Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (35 page)

‘
I’ve never thought of you as whiny. Never even considered the
possibility that you’re weak, because you’re one of the strongest
people I know,’ she said. ‘You were just a regular guy, a guy
thrown into a situation no one should have been, and through all of
it, you showed how brave and kind you are, how generous and
powerful.’

She took
a deep breath.

‘
I promise you, Lucas, I will always be your angel. To always
be that light you can rely on when you’re surrounded by dark. To
keep you tethered to sanity when you yourself are at your
darkest.

‘
I will be here, by your side, always.’

Damn it…

I forced
my eyes not to blink, not to close and send tears down my
cheeks.

‘
Do you, Lucas Bishop, take Anna Gordon, to be your lawfully
wedded wife, to love and to cherish, through joy and sorrow,
sickness and health, for as long as you both shall live?’ Chris
asked.

‘
I do,’ I replied, ‘I’ll follow you to wherever you
go.’

‘
And do you, Anna Gordon, take, Lucas Bishop, to be your
partner in life, to share his path, equal in love, to honour and
cherish, through the good and the bad, until death do you part?’
Chris said.

‘
I do,’ Anna whispered before she spoke louder, ‘and not even
death will part us.’

We
smiled into each other’s eyes while Brian stepped up with Alex. In
our son’s hands was a small box with two sparkling, but ordinary
rings. We both took one, and slipped them with hands that shook
onto each other’s finger.

‘
By the power vested in me by Brian’s internet savvy,’ Chris
beamed, ‘I pronounce you husband and wife!’

I
clasped Anna’s hand in mine, entwined my fingers with hers and we
laughed. Alex, Brian and Chris joined in with happy sounds that
filled the clearing. It was perfect, it would always be perfect,
and I would remember the day for the rest of my life.

‘
Kiss her!’ Brian cried and looked happier than he had been for
a while.

I
grabbed Anna into my arms, tilted her and joined our lips. Tears
rubbed on both of our cheeks until it was impossible to discern
which one of us they had come from. We came up for air.

And our
worlds shattered.

‘
JESUS!’ Brian screamed, and Anna gasped.

Alex
fell through the air as I turned my head, before I could
react.

And
landed on his feet.

We
watched, awestruck and disorientated as my son’s skin rippled. It
bunched and rolled like waves. He didn’t appear to be in pain, but
a ripping noise filled the air as he grew. He grew taller, his arms
and legs thickened, and instead of the two month old baby we had
had seconds before, a child stood who looked around four-years-old.
No one could move. No one could breathe as we stared at my son. No
one moved a muscle until Chris grunted and collapsed.

My head
snapped round as a cylindrical object soared through the arch where
Chris had been upright, and exploded in a blinding white light. The
force of its explosion knocked me from my feet and I crashed down
the stairs to land in a heap on the dirt. I opened my eyes, and
couldn’t see. Everything was white.

‘
Anna!’ I shouted.

I tried
to stand only to have someone barrel into me from the side. We
smacked the table holding the CD player, and both sprawled to the
ground, and the music restarted. My eyes were clearing, but my
brain couldn’t make sense of the images it was trying to process.
Things shifted and became echoes of solid objects. I managed to
stand, only for my legs to be pulled from underneath. The air burst
from my lungs as I hit the earth, and someone crawled on
top.

‘
Anna!’ I croaked.

It
wasn’t Anna though on top of me. I couldn’t focus on the man’s
face, but his black clothes blurred in my vision. The knife in his
hand shifted into three separate glinting blades. He raised it and
I brought my foot from behind, my toes straight at his skull. He
yelped and the blade fell, my arms were pinned, but I lifted my
legs, crossed them around his neck, and pushed him off.

My
surroundings began to reform, splitting less and less. My attacker
was on his feet at the same time as I was, and he had his knife. He
swung and I shifted, I moved out of range and pushed his arching
attack away. I bent the same arm I used to defend and crushed my
elbow into his nose. The man staggered back and dropped the
knife.

‘
Alex!’ Anna’s scream pierced the air.

I
panicked. Before I could contemplate anything, before I could align
my future actions with their consequences, I snatched the blade
from the ground and buried it into my attacker’s skull. The man
jerked and stilled, then collapsed.

I let
him fall with the blade still embedded and spun.

Anna was
at the bottom stair of the platform. Chris still lay under the
arch. But there was a new body standing there, a female I thought
I’d never see again, someone who had given her life or so we
thought to save us. And in her arms she held my son.

Jane
McDonald was alive.

The
raven haired, navy blue eyed, mid-thirties aged woman stood holding
my son, and staring at Anna’s wide mouth.

She survived! Jane actually survived! And she’s came to save
us! She’s-

My
thoughts cut off, a gun appeared in Jane’s hand, and a new voice
erupted in my head.

You’ve been betrayed!

‘
No!’ I screamed and the word ripped my throat as it
erupted.

But it
was too late, the gun exploded and Anna’s head whipped back. She
fell as if in slow motion. I stared unable to comprehend. It was as
if I could hear the thud when she hit the floor. Jane trained her
gun on me.

I dived
towards the treeline and managed to avoid the shot. Another smacked
the tree and grazed my arm, but I barely felt it.

Anna! Anna! Anna!

The
gun’s explosions stopped, and I dared to peek round. Jane was gone,
and from the front of the cabin I heard an engine roar, and then
fade. My son had vanished with her. I flew from where I crouched,
and raced to Anna. Brian lay close by, but I had no idea if he was
alive. I dropped to my wife’s side and my hands hovered over her
body.

What do I do!? What do I do!?

Her
chest rose agonisingly slow. Blood leaked from the wound in her
head. Soon those breaths would stop.

‘
No, no, no, no, no, no,’ I gasped. ‘No, no, no, no, no, no!
Come on! Please, Anna, please!’

Tears
rolled down my face and replaced my earlier ecstatic ones. I
grabbed Anna’s shoulders.

‘
Pleeeease!’ I cried. ‘No, no, no, no.’

I stared
helplessly. My eyes were wide. My eyes were wide…

‘
Anna, I love you,’ I whispered and grabbed her in my arms. ‘I
love you.’

That was
the first time I’d said those three simple words I meant with all
my heart to her. Why hadn’t I said it before? Why hadn’t I said it
before!?

‘
I love you.’

And as I
held my wife, as I cried anguish filled pleas, the world heard. The
sky had darkened. Clouds rolled over the blue where the sun had
been and ripped the light from around me, and as if on cue, rain
dropped from the heavens.

All your
questions will be answered in the finale:

Parents of Insanity (Coming 2015)