Zach’s hands were shaking as he sat on the family room couch. He started to fiddle with his LiveStrong band on his left arm. Anything to avoid meeting his parents gaze. He was thinking how things had come to this. Three months ago they were a perfect family. He was a normal teenage boy with friends and a bright future. Now he wasn’t so sure. Who would want to be friends with someone who had done what he had done? His parents sat in front of him waiting patiently and anticipating what he was going to say. He could feel his body begin to quiver as he was about to begin. He opened his mouth to start but nothing came out.

“Zach, honey just tell us what’s wrong. We can handle it I promise you,” Zach’s mother assured him.

“I’m not so sure you can mom or else I would just flat out say it,” Zach insisted. He took a long deep breath and rubbed his eyes with the inside of his hands.

“We’re really worried about you sweetheart. You haven’t been the same since Tyler died and your starting to scare us,” his mother tried to coax him into telling them. “We just want you to be happy and we don’t think you are. We want you to deal with Tyler’s death but not in a violent way and we don’t want you to shut us out.”

“Zach, whatever you have to say, just say it,” Zach’s father encouraged him.

“Mom. . .Dad. . ., I killed Tyler.”