Dad’s phone call about my brother

Date: 10/3/2023

I’m in high school, passing the French final exam. It’s not too difficult, but I feel like it was unexpected and I wasn’t prepared. Professor Laroche is there. Then the land line old phone rings. The call is for me, it’s my dad. I stand there by the wall, I see myself holding the phone and listening to his emotional voice as he tells me it’s because of my brother… he lets me believe he’s dead and I start crying in front of everyone. Pain. Fear. Loss. It’s too much to bear. Then he tells me my brother was diagnosed a physical condition for which there’s nothing we can do. At least he’s alive, I think. I find myself at my brother’s house, a warm wooden cabin. He’s lying in his bunk bed and I go up with him. Words are hard to come by , I feel powerless, yet our love for each other is there. I can’t even imagine how I’d feel if I lost him.