Destined - The Austin Series Prequel Read Free

around, wondering where Doug and
his Mum had gone. I felt dad’s hand stroke my hair, just like mum
did when I was upset. I really liked that, it always made me feel
calm and safe.
    ‘Dad where’s Mum? Is she
better?’ I asked as I looked up at him. He looked different. His
normal bright blue eyes were all bloodshot and he had stubble all
over his face. Dad always shaved, it was a ritual of ours. Every
morning he’d sit me on the big vanity unit next to his sink in the
bathroom and we’d talk while I watched him shave. Sometimes he’d
make me scream with laughter as he’d flick his shaving foam all
over me and then tickle me. He used to throw me in the air and
catch me, but I was too big for that now. I loved our mornings
together while he shaved, I felt like a proper man.
    ‘Gabriel, your Mum … Mum had a
very nasty fall yesterday and had to go to hospital.’ He spoke
really quietly and was looking at me so strangely.
    ‘But she’s better now, right?
Hospital’s where people go to get better isn’t it Dad? When can I
see her? I really miss her.’
    ‘Hospital’s where they try and
make you better son, but … but sometimes it doesn’t always happen,
sometimes …’ he stopped and took a deep breath that caught in his
throat. ‘Sometimes people are so poorly, that no matter what
the nurses and doctors do, they can’t … they just can’t do anything
to help them.’ I felt his hand move through my hair again as I
looked up at him puzzled. What was he trying to tell me? That Mum
was staying there for a while? ‘You remember your goldfish
Bubbles?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes.’ I nodded as I let out a
sad sigh and hung my head. Bubbles had died a few months ago, I’d
found him floating in his bowl one morning, so we’d had a little
funeral service and had put him in a matchbox and buried him in the
garden. I’d cried all day, but Mum had given me lots of cuddles and
ice cream to cheer me up. ‘I miss Bubbles Dad.’
    ‘I know you do,’ he whispered
and I looked back up at him confused as he started to cry. I’d
never seen dad cry, and here he was getting upset over my goldfish.
“Boys have to be strong, Gabriel,” he’d always tell me. “It’s a
man’s job to be strong to look after his family,” was another rule
he hammered home all the time.
    ‘Dad, why are you crying?’
    ‘Well Mum’s … Mum’s like
Bubbles now, Gabriel. She was so poorly that they … they couldn’t
help her and she’s … no longer with us. Do you understand what I’m
trying to tell you?’ dad asked as he lifted a shaking hand to wipe
his eyes with a white cotton handkerchief.
    ‘Mum’s not coming home?’ I felt
my eyes expand as I looked at him in horror.
    ‘No, no she’s not,’ he sniffed
as he shook his head.
    ‘ Ever ?’ I whispered. Did
he mean he’d put her in a box in the garden too? Like my
goldfish?
    ‘No, she’s like Bubbles now,
she’s left us … she’s left us and gone to heaven and she’ll be
watching over us, just like he does, because she loves us very
much.’
    ‘Why Dad?’ I asked. I could
feel my chin and bottom lip wobbling, and tears stinging my
eyes.
    ‘She hurt herself too badly
falling down the stairs yesterday and the doctors couldn’t help
her.’
    ‘No,’ I shouted. I didn’t
understand what was happening. Mum was never coming home because
she’d fallen down the stairs? Dad grabbed my hands and I started to
cry, this felt worse than when he’d told me Bubbles had left us, so
much worse.
    ‘Gabriel I’m so sorry, but you
need to know that your mother loved you with all of her heart. She
wanted me to tell you that and to say … to say goodbye to you.’
    ‘No Dad no, I want my mum,’ I
howled and he dragged me against his firm chest as I heard him
start to sob as well. ‘ Mummy ,’ I screamed. This was my
fault. Mum was never coming home because I made her angry and fall?
All because I wanted a stupid Beyblade a day early?
    ‘I love you, Gabriel,’