9 Letters

by Blake Austin

Well blow me, this is an amazing debut! Welcome to the party Blake Austin!!!!

This is a story that was screaming to be told, it refused to blend into the background and boy, am I glad to be able to say that.

This is the ultimate story about taking a good hard look at what you have in your life, looking both back and forward and taking stock.

He might be only 24 years old but Luke has been through more than most should ever experience and although much of it has been harder than I could possibly imagine, he has one highlight and that was the love he discovered when his was just a mere kid aged 17 because his life became complete when he found Emily.

She was his light, the reason he drew breath each morning, and when she died, life as he knew it stopped. He shut the world out and allowed himself to slipped into an alcohol infused darkness, that I was certain that he would struggle to ever emerge from.

Drowning in self-induced guilt. He makes it to the first anniversary of her death and is stunned when he receives letters from his beloved Emily.

This is her reaching out from beyond the grave to hold the hand of the man that she loved completely and to help bring him back to life.

I was thrilled watching him discover the joys that Emily had planned for him, the tasks that she had taken time to work out, to guide him step by step back to the land of the living.

But when it brought Rae to him, he had no idea that the life he had descended into was now over, she was the breath of fresh air that he needed and that Emily wanted for him, she was a joy and I was so pleased that she was in his life, no matter how much he thought he didn’t need her or wasn’t ready to accept that he did.

Would he be willing to accept Emily’s advice and rid himself of the guilt that burdened his every waking moment? Would he see that loving again didn’t mean that Emily was banished, it only meant that he loved himself enough to allow the happiness that he deserved and that Rae could give him to find a home in his heart.

The love that Luke and Emily shared was the sort of love that you are very lucky if you ever experience and that is only ever discovered once in a lifetime but that is not to mean that when it is gone you can never love again, it means that each love is different and that unique, you just have to be willing to open your heart and mind to love in all its guises in order to be the best you can be.

A super debut!