Time - Chapter 15
Dad wasn’t wrong. The bourbon burned going down, but it burned so good.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.
In the ashes of her past, she will rise up, and her death will save us all.
Lizzie ran from her past for ten years, zigzagging across the United States every few months, trying to outlast the prophesy that an oracle gave to her when she was just sixteen years old.
But nobody can run from their destiny forever.
After watching her friend brutally gunned down by a group of ruthless demons, she had no choice but to protect the woman’s child, and there was only one place where Lizzie knew the girl would be safe.
Bronard, Missouri.
Home.
She stayed away to protect her parents, but the girl needed mystical protection.
Her parents had taken in magical strays their whole lives, including Lizzie. If anyone could save the poor child’s life, it would be her mother and father.
But will returning to her home doom Lizzie even as she works to save the child she has vowed to defend?
Dad wasn’t wrong. The bourbon burned going down, but it burned so good. After taking a swig from my glass, I pushed it over to Dad to fill me up again, which he did without so much as a raised eyebrow.
“Ben Coleman up the road makes this himself. If it isn’t the smoothest bourbon I’ve ever had, I don’t know what is.” He finished his own glass and refilled it. “I’ve been his best customer since your mom got sick.”
I swirled the drink in my glass. “I should have been here, Dad. I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”
He chuckled lightly to himself. “You don’t owe us anything, kid. That’s not how parenting works. You don’t have a kid so they’ll take care of you. It was an honor to bring you up and watch you make your own decisions.” He took a long drink. “Wish you made different ones, mind you, and could’ve used your help, ‘specially in the last couple of years, but you don’t owe us anything. I just hoped you lived your best life out there on the road. Did you?”
I shook my head. “I didn’t live much of a life, Dad. I saw a lot of the country, though. I don’t think there’s a sight or attraction I haven’t seen, in fact. I made it to every national park in the contiguous and just about every roadside attraction I could find.”
He smiled. “Which was your favorite?”
“They were all pretty cool, but the Billy the Kid museum—the one in New Mexico, not the one in Texas—that one’s gotta be the weirdest. They have a whole exhibit dedicated to a woman that went to Sunday school every week for over fifty years.”
“Was she Billy the Kid’s ancestor or something?”
“Not that I know. She was just a woman. Plus, they have cars, and trucks, and dolls, and other stuff that definitely did not exist in the 1800s. Charming, though. I bought a pin, but I lost it. I lost so much on the road, Pop.”
“Sounds like you lost yourself out there,” he said.
I nodded. “Yeah. This is the first time I feel like myself in a long time.”
“And you’re still determined to leave, then?”
I looked at him for a long moment. We both knew the answer. I didn’t get a chance to say it because as I sat there, footsteps banged down the stairs. Johnny, harried and flustered, rushed into the dining room.
“What is it, Johnny?” Dad asked, confused.
“Sorry to disturb you, Carl, but I think it’s time.”
Dad went first into the room, and I followed close behind. Mom’s breathing was so shallow it barely looked as if her chest was moving at all.
“Junebug?” Dad choked out, taking Mom’s hand into his. “I’m here, baby. I love you so much, Junie. You made me happier than I thought possible, for longer than I ever imagined…but I’ll be okay, Junebug. I want you to know that. I know you could never leave if you didn’t know I was going to be okay.” He patted her hand with his, shaking with every word he said. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”
He couldn’t continue through his tears and beckoned me over to him. I sat down beside him. “He’s right, Mom. I’m here. I’m going to take care of him. I promise.”
I didn’t know why I said that. Just moments ago, I was ready to disappear again. But looking at the two of them, I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t just abandon the farm and everything I ever knew—the only place I’d ever been happy—not until I knew that Dad was going to be okay. By the look on his face, he was never going to be okay again. Not until he could join his wife in the great beyond.
“I love you, Mom. I’m sorry I was gone for so long. I’m sorry…I wish I had this past decade with you. I wish I’d called—I wish…there are so many things I wish. But I’m here now, just like you wanted. You can go, now, Mom, because I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere—”
The tears took me over, and I couldn’t say another word. I believed she had heard me. As I wept, the heart monitor flatlined. She let out one final breath, and she was gone.
This is a portal fantasy series with mythological roots and action-adventure tendencies. You can search through all my work on my website.