Title: The Way
Back to Me
Author: Anne
Mercier
Release Date: Feb
22, 2016
Find on
Goodreads
She used to be perky, fun, and
full of life—everything I hated about girls and their bullshit
exterior. People called her bubbly; I called her
“fake-as-hell.”
The edgy, dark, lonely girl in
front of me was not the Olivia Brennan I knew from high school—far
from it, actually. I knew the story—the whole town knew the story, we
witnessed it all. It happened in the blink of an eye and the girl we knew was
gone.
But I refuse to watch it
anymore—I can’t stand it. I’m going to fix
it—fix her. It’s time I showed Olivia her way
back…
Back
to the girl she used to be.
"She really needs to
get up. She's been in that bed for two weeks, Trish," my dad
says to my mom. They're right outside my door again. I sigh
softly.
"Leave her be, Greg.
She's not ready yet."
"She's never
going to be ready. No one's ever ready for what
she has to face."
Mom sniffles and I know
she's crying again. I'm so tired of hearing her cry. There's
no reason for her to cry—not because of me. I
lived.
I wish I could cry but I
can't. I haven’t cried since I woke up in the hospital. I
didn't cry from the pain of my fractured and broken bones. I
didn't cry at the funeral when I stared down at the lifeless body of my
soulmate—the body lying there was unfamiliar—not at all my
Danny. I didn't cry while I struggled on crutches with a fractured rib
over the uneven lawn, past all the weathered gravestones signifying just how
final death really is.
I didn't cry when I
lost it at the people—strangers—who didn't know my
friends and my love by more than a passing hello stood there crying and
carrying on. They didn't know their favorite color, their favorite
food. They didn't know Danny chewed spearmint gum. They
didn’t know Simon kept us laughing. They didn't know Cassidy
was our support system. They didn't know Phil wasn't really as
shallow as he led everyone to
believe.
They. Just. Didn't.
Know.
They didn't have a
right to cry for people they didn't know—people who
weren't good enough for them while they were alive.
And me? I just couldn't
cry. I didn't even cry when my parents took me home and I stared at the
corkboard filled with photos of me with my friends, me and the love of my life
holding one another and laughing—a life that no longer exists. I
stared at it for the hour I waited for the cemetery workers to cover the graves
of those I love most. Then I went to them with my
tequila.
My eyes are locked on that
corkboard now and I can only stare mutely.
I'm
numb.
I don't want to feel. I
don't want to face a future alone, so I stay in bed and sleep. Sleep is
the only friend I have left.
Sleep embraces me and holds me
tight, blocking out the pain and grief that would otherwise fill my shattered
heart. Sleep enfolds me in a cocoon of nothingness, and nothingness is what I
crave.
I was born and raised in
Wisconsin and still live here today with my two sons and
puppy. (Though one day soon I hope to move to southern California!)
I’m an avid
reader who gets inspired by reading the stories from my favorite
authors as well as listening to various types of music. I
am a huge fan of music, chocolate, fruit, desserts, autumn, M.
Shadows, Avenged Sevenfold, and Milo Ventimiglia. Through my books, I
am proudly creating new Avenged Sevenfold and Milo Ventimiglia fans one
reader at a time.
“The best part of
being an author, to me, is being able to take the reader to that one place they
long to go when they need to escape reality. Knowing I can do that, for even
one reader, makes what I do worthwhile.” ~ Anne
Mercier
Hugs and love,
Anne xoxo
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