Destiny
Authors: Mitchel Grace
Destiny
By
Mitchel Grace
Other Titles by this
Author
Wrong
Place
Wrong
Time
Wrong
Life
Wrong
Regrets
Wrong
Fortunes
Wrong
Mission
Wrong
End
Strange
Visions: The Beginning
Strange
Visions: Yesterday’s Sins
Strange
Visions: False Endings
Strange
Visions: The Calm
Strange
Visions:
The Storm
The
Divide
Wrong
Visions: Lost Memories Vol. 1
Wrong
Visions: Lost Memories Vol.2
Wrong
Visions: Lost Memories Vol. 3
The
Unseen: A Broken Mind
The
Unseen: Shadow Wars
The
Unseen: Watchers
Destiny
By Mitchel Grace
Published by Mitchel Grace
Copyright 2015 Mitchel Grace
License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If
you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an
additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not
purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to
the author and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of
this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
I want to thank everyone who has supported me along the way. I’ve
written many books over the past couple of years, but never have I set out to
do a project like this. I feel like this is the culmination of a lot of time,
hard work, and creativity that would have never been possible without the love
and support my friends and family have given to me. This one is for them. I
hope you all enjoy Destiny. It’s been incredible taking this journey with Eric
and Olivia.
Table of Contents
Chapter
1: Crashing But Not Burning
Chapter
14: Broken Beyond Repair
Chapter
15: A Deal With The Devil
Chapter
19: Letting My Heart Go
Chapter
21: Heart Stops Beating
Chapter
24: An Unexpected Spark
Chapter
28: When It All Catches Up To You
Chapter
30: The Pursuit of Happiness
It’s
2:30 in the morning on a cold Saturday, and I’m standing outside of a house that
I’m absolutely terrified to walk into. That’s not even the worst part. In the
last hour, I’ve been punched . . . twice. Did I mention that my car is in the
lake, too? Yeah, it’s been an eventful night. I would love to tell you that my
story consists of an epic hero’s journey to some type of resolution that helps
the world on a macro scale. This isn’t that kind of story, though. In fact,
it’s all a bit funny . . . and a little sad if you’re me.
Someone once told me that life is about
being satisfied with what you have. The things, the area, and the
people
who choose to love you, even if their way of showing
that love is frightening, are supposed to be enough for us. Me standing outside
of this house tonight with a black eye while I’m literally freezing to death
is
my way of rejecting what I’m
supposed
to be happy with. It’s certainly not working out right
now, but it’s been one amazing ride. All that’s left is to walk into the house
and see what the last twelve years have been about. Maybe I’m getting ahead of
myself, though. Let me tell you where it all started. I won’t lie. This is
going to be a bit embarrassing. You might even laugh at me. At other times, you
might just find yourself moved to tears.
Oh,
I almost forgot. My name is Eric Wilson. This is my story from the beginning.
It all started on a trip with my family twelve years ago.
Crashing
But Not Burning
Twelve
years ago, my family and I were going on a trip to Wisconsin to see my aunt and
uncle. We lived in Miami at the time, and Wisconsin was the last place most of
my family members wanted to go. I, on the other hand, didn’t care either way.
To give you some perspective on where a fourteen year old me was at that point,
my dad made more money than I could ever dream of, and my sister was the
perfectly tan intelligent teenager. In fact, she was everything my mom and dad
could ask for. My mom didn’t have to work because of what my dad did, which
oddly
enough,
we never seemed to talk about. I’ll tell
you more about that later. In the midst of our
perfect
life, there was me - the kid who was pale, average in every
way, and completely lost. Now, I know what you’re thinking. This just sounds like
a story about a rich kid who whines about rich people problems. I’ll admit that
it might come off that way, but there’s a lot more to it than that. I was
wrapped up in this world back in Miami where I didn’t fit at all. Where
everyone in our community saw the perfect paradise, I saw dysfunction. They saw
private schools, beautiful people, and cash . . . and I mean a
lot
of cash. What I saw were people
putting on a show. Beautiful people were driving beautiful cars, and they were
right beside a gorgeous beach. It was skin deep, though. Nothing, and I stress
nothing
, was beyond the surface.
So
that was my story up until that point. I was the oddball who never quite got with
the program. On that day, everything changed for me. It didn’t come without
some growing pains, though.
“Get
on your side!” I heard as I awoke in our vehicle and felt an arm push me back
over to my side of the car.
