"Mom is always with you and you… you are the best gift the world has ever given me."
Her hand stayed on his cheek for one a second longer, then it slipped away. The warmth faded from her fingers and the world went utterly still again.
Lucas cried until his throat was sore. He didn't remember how long he had stayed there. He only remembered that the rain kept falling and the house was so, so quiet.
Days later, the news came. His father was dead.
He had blown himself up in some kind of suicide bombing and took a rich CEO of a gaming company with him. The reports said he had accused the man of sleeping with Lucas's mother.
Lucas didn't understand.
He wasn't sure he ever would.
He just sat there, staring at the headlines,
the words blurring until they stopped meaning anything at all.
—
After that and the funeral, Lucas's life changed completely.
He stopped going out.
He stopped talking to people.
Everyone whispered about what his father had done.
