Read TouchStone for giving (The Story of Us Trilogy) Online
Authors: Sydney Jamesson
I should be the one to rid us of it, once and for all. I can’t allow Ayden to sacrifice himself for me.
I pick up the knife off the floor and, on my stomach, crawl over to the wrestling pair; drag myself
up the demonic body and raise the knife aloft. Using my body weight, I fall onto him, plunging it
deeply into his heart with an agonising cry. Like a woman kneeling in prayer, I leave my hands around
the knife until I see his blood seeping through his open shirt, haemorrhaging across my name and
oozing onto the handle. With this one act I put right all wrongs; purge myself of my shame and find
justice. I’ll be the one to take this life as recompense for the life he stole from me: an eye for an eye.
I will live in fear no more.
The monstrous mass rises from the dead. He lifts his head. We are within inches of each other. He
lurches forward and I lean back, shocked, witnessing his forced submission. In his eyes, I see myself
reflected like a fading ghost.
In his dying breaths there are words. “You’ve got your happy ending princess.” A gruesome grin
forms and then dissolves into nothing, a hideous face devoid of all expression: the face of a corpse.
His head rolls to the side and he slumps to the floor, a dead weight.
Ayden clambers to his knees, allowing his hands to fall by his sides. He prepares to speak but words
refuse to leave his mouth.
“It’s over Ayden.” I look down at my blood stained hands. “I killed him. It was self-defence. I did
this. Do you understand?” He doesn’t answer but simply stares into oblivion, lost in the realisation of
what just happened.
“Ayden! Look at me. Do you understand?”
He’s entranced. Turning to me he answers, “Yes, Elizabeth.”
I censor my surprise but continue. “We tried to fight him off but he had a knife and, in the struggle,
I got it off him and …”
The door swings open and Lester bounds in. “What the …?”
Having taken a moment to regain his equilibrium, Ayden comes around. He looks up. “Where’s the
ambulance?”
Behind Lester are a fleet of ambulance personnel and our Chief Inspector Bowker, who holds back
the flood. “Wait! I want pictures of this. Please don’t move Mr. Stone. He takes out his iPhone and
starts clicking. “This is not normal procedure but it’s for the record.”
“Are you done?” Ayden snarls. “She needs medical attention. Now!”
“Yes, of course. I’m sorry.”
Ayden staggers and tries to right himself. Lester hurries over but he shakes off his arm. “I’m
alright. Get that stretcher in here now. Beth’s badly beaten. She’ll need X-rays and a thorough
examination to check for broken bones and fractures and internal bleeding. Tell them to check
everything.”
“Yes, Mr. Stone. I’ll see to it.”
I hear the words but they make no sense. I slump backwards onto my heels and fall over to my left.
Ayden catches me and takes me in his arms.
“You’re safe now Beth. It’s all over. We’ll get you checked out and then we’ll go home. Do you
hurt anywhere?”
I look into his adoring eyes. “Everywhere …”
“I know, baby. You were so brave.” He kisses my forehead. “Bring that stretcher over here.”
Two paramedics move desks to situate the stretcher and Ayden lifts me onto it. I feel the weight of
the blanket being tucked around my neck and another tender kiss on my forehead.
Outside there are flashing lights and a crowd of people. I’m about to turn my face away from them
but my eyes rest on a solitary figure; a blonde haired woman in jeans, wearing a long, black coat. She
looks familiar, something about the mouth, the intensity of her stare …
I’m in the ambulance. A paramedic is working on me, inserting a line, pumping something into my
veins. Ayden has hold of my hand and is whispering to him. He’s nodding.
“This will make you feel better Mrs. Stone. It’s a mild sedative. In a minute or two you’ll feel calm
and there will be no pain. You have nothing to worry about …”
Before the world fades into black, I gaze lovingly at Ayden; his face is bruised and his mouth is cut
and bloodied; his knuckles are grazed and swollen. Tears sting my eyes. He fought so hard for us
I try to speak. “Ayden …”
“Hush baby. I know.” He folds a bloody hand around my face and smiles reassuringly, his words of
comfort dissolving in a wave of tiredness.
A riptide pulls me under, but I can’t leave him. Not like this. Not without letting him know. What if
I
never
wake up! “Ayden,” I mutter through swollen lips. “You were right … you saved us …”
His anxious face becomes no more than a blur and my eyes close. All I see is a dark haired boy with
eyes the colour of the Caribbean Sea. He has me in his arms. I’m giggling. I’m spinning round on a
cartoon carousel, hair blowing; the tails of my pink ribbon flying through the air.
As the pain dissolves, I descend backwards into a black hole of nothingness. In my mind I reach
out, fearing I may never claw my way out of it then … into my hand appears three marbles. I see
myself reflected in the smallest of the three and, holding them tightly, I begin to fly, comforted by the
words of a song. Suzanne Vega’s melancholic voice lifts me, raises me high above the clouds. I am a
Small Blue Thing.
One single thought remains …
Catch me Ayden, catch me …
The Story of Us continues with TouchStone for ever©
TouchStone
forever©
Songs featured in the soundtrack to
TouchStone for giving
will be
available as a CD. They are the perfect accompaniment to
T
he Story of Us.
Twitter: @SydneyJamesson, @TouchStoneFans, @ElizabethP1984,
@AydenStone, @CharlieM_TSFP
Facebook:
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Website:
http://sydneyjamesson.com/
Amazon:
http://viewBook.at/B00CW6FNXO