His Mother's Son, My Ruin

d to be healing. It was the smell of my mother-in-law, Deborah Hayes. To everyone else in this small, isolated town, she was a savior, a char

spiritual energy and natural harmony. He was handsome, charming, and utterly useless. He drifted through life on

e fixing the damn la

n our kitchen. I pointed out the window toward his mother's sprawling property next door, whe

t he was reading. "Mom's property is protected by a positive energy field, Sa

ague, spiritual nonsense. I was the outsider, the skeptic, the one with the "negative aura"

as filled with followers, their faces upturned and adoring as Deborah spoke in her smooth, hypnotic voice. I wa

heart aching with a love so fierce it felt like a physical weight. Then, a neighbor pulled me into a c

tarted, a quick

yone se

one

y eyes darting everywhere, calling her name. My voice

t exploring the gar

the back of the yard, toward the on

po

reeze. And there, in the still, blue water, was a sm

I just moved, plunging into the cold water, my clothes dragging me down. I p

sps of the crowd as they gathered around. I was on my knees, trying to breathe lif

She held Lily's body, not with the panic of a grandmoth

tragedy. Lily has simply completed her spiritual transition. Her energ

. "A spiritual transition,"

finally tearing from my throat. "She drowned, To

w-frequency energy, Sarah. It clouds your spiritual

ding on the edge of the circle, looked at me with wor

my mother said softly. "Sh

ess. I was surrounded by people, yet I had never felt so utterly, terri