Page 133 of The Haunting of Lockton
Footsteps then sounded in the corridor. And as Owen looked at the doorway, he shuddered and bolted forward. The three of us sprang after him. Up ahead, in front of the window, a man stood staring out into the night.
Owen halted in step, his face a myriad of emotions ranging from shock to grief. And hope. “Roy?”
Roy turned to us. The blood that had once seeped from his temple was gone. Like Alison, he seemed more peaceful somehow. Still sad though. “You know my name.” He looked at the window. “I like when he says my name. My brave knight.”
Owen trembled, his mouth opening and closing, but no sound came out.
“He was supposed to meet me here,” Roy said in a wistful tone. “We were going to watch the sunset together.”
Suddenly, Owen whimpered and dropped to his knees on the floor, clutching his chest. His head flung backward, and there was a strange glow that radiated from inside him before lifting from his body in the form of a misty cloud.
“Owen released him,” Callum said with relief clear in his voice. “Thank the gods.”
Julian’s body collapsed to the floor.
“Julian!” Skyler ran over to him, and I followed a step behind. He gathered Julian in his arms and gently patted his cheeks. “Open your eyes. Please. Don’t do this to me again.”
I rubbed Skyler’s back, doubting it brought him much comfort but not knowing what else to do. He was hurting, and I wanted to take that hurt away.“The man you love,”Owen had said.
Did I love Skyler?
Julian softly groaned, and his brows pulled together. When he opened his eyes, they were a familiar shade of gray. “S-Sky?”
“Oh my god.” Skyler tugged Julian to his chest and released a strangled cry into his hair. “I hate you so much, you asshole.”
Julian weakly smiled and slid his arms around his brother. “I love you too, bubba.”
That made Skyler cry harder.
I kissed his shoulder as a lump wedged in my throat. I was a chain-reaction crier. Or maybe it went deeper than that. Maybe Ididlove Skyler. Too soon, probably, but in the time we’d known each other, we’d been through a lot together. A connection had formed. One that would hurt like hell when severed.
My attention then lifted to that mist-like cloud. It hovered several feet off the floor, and a light pulsed from the center. Slowly, the mist spread out like the roots of a tree, and the form of a man began to take shape. He was transparent at first and flickered in and out. Then, his body solidified, making his features visible.
Owen stood taller than Roy, with wider shoulders and dark blond hair. Blood soaked the back of his hair but started to fade the longer he stood there. From my angle, I noted his mangled face, the gunshot having dislocated his jaw. Blown some of it off. But that, too, began to fade.
“Roy?” Owen took a step toward him. In his own body, Owen’s voice was deep but pleasant.
Roy’s shoulders tensed before he slowly looked at him, as though afraid he was only imaging it. “Owen? Are you really here?”
“Y-Yes.” There was a tremble in his voice. “I’m sorry I missed the sunset.”
“I’ve been waiting for so long.”
“I know.” Owen reached Roy’s side and reached for his hand. “But I finally made it back to you. We can watch the next one.”
A smile burst across Roy’s face, one filled with happiness and love. He clutched Owen’s hand and stepped closer, resting his head over Owen’s heart. “The moon is just as beautiful.”
Owen kissed the top of Roy’s dark hair. “Yes, it is.”
They kissed then, and as their arms came around each other, their bodies began to fade. Seconds later, they were gone.
“What happened to them?” Julian asked, his voice hoarse.
“They moved on,” Callum said, hands shoved into his coat pockets. “I imagine they’ll never miss another sunset together.”
It was a nice thought, the two of them moving on to an afterlife with infinite sunsets. Endless kisses in their happily ever after, the one denied to them while they were alive.
“Jules?” Skyler cupped his brother’s cheek.
