brave, together

not the way i wanted to break my hiatus

Photo by Arleen wiese on Unsplash

I really thought that my next post here would be to announce that Remembrance is live and available for sale. It’s been about eighteen months since I started working on it, and I genuinely believed that I would have it published by last August (around the one-year mark) until I started working on my second draft. Since then, as I’ve discussed here before, I’ve been learning a valuable lesson in slowing down and letting things take as long as they take, including writing and editing. All that to say, I hope to have a Remembrance announcement for you within a week or two, but in the meantime, Scoot had to go and drop a new set of Flash Fiction Friday prompts that spoke to my little soul. You can find the full post here, and my very-flash-ly-written (ie, forty-five minutes at ten o’clock at night) fiction below.

Consider this a teaser, if you will.

brave, together | 972 words

Leah squeezed her dad’s hand as they approached the bright red front door of the robins'-egg blue house. He looked down at her, his eyes sad.

“How ya holding up, squirt?”

She looked away silently. Even if she had wanted to say anything, her throat and her chest were tight. Beside her, she felt his footsteps slow to a halt, and her heart fluttered. He knelt down in front of her and placed his hands squarely on her shoulders, saying nothing. She didn’t want to look at him, but eventually curiosity drew her gaze back toward his face.

At the sight of him—his deep brown eyes and his scratchy face—hot tears built up in Leah’s eyes. “I hate this place. I hate this city. I just want to go home.”

“Me too, baby.” His voice was whisper-quiet, uneven, hoarse. It stung sweetly, the bitter consolation of shared grief. The tears dripped of Leah’s chin and left spots on her uniform shirt, still stiff before its first wash. His hand shook as he wiped her face, tears pooling in the corners of his own eyes. “I miss our old house. I miss Nana and Pops. I miss the coffee at Arturo’s.” He winked, and in spite of herself, Leah smiled.

“I miss Sydney and Harrison,” she said finally, choking the words out. “I miss going for bike rides in the park with you. I miss the cold weather. And I miss not feeling sick all the time.” She leaned into his shoulder, no longer able to hold back a sob.

“Oh, Leah.” He wrapped his arms around her. “I miss that too. And your mom and I really think that this is the best thing we can do to help you get better.”

Leah sniffled and nodded, her face still buried in his shirt.

“So hey,” he pulled away from her gently, holding her gaze. “What do you say we go in there and be as brave as we can? Together?”

Blinking the last few tears from her eyes, Leah cocked her head. “Do you have to be brave, Daddy?”

He raised his eyebrows and leaned in, as if he wanted to tell her a secret. “All the time.”

Her eyes widened and her shoulders softened. “Really?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, a wide grin on his face. “I had to be brave when I started my job down here. And I had to be brave when your mom and I decided to rent this house without visiting it in person first. And I definitely have to be brave when you or your mom are hurting, and I can’t help you.” His face changed, and he looked past Leah. “Then most of all.”

Leah looked down at her shoes, thinking. “Okay, Daddy. We can be brave together.”

“Atta girl,” he said, standing up and taking her hand again. “Together.”

They finished crossing the lawn, and he swung open the barn-red door, holding it for her as she walked across the threshold. The air smelled like cinnamon, and a warm voice floated toward them. “Welcome to the McNeill Institute Children’s Ward! Come right in and get settled.”

Leah led the way through the entryway into the main living room of the house, where a wooden desk had been placed to one side. A young black woman sat behind it, watching expectantly as Leah and her dad entered the room. “Leah!”

“Miss Valerie!” Leah sprinted the last few feet, racing around the desk to wrap her in a familiar hug.

“I saw your name on the schedule, and I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day! How are you doing?” She glanced at Leah’s collared yellow shirt, and her tone softened. “How are you liking your new school?”

Leah’s shoulders slumped. “It’s okay. I miss my friends at my old school.” She looked down at her shoes until she felt her father’s hand lightly on her shoulder. Taking a deep breath, she looked back up, blinked, and smiled. “But I’m being brave today. Daddy and I are being brave together.”

Valerie smiled and looked up at Leah’s dad. “Hello Mr. Harvey. Good to see you.”

“You too, Miss DeLeon.” Leah could hear relief in his voice. “You always make us feel welcome here.”

Valerie smiled and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, another voice boomed out behind them. “Mr. Harvey, a pleasure, as always. And Leonora, it is wonderful to see you again.”

Leah squirmed at the sound of his voice. She turned around, holding to her dad’s shirt as she offered a small wave. The doctor looked just like she remembered, dark hair and blue eyes and a kind smile.

He waved back at her, then looked up at her dad. “If you would follow me?”

He turned and began walking toward the stairs. Leah’s dad took her hand, squeezed it gently, and took a small step forward. Together, they followed the doctor to the second floor of the old house, where an exam room had been laid out, perfectly sized for children.

“So, you have made your choice?” His voice was nothing but kind, but Leah’s heart fell further at his words.

“We have,” her father replied, glancing at her with a sad smile. “We’re still getting used to the weather and the traffic, but we’re here for the long haul.”

“Wonderful. I believe we will be able to do Miss Leonora here a world of good.” The doctor rolled his chair closer to Leah. “I know this is a big change, but I hope you can see how much your mother and father love you to help you get the treatments you need.”

Leah nodded, picking at a loose hangnail as she looked him in the eyes. “Me and Daddy are being brave. Together.”

---

Part of the joy of writing fiction, at least for me, is getting to flesh out parts of the characters that don’t make “screen time” but still influence their decision-making within the story. This little scene is one of those for Leah. Her relationship with her mother is central to Remembrance; her father remains on the periphery, but his influence is no less important to her. Drawing his character out has been one of the great joys of the later drafts, and I hope this little vignette can add further depth to those portions of the story.

If you’re new to Blinking Blue Line, welcome! I write short and long stories set within the world of the McNeill Institute for Neurological Development, a tech-forward clinic committed to intense personal healing and cutting-edge research. My forthcoming novel, Remembrance, started as a Substack serial, and my first draft is still available for paid subscribers. I’ve been on an unofficial-slash-unannounced hiatus as I’ve been navigating the world of self-publishing, but I’m excited to be dipping my toes back into the water of writing and sharing here. If you enjoyed this short, I hope you’ll stick around!

And if you’re a Blinking Blue Line OG, well, thanks for being patient as this “short break” has stretched to epic proportions due to a seemingly endless list of small tweaks, digital paperwork mishaps, and last-minute decisions to add entire chapters to already-completed manuscripts. I’m sure some of you can relate.