Lucas: An Autistic Fantasy - Book I

Lucas

- An Autistic Fantasy –

Book I

By Bonnie Turner

-------------------------------------

Lucas

- An Autistic Fantasy -

Book I

By Bonnie Turner

Smashwords Edition

Published by Bonnie Turner at Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, 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’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

September 2012,

Vic, Australia

Table of Contents

Artist Statement

Chapter 1: Like a Leave in the Wind

Chapter 2: We Belong Together

Chapter 3: Every Breath I take He is watching me

Chapter 4: All I need to do is Dream

Chapter 5: I Belong to the Light

Chapter 6: I think You owe me some Answers

Chapter 7: Revelations and other Secrets

Chapter 8: Solace

Chapter 9: The Night Elena gave Birth

Chapter 10: Heavenly Whispers

Chapter 11: The Count makes his Debut

Chapter 12: Heaven Holds a Place for those who Pray

Chapter 13: Today I walked without You

Chapter 14: I would change it if I knew how to

Chapter 15: Dancing in the Dark

Chapter 16: Reality continues even if you stop believing what you see

Chapter 17: Swish

Chapter 18: Somebody's Crying

Chapter 19: Wicked Games

Chapter 20: Bleeding Love

Chapter 21: How Could We Let It Be Too Late

Epilogue

About the Autor

Acknowledgements

Please join the Author

Artist Statement

Lucas is a story about love and loss, overcoming difficulties on your path, accepting your own uniqueness and finally finding solace within who you are and your destiny.

Even the story is purely fantasy; the backbone is closely knitted to my life, upbringing and the people I met. Those who loved and supported me and those who let me down every step of the way.

You are always at the right place

At the right time

As there is no other now.

Like a Leave in the Wind

There was no way of knowing where I was going

I transported myself back to a time when my heart was not heavy and crippled with sorrow and anguish. A time, which existed now only as pages in my journal, as memories buried deep within me. Long too afraid to visit them as they would rise from the depth like a tide that would not ebb easily and leave a trail of regret and bitter tears in its wake.

Today was somehow different. The day was hot and heavy just as my heart. Stillness lingers in the air which is both foreboding and scary. Not a sound, not a bird singing, not a breeze which would offer some relief from the heat. It all seems to have set out to suffocate me, to throw a shroud of tiredness and darkness over me, which could not even be penetrated by the shattering screams of my thoughts.

Thoughts, pushing through the surface, shouting to be heard. Thoughts that would pierce my brain with pain. Even though part of me could clearly see this process unfolding, there was still another part of me that tried to ignore. Ignore this urging within out of fear that once I would attend to what I have buried inside I would lose control over its fierceness. That pain would all consume me. That I would lose myself in my wretchedness only to not ever see happiness ever again.

Yes, there was a time when I was enchanted. Enchanted by someone who came into my life when I expected it the least. True, back then I decided I am done with the male population, with humankind in general. I would give myself to a solitary life. Ideally living the life of a snow leopard: mate – bring up the youngsters on my own - nourish them into adulthood – only to retreat to the heights of the Himalayan Mountains once again becoming almost elusive to human sight. However, she would never forget that the predators are all around her. Always. Preying, to take down the sole female.

It was just 3 ½ years from today that I moved into my new home with my little family. A little cottage on the fringe of a tiny Australian country town called Nights Fall.

I convinced myself this town was so small it could not possibly have earned itself a spot on the map. Not even on the most detailed Australian map. The lake close by was heated by an underground thermal the entire year. This warm lake mixed with cold air would create a fog which would fill the valley of Nights Fall with a milky substance at times which was so thick that there was no seeing more than five meters. At the same time, the fog had certain crispness, a freshness to it, which seemed to elevate and invigorate the heaviness the valley seemed befallen with.

My modest little property was two acres at the most, but they were my Sanctuary, my safe haven. When I looked out of the window, I would see the rolling hills lacing the valley. They are green now but still show some of the signs of an epic fire that ravaged the area five years ago. There was a rumor that the fire was of unnatural causes. The heat, the fire was pushing ahead was so fierce that any object, no matter the size or material, would instantly combust leaving in its wake layers of melted glass, iron and charred land. Many lives were lost and even more people lost their home and all their possessions with nowhere to go.

There was also the rumor that the fire would be related to The Count. Count Boron, as his name was, who claimed randomly land as his own, and it was said that if he could not acquire land by legal means, he would use any other means within his power to get what he desired.

The people of Nights Fall would never talk openly about The Count. Just as if there were unspoken law people just naturally seemed to succumb to.

