Christian walked away leaving Connor in his office by himself.
Kyra sat at home rocking her daughter back and forth in her arms.
“What are you doing up?” Victor said smiling.
“Lily was upset so I came in here to take care of her.”
“You don’t know how to rest do you?” Victor said walking up behind her.
“No. I am tired of sleep in bed all day. It’s been two days can I not get up now.”
“Sure babe. Whatever you want.” He kissed her on the cheek. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Whatever you feel like making.” Kyra said.
“I can give you what I give you the same thing I give Lily. But I have to ask which one do you want Sweet potato or sweet pea.”
“Sweet potato, sweet pea looks like barf.” Kyra said smiling.
“They both look like barf.” Victor said laughing as he walked out of the door threshold.
Kyra walked back into her room with Lily sound asleep in her crib.
“What are you getting dress for?” She said watching Victor get dressed.
“Because I thought we could go out for breakfast today?”
“But I just got Lily to sleep.” Kyra said with disappointment.
“Don’t worry I can ask Caleb if he would like to look after her for twenty dollars. He’ll say yes.”
“Okay then. I’ll get ready and then we can go.” Kyra walked to the master bathroom and turn on the shower. She took off her night gown and step into the water as the steam rose filling the air and forming condensation on the ice cold glass of the mirror. She soaped her hand and glided them across her skin. She had turned her head up to the showering water, washing her face and relaxing her. She turn off the nob turning off the water and grabbed a towel she wrapped it around herself before sitting on the ledge of the tub. She sat feeling the staples that was in her face and the bruise that was diminishing along her side. She then got up and left the bathroom and began rummaging through her closet for an outfit to wear. She came across a floral sundress that match the color of her cast. It was her favorite color, pink. It was filled with all the names of her visitors that came when she was hospitalized. Her sister. The doctors from the firm building and then Christian.
Chapter IV
Christian sat next to her on the bed. “I never could stay mad at you. Even when you tried to use blackmail against me. I am always the one that would forgive no matter the severity of damage caused. Honestly, I found it nice that someone want to learn more about me. Someone who actually cared to learn. I just have a place in my mind where I repress. I know that I will never get a clear answer for my questions, so I push them back in a place where I can’t go back. But talking to you opened a portal to that place and all those thoughts came rushing back. All those question without an answer came back in my head and they bombarded and overwhelmed me because I still today don’t know why things went the way they went. It was that split instant where anything could happen. Where unspoken words could have been said, where action that would leave scar wouldn’t even had cause the wounds in the first place. I over reacted and, I am sorry. You were just doing your job and I should have done mines. I should have share with you who I am. I will just have to find the strength in me, somewhere. Even though you may not have heard me just know that I was here. Just know now that you are forgiven, and that I am sorry.”
He grabbed a black permanent marker and writ his name into her cast.
“Good bye, Kyra. Stay strong for your family.”
He left out of the hospital room walking out into the labyrinth of corridors.
“Christian looked down at his watch and saw the time. He took a breath like he was anticipating something. Like he was preparing himself for something he didn’t want to do. He continued to walk out of the emergency section and out of the hospital in the streets.
Kyra smiled at the thought of being forgiven by Christian. She knew then that even when she was in her coma it wasn’t just a figment of her imagination. He was actually there talking to her while she resting, unconsciously.
“Kyra.” Victor called.
“I’m coming.” She responded. She touched his name nearly breaking down into tears. She left the room and walked down the stairs.
“You look beautiful.” Victor said.
“Thank you.” She stumble on the last stair, tripping over her cast. Victor caught her.
“Remember you have a cast on your foot. You have to watch where you step more carefully.”
“I know.” Kyra said standing herself back up.
“Victor opened the door and they both walked out to the car. They drove off as Caleb crossed the yard and waved to them as they drove off.
They arrived at a little diner. It was slow this morning which made it nice for them. They sat in a both that lied next to the window that gave them a view of a park in the distance. It was nice outside, the weather was just right and there was no cloud in sight for miles to come. A young waitress came to give the two menus.
“I will be back around to take your orders.”
“Thank you.” Victor said.
“What are you planning on getting?” Kyra asked.
“I don’t know. I think I am going to get pancakes with toast and scrambled eggs.”
“That sounds good, I thing I’m going to get the same.”
“Okay then.” Victor said closing his menu.
“Would you like to order now?” The waitress asked.
“Yes, we would both like the pancakes with toast and eggs.” Victor ordered.
“Actually can I have mines without toast?” Kyra asked.
“Sure.” The waitress said scribing on her order pad.
“Thank you.”
“Would you like anything to drink?”
“Orange juice is fine.” Victor answered.
“Water for me, would be okay.”
“Okay. You food should be ready shortly.”
