{"id":3711,"date":"2018-09-05T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3711"},"modified":"2018-09-04T14:01:53","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T18:01:53","slug":"forty-five-03-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3711","title":{"rendered":"Forty-five – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

I snapped out of the vision to find tears on my face, my voice shaking as I kept on singing to Lin. The sun was only a fraction higher in the sky. It couldn\u2019t have been more than a few seconds, maybe minutes. I sucked in one shaky breath, then another, clutching him a little tighter.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t lose your father, Lin. I promise. I won\u2019t let it happen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another breath. Just keep breathing. Just keep breathing.<\/em> I swallowed hard and looked down at Lin. He was staring up at me with wide eyes, almost as if he was studying me. I forced myself to smile, reaching with one hand to brush his downy hair back from his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d I whispered. \u201cEverything\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind me, I heard the soft sound of footsteps below the wall. I twisted and smiled when I saw J.T. below, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. I lifted a hand to wave and he smiled back at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouldn\u2019t sleep?\u201d he called quietly as he approached the wall. I turned to start climbing down, Lin cradled in one arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d I said. \u201cNeither could this little guy so I came out to watch the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmells like rain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like it, too,\u201d I said, then sighed. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think that\u2019s Thordin\u2019s doing, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cDon\u2019t think so. He\u2019s been messing around a lot with the storms lately, but it seems like things are starting to even out again\u2014at least for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTook less time this time,\u201d I said quietly, my feet hitting the ground beneath the wall. I turned toward him and found him smiling crookedly at me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you do it carrying him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That made me laugh. \u201cI could lie and say practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen what is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstinct, I guess. Maybe it\u2019s something else. Damned if I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lin was looking at J.T. now, studying the man with those huge eyes of his. One corner of my mouth quirked up into a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I think he\u2019s memorizing everything,\u201d I said softly, just watching my son. \u201cSilly, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that silly,\u201d J.T. said, reaching to let Lin grab a hold of one of his fingers with one tiny hand. \u201cHe\u2019s learning every second of every day. That\u2019s how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess so,\u201d I said, my stomach twisting uncomfortably. There had been a lot that had happened already that I didn\u2019t want him to learn, didn\u2019t want him to remember.<\/p>\n

What impact was this going to have on his life going forward? Was he going to be damaged by all of this?<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t do more than you\u2019ve already done\u2014or more than you\u2019re able to do. He\u2019ll be okay. They\u2019ll all be okay.<\/em><\/p>\n

You know that. You\u2019ve seen it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Believe it.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] I snapped out of the vision to find tears on my face, my voice shaking as I kept on singing to Lin. The sun was only a fraction higher in the sky. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,297,14],"tags":[150,171,170,160,152,149,148,168,147,165,200,146],"class_list":["post-3711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-45-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-XR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3712,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3711\/revisions\/3712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}