Watch Me Burn: The December People, Book Two by Sharon Bayliss

Author:Sharon Bayliss
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781620077221
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2015-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

avid combed his fingers through Amanda’s hair, gently removing the tangles. Since she had gotten sick, they had more moments like this. The cancer slowed her down. She had become a quieter version of herself. Normally, she wouldn’t stay this still for long, her head resting on his chest while they lay in bed in silence.

He felt the warmth of her body, the rise and fall of her breathing, the heaviness of her head, very aware of the heart inside her—a heart, far too flimsy. That small beating thing kept all the energy and life and beauty that was Amanda. How could something so precious be snuffed out so easily? These moments felt bittersweet now. He couldn’t enjoy them. Every time he was reminded of how much he loved her, he couldn’t help but think about how it would feel to lose her.

I don’t want to think about it. Please, God, just stop me from thinking about it.

“I wish we were ordinary,” David said. In a way, continuing his prayer, talking to God and Amanda at once. “I want us to complain about things like traffic and the heat. And fight about money, and the kids. I want normal.”

“If it makes you feel better, we do all those things,” Amanda said.

“You know what I mean. I don’t understand why I can’t have that. I don’t want much. I don’t need wealth or power or anything I didn’t earn. I just want my wife and my kids, and for all of us to live to be old. Why can’t God give that to me? Is that really too much to ask?”

“So, this is the, ‘why does God let bad things happen’ question?”

“I suppose.”

“It’s a stupid question.”

“How is it a stupid question?”

She intertwined her hand with his and fiddled with his wedding ring. “I don’t pretend to understand God’s plan. But clearly, the world is meant to be horrible, and cruel, and unfair. It always has been. Always will be. Life is supposed to be that way. That’s what God intended. The world is horrible…but it’s also beautiful.”

The ceiling above him faded away. At first, he panicked, thinking he must have gone mad. But it didn’t take him long to realize what Amanda had done. She had done the same thing when she first told him he was a wizard. She immersed them in one of the “sticky” memories she had kept. She wanted to show him “beautiful.”

The ceiling blew away to reveal a thick blanket of stars. He had never felt so close to the sky. He knew this moment right away. Their honeymoon. They had lain together in the warm, white sand, in almost the same position they lay in now. Music from the nearby cabana drifted through the sound of the waves. He dug his toes into the warmth of the sand and inhaled. He could smell the salty ocean, and he could smell Amanda, with a hint of coconut on her skin and rum on her lips. He pulled her face toward him to kiss her, but the image faded.

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