Life After You
an excerpt

And then the sobs came, shaking my body physically. My hand wrapped around his cold, strong hands. I sobbed tears from the back of my soul, dying a little as each one dropped. My heart cried out and my throat ached with the pain of it. I was wracked utterly with my grief. Overcome. I was no where but in that place of overwhelming and complete loss. No light was left in my world, not a single match light. I was in a dark, black place and I could not see my Reed. I could only feel the loss of him. I clung to his hand, hoping to feel it curl around mine. But it just hung there limply. A testament to the fact he would not be coming back. No amount of crying or praying or cursing or anything else would bring him back. And no amount of time would bring back my life. I died. My soul was gone. My will was gone. My happiness was gone. And in it's place was the beginning of a black cloud that would envelop all the memories of him, shielding me from the pain. All I wanted was to be numb. Numb from it all. Shut down. Give up. Die. But the world was there, poking me, willing me to come back, if only for a moment.

"Mrs. James," it was the younger of the officers again. "Mrs. James, would you like to call his parents. I can do it if you need me too, but it might blunt the pain a little if they hear it from you."

I wiped at my eyes, drying them a little, just as another sob wracked me. I looked up, knowing what I must do, for Reed. "Can you get into my purse and get my cell phone out?" I ask, my voice cracking.

He then handed me the phone. And still holding onto Reed's hand I did the only thing I could do next, I called his parents.