Ch. 2: Despair

Gone. Oh, God, the pain.

My baby was gone. Never again would I hold his fragile body in my arms. Smell his sweet baby smell. The life that I had sheltered inside my body, protected for so long. From the moment I held him in my arms, he became my whole world.

I died the moment he breathed his last shuddering breath. For days, the shell of my body had been going through the motions of living. And now, my aimless wanderings had brought me to this place.

As I stood on the cliffs overlooking Chequamegon Bay, the rain from the storm mingled with the tears streaming down my face. I was oblivious to the rain soaking through my clothes and the wind whipping my hair into my face.

Suddenly in the wind, I heard a small cry. The sound of my baby calling out for me. With my arms outstretched to hold him, I stepped toward the sound and into nothing.