Day 8: Challenge

Challenge #4

Write a story that incorporates the themes of change and forgiveness.

Note: This ties into the Never-Ending Epic of Woe that's consumed the past few years of my life. I never knew how these two first encountered each other, or what the connection between them was, until now, but it makes sense. 


A few points that probably aren't clear in this excerpt: 

• Destiny can predict people's deaths, and later becomes a fortune-teller.
• Caleb is the name of the mystery man who comes to fetch her. 
• He's a little bit immortal (but not completely). 
• He's also her great-uncle and his grandfather was an angel of death.
• The man she sees in her premonition of Caleb's death is his grandson.
• He's trying to absolve his guilt for letting his family die, hence the reference to an act of contrition.
  

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Destiny was preoccupied with the future. Lately it was this constant drone in the back of her mind, like a mosquito she just couldn’t hit.

          She picked at the frayed cuff of her jeans and glared at thrown-together buildings that were never meant to house anyone for more than a few months, let alone a few generations. It wasn’t even like the future was worth thinking about. The fact that she didn’t have at least one screaming brat attached to her at sixteen was considered damn near a miracle around here.

          But she couldn’t shake it. The future wanted her to see something and Destiny knew, sooner or later, she was going to have to take a look.

          A commotion started up down the way, and kids started flocking out of corners to hang off porches, all staring down the little dirt road. Destiny craned her neck trying to see; she was too old to just run down with the other kids, but not old enough she wasn’t curious about the low rumble surrounded in plumes of dust.

          Then she saw it, crunching over loose stones and dried mud. Even the dirt didn’t do much to dull its shine. It was painted a deep, dark red that was almost black with sparkling silver on the wheels and around the windows. Destiny felt her spine straighten and her ears twitch.

          No one drove down here. No one who lived there, first of all, ever dreamt of having a car, and anyone else took one look at the road and the gaggle of grubby children staring at them and turned right back around again.

          She knew before it even started to slow that whoever was in that car was there for her. Her skin tingled and heat rushed through her scalp. The buzzing mosquito droned so loud she nearly couldn’t hear anything else.

          The car stopped and everyone waited while the dust drifted in slow clouds back to the ground. Whether they knew exactly why or not, the others all kept their distance from whatever the car represented. Destiny wanted to, as well, but she couldn’t seem to make herself move from her spot. More than that, she was excited.

          Finally, he stepped out. Slow and sure of himself, like nothing in this world could touch him. And God, he was like no one she’d ever seen before. Even the air around him couldn’t keep itself still. He was so clean. Skin a deep honey-brown with just that hint of gold, and straight, fine hair like wet ink. His clothes looked like they’d been made just for him, and hadn’t ever been worn more than once. He was magic personified, and he was here for her.

          He took his time looking her over, and she couldn’t help thinking his eyes were the same colour as his car, only alive. Like the last coals in a fire. ‘I knew your mother,’ he said, his voice just as silky and sweet as his skin looked. He cocked his head to one side and looked at her harder. No, in her. She could feel his eyes reaching right through to the deepest parts of her. ‘Your grandmother,’ he corrected. ‘Time gets away from me sometimes. I need to find her.’

          ‘They’re both dead,’ she said, not even pausing to consider how someone who looked barely older than her could know a woman who’d died well before she’d been born.

          ‘That tends to be the case with people I need to find.’ He nodded. ‘I was looking for her a long time ago, but… Something happened.’ He looked confused for a moment, as if trying to chase down something in his own mind. ‘I don’t remember why I stopped, and time just… Went. So I found you instead.’

          ‘Why were you looking for her?’

          ‘A feeble attempt at contrition,’ he said. Those eyes ran over her again and she felt a rush of warmth skip through her. ‘I guess you’ll have to be my mea culpa instead.’

          ‘I’ll be your what?’

          ‘It’s a long story.’ He ran a hand back through his hair, leaving one lone strand sticking straight out. ‘How did your mother die?’

          ‘Fire.’ She watched the hair, wondering how long before it fell in line with the others.

          ‘I didn’t see that coming.’

          ‘I did.’

          ‘I bet.’ He grinned, a crookedly mischievous expression. ‘I need you.’

          For the first time in longer than she could remember, the buzzing in her mind stopped. ‘For what?’

          ‘I have a house that needs looking after.’

          ‘Why me?’

          ‘It’s a special house,’ he said. He looked around the street for the first time. ‘Would you rather stay here?’

          ‘No, but…’ She tried to pinpoint the question she needed to ask. ‘They don’t have house-sitters where you come from?’

          ‘Oh, not like you, little girl.’ He gave her that grin again, and she decided she liked the imperfection on him. ‘Let’s just say I prefer to keep things in the family.’ He held out his hand. ‘What do you say?’

          There were a million reasons to say no to a stranger with an offer too good to be true, but in all honesty, what did she really have to lose? ‘What about my brother?’

          ‘Does he matter?’

          ‘Yes.’

          ‘I can work with that.’

          She slid her hand into his, and almost pulled it back it was so hot. Then she saw fire – no, just light – white, hot light consuming everything, and faces swarming out of it, then nothing but a dark street and a tired, bloody man staring back. A twin of the one actually in front of her, if the eyes weren’t so different. ‘I know how you die,’ she said before she had the sense to stop herself. She hadn’t slipped like that since… Well, since her mother.

          ‘That’s reassuring,’ he said, and he sounded like he meant it.