THE DELIVERER'S DESTINY

Chapter 2, Part 2 - Todd

Ostwall Cemetery, Amissah, 10416 P.C.

To Todd, it felt like an eternity before he heard approaching footsteps crunching the gravelled parking lot. He braced himself as Cathy opened the door to the truck, climbing into the passenger side and closing the door hard before twisting in her seat to look at him. "Hey."

Todd turned his head so he could see her. His sister was good-looking, possessing the long blonde hair of their mother and the deep brown eyes of their father. Every time she smiled — which was becoming rarer with each passing day, he had noticed — he saw their mother, and his heart ached. At times, he wondered if he had possessed their father's smile, but he never saw it in the mirror. In fact, the only thing he had inherited from his father was his height — he was gracing six feet at just seventeen — and his hair, which was a much darker blond from Cathy's sun-bleached locks. But even that was stretching it, as Cooper Vinson had been more of a brunet.

When he didn't respond, she sighed and ducked her head. Then there came that small, timid smile, just like their mother's. "Long day, huh?"

Todd closed his eyes. He didn't want another reminder of someone he had loved and lost. "I guess." All he wanted to do was go home and crawl into his bed and hide from the world. Maybe he'd wake up to find that the last year and a half had been one big bad dream. The chances of that were getting smaller with each passing day.

The smile was gone from Cathy's voice as she said, "I know how close you and Michael were. It's... it's just not fair that he had to be taken so soon."

"Life isn't fair." The bitter words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"No. It isn't."

Todd was glad that she stopped talking after that. He turned his face away from her, keeping his eyes closed as he listened to the sounds of voices outside, people heading for their cars. A flame of hatred welled up inside of him, resentment toward these people who would just go home and continue on with life, forgetting about Michael in the same way they had forgotten about his parents. In a year and a half, would anyone remember the amazing young man Michael had been, so full of life and kindness, always giving everything he had? Probably not.

The flame of hatred grew into a roaring fire as soon as the driver's side door opened and Henry clambered into the vehicle, bringing in a gust of cold air and shouting something Todd didn't care to decipher. He sounded jovial, like a good man, fooling everyone but Todd, it seemed. As soon as the door slammed shut and they were gone from the parking lot, Todd knew the nice guy facade would drop. It always did when there was no one around to see it.

"Where's Todd?" Henry demanded of Cathy before glancing in the back. "Oh, there you are. Sit up and put on your seat belt, we're leaving."

Todd obeyed without a word, refusing to make any sort of eye contact with his brother-in-law for fear that Henry would see the hatred in his eyes. Henry would probably punch it right out of him when they got home, and Todd didn't want to make this day any worse than it had to be. Staring out the window, he caught sight of a couple waving to Henry. Todd had to wonder if the couple knew Henry was an abusive, drug-addicted monster.

"Well, that was a nice service, wasn't it?" Henry asked as he turned on the truck. It sputtered a protest against the cold but soon roared to life.

"Yes," Cathy said quietly, sniffling a bit. "It was."

They were out of the parking lot and on the gravelled road that led back into town before Henry looked in the rearview mirror at Todd. "What did you think of it, Todd?"

Todd didn't reply, biting down on his tongue to keep from lashing out at Henry. He knew it'd only get him in trouble, but oh, did he ever hate the fake, 'good guy' side of Henry Farthing. It made him sick.