83

I nodded. “We—it—happened so fast, Mom.”

“Are you hurt, Raelynn?”

“I wish I was, instead of him.”

“Oh, sweetheart.”

She wrapped her arms around me and I sobbed against her. I

heard myself wailing. I felt my chest heaving. It was almost like an out of body experience. My heart fluttered so wildly I thought I’d burst out from my chest and take off toward the rising sun. My legs locked up, shaking and trembling as my stomach slammed against my ribcage. It felt like my entire body was rebelling. Fighting back after years of being caged.

I shook against Mom, soaking her robe with tears as she stroked my back.

“I’m right here. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

“They ran him off the road, Mom. They wanted to kill him.”

“Who did, sweetheart? Who wanted to kill him?”

“Those dumbass drunk boys!”

I shrieked it so loudly that Mom clung to me tighter. She stood up, pulling me against her as she slowly moved us from the kitchen to the living room. We fell to the couch and she pulled me into her la