The Patchwork Heart

Prologue

I will never forget the moment my entire world fell apart. It was June 7th, 2014. I was preparing for my grad twelve graduation. My dress was a beautiful deep purple with silver beads around the bodice. Dexter, my boyfriend's tie was a deep purple to match against his cheap black rental tux and black shirt. Though I hadn't seen him in his outfit yet, I knew he would clean up good. My mom and I were on our way back from Saskatoon. My dress had finally come back from the seamstress with the alterations done. It was a cool day with overcast clouds in the sky. It felt like any other day, little did I know it would change me forever.

"Bree Kendell, just pick a station already!" my mother bellowed. I had been messing with the radio for a while, trying to find a station that wasn't country music. Though I secretly liked it just as much as she did, I was seventeen years old and I couldn't admit that to her. I rolled my eyes, "I'm just trying to find something good, mom."

She didn't respond, she just stared straight ahead through the windshield of our van. We were just about back home when my mom's cell phone rang. I answered it for her, I saw it was my dad calling, "Hey dad, mom is driving right now. We should be home in about fifteen minutes."

"Tell your mom to pull over right now and put her on the phone, Bree. It's important." He told me in a cold tone. I knew something was wrong, my dad was a very gentle man so for him to be forceful like that was unusual. I pulled the phone from my ear and said, "Mom, it's dad. He says he have to pull over and talk to him right now. I think it's an emergency."

My mom looked at me quizzically before pulling the van off the highway onto an approach. She took the phone from me and started talking to my father. I stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on. Her eyes filled up with tears and she kept looking at me. I couldn't make out what my dad was saying but I knew it was really bad. I tried to stay calm.

"Alright, we will be home soon. I'll tell her now." My mom whispered into the phone before she hung up. She looked down at her lap for a moment, her tears were streaming down her cheeks and she kept wiping them away. When she raised her face to meet my gaze I couldn't form words in my mouth.

My mom unbuckled her seatbelt and reached across to take my hands in hers. I waited for her to tell me what was wrong, but she seemed to be struggling to find the words. My heart was pounding in my chest. I could feel tears prickling behind my eyes, even though I had no idea what was going on. She took a deep breath before she finally spoke, "Bree, there has been an accident about an hour ago. Dex was on his quad and he ran into the side of a train car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. I'm so sorry, honey."

As her warm arms wrapped around me I felt as though my soul had disconnected from my body. I was feeling her touch, but everything was numb. I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't focus, I couldn't process what I had just heard. I had to remind myself to breath. My heart pounded in my chest so hard, it hurt. My high school sweetheart, my first love, my darling Dexter Leys was dead and I had no idea how to even begin to process that.