Infected

by Alana Terry

  Kennedy didn’t reply. As they crossed the street into Boston Commons, the spring sunshine warmed Kennedy’s shoulders, soft and gentle heat streaming down on her from above.

  “Hey, beautiful. Where are you speeding off to so fast?” Nick jogged up and pecked Willow on her cheek.

  Kennedy glanced away when their fingers intertwined.

  “Hey.” Willow turned to look at Nick and kept her voice hardly above a whisper. “I think maybe we could use a few minutes. You know. Alone.”

  Nick nodded his head, his dreadlocks pumping up and down vigorously. “Yeah, I get it. Sure thing. Just don’t forget I’m treating you both to Angelo’s Pizza later on, right? We still up for that?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Willow gave him a kiss. “I’ll text you when we’re ready.”

  Nick dashed off like a puppy who’d just been thrown a stick.

  “You didn’t have to send him away,” Kennedy said. “I really don’t mind. You two are adorable. It’s like you were made for each other.”

  “Oh, I know. Just last night, we were talking about how we both ... Oh, never mind. You don’t want to hear about that. Not on a day like this.”

  Kennedy didn’t respond. Willow was right about one thing. Dominic’s funeral had been lively and full of joy. Joy and pain at the same time. As she listened to the eulogies, she realized how much about him she’d never had the chance to learn. How much closer they could have grown. How much more they could have shared with each other if only God had given them more time. She couldn’t explain how her heart could be so heavy but full of peace in the same instant. She thought about the first night she met Dominic, how his prayers for her had stopped her panic attack mid-sob. How heavenly healing had flowed from his intercession. If there was a common theme to any of the speeches made about Dominic today, it was his prayer life. Kennedy felt she could read a thousand books or listen to a thousand sermons on the subject and never come close to maturing into the kind of prayer warrior Dominic had been.

  Had he known? That was Kennedy’s biggest question, the one that kept her awake so many nights long after her tears and pillow both dried up. Had he known they would only be together for such a short time? Had he prayed for her? Had he prayed before the explosion that God would take care of her? Give her that sense of peace that had wrapped her up for the past week and a half?

  Sure, there were tears. Not only at night, and sometimes at the most inappropriate times. Like when Willow made Nick laugh until Coke sprayed out his nose, and then Willow thought it was so funny she lost control and fell out of her chair. Kennedy pictured Dominic’s expression if he had been there, that bemused, patient kindness softening his features even if he didn’t join in the hilarity.

  And she missed him.

  She missed him when she went to St. Margaret’s last Sunday instead of his cousin’s home church and when the Christian radio station played his favorite hymn.

  She missed him when Willow asked her difficult theological questions, like if God only has one person in mind that he wants you to marry or if there are several different options that would be good fits and it’s up to you to make a wise decision.

  She missed him when she looked out at the crowded Boston Common, at the children trying to fly their kites around or chasing after soccer balls and Frisbees.

  She missed him when she was awake.

  And she missed him when she was asleep.

  She missed him when she realized that now he was in heaven, worshiping in the presence of his Savior. Even if he had the ability to think about her down here at all, he’d have no real reason to.

  “Hey! Hey, Kennedy!”

  She slowed down at the sound of small tennis shoes plodding on the pavement behind her. She smiled down. “Hi, little buddy.”

  Woong was panting from running so hard. He still hadn’t regained all his energy back after his illness, but he’d been symptom-free now for over a week. “I finally caught you,” he said breathless. The warm sunshine lit up his cheeks, making him look strong and healthy.

  “Did you enjoy the service?” she asked him.

  “Uh-huh.” Woong started walking alongside Kennedy.

  She glanced back and spotted his parents to make sure they knew where he was. “What did you like about it?”

  “When it was over. It got kinda long. Hey, you know that big box they had him in? It looked heavy, huh?”

  “Yeah. It did.”

  “So that got me wondering, why do you think they make the box out of wood, I wonder? ’Cause back when people got the sickness in Korea, it weren’t like they all got buried in wood like that. Sometimes it was just holes, know what I mean? And it got me thinking that maybe it wasn’t so heavy when you do it that way, but it might get people upset, especially the ladies and little girls and ...”

  “Ok,” Willow interrupted, “maybe you should go find your parents so you guys don’t get separated.”

  “Oh, I don’t have to worry about that,” Woong assured her. “Ever since I got out of the hospital, my mom won’t leave me alone. One night, I even woke up, and guess who I saw sitting in a chair just staring at me? And I asked what she was doing there, and she said she was praying for me, and that got me wondering, why do you think she had to be in my room to pray for me? ’Cause I haven’t read any of the Bible yet for myself, but my dad, he reads it tons, and he says you can pray to God anywhere. And you know he’s gotta be telling the truth, him being a pastor and all.”

  Kennedy smiled. She’d take Woong’s theological questions over discussions about caskets any day.

