Page 53 of Lightning Angel
Alexa couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A real fantasy? She stared at Tristan in sheer disbelief, not because she didn’t believe what he was saying, but because she couldn’tacceptit. This was much crueler than any acts she had read in fantasy books. Knowing that an innocent, three-year-old boy had been the victim… She felt her blood boil over.
Tristan stared at her, as if waiting for her response. Alexa had a hard time pulling herself out of the trance. When she did, words tumbled out of her mouth. “That’s so cruel. Oh, Tristan, I cannot accept—you were only a child! What did you ever do to—Oh, my God, I hate that woman more than I’ve ever hated anyone!” She wiped at the few tears that slipped her eyes, furiously. “What’s the curse? The superpowers could barely count as a curse, right? Is there something… a gruesome part to it?”
“Yes.” Tristan nodded solemnly, eyes drenched in pain as he continued his story. “When… When the first lightning struck the skies, Merissa appeared at our doorstep again, despite what Dad told her to never set foot in his property. It was nighttime, and Dad was home. She reminded my parents that she wouldn’t be held accountable for my death if they didn’t bring me outside and I died on the next day. I had been out for a week by then and my parents were terrified because nothing theytried worked on me. They had no other choice, and they did as Merissa said.
“They brought my unconscious body to the terrace and laid me under the open skies. When the next lightning tore through the skies, my body jerked. Mom began moving to me but Merissa stopped her and my dad, saying, if they touched me during this process, it would kill them on the spot. At the next strike, my body began to writhe. And at the next, electric waves covered my body, increasing the writhing. I remember Dad saying it was the most horrible sight he had ever seen. He wanted to throw caution into the air and come pick me up. He almost did, but Merissa held my parents back with her magic. After the fourth strike, I woke up.”
There was a long pause before he continued. “I was never the same again. I remember everything that happened afterwards; every inch of my body hurt and I was screaming. But Merissa muffled them, permanently. She informed my parents that the curse had been activated, and that if anyone were to touch me or I touch them within half an hour after the final strike, they’d die by my hands. She was gleeful when she said this, and walked out of the terrace, leaving my parents’ feet glued to the floor.
“She had a vengeful day then; my parents had to watch me writhing in pain and crying out to them, my sound muted. When the lightning came no more and the half an hour passed, Merissa’s spells wore off from my parents. They took me back inside, scared to death, but I was… despite being scared, I didn’t feel a twinge of pain in my body or the exhaustion. My parents never let me out of the house again; at least, they tried to. But one day,I slipped out unnoticed, and it was one of those days the rain clouds gathered in the skies.”
Alexa covered her mouth in horror. “Oh, Tristan…”
Tristan’s eyes softened as they met hers. “Alexa—maybe I shouldn’t—”
“No, no,” she protested and sniffed, wiping away the fallen tears. “I want to know what happened.”
“You might not feel the same about me after this.” He shook his head slowly, his eyes tormented.
“That’s not up for you to decide. And what could your child-self possibly have done that would make me change my mind about you?”
Tristan stared at her for a moment before he proceeded. “It began lightning. I went through the torture all over again. The pain was immense, agonizing. That amount of torture would’ve killed anyone on the spot, but not me. I would never die by lightning, I couldn’t; there’s not even a negative side-effect from it. I couldn’t make a noise when the lightning struck me either, because of Merissa’s silencing spell. So, no one heard my agony. But then, Mom came across the scene. I remember seeing her freezing at the doorway in horror.” His eyes watered. “And the next moment, she was running toward me with one hand supporting her overgrown belly. She fell on my side and grabbed me, and I… I killed her.”
“No,” Alexa whispered, shaking her head.
“Yes,” Tristan insisted, locking his glassy eyes with hers. “I killed my mom and my unborn little sister. The moment she grabbed me, she was hurled backward by force; she landed feet away from me. At that moment, I knew I had hurt her and the little sister I had been waiting to be born, for whom I’d beenselecting names with my parents. I wanted to move to her but I couldn’t, the pain was cutting through every inch of my being. Only after the last of the lightning faded from the skies and the half an hour passed was I free. But by that time, my mom and my baby sister were long gone… I didn’t realize it then. When Mom didn’t wake up to my calls, I went into the house and dialed Dad from her phone. He was at work but he answered, and I told him what happened—as much as a three-year-old can explain. When I learned that my mom was not going to wake up, and that my baby sister was not going to be born, I realized what I had done. I had killed them both.”
“No, you didn’t.” Alexa insisted, staring at him incredulously.
“Yes, I did, Alexa. I have been carrying the weight of that guilt to this very day, and I’ll carry it to my grave.Ikilled my mom and my sister!”
“Merissakilled your mother and your sister!” Alexa shot up from her seat and crossed the distance between them, crouching down in front of him and grasping his hands. “Don’t you ever blame yourself for something Merissa is responsible for, for something thatMerissastarted in the first place!”
“Does it change anything though?” A tear slipped his eye. He grasped back onto her hands and looked down at her. “They died at my hands, just like she said anyone who touches me would.”
“Because that’s how she sleeps at night!” Alexa exclaimed, keeping her voice low at the same time. “Think, Tristan! How can a human being sleep peacefully at night after doing such a horrible thing to fellow humans? Blaming the future incidents she anticipated—even envisioned, who knows—into your hands is how she can sleep at night, not bothering to bear the guilt! That’s her stupid, foul excuse for the crime she’s committed!”
“Alexa—”
“No, I’m not going to hear you blaming yourself for the death of your mother and your sister again,” she cut him off, staring up at him fiercely. “You may have lived all these years bearing that guilt, but not anymore. I’m not going to let you. Even if it will take my whole life, I’ll spend it trying to make you understand you are innocent. Iwill,Tristan.”
Her declaration stunned him, she could tell. He stared at her breathlessly, in undisguised shock.
Another tear escaped his eye. Alexa caught it and wiped it away. “Hasn’t your dad ever told you the incident was never your fault?”
Tristan didn’t take his eyes off her as he answered, “I never told him about my guilt.”
“And he’s never said a word about it either?”
“He thinks I don’t remember that day, at least something like that, because we’ve never talked about it. I know he doesn’t hold it against me. My dad loves me. But it doesn’t help the guilt thatIhad been the cause.”
“Merissawas the cause,” she corrected him. “Merissa made you what you are because she wanted revenge on your parents. She knew that one day, sooner or later, the curse would take your mother away from your dad’s life. What child is cautious? What mother is uncaring and selfish?” Alexa winced inwardly as she remembered her own mother, and made a correction. “Well, exceptmymother. But I know other mothers are wonderful. Yours was an epitome of love, Tristan. She knew it would killher and the child in her. She knew that, despite the fact that you were in pain, it wouldn’t damage you. But her love, her motherly love, couldn’t stand back and watch while you writhed in pain. At that moment, she didn’t care if she lived or died. All she cared was to save you from the pain you were in, even if it was for one last time. The choice was hers, selfless and overflowing with love, and the fault was Merissa’s.”
“ButIdisobeyed my parents and went outside,thatwas the cause. I was disobedient, and my family paid the price.”
Alexa’s face softened. She tilted her head. “What did I say about a child being cautious?Whatchild is cautious, Tristan? Almost all of them are troublemakers and rambunctious, trying to do cool stuff, seeking adventures, or simply being naughty. So what? They are all innocent no matter what they do.”
“I’m sure none of those kids killed their mother and their unborn sister.”