Cursed [Jai Brooks]

From The Beginning- Chapter 40

“You didn’t kill your sister, whatever nightmare you had, it was just that, a nightmare” he rushes his words, his tone soft and comforting. He moves his hands to my face and forces me to look at him. My eyes wonder around the room distractedly.

“I did, you don’t understand Luke” my voice is quiet and it seems to alarm him “I need to know what happened that night” I breathe trying to regain some rationality in this chaos.

“You know what happened that night?” he says, his face twisting with confusion. “We were together, we-“ he begins to replay what happened that night but I stop him. This isn’t what I mean, I know the ‘we’ version, but I need to see that night through his eyes, what he witnessed, maybe there’s an opening for possibility, maybe there’s a chance that I really did do this, or equally this could all be in my head, influenced by the tormentor himself.

“No Luke, I need to know everything, from the very beginning, from the day we met, everything you know and witnessed” my voice rises in urgency “Please” I whisper as I notice the alarm in his eyes.

“Okay” he whispers “I’ll tell you everything, from the start” he nods, he moves around to the side of the bed and reaches for his wheelchair, he pushes himself up on his arms and lifts himself into the chair, he winces as he sits making me wince in turn. He holds out his hand in gesture for me to follow. I take a hold of his hand and rise from the bed, his t-shirt falling down my thighs as I do. He eyes me speculatively before giving me a reassuring smile. I follow him as he leads me into the living room. The room is small, the deep maroon wallpaper slightly upturning at the edges, peeling off the poorly tarnished walls. A small white coach sits in front of a small coffee table, the arms stained with god knows what. A 20” flat screen TV stands above a poor excuse of a fire place, the word budget crosses my mind several times.

“I’m going to make some tea, would you like some?” he asks attentively, I’m grateful for his understanding in my moment of panic. I nod in response and offer him a weak smile in gratitude. He disappears into the kitchen and soon I hear the sound of the kettle boiling. I wonder idly about how long him and Beau have been living here, has he been here since he was released from hospital? The thought cripples me; he should’ve been with me. When he returns tears start to trickle down my cheeks, I can’t believe all that has happened. If this is my fault I don’t know how I’ll ever recover, will I hand myself into the police? Will I tell my mom? The overwhelming thoughts course through me as I break into full flow sobs. Luke wheels faster with his one hand and makes his way to me quickly; he places the cup down on the coffee table and rushes to my side.

“Hey” he whispers “Hey, listen to me, whatever you think happened is wrong, okay? I will tell you everything, I promise, I will be honest and tell you everything that I can remember from the very beginning” he wipes the tears from my cheeks, he moves his hand to my jaw and draws me closer to him, he plants a soft chaste kiss on my lips before wheeling back towards the kitchen to grab the other cup. When he returns, I assist him out of his chair to move onto the sofa, the task proves more difficult than I thought and I begin to wonder how he’s got on so well without a full time career, or has Beau been doing that job?

“Is Beau here?”I ask him, afraid that he might hear this incredibly horrifying conversation.

“No, he’s working today” Luke says, a frown quickly consuming his gorgeous features, regret clouds over his eyes as he considers his brother. “Has Beau told you?” he asks “I mean I assume he told you where I was”

“Yeah he told me and I am so sorry Luke, I promise the diner will get back up and running how it used to, it has to” I reassure him, giving him a quick smile in hopes to soften his mood.

“Things have been pretty shitty lately” he murmurs “what with me using the use of my legs, the diner almost going bust, my mom leaving town, you and Jai being kidnapped, everything is just one big mess” he sighs, regret courses through me as I reflect on poor choices, I should never have left him, the diner wouldn’t be in this poor state, I could’ve cared for Luke, his mom left town?

“Wait, your mom left?” I ask

“She went back to Australia, she didn’t want to, but Beau and I persuaded her too, it wasn’t right for her to be here in the middle of this mess, she doesn’t deserve this” he closes his eyes briefly to blink back unwelcome tears.

“Listen Luke-“I begin but he cuts me off quickly

“It’s okay, honestly, if I have to tell you everything from the beginning leading up to now, we need to cover everything in chronological order, her leaving comes last” he says matter of factly, I want to reach across and hold him in my arms but I know that now is not the time to apologise for everything that I’ve put him through, now is not the time to admit my sins, now is the time to listen and try and piece together the puzzle that this mess is.

“So, from the beginning, the day we met” he begins.

This is only a small installment because the next few chapters are going to be the events told from Luke's point of view, there will be clues in each chapter that leads to the end, kind of like a puzzle for you guys to figure out. So let the mysteries unfold.