Strike At Midnight || Luka Couffaine

Chapter 28 ❧ Aftermath

Hallelujah cover by Pentatonix.

•●•●•●•●•

Well I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do you?

•●•●•●•●•

"Luka... Luka! I think mom is calling for us," A little Juleka tugs on his older brother's arm.

"But we're having so much fun!" He whines.

"I don't know...Dad could get angry again."

Luka couldn't argue with that. So he turns to me with his wide grin plastered over his small face. "Well this is bye-bye. We'll play again next time right?"

I nod eagerly. "What do you want to play?"

He scratches his head in contemplation, but Juleka interrupts and pulls him away. "Come on! Bye-bye, Selie. See you again!"

"Wait," Luka rips his arm free and runs back to me. "Let's be superheroes!"

"Okay, don't forget it then."

"I won't!" He says before chasing after little Juleka as they disappear into a bright, white landscape.

I wave goodbye and walk the other way.

•●•●•●•●•

My surroundings feel different from before. Compared to my last visions, this one is sharper and much more blinding. It's nothing like walking into a dream-like haze as I've done so before.

Suddenly, I feel arms wrap around me. It radiated warmth from the cold and held me securely. I find myself melting into embrace as a sense of nostalgia fills my head. The shape holding me convulses with sobs and I spot the colour of her hair.

"Mom, don't cry."

Ocean blue eyes meet my brown ones. She has rosy red cheeks, a button nose, completed with peach wisps of her framing her face. She looks like a fairy. Her palm cups my cheek as I stare at her in a daze.

Another figure- a man appears behind her. I feel as small as a mouse especially in my child-like state, but he bends down to meet me eye-to-eye.

"Did I do well?" I blurt out. I didn't want to ask if I was a good hero because there was no way I had a sense of duty for anyone but myself. I know I was no hero.

He pats my head with a large, calloused hand. "You were perfect and you still are."

"We love you so much."

•●•●•●•●•

But baby I've been here before
I've seen this room and I've walked this floor
You know, I used to live alone before I knew ya
And I've seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah