In 2008, Dylan Kershaw feels like his heart is being torn from his chest. His very soul hurts, like its being pummeled by angry fists. He doesn't know why, but it's so familiar, so much like the night his father left and a hundred times worse.
He can't get out of bed for two days. He doesn't want to see anyone or eat anything. He can't imagine ever walking again, ever living again. He is so sad, so empty that there is nothing he wants.
Something tells him that it isn't his, that this pain doesn't belong to him. Someone has lost something that can never be replaced and though he doesn't know who, he knows they need him.
So he wills all his strength to this languishing soul. He tries to give all the reassurance he'd felt so many years ago, push it out of his heart and into theirs.
He sits in his bathroom, closes his eyes and he whispers, "You're going to be okay."
He does it every day until the pain begins to lessen.