Page 4 of Never Too Late

My palms start to feel clammy. I quickly wipe my hands down the sides of my trousers to get rid of the sweat forming.

I focus my attention on the flowers Mum put on the table two days ago, blocking out everything else around me, as I quietly start to hum a tune.

I’m not brought back to reality until I notice Tyler jumping up from the stool in anger, shouting that the police officer must be wrong, it must have been a mistake. He must be lying. They must have got the wrong person.

“I’m sorry, boys. It’s your mum. We were called to the incident. Your mum was in a car crash. We found her phone and keys, her purse was there, along with her ID. I’m so sorry, lads. She was announced dead at the scene. The crash killed her instantly on impact. The other driver was killed too.”

I need to be sick.

The world seems to have come to a halt. In this moment, I hear nothing but the buzzing in my ears.

Dead.

He said she was dead.

Mum is dead.

No no no no no.

“Please get out. Get out now. We need to — I don’t know. Just get out,” Tyler starts to plead. “Please,” he whispers.

“Here’s my direct contact; you need anything at all, whenever you need it, please contact me. Any time, any day. Me and my wife live down the street, number 42. You can’t get in contact with me, go straight to her. You lads aren’t going to go through this alone. You hear me?” the officer states, slowly making his way towards the door.

“I’ll come back in the morning to check on you both. I’m sorry, boys. I wish this wasn’t the news I was telling you.”

I don’t respond to him. I couldn’t if I wanted to.

Dead.

I fall to my knees in hysterics.

“FUCK!” Tyler thunders as he throws the plate with the warmed-up pizza I was moments ago preparing for Mum, across the room, causing it to smash into pieces.

I start to pound my fists into the floor, ignoring the discarded broken plate as I welcome the pain of the shards digging into me.

Tears start to fall down my face. I don’t notice I’m crying at first. Numb to everything around me but the excruciating pain within my chest. From the side of my eye, I see Tyler’s feet come into view before he, too, drops to his knees in front of me and engulfs me in his arms, rocking us both back and forth, pulling me closer in the process.

A pained sound escapes me, which results in him bringing me in even closer.

The one person who has been by my side since the first time she ever held me, is gone. What were my last words to her? Did I tell her I loved her? Did I hold her long enough as I hugged her before she left for work?

My cries become uncontrollable as I think about all the lasts I’ve had with her, and no more new beginnings.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay… I’ve got you. I promise I will never leave you, D. I will never ever leave you.”

I take a deep breath in, listening carefully to the words coming from my brother’s mouth, keeping all my attention on the flowers in the vase on the table.

He’s got me, but who’s got him?

I hold on tighter, afraid that he will disappear, too, if I let go, as we spend the rest of the night crying alongside one another, locked in each other’s arms.

And it was at that moment, I had my heart broken for the first time.

More like shattered to pieces.

Chapter one

Dax

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