Theft of Light
Page 9
“What can I do?” Lance asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I’ve got to plan his funeral now.”
“I’ll help. Just tell me what to do.”
“Just leave,” Kandice said, emotionless. “I just want to be alone.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Lance hesitated, but when Kandice wouldn’t look at him, he left. When the door close behind him, she sunk back on the bed and stared at the wall. The thought of killing herself crossed her mind, but deep down she knew it would be worth living, to kill as many Aether Walkers as possible.
Chapter Eighteen
Monday, November 7th
Over the next several days, Kandice and her aunt worked together to plan Blake’s funeral.
It shocked Mr. Goldsmith, Kandice’s and Blake’s attorney, to learn about Blake’s death. He explained he would have to look into how to address Blake’s trust fund, but he was working under the plan of it transferring to Kandice.
When Kandice and her aunt went to pick out a casket, they got into an argument over which one was best. Kandice wanted to go with a simple oak casket that had been stained black with blue satin inside. Her aunt insisted that he should be in a far more elaborate metal casket. Their argument became so heated that the funeral director had to excuse himself so they could work it out. After a ten-minute yelling match, Jackie conceded to Kandice, and they both broke down in tears, which made Kandice feel dirty somehow. Pastor Gerlock had agreed to oversee the burial.
The police released Blake’s body on Sunday, and the funeral home scheduled the burial the next day.
Jackie called Kandice to let her know they had the body. It surprised her to hear Jackie’s voice was back to normal. There was no longer any sound of understanding and sympathy. With each conversation they had, Jackie grew more interested in Blake’s death.
Jackie knew he’d been hanging out with Kandice more and felt there was more to the story than everyone said. Blake never left the house prior to Kandice moving out, so in Jackie’s mind there was no way he would have been in a park late at night. With Kandice and Blake as close as they were Jackie was insistent that Kandice knew why he was in the park. But Kandice held strong and continued to reassure Jackie that she knew nothing of the sort.
♦ ♦ ♦
Lance drove Kandice to the funeral. Slava stayed behind to finish packing up what little they owned to leave town.
“Are you ready?” he asked, once they parked in front of the funeral home.
“No,” she said. “But I have to do this.”
There was a small turn out for Blake’s funeral. All of his friends had been online, and their only close relative was Jackie. Pastor Gerlock was there, and eight adults Kandice didn’t recognize, but assumed went to church with Jackie. She struggled to imagine Jackie having friends outside of her congregation.
Lance held Kandice’s arm as they walked across the lawn to the fresh hole dug for Blake.
Dr. Gerlock took Kandice’s free hand and gave it a slight squeeze. “I’m truly sorry. He’s in a better place now. If you want to talk, I’m always here.”
“Thank you,” she said, and meant it. She didn’t believe in much, but trusted that her family was in a better place.
Everyone else came over one by one to offer their condolences. Lance was her rock. He stood beside her the whole time holding her arm and often keeping her upright. She loved him for it. If he hadn’t been with her through her brother’s death, she would never had made it.
Kandice lost track of all the movement as everyone got into position, and Pastor Gerlock walked to the head of the casket behind Blake’s grave marker.
Pastor Gerlock spoke for several minutes, but lost in her own head she only heard muffled words as her mind replayed Blake dying over and over. Her crying became crippling, and Lance had to hold her up.
Strength radiated out of him keeping her standing. She looked over, and he smiled a little, not in a way to show happiness, but as a reassurance he was there for her.
It was comforting to know Lance was there. The thought of him and Slava leaving rushed into her mind with a new wave of tears.
As Blake’s casket made the slow decent into the ground, Kandice’s legs gave out, she sunk to ground before Lance could catch her. She was crying harder than ever before in her life. She’d watched her mothers lowered and kept a stoic posture as expected. When her fathers lowered, there wasn’t a tear on her face.
Losing Blake was too much. Her body screamed in pain but she suppressed the urge to do it aloud. Her vision was red with rage, her only thought was killing the next Aether Walker that crossed her path. They needed to get out of there, seeing him lowered in was killing her with each inch he descended. When the sound of the wenches stopped, Kandice looked up at Lance trying to pull her back to her feet. She gave in and stood next to him.
She wiped the tears from her eyes and hid her emotions behind a mask of blank expression. Jackie’s church companions offered their condolences again. Dr. Gerlock offered to talk with Kandice after the reception, but Kandice said she was fine.
Lance stood next to her, and they stared at Blake’s casket at the bottom of a hole that seemed to go on forever.
