Immortal Light: Wide Awake

Immortal Light

W
ide
A
wake

John D. Sperry

This is a work of fiction. All
characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are
either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.
Any other similarity of characters to real persons living or dead
is purely coincidental.

Immortal Light: Wide Awake

Copyright © 2012 by John D.
Sperry

All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law. For permission, please email all
queries to

John D. Sperry at
[email protected]

Visit: johndsperry.com

Lyrics of “A Melody, The Memory”
courtesy of MAE. Song Copyright © 2009

ISBN:

ISBN-13:
978-1480139817

ISBN-10:
1480139815

Printed in the U.S.A.

First edition, November
2012

Second Edition, December
2013

The text type is set in
“Imperator.” Titles in “Lightfoot”

Book design by John D.
Sperry

For sarah

If ever there was a woman more lovely and more
beautiful, more

brilliant and more wise, she must certainly be
a fairy tale character. My Sarah is my fantasy come
true.

Part
I

Preface

It didn’t hurt; not yet, anyway. He told her
there would be pain and Lucy wasn’t going to underestimate someone
who was trying to kill her. She wanted to do something about it,
but that would only make things worse for Kat and even Benjamin and
his brothers. All Lucy could really do was wait.

The tide of the bay was rolling in
softly and Lucy’s anxiety had subsided enough for her to find her
favorite spot on the beach: an ancient, weatherworn tree that had
probably fallen centuries before from the cliff above. As she
walked to it, she picked up sand dollars and pebbles. Looking at
them in her hand, she was still amazed at how real they seemed.
They were only creations of her memories, her subconscious, yet
they were perfect in every way; even the gritty texture of the sand
dollar made her fingertips tingle.

The crook of the tree was cozy and Lucy was
comfortable with dying there, even if it was only in her haven. She
pushed the reality of the forgotten and mildew-ridden motel where
her body lay out of her mind. She hoped that Kat would be released
or might find a way out, because it would be an awful place for her
to die.

With a sudden gust of
uncharacteristic wind, Lucy looked up at the waves that were
starting to crest into whitecaps. It wasn’t normal;
he
must have started
already. In what she perceived to be her last moments, Lucy gave in
and thought of Benjamin. She tried to keep him out of her thoughts;
he would try to stop her and she loved him for that, but this was
not to be stopped. It was the only way to save him and everyone she
loved.

For a brief moment, she was
carried back to summer when she first met Benjamin and how far away
that seemed. The time hadn’t been long enough; she wanted to rewind
the clock and do it all over again, but the pain was starting and
the clock was about to stop ticking altogether.

Chapter
1

“
You heard what he said, Kat. It’s
going to take me two weeks at least, but I’m not going to give him
the satisfaction of seeing me upset about it.”

“
Yeah, but you could at least ask
him one more time. I mean, today’s your first day,
Luce.”

“
No! No way. I’m not going to
grovel. I’ll do something; I don’t know what, but something. If it
doesn’t work, then I’m going to suck this one up.”

“
Lucy, you know you don’t have to
prove anything to him. He’s been wrapped around your finger since
you were born.”

Lucy sighed into her phone as she found her
purse and the right shoes.

“
I know, but this is big. It’s not
like I’m five, asking for a candy bar in the checkout line. No.
I’ll do anything but beg.” Just then she saw the brightest
possibility of hope. “And I have just the thing.” Lucy smiled as
she uncorked the rubber stopper on the purple piggy bank she’d had
since she was three years old.

“
I don’t know what you’re going to
do, but don’t make it worse on yourself,” Kat warned.

“
I won’t. This will work.” She
smiled at her own cunning. “Okay, gotta go. Love you.”

Lucy listened as Kat lightly giggled at her
friend’s absurdity.

“
Love you, too. Call me
later.”

“
I will.” Lucy slapped her phone
shut and dumped the piggy bank full of silver coins into her purse
and headed to breakfast.

She walked as casually from her room and down
the stairs as she could. There was no sign of her father anywhere.
He was either still in his room or already in the kitchen drinking
his coffee. Lucy threw her purse over her shoulder, the sound of
coins jingling around as the purse came to rest.

As she walked through the kitchen, she saw her
mother, Laura, standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. Her
father, James, was at the coffee pot.

Perfect
, Lucy thought to herself.

She walked over to the kitchen table with a
deliberate blankness on her face. Without looking at or greeting
either of her parents, she pulled her purse from her shoulder and
carefully turned out the trove of silver coins onto the table. They
slid out onto the wood and formed a handsome pile. Lucy sat down in
a chair and immediately started separating the nickels, dimes, and
quarters from one another.

“
Morning, Sweetheart. Pancakes for
breakfast?” Laura’s voice was pleasant.

Lucy just shook her head as she focused on her
task. She didn’t want to lose track of what she was doing. At least
that’s what she wanted them to think.

