Light after Dark

Hi, I am really new to this, I have never written anything before or to be honest felt the desire to. I do however read a lot and its only because I got this idea in my head that I thought was a great story that I felt the need to put pen to paper. I would really appreciate some constructive criticism on my first chapter, although it is not the full chapter as I can only post 3000 words and it is closer to 4000. Forwarning though, there is some swearing in it so I appologise if anyone is offended. Thanks and here goes.

Debbie

Light after Dark

Prologue

People say that life is what you make it. I used to be one of those people,

the type of person that said when life throws you bad luck you should just

brush yourself off and get on with it. Not anymore, not since fate threw me

the biggest blow imaginable, when your life is smashed into a million pieces

how is it possible to even begin to put it back together.

Chapter 1

I woke to the sound of the alarm, 7am Monday morning, I groaned as I

leaned across Mike to turn if off, why does the weekend always pass so

quickly. I nudged Mike to wake him before climbing out of bed into the

shower. Coming back into the bedroom I found that Mike had gone back to

sleep, laying on his back snoring likesomething from Jurassic park. It was

always the same, every morning I had to practically evict him from our bed. I

wasn’t sure how many more times I would do that before I exploded.

Weekday mornings were a nightmare and he knew it, I never had a minute

from the moment I woke up until everyone had left the house, the least he

could do was get out of bed and help. I woke him again, he grunted and said

that he had heard me so I stormed off to wake the kids residing myself to the

fact that I was facing yet another crazy morning by myself. I walked into

Jack’s room he was asleep in just his boxer shorts and no covers, he was 13

years old but already starting to fill out and gain his manly shape along with

a teenage grumpiness. “Come on Jack” I said as I shook him awake “time to

get up, its school today”. Jack groaned and rolled over, I shook him again

“no! up. now, I can’t take you to school today if you miss the bus so get your

butt downstairs.” Reluctantly he climbed out of bed and plodded down

the stairs.I went into Abby’s room, the pinkest fluffiest bedroom you had ever seen.

She was 11 years old now but still loved all the little girly things and her

room was proof of it, I smiled as I walked in and found that she was already

up and getting ready. “Morning sunshine, breakfast will be ready in ten”, she

looked at me with a beaming smile across her face, “Ok mum I will be down

in a minute.”

Entering the kitchen I found that Mike still hadn’t made an

appearance so I slipped into super mum mode rushing about making

breakfast, packing bags and lunches while getting myself ready for work. I

glanced at the clock, 8am and he was still in bed this was really pushing it, I

could feel the explosion looming, I stormed upstairs and into our room, he

was still laid there making that god awful dinosaur noise, I stood with my

hand on my hips staring at him, I had been with this man since I was 16

years old and I loved him with all my heart, but sometimes he infuriated me

so much. “Mike” I shouted “will you get your arse out of bed right now, why

does it have to be the same thing every morning? I rush about like a

headless chicken trying to get the kids sorted while I get ready for work and

you just lounge in bed until the last minute. Its 8 o’clock and I’m pretty sure

that you should have left for work by now. At that Mike leaped out of bed “8 o’clock, for fuck’s sake Kate why the fuck didn’t you wake me, I have wall to wall fucking meetings all day and can’t

afford to be late, how many times do I have to tell you that I need to be up

and off on a Monday.” I stood there staring at him in shock, my mouth

gaping, then the anger just exploded out of me. “Who the hell do you think

you are talking to, I have woke you three times already this morning, I’m not

your fucking mother Mike I already have two kids to deal with I don’t need

another. Believe it or not you are supposed to be a grown up and

responsible for yourself.”

He stormed passed me practically knocking me off my feet as he screamed

at me. “I don’t have fucking time for this Kate will you just get out of my face

so I can get ready.” Knowing I didn’t have time to pursue this argument I

decided to shelve it, but boy would we be having words tonight. I stormed

downstairs in a huff and continued getting ready, I was clearing away the

breakfast things while Jack and Abby got their school stuff together, Mike

left the house slamming the door behind him without saying anything to any

of us, Jack and Abby both looked at me, confusion across their faces,

“What’s wrong with dad?” Abby asked. We had made a vow when Jack was

born that we would never let our children see us fight and they never had, so

it was a bit of a shock for them to see him in such a mood and to not have

their usual banter before he left for work. I grabbed Abby and gave her a big

hug “don’t worry about it honey dad is just a little grumpy this morning

because he’s late for work.” I kissed her on her forehead did the same to

Jack and ushered them out the door for the school bus.

