-
Four States: Chapter Forty One – Wrestling With God
May 17th 2006 2 a.m. The ceiling faded to black as my mind clawed backward, through blood-soaked clothes and flashing lights, through the sound of gunshots and the silence that followed. The room around me was cold and too bright in places, dim in others. That strange hospital half-light that makes you feel both watched…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Two – Healing in The Hospital
May 17 – May 19, 2006 Morning didn’t arrive in a sunrise. It arrived in a sliver of light from the hallway—thin but insistent, like a blade cutting through the night’s remains. When the nurses opened the door with their bright “Good morning!” the glow followed them into the room as if the world itself…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Three – The Funeral
May 20, 2006 I was relieved to leave the hospital. The doctors were confident in my progress and assured me the metal still lodged in my body wouldn’t shift or cause further harm. I had to keep a bandage over my right eye. It was uncomfortable, but I could live with it. What scared me…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Four – Exiled to South Carolina
May 21st – July 8th 2006 After we left the farm, my grandparents and the rest of the family headed back to South Carolina. I stayed behind one extra day to take care of a few loose ends before following them. I was grateful that day happened to be a Sunday. I wanted to go…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Five – Settling In, Again!
July 2006 – August 2006 On the drive home, Charley sat in the passenger seat, alert and steady, while Buffy curled into the clothes basket I had turned into a makeshift bed. We stopped at our usual places. Gas in Wytheville. Food at Tamarack. Tamarack was one of those landmark stops I had passed so…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Six – Lingering
August 2006 – December 2006 In my spare time, I worked on the farm. I kept the yards mowed and installed timers on the lights so they would turn on and off at specific hours. It was part safety, part deterrence, and part illusion. I wanted the house to look lived in, occupied, watched over.…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Seven – The Trial – Day One and Two
December 20, 2006 – January 23, 2007 While I was waiting to board a plane to South Dakota for the Christmas holiday, Dale Eagle was having his pre-trial hearing. I was at Chicago O’Hare Airport, sitting near the massive brachiosaurus skeleton that hangs above the terminal. Around me was a sea of strangers, all moving…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Eight – The Trial – Day Three
January 24, 2007 The second day belonged to science, and science doesn’t bend—no matter how hard you try to push it. This was the day of the experts. People who knew their fields inside and out. One by one, they quietly took apart the version of events the defense wanted the jury to believe. The…
-
Four States: Chapter Forty Nine – The Trial – Day Four
January 25, 2007 I woke up at John and Cathy’s house already worn out. I hadn’t slept much. My stomach was twisted tight, that low, persistent anxiety that just sits there, daring you to let it take over. I had to keep myself from going down that road. Panic was nearby, but I could keep…
-
Four States: Chapter Fifty – The Trial – Day Five
January 26, 2007 I didn’t get much sleep last night again. I’d spent the evening with family—first at dinner with relatives who were in town, then later back at the hotel, and finally at John and Cathy’s house, sitting in their living room. The day ended the same way it began: people talking about the…
-
Four States: Chapter Fifty One – Mockingbirds and Amazing Grace
January – July 2007 By Friday afternoon, when the verdicts were in, I felt a sense of relief. The trial was over. No extending into next week. I wasn’t looking forward to spending the weekend replaying testimony in my head or dissecting every moment. I wanted distance from it—from the courtroom, from the language of…
-
Four States: Chapter Fifty Two – Saying Goodbye
February 2007 – April 2008 With the trial behind me, I did my best to step back into a life that looked normal from the outside. As long as there was something on the calendar, something to work toward, I could keep moving and avoid noticing that the ground under me was still shifting. No…
-
Four States: Epilogue
Over the years, I’ve had opportunities to tell my story. When I do, people often ask what happened afterward—what became of everyone once the farm was gone. Do I still keep in touch with anyone in West Virginia? Have I ever gone back? They’re fair questions. So many lives intersected there, and then, suddenly, the…