Reversing Retribution [Novel]

Be sure to check out the bottom of my blog for information and a link about this book being made into a movie!


Here's the start of the novel, though with this novel I won't be posting much, just this and maybe a little piece later as well so you can all get a taste of how this novel will be.

CHAPTER 1

What does it mean to take someone’s life away?  Does it mean ‘murder’?  ‘Homocide’?  Can the act of ending that which is irreplaceable and irreversible be defined with words?  Can words truly describe what happens when one ends another?  Hell, if it is possible, is the definition the reason? How it was done? Or maybe the consequences combined to create the result?

            All of these questions seem to only spawn more.  Is finding the answer impossibly complex, or simply impossible?  One could say it’s a matter of perspective, or that it depends on the context, but that doesn’t change the act itself.  Maybe only those who have blood on their hands can understand the answer; or, perhaps, it’s an answer so simple that no one realizes that it’s right there waiting to be found, just as so many things are.

            These thoughts, these questions, consumed Aidan’s mind, clouding it.  Then in a flash his mind was devoid of all thought, save that of revenge, as images of his dead fiancée filled his mind.

            He opened his eyes, looking down at Aubrey’s body, and became cold. The images that had just filled his mind, the images that were lying before him, shattered and disappeared as a picture of Aubrey’s killer took hold. Then just one word seemed to answer the question clawing in the back of his throat.

            Retribution.  His eyes closed for a moment, then opened again. His clothes were soaked, dripping with her blood, but he wasn’t kneeling in the puddle of her life anymore.  His body sprinted without conscious thought in the direction the killer had fled, his drenched shoes leaving a trail of bloody prints behind on the faded wood flooring.

           

            Aidan’s heart started to speed up, accelerating faster with each beat.  Everything was going as planned, just a few more seconds and he’d be asking his life or death question.  Aubrey turned her head to look at him and smiled, her face shining beautifully in the moonlight.  She was absolutely glowing!

            Then there was his cue, and he turned her completely toward him as he knelt down on one knee. His mouth opened and his heart seemed to stop. His eyes met hers and he could see her surprise forming on her face as she started to blush.

            Aidan pulled out the ring and smiled brightly, no longer nervous.

            “Aubrey, will you marry me?”

            Aidan’s eyes were windows to a void.  The squishing and sucking of his shoes going down onto and back off of the floor seemed like an empty echo.  Aidan plowed through an old wooden door, not letting anything slow him down.  The sounds from his shoes changed to the muffled flattening of the grass.  His mind didn’t seem to be doing any of the work, but somehow it was making sure the body went where the killer went, following the faint trail of flattened grass he must have left behind.

              Suddenly Aubrey’s killer was in a view.  Just as the void started turning rapidly into a torrent of emotions, a small thought sprung up in Aidan’s mind.  Will killing him justify her death?  Aidan slowed down for just a second, shaking his head violently to get the question out of his head.  His emotions clouded it over immediately and Aidan was sprinting after the man again.

            Blood was no longer the only trail he was leaving behind as tears Aidan didn’t realize were there fell freely.  The grass changed to cement, then quickly to asphalt.  The distance between Aidan and his target was shortening rapidly.

            The man turned his head to look behind.  His eyes widened with absolute terror and he ran immediately for the door of the closest house.