Little Pieces

Getting Adrian to come and see Rev. Stone was the hardest thing that Grace ever had to do. It was harder than any advanced class she had taken, or any summer med program she had attended. Adrian was much too prideful to admit that she needed help; getting her to take a shower, to get out of the house and get some fresh air was like pulling teeth, but gradually, it did happen.

And now here Adrian was, palms sweating, eyes staring at the floor as she sat there in Rev. Stone's office. She was wearing blue jeans and a red v-neck, which was the best outfit she had worn all week. He waited patiently for her to say anything. He waited quietly with his hands crossed together, and his smiling face looking down at her. Next to her was no one. Grace was waiting outside, but Ben wasn't informed of her whereabouts. He was only given the information that him and Grace had gone out for the day, and he was more than pleased that someone could pull her out of the house.

In the back of her mind she knew that she needed help. In the back of her mind she may have even wanted help. But what she didn't want to do was talk about the incident. It left her with this burning feeling in her heart, it made her hands tremble, and her eyes fill with tears every-time she thought about it. The time ticked by. The clock moved with a slow pace, and still the room was silent, almost so silent that she could hear her own breathing. She suddenly wished that someone was here, just to make her feel a little more at ease. She hadn't told her parents specifically where she was going, but nobody questioned her whereabouts because she was with Grace.

And as the clock continued to tick, finally the room was filled with a small noise, coming from Rev. Stone.

"Adrian...I want you to know that I'm not here to ask you questions, or tell you how to feel. The truth is that with situations like this there's no right or wrong way to feel. I'm just here to let you vent. You can take something off this desk and throw it all at the wall if you want to. You can cry, you can laugh...anything Adrian. I'm just going to sit here with open ears."

She still wasn't looking at him, but her eyes became angry, and her voice was cryptic, "No offense but you listening isn't going to change what's happened. And honestly you have no idea what it's like to lose someone like this so why am I even here?"

She could feel something building up in her chest, but she wasn't sure what it was. She didn't know if she wanted to cry, or if she wanted to yell at him for trying to get her to talk. "As if talking would help anything...All it's going to do is remind me of things I never wanted to happen. Things I never expected to happen to me..."

"...You're right Adrian. I can't change what's happened, but talking does help you I can promise you that. I'm sure you don't want to reflect on such a heavy topic right now, but we can talk about anything Adrian. May I tell you a personal story?"

She shrugged her shoulders, and he knew that that was her way of indicating that he could proceed.

"I know what it's like to lose a child Adrian...even if it didn't exactly happen the way your situation happened."

Her ears perked up, and she would be lying if she said that she wasn't interested for a second.

"...I didn't know. I know Jack's your step-son but..."

"It's not something I typically talk about. My son died at eight years old. He got hit by a car...And I watched him everyday in that hospital," Rev. Stone paused for a second as he recollected the painful memories, "I held onto his little hand and I told him to stay with me. I just kept telling him that, as if he could somehow change his fate with some motivation...Needless to say that he couldn't hold on forever. It was his time to go."

"What did you do?" Adrian asked, her voice quiet.

"I did things that in the end never helped me Adrian. I was so bitter, and so upset about it that I neglected my wife because of it. In the back of my mind I knew that she was going through the same pain that I was going through, but I could do nothing to help her, because I couldn't help myself."

For a moment she thought of Ben, but she quickly whisked away the thought of him because she knew that if she didn't she would reflect on the fact that she was neglecting the only other person who could relate to what she was going through, and right now she really didn't want to think about that.

"I started taking drugs, which in the end only made things worse. But when I finally realized how messed up I was, and how much time I was wasting ruining my life, I got grief counseling, and trust me grief counseling was not a one day thing. It was ongoing, a continuous cycle of hatred, bitterness, sadness...But it helped me on my road to recovery."

Adrian was about to comment on it, but Rev. Stone's phone began to ring. He was about to put it on silent when Adrian suddenly stood up, "You should answer that...Thank you...for your story...I may be back, I'm not sure yet...But this was enough for the day to get me thinking about some things...I really think I should be home with my family right now."

Rev. Stone tossed her a friendly smile, "Ok Adrian, well if you ever want to talk, give me a call. And even if you don't want to talk to me, I can direct you to some of the best therapist out there ok?"

"Yeah...ok thanks."

A/N: I'm taking AP English this year, and I realized that in the stories we read there's so much description and usage of rhythmic techniques and I'm just like...Ugh I never do that. I need some help with my writing but anyway, thanks for reading! Also I don't know what actually happen to Rev. Stone's son other than he died, so that part was completely made up.