The Devil's Debt 3

I BROUGHT the SUV to a stop but not directly in front of the house like I would have any other time.

On an ordinary day, I would turn into the driveway directly behind my mother’s car and risk getting fussed at for blocking her in.

But today wasn’t an ordinary day.

I wondered if I would ever have another ordinary day again.

Tears started to well in my eyes, but none fell.

I wished they would.

Even tried to force them out.

Crying a river of tears would have been preferable to what I was feeling now.

Which was absolutely nothing.

Since I had heard that shot, then the click, it felt like I was floating above myself, looking down like a passive observer as my body had moved.

Even seeing Elias had been…

I didn’t have words for it.

I’d been angry, I guessed.

Maybe hurt?

That sounded right.

But the overriding feeling had been nothing but numbness. If you could call numbness a feeling.

Even when he had argued with me.

Even when he had shown more emotion than I had never seen from him before, I was unable to react.

Intellectually, I understood that it was probably shock.

My brain’s way of giving my heart a chance to catch up.

But even that seemed distant, like some idea that existed outside of me.

One thing I could feel was the chill in the air.

I snuggled deeper into my long-sleeve shirt, but not before I remembered who had gotten it for me.

The literal shirt on my back.

It belonged to Elias.

Was one of the trinkets I had received in exchange for my father’s life.

I sat up in the seat at that thought.

Of course, that didn’t help either.

© 2024 Joseph E Tacelli (Audiobook): 9798347722143

Release date

Audiobook: 7 December 2024