Elected: The Book of Daniel by S R Fraser

Author:S R Fraser [Fraser, S R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-10T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Two Faces

The return journey to the Cathedral had been a deathly silent one. Having bundled a grief-stricken boy into the car along with a suitcase of his belongings, Lucas took to the wheel while Leo sat in the backseat next to Daniel. For the whole time they travelled, Daniel held Leo’s hand but never made any attempt at talking, instead fixing his anguished eyes firmly out of the window. Every so often, Leo would feel his hand being squeezed so would turn eagerly to the youngster expecting communication of some sort. It wasn’t long until he realised that the boy was making sure someone was close by, someone that he trusted and knew cared for him.

‘What a poor consolation prize for the boy: Leo Alexander.’

The return of his inner voice didn’t fill him with joy, especially when it was right. He could never be what Daniel needed him to be. He wasn’t equipped to be a parent. He was efficient in the classroom and managed extraordinarily well considering he’d never had much experience in dealing with youngsters but children behaved differently in school. They conformed, or the majority of them did at least, and there were rules for everybody to abide by. As far as he knew, there wasn’t a parent manual for dummies. ‘Perhaps it will be enough to simply be his friend,’ he thought as he copied Daniel and stared out of the window.

While ignoring the scenery, he struggled to process what had transpired in the last two days, his mind only just coping with the information overload. It’d been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least, and he suspected things weren’t going to get any easier. As he lay his head against the soft head rest, a beam of sunlight burst through the window and dazzled him.

He shifted his head and peered up at the sky. Apart from a few wisps of white cloud, the sky was completely blue. It was the first time the sun had shone in weeks due to winter’s blizzards holding court over the festive season. He couldn’t help feel that this beautiful day was wholly out of place. How could Daniel enjoy such a stunning day? The sunlight reflected against the fields of snow causing them to sparkle magnificently, and the gentle heat of the sun, caressing the faces of those it reached, felt welcomed after the recent arctic conditions.

He tore his eyes away from the white diamond encrusted blankets and decided that God couldn’t possibly foresee the future. If He could, then surely He wouldn’t have allowed for all these terrible things to happen: the death of Daniel’s parents, his own parents’ death, Lucas’ abusive and violent father, and on a grander scale; the Twin Towers, two World Wars, and the never ending conflict in the Middle East where atrocities were regularly carried out in His name.

A stabbing pain shot across his forehead warning him that it was not the time to dissect his whole belief system and analyse the flaws and foundations of modern religion.

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