes before folding the blanket over her. 
    “Try and get some rest,” she said, stroking Kathryn’s hair again.
    Kathryn closed her eyes, wanting to erase the nightmare from her mind, but the moment her eyelids closed the horrific image of Ben tangled among the tubes, lying helplessly in the hospital bed , consumed her.  She shook her head trying to banish the memory from her thoughts, but it wouldn’t go away.  She opened her eyes quickly and met the gaze of her mother, who looked down at her with worried eyes.
    “I close my eyes and all I see is him,” she cried.
    “I’m so sorry,” her mom said.  She folded down the covers and crawled in bed next to her daughter, wrapping her in her arms.  Kathryn’s tears soon soaked her mother’s shirt and showed no signs of stopping.
    “Why is this happening?” Kathryn asked in vain, knowing it was a question that could not be answered.
    “I don’t know honey…I don’t know.”
    Her father sat down at the foot of the bed holding a glass of water.
    “Why don’t you take these , honey?” he said holding out the glass and two white pills to her.
    “What are these?” she questioned.
    “It’s just something to help you get some rest,” he explained. “It’ll help put your mind at ease.”
    “Are you kidding me , Dad?” Kathryn yelled. “You’ve got to be kidding me!  Nothing is going to put me at ease.  Not you, not Mom, and certainly not some kind of magic pill!  Ben’s dead!  He’s gone and he’s never coming back!  Do you get that?  He’s dead !” she screamed diving toward her father, smacking the glass and pills from his hand.  The glass landed harshly on the hardwood floor,