The crisp white sheet provocatively rose, like a solitary hill, shrouding the bed, and sparing his eyes, however, the emanating sounds were not as conducing. The sheet slid from entwined bodies, exposing their nakedness. Louis felt himself drowning as if rushing water had engulfed his lungs, stealing his words of reprisal with involuntary gulps for air. He stared at them incomprehensively paralysed.
Emma lifted her head. ‘Oh shit, Louis… I’m sorry.’
The words hang in the air, taunting him. Instinctively she covered herself and her shame. His world suddenly stopped upon its axis. This kind of thing did not happen to him, to Emma, and then a profound rage grasped him, multiplying in his mind, electrifying every nerve and sense, urging him to tear the sheet from her.
He moved into the room, a demented animal, and his life of intricacy and detail, the life he identified as his own was ripped from him, it ceased to exist. Two seconds to steal a lifetime.
About the author
In a past life, Dougie has been a dockyard worker, student, musician, and songwriter, playing in several bands, performing live and recording music. He has a degree in Learning Disability nursing and a post graduate diploma in autism. He is a children and young person’s learning disability nurse with a specialist interest in autism. Dougie lives in Dunfermline, Fife, with his wife, teenage daughter, older son and hyperactive golden retriever.
The Boy Who Hugs Trees is his second novel, inspired by a love of all things Greek, her islands, people, landscapes, sea, light, and ambience all of which are important themes and symbols in his writing.
The Boy Who Hugs Trees Page 30