“Thanks.”
She walked away to the counter and submitted the order.
Kyra grew a headache.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah I just have a headache. I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah I’ll be okay.”
She dug in her purse and pulled out a bottle of pain killers prescribed by her a doctor. He told her to take two for moments like this.
Their food came and she threw both of the pill to the back of her throat without hesitation. She took a sip of her water and swallowed.
“Now let’s enjoy our food.” Said smiling.
They left the diner to and drove around. They passed the many memorial set up for the Lisa around the college community.
“Stop the car.” Kyra said.
Victor pulled over to the side of the road. Kyra walked down to a memorial filled with lit candle that flickered with every given breeze. She kneeled before it.
“You were taken out of this world faster than you could have come into this world.” She unlocked her pendant of a butterfly. “May you live on, somewhere else, in peace.” She sat the necklace in front of a candle that was below a picture of her smiling. She stood up dust off her dress and turning to walk towards the car. She got back in and they drove off.
“Your grandmother gave you that necklace.”
“I know. She would be happy to see someone else have it with her.”
Victor smiled while he drove.
“The world can be so cruel at times. Where can you find the silver lining in all of this?”
“In our hopes, for a better place.” Victor said.
Christian went back home and paced around. He walked from a phone book back to his couch and onto the floor. He could decide what he was going to do. He open up the book and began dialing. He stopped and threw his phone in a heated rage. He sat with his hand on his head and rubbing back his hair in stress. Looked back at the open bottle of whiskey and felt the temptation to drink a glass. He grabbed his ja
cket and tore a page for the phonebook. He stormed out of the house slamming the door shut behind him.
Kyra headed home to Caleb sleep on the couch with lily asleep in her play pin. They decide to leave to rest and head upstairs to do the same. They walked up the stairs and got into bed. The light went off and then drift off to sleep.
Christian arrived at a house. He entered when he saw the door was cracked and he heard the pour of a liquid.
“Mr. Reed?” Christian called. “Is any one in here?” He walked into the living room and saw a chair sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace. A container of gasoline lied on a table to his right.
“Mr. Reed?” Christian repeated. Smoking rose in the air.
“What do you want?” A man sitting in the chair said.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Just leave me alone.” Said the man with sadness in his voice.
Christian walked around the chair and looked into the eye of the man while he looked into the raging fire.
“I am not upset about what you did to me when I was young.”
He laughed.
“What is funny?” Christian asked.
“You are. I could care less that you came here and forgave me. I stop caring when you became a disappointment.”
“A disappointment. That’s all I was. I could see coming here was a mistake.”
“What was you expecting from me? To come with open arm being ever so grateful for your forgiveness. It’s worth nothing to me.”
Christian smelled smoke.
“What were you planning on to accomplish here? What is burning?”
The man in the chair wouldn’t answer. Christian walked back into a room whose door was crack open. He pushed it further to see the fire dance up the wall and engulf the room. The adjoining area was the living room, where the man resided. He ran back to see the fire has spread quickly and was inching across the wall before his eyes.
“You need to go, Christian.”
“I am not going to leave you here to burn alive! We need to both leave!”
“Just go! Leave me here.”
Christian went up and grabbed him from out of the chair onto his feet. The man balled up his fist a hit Christian knocking him to the ground.
“If you really cared for me like you say you do you will just leave me here and you will go.”
Christian stood up wiping away the freshly drawn blood from the corner of his mouth.
“Don’t leave again.” Christian said.
A beam fell in between the two.
“Please go, son.”
Christian back away walking through.
“I’m sorry.” The man whispered before the second floor came crashing down around him.
Christian sat on the corner watching the firefighters extinguish the raging blaze. He knew his father cared because he feared that Christian would get hurt in the midst of destruction. Christian began to remember what made his father violent. It was his alcoholism. Every time he saw him he always had a bottle of liquor in his hand. Christian promised himself never fall into the consumption that his father did. He had to keep that vow to himself. The question that lingered on was why did he take his life? Was life so cruel that he could stand strong anymore? Was it the outcome of a longing never-ending descent into an abyss of a soul darkening depression? These questions Christian had no answer. The curiosity made him ill to his stomach. He stood, his skin blackened with ash and left the scene as the blaze went on and the water rained down on from the hoses.
Valerie had woke up in the middle of the night. There was no absolute reason why but she felt the need to wake. The clock flashed one-thirty- one in cyan blue light. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked at her stitches again and looked at her side that was now its color. She took a deep breath turning on the water washing her face. She looked back up and looked at herself in the mirror only to see Victor behind her rubbing his eye. She screamed in fear.
“What the hell, Steven?” She said as she realized it was him.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. What are you doing up? It’s after one in the morning.”
