shattered (turn the car around)

"How many times can I break 'til I shatter?"

There is a truth couched quietly in the eyes of Miranda James: She's dying inside. She's not sick. She's not old. She is simply giving up, day by day and hour by hour.

Miranda has survived a lot. She was orphaned when she was thirteen. She was in a near-fatal car accident when she was nineteen. She worked two jobs all four years of college to pay tuition and costs. She is a chemical engineer and only the fourth woman ever to work at her company.

Miranda's friends, family, and colleagues know she is strong. They think of her as a survivor. They reason that she has overcome so much and has handled so much in her life, that she is strong enough to handle anything that comes her way. That appears logical reasoning, but the human soul is not always logical.

In reality, Miranda is falling apart. Every obstacle has crushed her, but she has always rebuilt. She knows that she is not as strong now. She can feel the fight slowly slipping away. And it scares her and brings her even that closer to crashing.

If Miranda finds out today that she's been laid off, or that her sister has cancer, or that her house has caught on fire, or any other unforeseen disaster has occurred... Will this be the day she shatters? And if so, who will come to rebuild her?