That
was my sister, Catherine. Let’s just say that we didn’t get along. Apparently,
I had fallen asleep, and my head had drifted over to her side of the vehicle.
For some reason, that infuriated her.
“Relax,
you two. We’re almost there,” my mom said. Her name was Mary.
As
we pulled up to my uncle’s house, I had absolutely no enthusiasm about this
so-called vacation. That all changed when we got out. As I opened my door, I
looked across the street to see a person who would change my life. There on her
front porch, in the biggest and only snowstorm I had ever seen, was a girl who
made my heart skip a beat. Her dark hair and blue eyes perfectly accented each
other, making just the sight of her mesmerizing. Then there were her perfectly shaped
lips. They seemed so far away for someone like me. Her expression made me even
more interested. She looked sad. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to
fix whatever could have possibly been wrong for this amazing girl.
Suddenly,
she spotted me, and I looked away. By now, my dad, Jerry, had seen exactly what
I was looking at. Up until that point, I had never shown much interest in the
opposite sex. Actually, I had never shown much interest in anyone. I think he
saw it as an opportunity to bring me out of my shell.
“So
why don’t you go talk to her? I can get the bags,” he said.
“What
are you talking about?”
“You
know who I mean. You were just looking at that girl. We’re going to be here for
a week. It might not hurt to make a friend.”
“Yeah,
I think Dad’s right. Why don’t you give it a shot? I’m sure she’s looking for
someone who’s athletic. Wait a minute . . . that doesn’t sound like you. Maybe
she’s looking for a smart guy . . . no, that doesn’t sound like you either.
Well, if nothing else, you should go over there just so I can watch how badly
this plays out,” Catherine said with a smirk.
“Why
do you always do that? What makes you think that you’re . . .” I managed to say
before she cut me off.
“I’m
just trying to lower your expectations a little, but who knows? Maybe I’m
wrong. Stranger things have happened. None come to mind, but given enough time,
I’m sure I could come up with something,” she said and walked away.
As
my mother and father followed her into the house with the bags, I was more
determined than ever to prove her wrong. I could do this. What was so hard
about making a new friend? That’s all this was, right?
Without
hesitation, I turned and started walking across the street. When I got a few
steps into the road, I heard the sound of a car skidding and turned to see
a vehicle only feet
away from me. One thing was certain.
This was going to hurt. It smashed into me, and I rolled surprisingly well over
the hood and windshield. When I hit the ground on the other side, it took my
breath. As the pain subsided, I looked down at my legs and then to my hands.
Everything seemed to be in order. The only thing that was seriously injured was
my pride. I stood and stumbled into the next lane. That’s when I heard a car
sliding again and felt yet another vehicle connect with me from behind. Then
everything went black. Yeah, maybe my sister was right. What were the odds of
me actually succeeding now?
I
awoke several minutes later in an ambulance. I was in pain, but it didn’t feel
like anything was majorly wrong. Well, there
was
one thing seriously wrong. Back in Miami, I wasn’t exactly
popular, and in my first five minutes of being in Wisconsin, I had completely
stared down a stranger, been hit by two cars, and now I was on the way to the
hospital. Could things get any worse?
“Oh,
great. He’s awake,” I heard one of the EMTs say.
It didn’t feel great. In that moment, I
was wishing that one of the cars had killed me. Things would get better,
though. After my family saw that I was okay, a lot of teasing went on. By the
time I was finally released that night, all I wanted to do was go to bed. That
was no problem either because it was already late. We had been on such a long
trip already, and after all the hospital business, everyone was ready to call
it a night. As they retired to their rooms, my uncle hesitated for a moment.
His name was Gary, and he was a big man, to say the least. I remember his 6’5”
300 pound frame looking gigantic to me back then. You have to realize that I
had never met my uncle until that night, so when he asked me to wait a second
before going upstairs, I was a little worried. What were his intentions? Was he
angry because of all the trouble I had caused that day? If so, did I really
want to get on this guy’s bad side?
“Hey,
wait a minute,” Uncle Gary said.
“What
is it?” I asked shyly.
“I’m
just wondering what you were doing in the road today.”
“I
was going to talk to someone.”
“Who?”
“I
don’t know who she is. She lives across the road from you. It was stupid. I’m
really sorry that . . .”