With the house now empty I took 10 minutes down time before heading out

to work. I sat and thought about the argument that Mike and I had that

morning. I hated leaving things in the air like that and I knew I would have

that horrible twisted feeling in my stomach all day. In the 15 years that we

had been together we had very few arguments. There were probably many

things that I could have argued with him about but it was just so damn hard

to fight with him. Whenever I was angry he would turn on the charm, look at

me with his hypnotic deep blue eyes, and his sexy little smile, that I was sure

he reserve for just these moments, then he would bring his lips to my ear

and whisper the exact same words that he said to me when we first met,

”Babe, you look so sexy when your angry” every time I would melt at those

words and all would be forgotten. I was 16 when we met and in my final year

at high school, Mike was 17 and had moved to my high school to carryout his

A levels, he had just finished playing football and came running through he

hallway like a bat out of hell, he was tall and well built even then, he

slammed straight into me knocking me onto my back, books and folders

went flying everywhere. “Sorry sweetheart” he said as he turned to walk

away, I felt the heat rise from me feet up to my head; no fucking way was

this strange dude knocking me off my feet then just walking away. I lept up

and ran after him grabbing his arm, as he turned just started hurling a

barrage of insults at him, he stood staring at me with that ‘sexy smile’ “what

the fuck are you smirking at?” I screamed “do you actually think this is funny?”

then he said it “babe, you look so sexy when your angry”. I huffed and

walked away but right at that moment he had me, I new it and he new it. I

tried my best to put the argument to the back of my mind knowing full well

that I would never get my point across as he new how to play me so well. I

grabbed my bag and headed out to work.

The journey to work was pretty uneventful as usual, I was already late so I

decided I might as well call at the local supermarket to get something nice

for my lunch, Moody Maggie was already going to give me a dressing down

for my lateness so no point in rushing. I climbed back into the car and

flicked on the radio to catch the back end of the traffic update commenting

on an accident westbound on the M62 causing severe delays, my mind

flashed the Mike, he was probably held up in that traffic jam and no doubt

cursing me for not waking him.

As I pulled up to the office I noticed a police car parked outside, this wasn’t

unusual as I worked as an office clerk in a legal aid solicitors and our clients

often had to be accompanied by the police. Opening the door to the large

open plan office felt very strange, like something wasn’t right, all eyes

seemed to be on me. Maggie, my witch of a boss, came walking towards me

a pitiful half smile on her face, which was strange as normally the only look

on her face was one of ‘can no one in this place do anything right’. “Kate”

she said as she approached me “could I please have a word with you in my

office?” Oh god here we go she must have been watching the clock waiting

for me to arrive. I could just imagine her standing there, arms folded, glasses

perched on the end of her nose, tapping her foot just waiting for me to walk

through the door. I followed her into her office and was taken aback to find

two uniformed police officers standing looking at me. “Mrs Walker?” one of

them asked “yes” I replied “I’m PC Right and this is PC Hobbs, could you

please take a seat. My stomach began to churn and my heart started to race,

what was going on, what had I done? “What is this about?” I asked with a

shaky voice, one of the police officers pulled out a chair, “please Mrs Walker,

take a seat”, with shaking legs I lowered myself into the seat as my eyes

flicked between the police officers and Maggie, all seemed to have

concerned looks on their faces, after what seemed like a lifetime one of the

police officers spoke “Mrs Walker, I am very sorry to advise you but there

was an accident this morning, your husband was involved in a collision on

the motorway, he sustained serious injuries and I am very sorry to say that

he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The words echoed around the room, DEAD. ON. ARRIVAL. This could not be

true. My head started to spin and bile rose up my throat, I was going to be

sick and needed to get out of there, I ran to the toilet, fell to my knees and

wretched as the contents of my stomach landed in the bowl. Sitting on the

floor with my back against the cold wall I brought my knees up to my chest

and buried my head in my hands trying to process the information that I had just received . It couldn’t be real, they must have made a mistake, it

couldn’t be Mike, not my Mike. There came a soft knock on the door, “Kate”

Maggie whispered “I am so so sorry but the officers need you to go to the

hospital to er…..erm….identify…erm” I knew what she was trying to say,

identify the body, this was good, I could go and I would be able to tell them

that they had made a mistake and it wasn’t my husband. Jumping up I

pulled the door open “Ok I’m ready”.

