The doctor entered the room with a run-of-the-mill smile on his face. You could tell he’d done it hundreds of times before. He sat down next to us, thumbed through a folder, and began.

“Unfortunately,” he started.

My heart sank.

“There’s no heartbeat,” he finished.

And mine was gone forever.

Carly Boyer is a drop-out English major with a head for emotionally provocative writing. She spends her days racing 500HP vehicles and thumbing through medieval literature books in her home in Northeast Pennsylvania with her dog and seemingly temporary boyfriend.