It's official! After thinking long and hard, I decided to write the sequel to SUKI.

ask for your feedback in the comments below.
When Dwayne Died
Copyright 2016 by CF Winn
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Chapter 1
Death. We all do it. For a long time, we said it was
something we feared. Something we pretended we didn’t long for from time to
time. We sought out psychics and mediums for explanations until it finally morphed
into “a better place” —the one thing we can look forward to when life or
health overwhelms us.
In the end, the death of a body is final. But the loss
of someone we deeply love can continue to stalk us, daring us to face the relationship
for what it was until the truth can rest in peace.
The day Dwayne died was just like
the day Savannah first met him. The sun came up, expected but unwelcome,
prodding her out of bed with its cheerful brightness. It stung her eyelids, foisting
second chances upon her, insisting on something more than moments she couldn’t
or didn’t want to feel.
That
morning, she took the bait slowly, easing herself into her clothes, her stomach
tightening as it always did when she thought about the tasks that lay ahead.
Fists clenched, and teeth gritted, Savannah went about her routine the same way
she had twenty years earlier—with no idea that
in just a few short hours everything would change.
When
Dwayne died, it was a regular Monday. Regular because Savannah had started the
day with Starbucks and ended it by dragging herself home after nine brutal
hours at her job. Regular because no matter how hard she worked, her family was
depending on her and there would always be problems waiting to be solved. Even
after Leisa delivered the news, she would be expected to do laundry and listen
to everyone chatter on about their day as if it were just a regular Monday.
Savannah’s
cell phone buzzed as soon as she stepped in front of the TV. “Is your homework
done?” she asked. She had walked in on her three teens fighting over whose turn
it was to watch a show. Her kids were great about doing their homework, but Savannah’s
interruption united them. With their irritation focused on her, the argument
would stop.
They
all moaned and craned their necks to see around her. “Yes Mom, it’s done.” Her
son spoke up for the group. His tone sliced at the space between them. If not
for the phone buzzing insistently a second time, Savannah might’ve shut off the
TV and had a talk with them about respect. Instead, she stepped out of the way
and pressed the answer button. Remember
when you were dying to be a parent? Remember when you thought it was all just
hugs and kisses?
She propped the tiny device between her
shoulder and ear as she struggled to pull her arms out of her bulky jacket.
"Savannah?" Leisa spoke as
though they hadn't been out of touch for over a year. Savannah’s friends were
disappearing as gradually and completely as her soul was—a
by-product of the secret life she was forced to lead.
"Hey, Leisa. Hold on one sec.”
She had gotten all the way down the hall and paused outside of her bedroom. She
called out over her shoulder, “Ali! Did you take the chicken out of the freezer
to defrost?”
Savannah
could hear her oldest daughter sigh. “Yes, Mom.” Thank goodness I didn’t ask her to pick up the entire house and move it
to the other side of town…”
“Sorry
Leisa. What's going on? How are you?"
Savannah
sat down on her bed and unzipped her boots, keeping the phone to her ear with
her shoulder. She smiled widely, as if warming up her mouth to laugh during a rare
conversation that wouldn’t end with multiple blows to her self-esteem.
"I only have a few minutes, but
I had to make sure I called you. Girl, sit down. I'm serious. Are you
sitting?"
The
conversation went as it always did, well-intentioned machine-gun sentences fired
by her friend. Normally Savannah kept quiet, waiting for the break that would
eventually come, indicating that it was her turn to speak, but somehow—maybe because
there are some bonds between souls that defy explanation—in
the seconds that it took for Leisa to issue the order, Savannah figured out why
she had called.
Even
though Leisa paused, Savannah didn’t have enough air left in her body to
respond. She couldn’t tell Leisa to stop talking. She couldn’t hang up the
phone and pretend that nothing had changed--not even her crappy marriage. Even that was preferable to what Leisa was
about to say.
“Wait.” The word was a breath, a
summoning of just enough energy to get up and shut the bedroom door. In an act
of willful defiance, she stood at the foot of the bed instead of sitting,
locking her knees and fighting hard to inhale. "I'm sitting."
Savannah’s
hand shook. The blood that normally filled her veins with life bubbled into her
head and ears instead, pounding hard and hot, her body's involuntary defense
mechanism--fruitless protection against the blow she was about to receive.
"Dwayne passed away."
Leisa
said it just as Savannah opened her mouth to finally protest. She would have
told Leisa that she didn't want to hear whatever it was, feigning ignorance and
hoping that her assumption was wrong. Still agape, but silent, Savannah sunk to
the floor, finally sitting. She didn’t cry, but waves of nausea and buried
thoughts and feelings attacked her insides, sapping her energy so that she was
unable to hold the phone to her ear. She stared at her limp arm and the device,
out of focus and unrecognizable as it wobbled in her hand.