Jackie walked over to her. “I’m not sure what happened,” she said. “But I know you know more than you’re telling.”
“Why do you think that?” Kandice asked. Trying to force her mind to think straight and come up with new lies while remembering the old ones.
“You know why Blake was killed,” Jackie said, “I know you do. He was spending all his time with you.” She looked at Lance. “Is he involved? He looks like trouble. Kandice, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“Fuck you,” Kandice said. “Fuck You!”
Jackie slapped her. It was sudden and unexpected. Kandice’s cheek stung, and her skin swelled.
Before Kandice could punch back, Lance stepped between her and Jackie. “You’ll never do that again. Do you understand?”
“How dare-” Jackie started.
“Never again!” he said and pointed to the parking lot. “Leave.”
Jackie’s face was red with anger, but she stormed off, leaving Lance and Kandice alone at the grave.
“I’m sorry,” Lance said. “This is all my fault.”
“No, it’s mine,” she said.
She stepped closer the grave and stood teetering on the edge.
“It should have been me,” she said.
Lance pulled her back as she slipped forward. “I’m glad it wasn’t.”
She didn’t think, but pushed up onto her toes and kissed him. He pulled her in tight by the small of her back and kissed her back with a passion she only knew of from the movies. She could feel her teeth cut the front of her lips from the force of his kiss.
“I want to come with you,” she said, once they separated.
“You do?” he asked.
“When you leave, I want to come with you and Slava. I can’t stay here. Not anymore.”
“Yes. I’d love that.”
“Me too,” she said.
They walked back to the parking lot. They could see cars pulling out on their way to the reception.
“I’m going to skip it,” Kandice said.
“Skip what?” he asked.
“The reception,” she said. “I can’t stand to listen to people who never knew Blake talk about him.”
It was time for her to leave. Not just the funeral, but the whole damn city. There was nothing left for her here but negative memories. It was time to start fresh, in a new city with new people.
“Fuck,” she said, and stopped walking.
“What is it?” Lance asked.
“I’ll have to sell everything and break my lease.”
“It’ll be fine. Slava and I will help.”
She looked up into his eyes and smiled for the first time since Blake’s death. She hugged him, and Lance squeezed her back.
Chapter Ninet
een
Wednesday, November 9th
Kandice had dodged every one of Jackie’s calls. There was no point trying to explain her departure, and they’d never gotten along anyway so they shouldn’t miss each other or need a long goodbye. After the first six voicemails, she quit listening, and deleted them. The only person she contacted was Mr. Goldsmith to explain her departure. Since it was unclear where they were going, she let him know the city was too painful to live in and a friend would accompany her on a cross-country adventure. She promised to check in with him, and Mr. Goldsmith agreed to watch after her assets.
Kandice also let him know her apartment would be empty by the end of the week because she was selling off her belongings. Breaking a lease would look bad on her renter’s history, but there was no avoiding it as paying for it throughout the year wasn’t an option. Mr. Goldsmith said he would pay the cancelation fee, and next month’s rent, out of Kandice’s bank account, and that he could smooth it over with the apartment complex on her behalf.
He also agreed to sell her moped for her and didn’t want compensation for it. He considered it a favor to Kandice and her parents. She had thanked him and asked one last favor: that he not discuss any of it with Jackie. He explained that it would violate client privilege to tell Jackie anything.
♦ ♦ ♦
She stopped by Mr. Goldsmith’s office. He was out playing golf, but his secretary, Mrs. Nicolson, had Kandice sign the needed documents. Kandice gave her the key to her storage unit, along with a piece of paper that had the address written on it. The closure was numbing. There was no reason to stay in Austin, but somehow, leaving didn’t quite feel real.
When she came out of the office building, Lance was waiting for her.
“Are you all set?” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she said. “He’ll call me if anything comes up.”
They both walked to their cars parked next to each other. Lance was driving a forest green mustang, which sounded like a rocket when he revved the engine. As he pulled out, Kandice followed and Slava pulled up behind her in a cherry red mustang. It was amusing to see him in a bright red sports car. He always had struck her as a subtler man.
The three of them took the on ramp to I-35, the largest north and south highway in the entire US. Kandice was still nervous going fast, but kept up with Lance as he cut across all five lanes of traffic to get into the far left one. She looked in her rear-view mirror, and there was Slava, keeping pace half a car length behind her.
In no time, they were flying northbound as fast as they could without hitting another car. They swerved in unison around anyone who refused to get out of their way as they headed out of Austin. Headed to anywhere but…