Can't Lose You; A Tale of Two Sons

Prologue -- 1953

"Daddy, where are you going?" A five-year-old version of me squeaked at my father.

Why can't I get this damn memory out of my head!?

"Son, Daddy has to go away for a while." He replied, bending down to my height with the slightest hint of a smile creeping out of his lips.

I was too young to understand what was going on. Why didn't I say something?

The two men behind him look down at me, their blue colored clothing casting a tinted shadow down upon me as the sun struck them.

"Where is daddy going?" I asked, the memory of a child choking back tears; his voice straining with effort not to cry.

I wish I had cried. Maybe they would have taken pity on my soul, and returned my father to me.

"Daddy...is going to a place called...

Horace County Jail."

"Why is daddy going there?" The memory of a child asked, tilting his head to the side some.

"Because daddy... Daddy--" The father tried to begin; the gears in his mind turning and his face one of annoyance and ponder as he failed to come up with a word to delicately describe the situation to the toddler.

"Your father here killed someone, kid." One of the officers but it, pity evident in his voice. He craned his neck and faced away from the child whose worked had just collapsed in on itself.

That day, my world ended.