Broken (31 page)

But there are more waiting.

He has asked that their reunion be just between the two of them, and since he isn’t as mobile as he used to be, he is waiting
in his chair in his office. The office is attached to his bedroom. Laila walks down a familiar hall and sees the pictures
on the wall. Pictures of her mother and her family and her.

They bring her back. All this brings her back.

She never left this house, this home, these people.

She traveled the world but she’s always still been here, in Brady, Texas.

Her heart and soul have always remained here.

She enters the bedroom and sees the light from the office doorway.

A cross sits on the nightstand.

She picks it up and holds it to her heart.

Her father has kept this cross ever since his conversion years ago.

But it has never meant anything to Laila, not like now, not like this moment.

She wonders what it will be like to see her father again.

All she wants is to embrace him and know that it’s okay, that everything will be okay.

She wonders what it will be like to see his eyes and hear his voice and see his smile.

She wonders what it will be like to tell him all the things she’s done and to hear him say that it’s okay.

She knows it’s okay. That her sins have been paid for.

Laila wonders so many things as she continues to hold the cross and walk into the office and see her father.

And when those familiar eyes find her and when a familiar voice calls her name, she no longer wonders.

She knows.

I still think of Kyle’s words, the ones he whispered in that hotel room.

They haunt me. And they bring me comfort.

He told me we’re not defined by our mistakes but how we move on from them. And I finally realize how true this is. So I take
each day at a time. No day is promised to us. No tomorrow is assured.

My family reaches out to help me. I take their advice and their input, but it’s so hard. It’s so hard. I’m stubborn and I’m
weak. But I know that one thing can conquer all of this. And it’s not knowledge or wisdom. It’s love.

My family loves me. That’s the start.

What will it be like? What will heaven look like when I step through its gates? I can only imagine. But when I do and when
I see God’s face shine on me, I’m going to be looking for him. Looking for the young boy.

Not to ask for forgiveness. But to ask for a hug. This time it will be his mother giving it to him.

When I was young, I used to get the idea that God was there. That He was like some distant grandfather sitting in the other
room listening to prayers while He breathed with a ventilator and didn’t say anything back. How He’d hear those prayers but
never really answer them. But then I realized He’s not in the other room and He’s not an old
grandfather and that He does answer prayers but He does it in His own ways and He doesn’t have to.

His mercy isn’t answering those prayers of ours. It’s listening to us in the first place.

Travis Thrasher is the author of eleven previous novels. A full-time writer and speaker, Travis lives with his wife and daughter
in a suburb of Chicago. For more information about Travis, visit
www.travisthrasher.com
.

If you liked
Broken,
be sure to pick up Travis Thrasher’s other thrilling novels

	Isolation
A masterfully written story that will grip you to its chilling end about a family’s new house that quickly changes from mysterious to terrifying.

	Ghostwriter
When a writer’s haunting novels suddenly intersect with real life, he faces horror unlike anything he ever imagined.

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