Free Just a Little Sincerity by Tracie Puckett

 
    Prologue
    Sunday September 23
    “Luke,” I said. “Please stay awake. There’s an ambulance on the way. They’re going to be here any second to take you to the hospital. Just hang in there okay? Please—”
    “Jules,” he said, his voice weak as his consciousness faded. “I’m losing a lot of blood—”
    “Stay awake,” I said again. “Just listen to me. Try to keep your eyes open—”
    “Julie,” he said, managing to lift his right arm. He cupped my face with his hand and squeezed as tight as he could, but his strength was simply gone. He whispered something again, but I couldn’t make out his words. He closed his eyes, but his mouth still moved. I leaned closer to him, hoping to decipher his barely audible whispers. His eyes opened again, and I leaned in as close as I could.
    “Luke,” I said, my tears falling onto his cheeks. “I love you. And if you die…”
    “I’m not going to die,” he whispered. “I promise.”
    He lifted his head far enough for his lips to brush mine. With tears streaming down my cheeks and across our lips, I reluctantly eased into his kiss. When I felt his strength slipping away, I tried to pull back, but he held me as close as he could and parted his lips, allowing for the kiss to deepen.
    And when he couldn’t find the strength to carry on, I pulled away from him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. He closed his eyes again and managed a faint smile.
    The sound of crashing filled the air, and again it was the gun. But it hadn’t been shot. Derek stood over his sister’s unconscious body, wielding the handgun as tears filled his eyes.
    “Derek?” I watched Hannah’s body for a few long beats, noticing a slight movement in her chest.
    “I knocked her out,” he said, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d done. “She’s just unconscious.” He dropped the gun to the floor and rushed to my side.
    Luke turned his head away as his breathing became more and more shallow. The warmth of his breath subsided. The heavy movement in his chest desisted. But the blood kept pouring, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
    As I heard the sound of faint sirens in the distance, I ran my fingers through Luke’s hair, crying over his motionless body.
    “Luke, please,” I begged. “Please don’t leave me.”
    Derek kneeled next to Luke, grabbing his wrist and feeling for a pulse. He leaned down and pressed his ear to Luke’s bloody chest, and after a few faint seconds, looked back at me with teary eyes.
    “I’m so sorry, Julie,” he said. “He’s gone.”

 
    Chapter One
    Saturday October 27
    “I was elected chairman of the dance committee,” I said. “The Fall Ball is scheduled for next Saturday… I’ll probably just go alone.…”
    I scooted forward in the grass with my legs crossed over one another, my knees gracing the engraved stone in front of me. I shook my head and absorbed the reality of this conversation. It seemed far too morbid.
    “You know that feeling when you’re driving down the road, and you arrive at your destination, but you can’t remember for the life of you how you got there?” I asked, slowly drawing in a breath to fill my lungs with the frigid autumn air. “Obviously you found your way, you got there safe, but… the whole idea of how you actually arrived is a mystery even to you?”
    I leaned back to reposition myself, pressing my hands down on the dewy grass and clutching the wet blades between each finger. It was something so simple… so easy to take for granted; the ability to touch something… to feel it… to make a connection. How quickly I’d learned not to ignore the magnitude of having something to hold….
    “That’s how life has felt up to this point; just one case after another of highway hypnosis. Here I am; sitting right in front of you… making small talk about a stupid dance… but the how and why of it all is still too hard to comprehend, so I just shut it out.”
    I let my eyes wander for a few faint