0,00 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: BookRix
- Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
- Sprache: Englisch
‘The birth of my daughter had been difficult for both mother and child.
Forty-eight hours of pain and distress had resulted in a choice that no man should have to make. The life force of both my wife and child was not strong enough to sustain them both, and so one of them had to make room for the other. As a pastor of over ten years my faith was surly tested when my beloved Emily gave up her life for her child.
My love, my soul-mate and my friend – gone forever’
From salvation to damnation.
When an act of desperation leads to a loss of faith in a God that he has served his whole life, the parson makes a deal that would save his daughter's life, As the years go by, however this one man, this man of God, instead of patting himself on the back for his own inginouity must now pay the price of his arrogance. With the fate of his soul and his sanity in question can the parson endure the wrath of both sides of the celestial plain, or must he strike one last deal?
This is the third story in the Seductive Reasoning series.
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015
Ähnliche
Speak No Evil
Seductive Reasoning Volume Three
To Deb and Matthew - I breathe in and out for you. BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 MunichPROLOGUE - GRIEF
“Parson?” The inspectors voice seemed distant and wraith-like, with no substance or meaning.
I raised my eyes to look at her.
“Yes Miss Freeman” I said.
“Tell me a story”
PROLOGUE
‘The birth of my daughter had been difficult for both mother and child.
Forty-eight hours of pain and distress had resulted in a choice that no man should have to make. The life force of both my wife and child was not strong enough to sustain them both, and so one of them had to make room for the other. As a pastor of over ten years my faith was surly tested when my beloved Emily gave up her life for her child.
My love, my soul-mate and my friend – gone forever’
PART ONE - THE DEALS WE DO
Daisy arrived into this world kicking and screaming and although she could not possibly have conceived the tragedy that befell both of us on that most joyous, and yet most terrible of days, it seemed that she was adding a voice to accompany her pain for our loss. But on such a day that could not have held any more grief, my cup overflowed. For Daisy’s fight for life was not over as it was discovered that her blood was poisoning her. Transfusions were performed and blood sought from every source possible, but her rare genetic make-up made it impossible to cure her of this damnation, and as the doctors told me to prepare for the worst I felt the thin thread of sanity and reason snap under the weight of my despair. Because of this I would never be able to trust my reasoning from that day forward. In the years that followed I was given every reason to believe that my mind had been lost to madness, for the things and happenings could not be explained by any sane individual.
****
As I sat by my daughters tiny body, helpless and driven to the edge of madness at having to watch her slip away from me, I am sorry to say that the faith in my God left me. I was angry at being punished for all my years of faith and devotion, and that I was now having to endure not only the loss of my wife, but also that of the one thing that would have kept me sane.
From inside I raged against this unseen and cruel force.
I screamed at him for the promises he had broken and for my love that he had seemingly thrown away.
Even though I had prayed to him for mercy he had ignored my pleas and laughed at my pain.
This cruel God.
This unjust God.
This enemy mine.
I sat in the darkened hospital room, illuminated only by the machines that kept Daisy comfortable as she started her journey to the next life. Tears fell onto my cheeks as the torment of loss tore at me from within but I was foolish to think, however, that my prayers had gone unanswered, for someone had joined my bedside vigil – someone who had not made themselves known to me, but someone who had felt my pain and was waiting for my call.
As the night drew into the small hours of the morning, I found myself succumbing to my lack of sleep. I was not ready to give in, having a need to be aware when my Daisy would finally leave me. I stood up and stretched the fatigue from my bones and paced the room for a few minutes until stopping at the window in order to look up into the night sky. The stars shone bright, housed in a universe that would go on with or without me. I knocked lightly on the small table that held the uneaten food that had been provided by the nurses.
These angels that felt my pain and were so full of compassion.
“Do you hear me?” I asked.
The silence continued, but I expected nothing less.
“I have been abandoned, and so now I am turning to you”
Again the muted sounds of the monitors were all that filled the room, serving only to mark the time and as a countdown to a dreadful end.
“I have served the most powerful being in the universe for most of my adult life, and have fought the good fight against you. I know that you are all around us and I have turned from you countless times and with great success – but now I turn to you as a last hope”
It was a final lunge for salvation and one that was met with a contemptuous silence. I smiled mirthlessly at my situation, for it seemed that even The Beast himself had no time for someone as small and so
insignificant as I.
The slight creak of the door opening caused me to start slightly from my pitying thoughts and, to my relief I found it to be one of the nurses checking on my daughter’s progress – or lack of.
I smiled at her and went back to looking to the stars.
“I would have thought by now that it was obvious that no-one up there is going to help you”
I turned to the nurse who had my daughters’ medical chart in her hand whilst she signed off on various readings.
“I’m sorry” I said, “Did you say something?”
The nurse looked up from her work.
“You asked for my help – did you not?”
She continued to take another reading whilst checking that the various monitors were still attached and working properly. She looked up at me again and smiled.
“She’s comfortable,” she said, and with that she left the room as if nothing had happened. With a look of bemusement on my face I walked to the door and looked out into the corridor and at the retreating nurse.
“Speak of the Devil – isn’t that how the saying goes?”
I jumped at this, for it had come from the night porter who was sweeping the hallway, whom I had not noticed until he spoke.
“Excuse me?” I said.
“You called for help – it appears that the big man has let another one of you down” He put down his broom and leaned back on the duty nurses desk. He held my gaze for a while before shrugging at my lack of an answer. He then picked up his broom and carried on with his cleaning.
“Maybe this form suits you better?”
I turned widely at this new voice to discover a small child that had appeared at my side. She was obviously a patient from another ward as she was dressed in a hospital gown and pulling a metal pole, from the top of which hung a saline drip.
“What is this?” I said, “Who are you child?”
She looked up at me without saying a word, and then carried on walking as if nothing had been said.
“Call me Legion,” said an old man who had been sitting opposite the room next to Daisy’s. I looked at him with wild puzzlement in my eyes.
It was becoming clear to me that my grief, mixed with a lack of sleep had already begun to play tricks on my mind. I walked over to the gentleman and knelt before him.
“Why Legion?” I asked.
“For I am many,” said another nurse from behind me.
I stood to face her.
“Forgive me miss, I am having trouble understanding this game that seems to playing out at my expense”
She turned away from me as if I were not there.
“No game was intended Reverend. You called – I came”
This time the voice came from a young doctor who was standing by the door. He smiled and went into Daisy’s room and I followed suit.
As I entered I saw him looking at my daughters charts.
“It doesn’t look good does it Reverend”
“I am a Parson – I don’t usually get referred to as Reverend,” I said as I walked slowly around him. From every angle he seemed to be facing me without moving, and a dread filled my heart as I began to suspect as to whom this person was.
“My daughter is dying - so no, it does not look good”
He replaced the chart back on its hook, and at that moment the door opened again. Another nurse, older this time, entered and smiled at the doctor. They exchanged comments about the various readings that had been written throughout the day, and of the medication given in order to keep Daisy asleep and pain free. Having done this the doctor nodded to me and left the room.
I began to follow him until the nurse said,