“I woke up. I can’t sleep.” Kyra said.
“Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it now?”
“No you have to get your rest. I’ll be okay?” Kyra said braiding her hair and wrapping it up.”
“You have been saying that since you were in the hospital. Since then you had broken down there and have be acting strange here. I am fine staying up and losing a few hours of sleep to help you through it. So do you want to talk about what’s bothering you?”
“Yes. I would like that.”
“So talk to me.”
Kyra sat down on the edge of the bed.
“I keep having moments where that night just keep playing like a broken record in my head.”
“The night of the accident?” Victor asked
“Yes, I remember every little aspect. The broken glass gliding across my skin. Me being jolted forward while my car spiraled out of control. Everything. And I felt like if I only paid more attention.”
“Wait. Are you really blaming yourself for that accident? You had nothing to do with it. The guy that crashed into you was drunk. You had no control over that.”
“But I felt like I did.”
Kyra drifted back into her memories. She remember that she was driving. She was alluded by the idea of Christian being upset about her blackmail. She remember just focusing on the road and nothing else. Her surrounding was blind to her. All saw was the black asphalt trail that went straight into an intersection. She approached the intersection where the car was slammed into and where the car wrapped the pole. The scene replayed before her eyes to the point where she made it to the intersection. It continued to play over and over until she saw the traffic light’s reflection in her windshield. It was red.
Kyra came back to reality with tears in her eyes.
“The light was red.” She whispered to herself in petrified shock.
“What?” Victor said.
“The light was red, when I reached the intersection. It was my fault that man is dead.”
“Kyra. It’s okay.”
“Don’t tell me it’s, okay, when an innocent man is dead because of my negligence!” She yelled. “It is not okay, Steven.”
“You can’t do anything now. What’s done is done.”
Kyra stood walking towards her closet.
“What are you doing?” Victor said standing looking her frantically search their closet.
“I am looking for clothes. I am going to go down to police station and I am going to straighten this out with them.”
“Why are going to do that?”
“Because I am responsible for another person’s death. I am not going to just let everyone think that he was the one that killed himself when it is my fault.”
“He wasn’t right either in this case. You are going to go down to that police station and lose everything that you worked hard to obtain. What about me? What about your baby girl that is in her crib sound asleep? What about you?”
“What about me? What good am I if I am not in this world to do good for other?”
“What if you are just making this all up in your head what if you are just making this all up in your head because you feel guilty for something you had no control over? What if you thinking that the light was red was just a way was a trick?”
“What if believe that the light was green this whole time was a deception? To have me believe that it wasn’t my fault?” Kyra said gritting her teeth in anger. “I don’t know what to think and it makes me sick to even consider just having everyone be fool when in my head I saw the light it was red.”
“Dammit Kyra. I nearly lost you once you go out that door and tell them what you saw then you are leaving me again.”
Kyra walked over to Victor and fell into his arms crying.
“I don’t
know what to think anymore.”
“I promise you at the end of this everything will be okay.” Victor whispered. “I promise.”
Christian woke up with the light peeking through his bedroom window. He woke up from his study desk and walked to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw that his skin was still blackened with the ash from the fire. He turned on the water and grabbed a rag from a cabinet in his bathroom. He dipped the rag in the water and wiped the black spots from his face. He turn off the water and looked at himself and took a deep breathe.
“It been a long night.” He said. “I’m just glad all of that is over.”
He walked out the bathroom with a hand towel in hand, wiping the excess water from his face and off his hand. He looked at his clock that read eight o’ two in black.
“A sunrise isn’t given, it’s not even promised. It’s only here for us to enjoy today while we can. And if we get another chance to see it again, then we are blessed one more day.” A note read in front of a picture of him and his father.
“I guess that’s right. A sunrise isn’t promised but in order to live in the darkened world, we need the light to show us our way.” He thought as he picked up the picture. “I looked happy then. I would have never thought that those days would go.”
His phone rang in the other room and he went to answer it.
“Hello?”
“I need to see you.” A woman on the other end said.
“Sure. I’m on my way.” He said. He pulled the phone away from his face and hung up. He looked back in the mirror and sighed. He walked out of the bathroom and prepared to get ready for his meeting with the woman.
Chapter V
“It’s great seeing you again Christian.” The woman said. She wore scarlet lipstick that matched her red dress and wore a white foe fur coat that made her look as she was going to walk the red carpet.
“I would say the same for about you.” Christian said sitting down in a chair that was next to a coffee table.
“Why don’t you, then?” The scarlet woman said.
“Because then I would be lying. What did you call me here for?”
She walked around to her seat. “Why can’t we just enjoy each other’s company?” She said smiling pure white.
A Murder Of Our Own (Inevitable Darkness) Page 4