“Don’t
be sorry. You know, she’s sitting on her front porch right now, if you still
want to talk to her,” Uncle Gary said while glancing out the window.
“I
don’t know. I . . .”
“Come
on!
You got hit by two cars trying to talk to the girl
.
You’ve got your opener right there,” he joked.
“Okay . . .” I said hesitantly and walked
toward the door.
I
had no idea what I was going to say. I had just embarrassed myself in front of
this girl. Should I really go talk to her? As my head started to feel foggy, I
heard my uncle’s voice snap me back to reality.
“Eric,
remember to look both ways this time,” he said with a smile.
I
returned a smile of my own and walked out the door. In a way, I was just
relieved that my uncle turned out to be a gentle giant. As I went toward the
road, I was brought back to the situation right in front of me. I was walking
toward what could be the girl of my dreams, and I had no idea what to say. What
was she like? What was her name? For that matter, why was she sitting on the
front porch in the blistering cold? Had she been there this whole time? Without
even thinking, I spoke as I walked up to the front porch.
“Do
you always sit outside during a blizzard?”
“Do
you always walk out into the middle of traffic?” she asked with the hint of a
smile.
“You’ve
got me there. Seriously, though, what are you doing out here?”
“You
first. Where were you going earlier, and do you not know how to look both ways?
I thought for sure the
second
car was
going to kill you,” she said and laughed.
“Actually,
I was coming to talk to you. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea, though. Now I
don’t know what I was even going to say.”
“You’re
doing good so far. At least I have some company for once. What’s your name?”
“I’m
Eric. Me and my family are here from Miami visiting my uncle.”
“Miami,
huh? It must be nice.”
“It’s
a little overrated.”
“How
can you say that? You guys have warm weather year round and some of the most
beautiful beaches possible. All we have are blizzards and a couple of sports teams
that everyone around here can’t be quiet about.”
“I
like it here already. Just trust me. There’s nothing real to see back there.”
“All
right. I’ll take your word for it, Eric. I’m Olivia, by the way. I’m out here
right now because it’s better than being inside with my mom.”
“Why?”
“Let’s
just say that I don’t fit in my current situation. I’m sure a guy who manages
to get hit by two cars in less than a minute wouldn’t understand anything about
not fitting in,” she said sarcastically.
“I’m
never going to hear the end of that from anyone, am I?”
“I
don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty much going to remember it for the
rest of my life. If you think about it, I almost killed a man today.”
“What
do you mean?”
“Oh, come on! I saw you looking at me
from across the street. I know why you
really
tried to come over here,” she flirted.
“I
don’t know
what
you’re talking about.
I was just looking to make a friend while I was in town.”
“Uh
huh. I’m sure your intentions were perfectly pure,” Olivia said with a smirk.
“What?
They were.”
“Okay.
That’s really a shame, though. I need to go back inside. If you haven’t
noticed, it’s freezing out here.”
“Wait
a minute. Why would it be a shame?”
“Never
mind. I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested in that with all your
pure intentions
,” she said and walked
toward the door.
“You
can’t just say something like that and then leave.”
“Oh,
can I not? Give me a reason to stay then.”
“What?
I . . .”
“Hmm.
I don’t think that’s going to be good enough. You might be able to try again
tomorrow night, though . . . that is, unless you don’t feel safe crossing the
road. I can always come over to your uncle’s place.”
“Very
funny. I look forward to it.”
Olivia
smiled as she started to walk into her house. She stopped just short of the
door and turned back.
“Oh,
and Eric, I don’t know what things are like in Miami, but this is
not
a blizzard to people here. This is
just routine December weather. If you promise not to walk out in front of any
cars or freeze to death in this
blizzard,
I’ll show you the one good thing about this area tomorrow night.”
“I’m
fine in the cold. I make no promises when it comes to cars, though,” I joked.
At
that point, she walked inside, and I went back to my uncle’s house to find him
waiting at the kitchen table. He didn’t say anything, but he looked happy for
me. Here I was, this awkward and very bruised kid who didn’t seem to have much
hope for anything good. Just when I needed it, though, there was a ray of
light. If I had known getting hit by two cars could change everything, I would
have done it long before then. In that moment, I thought that Olivia was just
going to be a bright spot in my life. I couldn’t have known just how much she
would alter everything about who I was. She would end up being my joy and my
sorrow. For now, she was only a girl who actually saw me. Back then, that was
enough.