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

beeped again.
    “It’s been going off all day,” her dad said.
    “I’ll go shut it off,” she said, getting off the couch and walking over to the counter.  She reached into her purse and pulled out the phone.  Her thumb began to hold down the off button, but she decided against it and quickly opened the phone, glancing at all the missed calls and text messages.  She hit the arrow key and began scrolling through the list of people who had texted her since hearing about Ben.  Carly…Devin…Heidi…Steve…Jodie…She kept scrolling through the list of people, some of who she didn’t even consider real friends.  She didn’t want to see what they had to say.  She just wanted them to all go away.  She began pushing the delete button carelessly watching the unread messages erase one after the other until she looked down and her heart nearly stopped.  Staring up at her was an unread message from Ben.  How could this be?  Her hand started to shake as she pushed the button to open the message.  The time stamp said he had sent it shortly after he’d left her apartment late on Sunday night at 11:57 p.m.  Her eyes began to well with tears and she began to shake again.  There was a message…from Ben.  With one touch of a button she would see the last words he had wanted to say to her.  She took a deep breath and clicked: So glad you said yes.  I love you.  See you tomorrow.
    Kathryn slammed the phone down and began sobbing, bringing her parents running to the table.
    “What happened?” her father asked nervously.
    “Ben,” she cried. “There was a message from Ben on my phone.”
    Her mom reached over and looked down at the phone, holding her hands to her heart after reading the last message her daughter would ever have from the man she had loved for so long.  She reached over and hugged Kathryn.
    “He’s still with you, sweetie.  He is,” she said holding her tighter.
    Kathryn wanted to believe her mother, but she knew it wasn’t true. 

Chapter 5
    The emptiness inside was even greater the next morning if that was possible.  She had resorted to taking another sedative the night before in order to sleep and she crawled out of bed knowing she would be going with the Bradley’s to the funeral home to prepare for Ben’s service.  Val had called asking if Kathryn would join them.  She hesitated before agreeing, not wanting to intrude on their family’s time. They were his flesh and blood and she was only Ben’s girlfriend.  But then she found her eyes drifting to the ring on her finger and her heart ached knowing she was to be his family.  She was supposed to be his wife.  She had been his fiancée, even if it had only been for a night.
    “Ben would want you to be a part of this,” Val had insisted and Kathryn knew she was right.
    She forced herself into the shower and turned the water up as high as she could stand, allowing it to scald her, leaving her skin a light shade of red.  Her mouth hung open, filling with the hot water.  She willed it to consume her throat and lungs, to eliminate any feeling she had left in her body.  She wasn’t sure if she was crying amongst the water splashing over her face.  It seemed as if she hadn’t stopped crying since she’d said good-bye to Ben.
    She let the shower wash over her until the hot water had run out. She only turned it off after the frigid water had caused her to shake and chatter to the point she could no longer stand it.  Once out of the shower, she wrapped herself in an oversized green towel that had been in the house for as long as she could remember and lumbered into her bedroom where she haphazardly pulled on a pair of jeans and a soft black sweater.  She ran a brush through her hair only out of necessity, leaving it to air dry however it desired. 
    Once downstairs, her mother offered to make her breakfast, but Kathryn couldn’t eat.  Her stomach still felt queasy and nauseous and food was the last thing on her mind.  Instead