Long the Mile by Ally Blue

Author:Ally Blue
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Published: 2013-11-20T23:00:00+00:00

Judah dreamed of blankets. Thin, scratchy, stained, and worn, piled high to form a fortress between himself and the shouting Outside. Before long, the shouts turned to screams and sobs and the smack of fists on flesh. He pressed deeper into his blanket nest, shut his eyes and put his hands over his ears. Eventually the screaming stopped, as it always did. He huddled in the darkness of his safe place and waited.

When no one came, he crawled through the mound of blankets, opened the door, and walked into the next room. He saw the blood on the floor and his mother so very still and his father gone again, and he ran to his mother’s side and shook her and cried, begging her to get up, please, please just wake up . . .

“Hey. Judah. Wake up.”

Judah opened his eyes. Toby leaned over him, watching him with concern. “You all right? It looked like you were having a bad dream.”

“I was.” Judah looked around. He and Toby were still lying naked on the sacristy carpet. “Oh my God. I didn’t mean to fall asleep here. I wonder what time it is?”

“Hang on.” Pushing up onto his knees, Toby leaned over to look at the front of the organ. “Four-thirty. No one’ll be coming in for a while.” He plopped back onto the floor.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Judah sat up, leaned forward, and kissed Toby’s lips. “There’s a clock on the organ?”

“Megan’s a little bit OCD. She likes to start exactly five minutes before the service.”

“Oh.” Judah bent his legs up and looped his arms around his knees. He felt distinctly odd sitting naked in the darkened church, but having Toby beside him in a similar state seemed to make it all right.

Toby moved closer and took one of Judah’s hands in both of his. “Wanna talk about it?”

Judah swallowed against the sudden hammer of his pulse in the base of his throat. “No one’s ever asked me about my nightmares before.”

The mingling of surprise, anger, and sympathy in Toby’s eyes said he wanted to ask why, but he didn’t. Instead, he gave Judah’s hand an encouraging squeeze. “I want to listen, if you want to talk.”

Judah studied Toby’s face. The huge stained glass of the resurrection diffused the streetlight glare outside into a soft glow that cast swatches of muted color over Toby’s skin and in his hair. His gaze held Judah’s, patiently, without judgment. Waiting for Judah’s decision, whatever it might be.

The strength of Judah’s gratitude for that—for Toby’s simple waiting—almost overwhelmed him. As far back as he could remember, those who’d bothered to acknowledge his existence at all had done so mostly because they’d wanted something from him. Toby was the first person he could recall who had ever wanted nothing more than to know his story, if he wished to tell it.

Moved by a wave of affection, Judah leaned forward, his free hand on Toby’s bearded cheek, and kissed him—softly, slowly, full of all the things he felt and couldn’t find the right words for.

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