  “So what I’m trying to figure out,” he went on, “is why she had to be in my room to pray if God coulda heard her just as well in her own room. But I was still pretty sleepy-like on account of being so sick earlier, and that’s why I hafta have an earlier bedtime now, at least until I get some of my energy back. And I lost a lot of weight in the hospital too, which is kinda funny if you think about it in a certain way. ’Cause my dad, you know he had to go to the hospital from having too much fat and calories and sugar and stuff and nonsense like that, so they put him in the hospital for those things. But me, they put me in the hospital, and now everyone’s talking about how they want me to gain weight, not lose it like my dad has to. I told mom that means I should be able to get double desserts, ones for me like normal and then the ones my dad can’t eat no more on account of him having the ... oh, what’s it called? Anchovies? No, that’s not the right name. It’s that thing with the sugar problem. You know what I’m talking about.”

  “Diabetes.”

  “Yeah, that. I don’t know why, it always sounds like anchovies to me, but my mom says those are something else. She says there are some folks crazy enough to put fish on their pizza if you can believe that, but that’s different from what my dad’s got. But that reminds me. Mr. Nick, you know, he works with my dad. And he says that he really likes diabetes on his pizza because they’re so salty.” He turned to Willow. “But I bet you already know that, you being his new girlfriend and all. I think it’s kinda funny if you ask me, ’cause two weeks ago the two of you didn’t even know each other, and now you’re kissing every minute or two. Once I seen you do it right on the lips when I bet you thought no one was looking.”

  “I’ll make sure we’re more careful next time.” Willow scratched her cheek, and Kennedy thought she detected a hint of a blush.

  “You better,” Woong continued, “’cause that kissing, it’s serious. Like my sister Blessing, she’s got this son a little smaller than me and she’s got an even tinier baby too, and so actually I’m their uncle which is pretty funny if you think about it, right? But she didn’t get married until after Jayden started growing in her tummy, so I asked her how that worked when my mom and dad say you gotta be married before the babies come along and all, but she said she wasn’t careful about who she kissed and that’s how she ended up with my nephew. So all I’m saying is you and Mr. Nick better know what you’re doing, ’cause you look a litt
le too skinny for a baby to even fit in your belly, right?”

  Willow couldn’t control her laughter. “You run back to your parents now, ok?”

  “All right. But before I go, there’s something I wanted to give Kennedy.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper folded up into a small rectangle. “Mom said you’re probably gonna be sad for a while, with Mr. Dominic who’s dead being your old boyfriend and all, so I asked her what she thought might cheer you up and she said this would probably do it. It’s a picture I drawed. It’s got a sunset, because I asked her and Mom said you always liked pictures of pretty sunsets. And then I told Mom I wanted a Bible verse on it, since whenever you come over and talk to her, she’s always saying verses from the Bible and stuff and nonsense like that. So I told her to pick a Bible verse, but she wanted me to do it, so what we ended up doing was she gave me a few choices, and I picked from there. I wrote it myself too. Mom helped a little with the spelling is all.”

  Kennedy unfolded the page. “It’s just perfect.”

  “Good, ’cause I was a little worried when Mom said I spelled fatter instead of Father. See? But I guess it’s all right because you know what it’s supposed to mean, don’t you?”

  Kennedy stared at the drawing. The sunset itself was crude at best, but she had to give Woong credit for his imaginative use of color. It was the first time she’d seen either purple or pea-green streaking across the sky, but there was enough orange and red to balance it out.

  In the middle of the picture was a cloud with a verse scribbled on the inside. Kennedy might not have recognized all the words if she didn’t already know the passage by heart. In fact, it had been quoted several times at Dominic’s service.

  Not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

  Woong reached out a finger and pointed to a few black M shapes by the clouds. “Them are the birds. You know, the sparrows it talks about.”

  “It’s beautiful.” She gave him a quick hug, and then he squirmed free and ran to his parents.

  Willow glanced at the picture over her shoulder. “That’s really sweet.”

  Kennedy had lost her voice and could only nod.

  “You know, most girls just dream about being loved so much someone would be willing to die for them. You actually had it happen to you.”

  “He would have done it for anyone.” Kennedy knew that with absolute certainty.

  Willow shrugged. “Maybe. But that doesn’t change the fact that he did it for you.”

  “Yeah.” She glanced once more at the picture and sniffed.

  Willow hugged her from the side. “You know he wouldn’t want you to stay sad forever.”

  “I won’t.”

  Kennedy glanced around her, and her ears soaked in the sounds of spring. The chatter of the young kids chasing after the ducklings near the ponds. The birds warbling in the trees, chirping exultantly in the glorious sunshine. Willow’s phone beeping every few seconds with more texts from Nick.

  She’d never known you could feel so full and so heartbroken all at the same time.

  She wondered what else about life she hadn’t yet discovered.

  She was ready to find out.

  ***

  From Alana Terry

  Well, if anyone deserves a peaceful summer break, it’s Kennedy Stern. And that’s exactly what she’s going to get.

  Unfortunately, no amount of rest or relaxation can prepare her for what she’s about to face when she sets foot on campus next fall.

  Threats of violence against her church family. Academic probation and retaliation. When Kennedy dares to voice a dissenting viewpoint on campus, she’s not the only one who suffers.

  Her conscience won’t allow her to take back her words.

  But if she doesn’t recant, someone she loves is going to die.

  Dive straight into Abridged, book 7 in the most binge-worthy Christian suspense series. Available today.

  Buy Abridged now. (Just be prepared to stay up late.)