“Is that the cops?’ Jack shifted in his seat, leaning closer to the windshield.

Maggie’s heart sank into the pit of her stomach and she didn’t know why. She eased her foot off the gas, rolling to a stop when she noticed two police cruisers parked outside their home. She felt a painful pinch in her chest, but somehow managed to unfasten her seatbelt with shaking hands.

“You boys wait here,’ she whispered under a rushed breath.

The night air was cool, the breeze whipping against her heated cheeks as she walked past one of the police vehicles, eyeing it dubiously. She continued up the steep driveway to the front porch where two uniformed officers were standing in the shadows.

“Can I h-help you?’ Her words wavered, caught in the back of her throat, and her voice trembled.

The officers turned, the older of the two speaking first. “Mrs. Morris?’

She nodded once, tentatively glancing between them. “Yes, I’m Maggie Morris.’

When they stepped down off the porch, the glow of the curbside lamppost illuminated their faces, highlighting the blatant look of sorrow in their eyes as they stopped just shy of her on the flagstone path.

“Ma’am, I’m afraid we have some bad news,’ the other officer began, his voice gruff and full of strained discomfort as if this were the last place he wanted to be on a Friday night. “Your… husband, Thomas?’

Maggie nodded again. “Tom.’ He always hated Thomas; it reminded him of his father.

“He’s um… I’m afraid he’s been involved in a car accident.’

With her heart racing painfully in her chest, Maggie searched the man’s face for something, anything, but she came up blank. “W-where is he? I-is he… is he okay?’ Her voice was hoarse, suddenly incredulous and desperate. She’d spoken to Tom less than two hours ago. He was fine then. Of course he was okay. He had to be.

The officers glanced at one another, and she watched as they shared some kind of silent understanding. Why were they stalling? What were they not telling her? She clutched at her chest, and could feel her heart beating so hard, so fast she could barely breathe through the rapid thundering.

“No, ma’am.’ The first officer reluctantly shook his head, his eyes sincere when they met hers. “I’m afraid he’s not okay.’

Burning tears pricked Maggie’s eyes. An overwhelming panic she could hardly contain consumed her from the inside. When her knees went weak, she almost fell to the ground, but one of the officers swooped in just in time, collecting her, holding her upright.

She turned, looking over her shoulder to find TJ and Jack being assisted out of the car by two other uniformed police officers. TJ was inconsolable, tears streamed down his beet-red cheeks. Jack was yelling out for her, screaming for her. She tried to call out to them, to tell them that everything was fine, that everything was going to be fine. She tried to scream but she had nothing. No voice, no air, no breath, nothing. She’d been rendered entirely useless and uncomfortably numb. And then, when it all became far too much, the world around her turned darker than it had ever been before as the blackness consumed her.