The ride to the hospital in the back of the police car was quiet, eerily quiet, I

ran through so many scenarios in my head but still came back to the same

conclusion, there was no way that it could be Mike. We walked into the

hospital to be greeted by a doctor, he introduced himself as Dr Morris and

led us through to a room, it was a small room with no furniture except of a curtain pulled around something at the end of the room. . Dr Morris looked at me with sad eyes “I have to advise you Mrs

Walker that your husband sustained some serious injuries some of which are

to his face so please try not the be alarmed and what you see.” I wanted to

laugh at his ridiculous words, he was about to show me a dead body and he

wanted me to not be alarmed, how was that even possible. The curtain was

pulled back I slowly stepped forward and the realisation

hit me like a freight train, the person laying there was Mike, his face was

covered in cuts and bruises but it was undeniable that it was my beautiful

Mike. The walls starting to fall in on me, my head was spinning and I started

to hyperventilate, panic started to rise in me then everything went dark.

My head felt fuzzy, a weird kind of fuzzy , like I ‘d had too much to drink, I

opened my eyes to see three pairs of eyes staring back at me. “Are you ok

Mrs Walker?” asked Dr Morris, a look of concern on his face. “Yes I think so”

I replied whilst coming to a sitting position, then I remembered what had

happened, my Mike, my beautiful Mike, my best friend , my sole mate, my

husband, gone, he was gone and there was nothing I could do to bring him

back. I probably should be crying, but the truth was, right at that moment, I

felt nothing, I was numb, from head to toe. One of the police officers put his

hand gently on my shoulder. “Mrs Walker is there anyone that we can call

for you?” “No” I replied “no one.” It was the truth there was no one, for a

while now our whole family consisted of me, Mike, Jack and Abby. I was an

only child, my father, if I could use that word to describe him, had left not

long after I was born and we never heard from him again. My mum did a

fantastic job bringing me up on her own, but it was always a struggle with

her heart condition and when I was 20 her heart just gave up. That was one

of the hardest things that I had ever experienced and without Mike by my

side I don’t think that I would have survived. He totally understood what I

was going through considering that two years before, when he was only 19

his mum, dad and younger brother were killed in a car accident. Its ironic

really that he should go the same way. I was his rock throughout that time

and he always said that I was the one who fixed him. But this, how was I

going to get through this without my rock, I had no idea, how were Jack and

Abby going to live without their dad. Oh my god! Jack and Abby, how was I

going to tell them, what was I going to say to them. All the words spun

around in my head, I had to think clearly. I decided that there was no

reason to pull them from school in the middle of the day; I figured I may as

well let them finish their day oblivious to what was happening before I ripped

their whole world apart.

I looked up at the police officers, a pathetic little fake smile on my face. “Thank you officers for everything that you have done, I would appreciate it if you could

take me back to my office so that I can collect my car. I will be fine from

there.” “well, if your sure Mrs Walker.” asked one of the officers,. “Yes, thank

you, I’m sure.” Once I had collected my car I headed home. The drive was

very surreal, by the time I pulled up to the front door of our three bedroomed

semi-detached home, I couldn’t for the life of me remember how the hell I

had got there. It was kind of like I was on auto pilot and my body was just

doing what it had to do without my brain consciously being in control. After

walking into the living room I looked around there were family pictures

everywhere, bringing memories of times together that we would never share

again. I looked at myself in the large over mantle mirror above the fire place. My usually bright green eyes were very dark, my pale skin was even paler and my shoulder length dark hair looked messy and unkempt, in truth I looked as though I had not slept in about a month. I looked around the room wondering what I should do next, I thought

about calling Laura, my best friend in the whole world, we had known each

other since we were 2 and had gone through absolutely everything together.

Taking out my phone I almost dialled her number, I knew that she would just

drop what ever it was that she was doing to be by my side, I also know that

she would be pissed off with me if I didn’t contact her straight away, but as

much as I loved her and needed her, I also knew that I needed this time to

myself to process in my mind what had happened. Once Laura was here it

would be a long time before I had anymore time to myself as she probably

wouldn’t leave my side. I know she means well but she just doesn’t get that

sometimes she can be a little smothering. Putting my phone onto the table I

sank into the settee put my head in my hands and sobbed, totally

uncontrollable heart wrenching sobs. I cried until I had no tears left to cry, I

was raw and alone and all I could do was lay and stare at the wall, no

thoughts would enter my head I was totally blank.