LEAVING INDIAN RIVER

Leaving Indian River

by

Kristofer Logan



PROLOGUE

Lucas Roberts was in pain. He didn't know why he was in pain and he couldn't move. Something was holding him down. His head and chest seemed be strapped down for some reason and he struggled against the phantom bonds, to no avail.
Images flashed through his mind. A road stretching out before him, laughter from somewhere nearby, covered up with music from a radio played in the background. Something was buzzing in his ear and he couldn't make it out.
The pain lanced through his body again and brought him back to the present. He could make out light above him, but his vision was blurry. His head ached and swam, and he felt as though his body was floating through a long tunnel.
He tried to speak, to ask what was happening, but every time he opened his mouth, his head hurt even more. There was a moment, when he thought he could hear voices, but they were muffled, like he was under water. He felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper into a lake of dark, murky water, obscurring the light with each passing second. And then, he slept.

CHAPTER ONE

Angela Roberts watched her son from across the room of the hospital where he'd lain for the past several months. She'd exhausted her tears weeks ago and was now in the mode to tend her comatose son with the utmost attentivness that she could muster.
She and her husband had taken leave from their respective jobs after it became apparent that Lucas was in for a long recovery, if indeed he would ever recover. Eventually, her husband Jessie had been forced to return to work, but he made the four hour trip to Memphis every weekend.
Angela had refused to leave Lucas' bedside and quit her job at the bank back home in Sparta. She had dipped into their savings to rent a small apartment near the hospital. She rarely slept there, instead falling asleep most nights in the room with her only son.
She wasn't always alone, however. Julia often kept her company and played bridge or rummy with her. She offered up a prayer each time she saw Julia take her post in the chair next to Lucas. The two of them had been together for two years before the accident and Angela had never known Lucas to be happier than when he was in her company.
"Angela, here's your coffee, Hon".
Angela looked up and saw Julia there, coffee and sandwiches in hand. She'd gone to the Seven-Eleven down the street to pick up a few things and had caught Angela in her moment of reflection.
"Thank you, Sweetheart. I was just looking at him. Isn't he so handsome", said Angela.
"Yes, he is. It was his good looks that caught my attention."
"What? I thought that his manners and southern drawl is what caught your attention", said Angela.
Julian blushed slightly and looked away like a school girl caught eyeing the quaterback. "That's what I told him. Truth is, I caught one look at Lucas and fell madly in love. The night we met, he was getting up from his table and heading to the bar and I stood right behind him. When he turned around, he bumped into me