Yep, that’s me…writing this story.
Chad and Sierra’s story is tough. Why is this harder than my Roman stories? This one gets personal. It’s real. It’s today. I’m writing about the trauma that people go through today. Oh, my. Not pretty. Not easy. And rather dark.
- Chad is dealing with PTSD from his time with his brother vets in Afghanistan, the suicide bomber on home soil that killed his wife/grief, plus the horror of becoming a burn victim.
- Sierra is dealing with complex PTSD from a life of sexual trauma as a high-end call girl who has been raised to be so since her kidnap at the age of six. She is now considered a ‘renegade’ because she has fled that life, is about to graduate from nursing school that will give her a new life, a new chance. Oops. Her past haunts her. And then facing her real parents.
- Little Lori Chad’s 6 yr old daughter has the trauma of losing Mom, a scary dad now, and the backlash of adults with PTSD.
What I am enjoying are the ‘angels’ who come into their lives that help them through their individual journeys: Chad and his buddies who comes to Sierra’s rescue, his little daughter Lori and Owen – the chocolate Lab/rescue dog that Santa brought her, his parents who, well, have to come to grips with their son’s tragedy and a call girl for his nurse, doctors, nurses and therapists who help both physically and mentally, friends at his church like Rosie, and Jesus who provides the little and big miracles along the way.
And right now, in draft form, I know I am not doing justice to what these survivors have to face, deal with, struggle through to become victorious. But for me, writing this story has opened my eyes to so much, and, when it’s done, I hope it will yours. (Spring 2022)
My takeaway and goal for this story: let’s all be angels for someone, not a contributor to someone’s personal hell.
