Spirit Lake Excerpt...

Teylor backed into the hallway until her spine hit the wall. She watched helplessly as a team of medical personnel rushed into the room she’d just been ordered out of. She knew they’d been trained to remain calm and focused in such circumstances but she could feel the panic in the air. She could see the urgency in their eyes. Teylor inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to keep away the dizziness that was threatening to bring her to the floor. Her hands were trembling so badly she thought they’d fall off. She brought them to the wall and steadied herself. With dry eyes full of fear, all she could do was watch as the door closed.

For as long as she could remember, her mother had always been fond of the bottle, and the older Teylor became, the less she saw her mother sober. Life had been difficult growing up with an alcoholic single parent, but Teylor loved her mom just the same. Her mother was what most would call a “functioning alcoholic.” She held a steady job, made sure the bills were paid and there was food in the fridge, but not much more. By the time Teylor started junior high, she was doing all of the cooking and cleaning.

After work, her mother would fall into her customary routine of asking about Teylor’s day while pouring her first drink. Then she’d make sure her daughter did her homework while having a couple more; eventually she’d pass out with a bottle in her hand. After Teylor went away to college, her mom’s drinking became worse, and she was hospitalized for the first time. Teylor knew what she had to do, and after her first semester ended, she moved back home to care for her mother. Determined that she would never become a college dropout, Teylor drove an hour to school each day and made the same journey back home when classes were over. As hard as it was, her mother was her priority. Teylor was all she had.

Eventually, her mom’s liver and kidneys began to fail, and she became too sick to do anything. Teylor dedicated nearly every moment to seeing after her mom. It was a miracle she found the time to finish her last semester, a bittersweet accomplishment because her mother was too sick to attend the graduation ceremony.

Over the next few years, the hospital visits became more frequent, the stays longer. For the past two weeks, she’d been confined to the bed in the room Teylor was now watching as if her own life depended on it, because in a way, it did. What would she do without her mom? More than anything Teylor wanted her mother to get up out of that hospital bed, grab her by the hand, and in her familiar feisty tone say, “Let’s get outta here, sugar. I’ve had ’bout enough of this place,” but that was wishful thinking. Still Teylor hoped for a miracle and pleaded with the God of heaven and earth. “Please,” she whispered to herself as she gripped a metal bar bolted to the wall. “Please let her live.” She couldn’t pace; she couldn’t cry. All she could do was watch and wait.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as Teylor stayed slumped against the wall, frozen. After what felt like an eternity, the door opened. Teylor still didn’t move. An older black man wearing blue scrubs and a white coat came her way. Everything else blurred, and she focused in on his expressive coal-black eyes. His eyes said it all. Her mother was gone.

Everything went quiet around Teylor. The man was speaking but she couldn’t hear him. Her knees buckled but she didn’t fall. She gripped the metal bar tighter. She tried to breathe but her lungs were on fire. She wanted to go to her mother and tried to push herself off the wall just as the double doors to the right of her swung open. Teylor turned her head and looked into familiar eyes, full of love and sympathy. Suddenly she wasn’t alone anymore. She reached for him as her legs gave out. He ran toward her, and before she could hit the floor, she felt him catch her. Then everything went black.

Coming summer 2018...