Time To Wake Up

Austyn glanced at the sleeping kids, his eyes heavy with guilt. He gestured Isabel aside and told her about the video. Isabel swore under her breath. As the psychiatrist who treated Kira’s depression four years ago, Isabel understood, with first-hand knowledge, how traumatic Leland’s death was to her. Kira would have wasted away the year Austyn disappeared if not for the kids. She spent the next three years busying herself with work and with raising the children, occupying every waking moment so she wouldn’t have time to think about her father, to grieve. Isabel knew it was avoidance, a coping mechanism for grief. She didn’t approve, but at least it was better than the alternative of watching Kira sink deeper into the black abyss that was depression. When Austyn returned to Stamford, Isabel was both overjoyed and concerned. Overjoyed that Kira’s search had finally yielded a happy result. Concerned that his reappearance would trigger the scarring trauma buried deep in Kira’s memory. Isa