Immortal Light: Wide Awake Read Online Free

absolutely positive, but it appeared to be dead.
Grabbing a tissue from the box in front of her, she nudged the
little creature. It didn’t move and it felt quite stiff. As she
stared at it, she started to feel a little sad that it was dead.
She even felt a little bit of that throat choking sensation of
crying and had to pull herself together.  
    Having moved the keyboard away from the
computer, she gently stroked the top wing of the moth with her
index finger. It was soft and barely noticeable to the touch. She
carefully scooted the small, lifeless body to the edge of the desk
and brushed it into her other hand. Cradling her hands under the
creature she headed for the front doors.
    “ I know you’re dead, little guy,
but the flower bed is probably better than the garbage
can.”
    Lucy approached the doors of the library, and
before pushing them open she could hear the whistling sound of the
heavy winds that mark the coming of fall to the Oregon coast.
Protecting the moth from being blown out into further insult in
death, she cupped both hands around it like a shelter.
    Gusts enveloped Lucy’s body in
staggered wisps of warm air. Her hair whipped her in the face as
she hunched her shoulders in order to hold her hands close to her
stomach. In spite of the somber occasion, Lucy noticed that the sun
was bright and warm and the sky was a perfect azure with scattered
puffs of white clouds. As she made her way to the nearest flower
bed, she noticed how the walls of the building created a cove of
sorts—a shelter from the intermittent gusts.
    Safely guarded, Lucy gently opened her cupped
hands to take one more look at the moth.
    As it came into view, Lucy
gasped. “What the—? ”
    To her surprise, starring up at her on all six
of its legs was the moth, and it was clearly alive. Confusion
washed over her. She was absolutely certain that the small creature
had been dead; in fact, there wasn’t a single doubt in her mind
that it was dead. Yet, there it stood, as alive as any living thing
could be.
    “ I thought you were
dead.”
    With a bewildered head shake, she opened her
hands wide and the moth flew away as though nothing had happened.
Lucy walked back inside feeling somewhat embarrassed that she
almost buried something that was clearly not dead. If she hadn’t
known any better, she’d have thought she had magically brought it
back to life.

Chapter
2
    Lucy sped north on Highway 101 in the
drenching rain.
    “ He’s going to absolutely lose
it,” she said to the steering wheel as she peered through a
windshield that seemed to be made of rushing water, in spite of the
cyclonic speed of the wipers.
    Her hand tapped nervously, but she couldn’t go
any faster in such thick weather. The clock on the stereo told her
that she was nearly fifteen minutes past curfew, and that wasn’t
good at all. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell
phone. She didn’t even have to take it all the way out to see that
she had missed a call or two. The LED was already blinking like an
emergency vehicle. Her heart began to race a little bit as she
speed-dialed her father’s number.
    He picked up the phone after one
ring.
    “ Where are you, Lucy?”
    “ Hi, Daddy. I’m
actually on my way home right — ”
    “ You know you were supposed to be
through that door nearly fifteen minutes ago?” he said, cutting her
off in a stern tone.
    “ I know; I totally lost track of
time. I’m so sorry.”
    She tried to keep the panic out of
her voice. She was in the middle of failing her first real test
with her car privileges, but she felt honesty was probably the best
policy if she wanted to keep her keys.
    There was a long pause. Lucy was sure there
was no way he was going to let her drive again anytime soon. His
silence was deafening and Lucy’s anxiety was getting
worse.
    “ Dad?” she prompted as innocently
and submissively as she could manage over the phone.
    “ Lucy, you need
to call before your curfew. How do I know you’re