Learning to Heal

Chapter 1

"Juliette, there's been an accident."

"I'm so sorry honey."

"I promise with time, this hurt is going to heal."

"I know you miss her."

Voices swirled in Juliette Harper's mind, as they so often did these days. She sat on her bed, staring blankly at the white wall in front of her, the wall that had recently been covered with pictures until she had ripped them down. She felt numb inside, and wasn't quite sure whether she liked it better than the all consuming rage she had felt for weeks, or if it was worse.

"Julie please come down here!" She sighed as her mom's voice drifted up the stairs, but obligingly got up off her bed. As she passed the full length mirror that was propped on the wall beside her bed, she caught sight of her reflection. Her long auburn hair was pulled up in a messy bun and had obviously not been washed in days. The strands that had escaped from the bun hung limply against her face. Her skin was pale, more so then it usually was and it made the ugly, dark circles under her eyes stand out like huge, dark bruises. Her green eyes that were usually bright and full of sparkle, were now dull and devoid of life. In short, she was a mess, which was very unusual for her. Julie was used to being the prettiest girl in the room and never let herself go. Now however, it didn't seem to matter and she turned from the mirror to venture down the stairs.

"What mom?" Even her voice was devoid of tone as she came into the kitchen. Her mom stood standing there and a frown crossed her face at the sight of Julie.

"Now I know I taught you better than that Juliette. You are a mess! I know you've been mournin but really? It's been two months and you've completely fallen apart. Now here." Julie watched as her mother pushed a pamphlet across the counter towards her, but didn't find the energy to pick it up.

"No thanks mom." She turned to leave, but her mom stopped her.

"Juliette Candace Harper don't you dare walk away from me." Her southern accent was stronger than every with her angry words and she had her hands on her hips. Her red hair was falling down her back in perfect curls and her make-up was flawless as usual. Vivian Harper had been the winner of her counties beauty pageant when she was 19, and she still acted like she was participating in one. Julie had never known her to have a hair out of place or act anything other then the perfect lady. Julie supposed she came by her drive for perfection honestly as her mom had never let her put a toe out of line or be anything less then perfect all of her life.

"Sorry mother." She limply picked up the pamphlet and read the bold title.

Amarillo Beauty Pageant Welcomes Contestants From All Over Texas! Sign up today for a chance to win... Julie dropped the pamphlet before she read the whole thing and shook her head.

"Oh come on Juliette. I know you don't like that kind of stuff but please consider it. Maybe it would stop you from mopin around so much. I'm gettin right tired of havin you walk around as if a dark cloud is followin over you." Julie didn't reply, instead turned towards the stairs. A couple weeks ago, she would have flown into a rage but now she just couldn't find the energy to even care. Behind her she heard her mother stamp her foot and Julie had a sudden picture of a child who didn't get her way. Vivian had always seemed younger then she was and now more than ever Julie felt like she was the adult in the relationship.

"For heaven's sake Julie. There's a rodeo you can enter there too. I just don't understand why you've given everything up!" Usually the mention of a rodeo would perk Julie up but now it just ignited the small flame of anger that always seemed to be harboring deep inside her, no matter how numb she felt.

"I can't exactly enter the rodeo when my roping partner is dead can I?" She stormed at her mom, before running up the stairs and slamming the door. It seemed the whole house shook under her wrath, but it still didn't muffle her mother's words.

"Good grief. You used to barrel race too you know!" Julie just rolled her eyes and slumped down her bed before pulling out her phone. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart, for someone who would always be there to calm her unreasonable temper. The phone rang and rang and rang before a cheery voice echoed over the line.

"Hey! You've reached Alexis Duke. Sorry I missed your call, but I'm sure I was very busy doing very important things. If I don't call back in a day or two, maybe try call me back but if that's the case I'm probably ignorin you. If you must leave a message!" The beep sounded but Julie, knowing that Alexis' mother had her phone simply hung up and threw her phone at the wall where it crashed and then fell to the floor.

"Why would you leave me Lex?" She muttered angrily. Alexis Duke was Juliette's best friend in the whole world but had died in a car crash two months ago. Julie's world had shattered and even now she found herself dwelling on the memories of her dad breaking the bad news, of rushing to the hospital and finding that it was too late. The image of Alexis laying pale and still in the hospital bed with her black hair spread around her face and tubes and wires connected to every spare inch of her crossed Julie's mind before she angrily shook it away. She hated that image and wished she would forget it, because she wanted to remember Alexis as the bubbly, energetic, competitive, and full of life girl she had been.

"Oh she's up in her room sulking again. I can't do anything right can I?" Julie heard her mother's voice echoing up the stairs and rolled her eyes. She must be complaining to her father again.

"Vivian she lost her best friend. She's not sulking she's hurting." She heard her father's voice softly reply and heard her mother snort.

"It's been two months Ben. Surely by now she would have interest in something but.." Julie tuned her mother's words out again. It had been the worst two months of her life. She had alternated between fits of deep sadness and anger for the first two weeks and then had stuck with anger until a couple weeks ago when she had started feeling numb. The only two emotions she felt nowadays were total indifference, or raging anger and a deep resentment to everyone and everything. She had ripped every single picture off her wall, took down all the trophies she had won, taken every little thing that reminded her of Alexis and threw it into a box before pushing the box deeply under her bed. The result was a bare room and a conflicted mind. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to forget her best friend had ever existed and sometimes she wanted to remember every little single thing about her, down to the way she used to scrunch up her nose in her sleep. She could hear her parents arguing in the kitchen and suddenly a bone aching exhaustion crept over her. She laid down on her bed and within minutes, was fast asleep.

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So here is the first chapter! I don't know how I feel about it, so would really appreciate if you guys told me what you thought! I am super excited to finally get into this book and see where it takes us. Thank you for joining me on this journey of the second book in the Healing series and I hope you enjoy the ride! ~S