30 Day Image Prompt Competition - August

Day 17 Prompt 2 - The Sparkly End

Kelly stared into the flickering flames of the bonfire, her face pensive as she was caught in the hypnotising dance of the fire. Around her, several of her friends stood either together or with their partners talking about the day that was drawing to a close. Perry was wandering around topping up the fruit cocktails he had made whilst Max kept a watchful eye on the food cooking on the large barbecue.

“Drink?” Perry offered, holding a large pitcher with various pieces of fruit floating in a peach coloured liquid. “It’s non-alcoholic.”

“Thanks, Perry.” She held her glass out to him and watched as he poured the liquid out. “What are you calling this one?”

“I was thinking of Fireside Sunset or something along those lines,” he replied. “It’s a good turnout, tonight.”

“It is. I didn’t think people would want to do this after …” her voice trailed off, not wanting to bring into the open the horrors of the previous weeks.

“People like to have a new beginning and this is a good way of giving it to them and consigning the bad stuff to just a bad memory.”

“You’re very philosophical for a humble barkeep?” she teased, wanting to lift the seriousness from his face. They all had bad memories they wanted to forget. She hoped that this night would enable them all to move on.

“Don’t you know that barkeeps make the best psychiatrists? It’s surprising what you learn behind the bar.” He grinned at her, his eyes crinkling with humour. “Hey, Pete and Adam are here. Back in a mo, Kelly.”

She watched as Perry left his pitcher on a table before hugging the two tall men who had arrived at the gathering. She felt a sense of disappointment that Luca wasn’t with them before telling herself to stop moping. A man such as Luca D’Angelo would not come to a student gathering such as this one, even if he was involved in the lead up to it.

Laughter and conversation flowed around the bonfire as the ties of friendships healed recent wounds and pulled everyone even closer
together yet she felt alone amongst them. Wherever she looked there was always someone with that special person, be they a best friend or a loved one. Was she doomed to always be alone after what had happened with Roger?

Roger. The spark to a keg that had exploded into all of their lives. It was hard to believe that all that had happened in the last six weeks had been because of Roger. That his actions had changed the lives of some of those here tonight. For Kelly, her life had taken the most hits until she felt like she didn’t know who she was or where she was going anymore.

A shiver shook her slender frame as she saw the memorial to Roger. His college photo with his familiar, cheeky grin and blue eyes dancing with humour as he had waited for the photographer to take the picture, stood enlarged on an easel next to a table decorated with various awards he’d won and tributes people had written. Only those who had been directly involved in what had happened knew the truth and for that she was glad even though it meant some had unasked questions they wanted to ask of her. Questions that all stemmed from that night.

As she stood reflecting, she could remember that night as clear as if it were yesterday. The walk home from the bar after the Halloween Disco, the drunks coming after her, the wolf rescuing her from their leader. Not a wolf, Luca, she thought as her insides clenched at the memory of him in all his animal magnificence before changing back to the powerful stranger from the bar.

She had been shocked to discover that it had been Roger’s brother who had attacked her and ended up being expelled from the university. Roger’s attitude had started to change, then, becoming more darker towards her even though he had remained almost the same man to their friends. She had shrugged his attitude off at the time, thinking that it had to do with his brother being expelled rather than something more deadly.

“Sparkly, Kelly?” Joanne’s voice interrupted her thoughts and she smiled at her friend as she offered her a handful of sparklers. “We’re going to light them in a few minutes, to remember Roger.”

Seeing the hesitant look on Joanne’s face, Kelly took the proffered sparklers without any hesitation. She knew Joanne had her own bad memories to contend with when it came to remembering Roger and she did not want to add to her friend’s turmoil by refusing this gesture. “Thanks, Jo.”

The girl smiled and left Kelly to her thoughts once more. She had almost forgotten Roger’s attitude until Adam had placed his Zombie Army poster on the corridors of the university they attended. They had laughed and joked about it until that evening, when zombies had attacked her on her way home. That time it had been Adam and his friend Pete who had rescued her, introducing her to a world she had only read about in books and Luca.

It had been Luca who had listened to her when she had spoken of Roger’s odd behaviour. Luca who had seen that it was more than an obsessive love that Roger was suffering under. Luca who had done all he could to try and save the young student before reluctantly conceding that death was the only way to stop him.

Unfortunately, by the time they had decided to kill Roger, the zombies had attacked in full force and a war had erupted on the grounds of the university. When it was over, both innocent and zombie bodies littered the campus. Adam, who really was a vampire, and his werewolf friend Pete had gone in search of the zombie leader, only to discover that he had slipped off the campus taking Kelly with him. Luca had followed them and had fought a wild and possessed Roger who had screamed that Kelly was his for eternity before Luca had killed him.