"Savannah?" Leisa’s voice
was faint, heavy, like the air Savannah struggled to take in.
Fixing
her eyes on the dresser drawer knob that she had painted white to change the
things that could be changed, Savannah slowly brought the phone back up to her
ear.
"How?"
It was all she could get out.
At
some point in the conversation, her throat had closed along with her heart. The
years had not turned to apathy. She didn't think about him every day or
even once a week, but she took a certain secret comfort in knowing that the one that got away was still out there.
If things didn't work out on either end, would they have found each other again
and worked it out? For Savannah, her Plan B–her one long shot at finding
normalcy—was dead. With Dwayne gone, she didn’t
stand a chance of experiencing true romantic love ever again.
"I'm still trying to find out
for sure, but Dee said he thought it was a stroke. The thing was, Dwayne was
overseas in China, so the details are sketchy.”
Savannah
picked at a pill in her sweater, focusing on getting rid of the annoyance
without unraveling everything.
“I
only found out because I called Dee to catch up, and the next thing I know,
he’s talking about his brother. Dee thought we had heard, but I didn't, and I
know nobody would’ve called you. I’m so sorry, but they already had the wake
and funeral."
Savannah’s stomach twisted. There
would be no goodbyes again. A tear rolled down her cheek and onto her jeans.
Her
voice shook. "He was in China? Was he there on business? I hope he wasn't
alone."
Savannah’s
helpless imagination conjured up a disturbing image--Dwayne in distress and
falling to the ground, either in a public area, like an airport, or alone in a
hotel room. She preferred the first scenario; Savannah could not bear him dying
by himself, suffering as his body failed, with no one to help him. More tears
came, burning her skin as the imagined scene became more detailed and defined.
"I don't know where he was when
it happened, but he was living in China. He got married again and had a
kid."
Savannah's
body relaxed and she smiled slightly. Of
course. The only thing that Dwayne is
not good at is being alone. Even if he had not been with his family at the
time of his death, he was loved and would've known that as he died. But he’s really gone.
The
crushingly familiar thought opened another hole. Her heart ached for her
losses.
"Savannah, I've gotta run. I'm
at work. I'll try to find out more and call you tomorrow."
Savannah nodded even though Leisa
couldn't see her. "Thanks for thinking to tell me, Leisa. I'll talk to you
tomorrow."
She
pressed the end button and let her arm fall to the floor as her back slouched
against her bed.
When
Dwayne died, it was a regular Monday. It was regular because Savannah was
unhappily married and unhappily employed even though she was making more money
than she ever had and was taking mini vacations with her family at least once a
month. She glanced at the clock. In only an hour, Nick, her husband, would
punch out of his part time, ten-dollar-an-hour job that barely put food on their
table.
Savannah
was the girl who felt things deeply. The initial pain was almost always too
much to bear, and she’d quickly stuff the discomfort down, way down, under To Do Lists and busy work. This time
though, a dull ache throbbed in the nerve endings just beneath the surface of
her skin. It paced back and forth, searching for an escape. This time it
wouldn’t be pushed aside.
Sharp stabs of realization pierced her head,
her stomach, her arms and her legs, but Savannah refused to lose control and
expose herself. When she passed on the news to others, it would be a somber but
objective retelling of the facts.
The
TV chattered in the very far distance, and the frigid sky darkened outside the windows.
She stared at her feet, thinking that while she and Dwayne only had a little
time together, their short story had been full. Some twists and turns were darker
than others, but they were also magical—a modern fairytale that had come to an
unexpected and screeching halt.
Savannah
finally allowed herself to sob silently. Her life with Dwayne had been as
beautiful as snowflakes and butterflies that were here for a reason, but never
meant to stay with us forever. Moments were fleeting and sometimes as elusive
as happy endings. And while one of them had kept his promise to take their
secrets to the grave, the other was about to betray them both.
Liked it? Want more? READ CHAPTER TWO HERE:
http://simplystick.blogspot.com/2017/11/when-dwayne-died-sequel-to-suki-chapter.html
CF Winn is the award-winning author of The COFFEE BREAK SERIES, a quirky group of short stories meant to be read while on break or in
the waiting room of the doctor’s office. Her first novella, SUKI, has
been grabbing hearts and hugging souls all over the United States.
You can now order SUKI in paperback at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0615726313
FOLLOW me on Twitter, Facebook, and CF_Winn on Instagram.
2 comments:
I liked that, gripped from the start. I want to know the rest now. Very well written, and in a few minutes it told a story. Well done.
Thank you so much for your feedback! I really, really appreciate it. I would strongly suggest that you read the first book SUKI if you haven't already, because it will make the sequel much more meaningful. Thank you for taking the time to stop by and comment on my blog!
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