#SampleSunday Legend of #Kawilara 2 excerpt chapter 14

Indigo smeared a star-streaked sky way above Tia Justace and the shoreline upon which it sat. It was a sobering contrast, the silence, compared to the noisy tavern. There on a single dark road making up the village in its entirety stood Billy with yet another face he hadn’t seen since before his mother died.

“Man, I wish we would have known, Bill…wish we could have done something, you know?” Mike’s brooding brown eyes glanced over to Billy.

“There was really nothing anyone could have done, mate, as much as I wished then…even now…” Billy replied, his hands in his deep jacket pockets and eyes contemplative, like destruction’s fires still lingered in soft embers after so much time, not bright enough for everyone to see, but burning just orange enough that the boy who lost everything could still feel the subtle burns.

In many ways, Billy envied his best friend. Mike came from a good family, complete with a mother and a father who loved her. He was second eldest of four kids. He had two brothers and a sister, who was the youngest. They were a close family. The Greitzers lived a few doors down from Olivia, almost across from where Billy and his mother used to live. Billy remembered always being slightly envious of Mike and his family, though he could never be bitter. The family had always been good to him and his mother.

“Well, it’s really good to see you,” Mike told him sincerely. “I’m glad you’re alright. We were all really worried about you. They kept saying your mother’s…well….that it was a suicide, aye? My parents never believed it. Looking back, neither do I. We all know what was happening.”

“Your family and Olivia were about the only ones who cared,” Billy remarked quietly, gazing down the shadowy street as he and Mike sauntered.

“We still do,” Mike replied, glancing up at Billy seriously. “Don’t ever think you don’t have a family here. You’ve got Olivia and you’ve got us, if you ever need anything. It looks like you’re doing alright for yourself. I just want to make sure you know you’re not alone…”

Billy gave a small smile. “Olivia says the same thing. It means a lot, it really does. If I don’t take advantage of the offer it doesn’t mean I’m ungrateful, mate. I’m just trying to figure things out for myself. This town is not a place I want to be.”

Mike shrugged. “And who can blame you? Damn, Billy, I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. Part of me doesn’t want to know…”

“Keep it that way, trust me,” Billy remarked with half-hearted sarcasm.

Mike’s small bark of a laugh echoed through the night. “I’ve heard stories. That’s quite enough. Olivia mentioned what you told her a few years ago when you passed through…just the thought is nauseating.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Mike. I was lucky to get out. Took a long time to plan my escape and then doing it was another…” Billy stopped short at just what he had to go through to get out. The girl he helped that day still crossed his mind every so often, leaving him wondering if she managed to get home or maybe start over elsewhere. He hoped she never ended up back in that dreadful place. He could still remember the fear in her wild eyes. Some things he would never forget.

Mike didn’t say anything for a few moments, perhaps deciding how to arrange his words, what to say to such a statement. He put his hand on Billy’s shoulder, keeping his words as simple as the gesture. “I gather you really don’t want to get into talking about that…I’m always around if you do though, seriously. I might not understand, but I can listen.”

“Means a lot, Mike. Don’t worry, this probably won’t be the last time I pass through here. It’s the only port between Kawilara and Adara unless we make a turn and go west towards McGough,” Billy told him.

“Good to know,” Mike replied, stopping as they reached Witch Elm Village, where a few little houses let their lights spill gracefully onto the dirt road outside, only the stars and moon above watching over the rest as they slept. Billy and Mike glanced down the road. Billy knew their minds were thinking different things. He couldn’t say what was on Mike’s mind, though Billy stared in the direction where his old home had been. The graveyard was beyond Witch Elm, he remembered.

He walked with Mike until they reached his house. With a wave, Mike wandered inside to the warmth of his family, the comfort of home and things Billy hadn’t known in what seemed like forever. Billy was left out in the dead heat of a summer night. Alone.

To be released in fall 2012.

Legend of Kawilara 1 is available free on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006HJ6XT0 and Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/110429. Also available on Createspace in paperback for $15: https://www.createspace.com/3929637