Kelly’s last memory of that night had been Roger’s head rolling on the ground, the laughing features replaced by a face so twisted by evil it was almost unrecognisable. She had fainted then, her mind and body mentally exhausted by all that had happened. For four days she had been unconsciousness, only rousing yesterday for Roger’s funeral and the memorial today.

A bell tinkled somewhere, breaking into her thoughts and she looked up to see Adam stepping up onto an overturned crate. He held and unlit sparkler in his hand and a candle in the other.

“I want to thank you all for coming here tonight. I know after the events of the past week it hasn’t been easy for a lot of you but hopefully tonight will help all of us move on.” Adam paused and looked out towards everyone before continuing. “As you know, we all lost several good friends in the viral attack that swept the university. Some were infected with the virus and others were killed by those infected. We had some wonderful services a couple of days ago to remember those people, to pray for them and to give thanks that it was all over.”

The audience all nodded in agreement, each remembering fallen friends and comrades who had been ‘infected’ with a strange virus of unknown origins. Kelly wondered what their reaction would be if they knew that the origin of the virus was something close to home.

“In the midst of all this chaos, we also lost a good friend to the worst serial killer known to man. Many of you had seen Roger Evans acting strange these past few weeks without a visible cause before he had disappeared. It was very strange to see him acting this way and I know that many of you were very concerned about him. His father confirmed to me yesterday, at his funeral, that Roger had a brain tumour, very advanced. It had been discovered too late to treat and was affecting an area of the brain that affected personality.”

Adam waited until the murmurs of understanding had faded before continuing. “In view of this, I don’t want us to remember the Roger of those final days but the Roger from beforehand. The friend, colleague, mentor, lifetime practical joker. I don’t know about you guys, but I know I’ll always think of him when I go to the bathroom the morning after the night before. I always check the toilet hasn’t been clingfilmed after his joke on me.”

Laughter echoed around the group and soft conversations as Roger’s famous practical jokes were remembered. Adam smiled in satisfaction as his objective was reached. He hadn’t wanted anyone to tie in the virus induced zombies with Roger’s genius for chemistry and biology. This memorial, separate to those who’d died in the fighting, and the brain tumour explanation, kept Roger apart from that tragedy and the condemnation of his once friends.

“So,” he continued when the voices had subsided. “I’d like you all to light your sparklers and raise them to the skies in memory of Roger. May his sparkling personality shine through wherever he is now.”

Kelly scowled as she realised she had no lighter to ignite her sparkler. She looked for someone to borrow a light from when a flame appeared in front of her and lit the two sparklers in her hand.

“It appears that I arrive just in time to save the day, again, cara,” an accented voice said behind her.

Kelly felt her insides light up along with the sparkler as those gravelly tones stroked across her nerves, both settling and arousing her
in one turn. She looked up and found herself falling into a pair of ice blue eyes that burned with a hidden fire.

“Luca,” she breathed as felt him come to stand by her, his body heat warming her more than the bonfire.

“I am sorry I was not hear earlier but the Council wanted to go over the final arrangements for the cover-up here. It took longer than I expected.”

“That’s okay. I wasn’t expecting you to come here,” she lied, knowing that she had been waiting and waiting for this dark stranger to return to her. She had known him only a few strange weeks yet he felt so much a part of her it hurt to be apart from him.

“And why should I not be here?” he asked before strong arms enfolded her, moulding her back to his muscular chest. Together, they raised their sparklers and joined in with the toasts to the old Roger.

“I thought you were returning home,” Kelly replied when it was quiet once more. Her heart was pounding inside her, so loud she was sure everyone could hear it.

“I am, tomorrow, with you by my side as we agreed.” His voice was light but she could hear that faint thread of steel warning her he would accept nothing different from what they had agreed.

“Yes, that was before, when everything was going crazy and Roger was still out there. The danger’s passed. You don’t need to protect me.”

“It is not protection, tesoro,” he stated.

“It isn’t?” she questioned. “But your future? You said you it was all mapped out.”

“I do. Tomorrow, we return to my home for your vacation and then, if I have survived four weeks of you taking up all of the bed space, you move into my home,” he teased, turning her round in his arms to look down at her. “As my wife.”

“Wife?” she breathed, unable to grasp what he was saying.

“Wife. You are my mate, Kelly, as I told you that night. Mates are forever, as are we.” With that his lips sealed hers, wiping away all her doubts and fears in once glorious, sparkly explosion.