Dear Edward by Heather Parsons (i read book .TXT) 📕

leave me?” She cried, loosing her vision again to more tears.
“Your dad's just having a hard time but he'll get through it. We'll help him get through this.” He soothed her back, hoping what he'd said was true that Christopher would eventually get past this and help his daughter move past it too.
After hours of tears, heartbreak and pain, Adam stood up, turned around and walked away, leaving his brother to rest. Walking through the trees he caught sight of something shinning off the moonlight, picking up the distinct shape of a vehicle caused him to pick up his pace. Being trained for years in the military for these types of thing, he reached the car and his first reaction was to check out the driver. But what he saw behind the wheel brought back images of his brother, blood covering the man's shirt was the same, eyes staring off, lifeless, caught his breath in his throat. Chocking back his tears, Adam reached in to check his pulse.
Adam rocked back on his heals, jerked his head backwards and screamed. Pain shot throughout his body and he felt like he was right back on the battle field, staring at his brother , staring at the one who'd left him behind.
The moment it happened Brianna lost it, her already broken heart, shattered into a million jagged pieces. She lost movement in her limbs, her heart barely beat, her breaths were shallow but she managed to scream, “NO!” Breaking down the barriers she'd carefully built.
John rocked beside her, shaking just as badly as she was, praying silently that everything would be fine but knowing it was, not even remotely close.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

The funeral was the same but different from Ella's. Aside the casket laid flowers of different arrangements, colors mixed in with ribbons and flags. The chairs sat off in front, sitting under an umbrella for comfort and not a single person there had dry eyes. Brianna sat in the very front, alone, staring directly in front and held her breath. Shaking uncontrollably, she never thought she'd have to go through this again, this soon.
Hearing cries from all around, stiffened her already stiff body. She couldn't think why he would do this? Why did he leave her? Alone?
John Thomas stood behind everyone, looking over their heads at the casket that lay in front, shaking his head, he let the tears fall freely this time. No need in keeping them in, he'd lost a good friend to a senseless accident, one that should have never happened but did. He knew Christopher wasn't dealing with the loss of his wife but he never thought it would end this way.
His eye caught sight of Brianna, she was standing now and moving slowly over to where the casket laid. Not sure of her plans, he rushed to her side, wrapping his arm around her waist and holding her up. The look in her eyes, terrified him.
Brianna couldn't sit any longer, her legs had a mind of their own and when they lifted her up and started walking towards where her father laid, she'd let them. It wasn't until she felt John's arms around her that she realized she'd tried to join her father, climb inside so she didn't have to be alone anymore.
Chase, Lindsey and Adam all stood off to the side and watched in horror, watched their friend try to throw herself in the grave with Christopher. Eyes all widened with shock, tears streaming down their cheeks, Lindsey and Chase moved swiftly to where she was and pulled her away, fighting and screaming.
“NO! Why did he leave me? I can't go on alone, I don't want to. Leave me alone! I want to be with my parents!” Brianna cried, shaking free of their grip.
These words she'd said were all the words Adam had said the day Christopher had died, to his brother at his grave. But hearing the pain in her voice, hearing her say these things and seeing the life drain out of her eyes, he ran to her and embraced her.
Surprisingly she fell into him, holding on, grabbing his shirt and crying on his shoulder. “This can't be real. Please Adam tell me this isn't real. Please say it's a dream and I'll wake up soon, at home with my dad sleeping soundly. Please!” She sobbed into his shoulder, begging him to her, to say it wasn't real, to say anything.
Adam shook his head and held on tighter, he'd love to tell her it wasn't real, but it was and that's what hurt the most. Now his loss didn't feel that big, his loss didn't compare to hers.
When the funeral was over Adam coaxed Brianna away and promised to stick by her until she told him otherwise. Looking over his shoulder one more time at the fresh grave that lay out, he sighed, closing his eyes and allowed the tears to fall. Releasing his own pain and grief, not only for the loss of her dad but for his own loss as well.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~

Her house sat at the end of a very long dirt road, lights brightly shinning through the window, the front door still ajar and friends crowding inside and out. But Brianna couldn't see herself going anywhere near it, the memories flooding her mind, the heartbreak of knowing that there was no one inside she'd feel comforted by, she sat alone on the grass and stared off. Finding the northern star, she made a wish.
And the last thing she ever thought would come to the front of her mind would be the letter written by the soldier, she'd written back too. The one who'd wrote about not having family to write home to, not having anyone to talk too, she knew now what he'd meant because she didn't have it either.
Suddenly and unexpectedly she started crying again but this time it wasn't for what she'd lost but for what he'd. She hoped they'd find something in common besides losing their family members, something that would allow them to talk and not have to dredge up the past, the pain and the heartbreak.
Adam thought he'd left Brianna in her room to sleep but when he came in to check, she was gone. His heart started beating faster, she wouldn't try anything, would she? He thought. Unable to control his fear, he ran around until seeing her sitting far away and staring up at the sky. Running down the steps, he crossed over her mom's flower garden and dropped beside her, breathing heavy and staring into her eyes, seeing the same lifeless stare he'd seen before. His heart sunk in his chest, she was lost inside herself, lost to him, he failed again.
Shoulder's slumped, head down, hands in front, Adam gave up. Nothing he'd seemed to do helped anyone, he'd thought. He couldn't help his brother, he couldn't help Christopher and now, he couldn't even begin to help Brianna.

SIX

Raymond Clay and his wife Marissa sat idly by on the front porch swing, hand in hand, rocking slowly with eyes glued to the scene playing out in front of them. In their sixty years of life they've never before seen their sleepy little town have this much activity. Somehow news got around that Woodland has lost most of it's residence due to the war and then the recent suicides, it's brought the news crews from most of the major news stations forth. Vans were parked as far as the eye could see, blocking neighborhoods left and right of their house. But no one ever approached them for their story, for their loss.
Just seeing them standing outside, waving their camera's around has brought back memories of their daughter, Amber. She was a vibrant young woman, always looking for the next best thing and being a news reporter caught her interest. Being involved in the center of the action is what she always wanted but in no way did going to war ever interest her, and for that her parents were thankful. Little did they know that no matter where their daughter was, she end up dieing.
It all happened three years ago, Amber was thirty-three years old and at the top of her game. Never one to pick and choose which stories she did, always thought the smallest of stories is what matter most, always thought that adding her own love and compassion to them would make them stand out for all the rest. But her stories never ended up as front page news and that was one thing she wanted, badly.
She'd been following a lead that had a lot of promise, front page news, she thought, her big break. All she had to do was sit and wait by the phone until Mr. Andrews called, simple, easy, she thought, just sitting by. An hour later she was down right staring at it, wishing it to ring and around midnight she'd given up for much needed sleep.
The phone rang the minute her eyes closed, the call she'd been waiting for, the one that would change her life forever. Excitement shot through her, running for the phone that held her career in check. After hanging up she'd called her cameraman Eric and in turn he called Josh, Amber's boyfriend, saying their big break was waiting for them and they needed this, she needed this.
Everyone met outside her apartment and drove together, they were laughing and making sneer comments to each other, but no matter what they were all happy. They drove for two hours, into the wee hours of the morning until reaching the isolated destination. A park is what Amber thought they'd be going to, any place but where they were but she was desperate for this story so she blew caution to the wind and proceeded on.
Parking in the deserted lot, they all climbed out, looking about and agreeing one last time that this was truly what she wanted. Amber stood confident, squaring her shoulder's, relaxing her breathing and stepped out to face Mr. Andrews, reaching her hand out to shake his.
Mr. Andrews looked the three of them over, carefully and felt threatened by the big muscular man standing behind the woman with the microphone. His eyes grazed over them, over the area that he'd picked because it was isolated and then back to them. Something in Josh's eyes spooked him, sending him into a frenzy. “I told you if you, miss, wanted my story to come alone!” He sneered, jabbing his finger out, pointing it directly at her. His face twisting when he saw the look on their faces, they were laughing at him.
“Mr. Andrews can you tell me about yourself?” Amber jumped into the interview, ignoring his remark and getting down to business. Being out here, in the middle of nowhere, the morning fog surrounding the ground and trees cutting