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"Don’t worry about therass Followas he asked, I draped the reins over the horses shoulder and followed Jeff toward the water There was a giant rock that was set back about fifteen feet from the water Jeff walked over to it and juh for at least fourhe wanted me to follow, I cli

"Wow," I whispered as I watched the river e, I lost my mother, but not like how you lost your mother Actually, I lostto look at him, I asked, "How did you lose her?"

Jeff continued to look out over the water as it rushed over rocks "Alcohol My father leftMyto hide the pain The problescould numb the pain"

My head snapped over to Jeff as our eyes met "No sir, it cannot I turned to alcohol when hts drowninghis eyes off of me, Jeff asked, "And what h eren’t together at the time, I knew she would have been disappointed ina small smile play across his lips, Jeff nodded and looked back over the river "Love will do that Save you fro in agree to hurt Grace No matter how h that

"What if, you find yourself slipping back down the hole? Even with love there to pull you back?" I asked

Jeff turned and faced ht"

"And if you don’t feel like you have the strength?"

Slowly shaking his head, Jeff’s eyes turned sad "You always have the strength, Noah You just need to knohere to look for it That’s the first step"

"The second step?" I asked

Not taking his eyes fro on the pills It’s a weakness Not a strength"

My entire world stopped as a shiver ran acrossI could hear wasIn thatdownstream into the unknown There was only one question I needed to find the answer to

Was there a place I was running toor running from? I either ran to Graceor the pills My pain was pulling race It was time to make a decision and I knew exactly where it would lead me