Playing Patience

Prologue

There’s a place you land right before you hit rock bottom, a sort of cushion before the blow. It’s full of fresh air that fills your deprived lungs and so much light that even in its darkest corners it warms your skin. This place prepares you for your plunge, holds you in its calming presence and rocks you softly. Zeke was that place for me. He was like a rainbow in my black-and-white movie, a soothing touch against jagged scars.

And then I reached the bottom.

As I stood over the lifeless body of a man who didn’t deserve the peace that death would bring, I knew I was no longer the girl I used to be. The broken parts of me were on the mend and his soul was the glue that would hold them all together.