The Prelude (A Musical Interlude Novel) - By Kasonndra Leigh Page 0,1

me to breathe. Two officers wait out in the hallway along with a man in a suit. I recognize him as one of my dad’s friends from the CIA. Mom stands just outside the doorway. She hugs her shoulders and purses her lips. Her gorgeous dark olive skin isn’t like mine. Once upon a lifetime ago, she was a model. That’s how she met my dad. I inherited his pale skin with the golden undertones, and Jada got our mother’s good genes.

“Your mom wanted to be the one to break the news,” the suit says as he steps toward me. Mom breaks down as soon as our gazes lock. Her face crumples, and the suit catches her before she collapses. Both my heart and breathing stop.

This isn’t good. It can’t be good. I just know it.

Mom chokes through her sobs, steps over to me and pulls my stiff body into her arms. A short moment passes and she moves back, staring into my face. The pain in her dark eyes brings tears to mine. I wince and shake my head and mutter one word: “No.” I have no idea what she’s about to say. But I know I don’t want to hear it.

“Oh, baby. God help us,” she says through her choking voice. “Your father…and sister…God give me the strength to tell you this. Baby, they were killed in a car accident.”

Five Days Later…

Sam arrives at our house exactly one hour after the funeral ends. We sit outside on the swing hanging from the oak tree that Jada’s boyfriend hung for the two of us. The crappy shit that started with the crooked nose sketch last week keeps getting worse.

“I’m moving back to London at the end of this month,” he says quickly. “My parents are getting a divorce. Mother wants me to return with her.” Once again, the air seeps out of my lungs, and I struggle to hold on to reality. I glance over to where he sits, his hands tucked under his ass.

An insane part of me thinks Sam looks funny with his nose that’s way too large for the rest of his handsome face. I start giggling, but nothing’s funny. It’s almost as though my sister still lives inside me, filling my body with her giggly side even when my chest threatens to explode at any moment.

“You could stay,” I say through gasps. “Your father isn’t moving away, is he?” His face crumples just before he says, “I’m sorry, Erin.” I know Sam better than he thinks. He’s lying just to make me feel better.

Weak, stupid girl. How did you let someone take control of your life this way? “We made a promise. Don’t you remember?” My voice cracks; and Sam’s Adam’s apple makes this bobbing movement thing. He was my first, and I’m pretty sure I was his. Our love making wasn’t anything to write home about, but I honestly believed he cared for me.

“My mother needs me. It’ll be hard enough for her to know that my father will be getting married to the person he’s been seeing behind her back. I’m sorry, Erin. I truly am.”

“Stop apologizing. It’s not helping,” I snap. He reaches out to touch me. Jerking out of his reach, I stand and hug my shoulders. Just like the gloom inside my mind, the clouds above decide to drizzle. Why does the rain always come after a funeral? My grandmother says it means that someone’s soul has gone to heaven. No matter. It’s still creepy and depressing, either way.

At this point, I know there’s nothing left to say. No words. No tears. I feel empty. My older sister has left me, and the boy I gave my virginity to is moving an ocean away. And for some silly reason, I want to sleep and listen to that funny opera music Jada loved so much. Anything to drown out the screams stuck in my throat, the silent ones, the most destructive of all.

I don’t truly blame Jada or Sam or even my dad. No. I blame one thing that started all of this in the first place. I turn around and shuffle like a zombie and walk away from Sam. But I’m not one of the walking dead. I only feel that way at the moment. At some point, the emotions of this day will hit my chest all at once and crush me.

I feel Sam staring as I drift toward the house. I know him better than he knows himself.