James Higgins walked over to
the table and casually placed the morning paper next to his
daughter. Lucy could feel his presence behind her and she tried not
to let the sipping of coffee distract her. She was hoping he would
ask what she was doing.
Counting out
change for the bus, Daddy
, was the
response she had ready in her head. But, he said nothing and
continued sipping.

Lucy’s three piles of coins were nearly
separated and James had yet to say anything at all to her; she was
running out of time. He wasn’t even going to have to call her bluff
because she would be forced to beg.

No begging!
She reminded herself of the morning’s
motto.

Just as hope was dwindling, Lucy
saw her father move out of the corner of her eye. He leaned down
near her and reached out his hand. He was still too far around her
side that she couldn’t see what he was setting down. She closed her
eyes and prayed it was what she thought it was. But when she opened
them, her heart sank and a grimace crossed her mouth as she looked
at four dollars and ninety-nine cents worth of irony. Next to her
on the table was her father’s “World’s Greatest Dad” coffee mug, a
mug she had gotten for him nearly a decade earlier on father’s
day.

She felt his presence disappear as
footsteps lead to the stove where he was undoubtedly picking at the
pancakes still on the griddle.

“
Stop it, James. Those aren’t done
yet,” Lucy heard her mother say, followed by the sound of plastic
slapping fingers.

“
Ouch!” James hollered with a
laugh.

Lucy felt him close behind her again, but he
only picked up his drink, took the last sip of coffee and walked
his “World’s Greatest Dad” mug over to the kitchen sink, and turned
on the water. Finally, he addressed his only child, who sat visibly
dejected at the table.

“
Interesting story on the front
page today, Goosey. You should take a look; I think it’s right up
your alley.”

“
I don’t have
time,
Dad
; I have
to catch the bus.”

Usually referring to him as “Daddy,” her words
were prickly with disdain.

“
You sure? It’s a great
article.”

Lucy cocked her head sideways and glared at
him. “Yeah, I’m sure,” she said, shooting daggers.

There was no more pretending. She had lost,
and she was going to live with it. No begging today.

“
Okay, suit yourself,” James said,
picking up the newspaper.

As he did, Lucy heard
something slide out of the folded paper and hit the table with a
familiar clank and thud. It was a familiar sound, the sound she
heard every day when her father would get home from work; it was
the sound of keys hitting the table. She froze. Looking down, she
saw a small set of keys resting right next to her. It was a set she
had seen only once before. The slightly worn Chevrolet logo stared
up at her as if to say, “Hello.” Eyes wide, she slowly reached for
them, and looked up at her father who was standing over her with an
expression on his face that seemed to say,
What do you say?

Quickly grasping the keys, Lucy
jumped up, questioning, “Really?”

“
Yeah, really,” he
mumbled.

“
Oh thank you, thank you, thank
you, Daddy! You’re the best!” She threw her arms around her
father’s sturdy frame and squeezed him with all her
might.

“
You’re welcome, but remember,
thirty-five dollars a month for insurance and you pay for
gas.”

“
I know, I know, I
promise.”

Lucy grabbed her purse and pushed the coins
back into it. Her excitement was nearing critical mass.

“
You should have enough gas to
last you two weeks if you only drive to work and back. Don’t waste
it.” His tone had turned to a lecturing timbre as Lucy raced around
the kitchen grabbing her things.

“
I’ll see you at dinner, love
you,” she called to both of her parents and then turned around
again. She ran to her father and gave him another big hug. Jumping
up, she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him again.

Trying to hide his joy, he
responded with a surly, “
You’re
welcome,
” and encouraged her to thank her
mother.

Lucy raced over to the stove, repeated the
sentiment with a hug and a kiss, and was out the door before anyone
could change their mind.

Laura stood with her hands on her hips and
shook her head with a smile. “You’re such a softy. You know that,
right?”

James glowered at his wife. “I just wanted to
see if she knew I was serious about paying for the privilege of
driving, that’s all.”

He leaned over and kissed his wife goodbye.
She simply rolled her eyes and smiled.

***

Lucy drove her beige Chevrolet Cavalier, a
present she got three months earlier on her sixteenth birthday, to
her first job ever. She was told she had to pay for insurance up
front if she wanted to drive it. That meant she had to get a job.
That job was at the Coos Bay public library.

Pulling into the small parking lot, Lucy
looked for some sort of employee parking spaces, or at least a
designated zone, but she saw none, so she parked near the front of
the library. The clock on her stereo read 9:19 AM. She was early.
That worked to her advantage, as she didn’t want to make a bad
impression with her new boss her first day on the job.

The library opened at 10:00 AM so Lucy knew
she had a good thirty minutes of training ahead of her, but there
wasn’t a single other car in the lot and didn’t seem to be any life
inside the library.