However, when I moved to the area, I was not to know any of this. The property I lived on also was owned by The Count. All I could see was this little cottage which I fell in love with and knew that would be the place I would live with my family.

Now, I am not your usual family girl. My family are my many animals. I have the habit to take home every sick puppy, every dispossessed kitten, and every stray. Sometimes I was sure that somewhere out in the bush there has to be a sign saying something like: if you are displaced, hungry, in need of TLC or medical help go to 15 Creeks Lane. More often than could be coincidentally explainable, animals would turn up at my doorstep – and usually stay on as well.

After heavy rains, I would regularly remove earthworms and snails from the street and footpath, so they would not get trampled on by insensitive feet and even more so not to get under the careless wheels of passing cars. If I saw an already dead animal in the street, I would pick it up, bless it and put it underneath a bush or tree as I felt they deserved better than being flattened on the asphalt. One of my many dreams is to create a shelter for ageing animals where they could outlive their lives in peace.

When I first met The Count to inquire if the property was for sale or at least for lease, I did not see the warning signs. I noticed that he was of grotesquely un-proportional, small and freakish built, growing an ugly wart which he tried to hide under an even more ridiculous looking mustache while at the same time wearing a smirk as if this was the highest achievement in human evolution. He probably was of Eastern European descent, maybe second or third generation.

However, as so often my naïvety of adamantly believing in the inherent good of all people, not understanding that some lie and others have hidden agendas; it would not let me see what was obvious to other people. At this time, I would not even trust my gut feeling of danger and go only by the spoken word which more often than not was rather confusing to me. I would take what people tell me quite literally. After all, why would people lie and have agendas instead of saying it how it was? One could maybe say that I was childlike with a sense of innocence surrounding me. I might be emotionally immature one could argue, while at the same time highly apt with facts even comprehending the most difficult and for the majority of people hard to understand concepts. I considered myself an emotional freak accident of nature. My lack of understanding the social incompetence of others, which is so wide spread in our society, would constantly lead me to a total lack of good judgment of character. It was no different with The Count.

* * *

I am Bonnie. I am 25, and I study Humanities and Criminal Justice at the nearby university, attempting to achieve a double degree in half the time as outlined in the study guide. Learning and memorizing written or read information is not a problem for me at all. An almost photographic memory would give me the skill to read the textbooks in no time at all. However, I do problems have with verbal information or instructions. As a matter of fact, I do have a problem with people in general and with crowds, in particular – and it is not even the crowds which frighten me, it’s the individuals in it clustering to those noisy, incomprehensible gatherings. Top that with having my romantic heartstrings burnt badly I am clutching to my reclusive life as if the very same was depending on it. The university’s option of online studying is just was I needed. Not only does this give me the option to study to my own pace; it also lets me spend as much time as possible at home, filling my time with caring for my beloved animals, once more avoiding people as much as possible. It always strikes me as a bit funny, that I live in a house full of animals, yet, have no friends of my kind.

However, there were some subjects the university required to take lectures on campus. One of them was Ancient Religions and the Supernatural. Even though this is an elective, it was too important to me to miss. In fact, so significant that it would let me overcome my dread of dim, crowded and stuffy lecture halls, which offer no easy way to escape.

I think I mainly choose Humanities for its components of psychology, philosophy, religion and the study of human behavior. Those topics have been of greatest importance to me ever since – well, I guess ever since I realized there was more to the world than the dysfunctions of the family I was born into.

We belong together

Today was my on the campus lecture day again and as always, I was looking forward to attending to my favorite subject. We were half way through the second semester of the last year of the course. As usual, I would come early to secure myself a seat right up in the back of the lecture hall. There it would be so much easier to blend in with the background and not stand out in any way. Besides that I could sit next to the aisle and cram the seat on the other side with books, my bag, my jacket so that nobody else would be able to sit right next to me giving me at least some space and privacy.

From my seat up there I could watch how the lecture hall slowly filled with students. Mumbling and giggling always came with it. Finally, everyone was seated. Minutes were creeping along and unrest spread through the students. The teacher, who usually was on time, if possible early, because he was more than eager to stay ahead a step or two with the curriculum, did not show.

Rumors started to rise among students that he might not show at all, and we all were up for several free periods.

Just when the first students had risen to leave the lecture hall, a man walked in, straight to the desk and without honoring us with as much as a single look. He turned to the white board saying: My name is Lucas, writing his name down in the right top corner with a red marker, in large and almost indecipherable letters.

I will be teaching you for the rest of the semester. From here on we will only focus on the supernatural.

Having announced this he wrote in the middle of the board:

Definition: Supernatural - Turning back to the class, the first time actually facing us while asking: Anyone …? – It seemed that suddenly students became really uneasy,