Chapter 1

He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling.  He hadn’t slept all night.  He couldn’t sleep.  Though he’d walk at his high school graduation that night, he was haunted by the news he’d gotten a few days before.  The conversation rang in his ears.  “Malachai, this is Cheryl Goodman, Devon’s mother.  I’m sorry to tell you son, but…” the woman choked up on her end of the line, “Malachai, Devon’s dead.  She slit her own throat.”  Malachai dropped the phone and hit his knees as he clutched at his chest.  He’d love Devon.  She was like the missing piece of his heart; the yin to his yang.  “Malachai, Malachai!  Are you still there?”

His mother had to pick up the phone and speak with Devon’s mother.  “Hi, Mrs. Goodman, this is Brie Draiman, Malachai’s mother.  I don’t think he’s in any state to speak on the phone anymore.  My family and I are very sorry to hear that your daughter did what she did.  We all loved her.  She was a doll.  I’ll be sure that we send flowers.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to tend to my son”, and she hung up the phone to take him in her arms as he started sobbing.

Now, as he lay there in bed, he picked up the remote to his stereo and hit play.  A familiar laugh came over the speakers, followed by the familiar, “Devon won’t go to heaven, she’s just another lost soul about to be mine again...” and he sang along.  You couldn’t tell his voice from the voice of the man that was singing on the CD.  What most people couldn’t believe when they heard him sing was that his father WAS the man singing in the original recording.  He turned up the volume and there was a knock on the door.  “Malachai, breakfast and please turn that down”, his mother called through the door.

He sighed.  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll be right down.”  He turned down the volume just a little and turned off the stereo so that he could go eat breakfast with his family.

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“Damn it, David, the boy is in pain”, Brie said to her husband as she poured him a fresh cup of coffee.

“I know, baby, but he ALSO has younger siblings still sleeping right now.  The only three that should be up other than him are Jordan, Jacob, and Madison.  The last thing I think EITHER of us needs to the other six to get up.  Granted, none of them are babies anymore, but our two 4- year- olds don’t’ need to be awake yet.  Don’t’ you agree?”

She sighed.  “I hate it when you’re right”, she grumbled.

Jordan, now thirteen, strutted into the room and did her daily ritual.  She grabbed a soda from the fridge, hugged her mother and gave her father a kiss on the cheek.  “Was Malachai blasting ‘Inside the Fire’ this morning or was I imagining that?” she asked as she took her seat at the kitchen table.

“No, you weren’t imaging that, sis”, Jacob said as she walked in and did a similar routine.  His routine was to grab a soda and give his mother a hug and kiss on the cheek.  It wasn’t that he didn’t love his father, but he was a teenager now and teenage boys didn’t hug their fathers.  David was used to it so it didn’t faze him.

“What the heck is wrong with Malachai that he’s blaring songs from Indestructible so freaking early?” Maddie said as she came into the room.  She hugged and kissed her father’s cheek then went to the fridge to get a glass of juice after hugging and kissing her mother.

“Remember his sweetheart Devon?” Jordan asked her younger sister.

“Yeah, that girl that would come over and play dolls with Mae, Kayla, and Jessi, right?”

“She bit it”, Jordan said coldly.

“She’s dead?” Maddie asked.

“As a door nail.”

“Jord, stop being such a bitch”, Jacob said to his twin.

“I’m sorry, I guess I should lie down and cry my fucking heart out so that MALACHAI will feel better”, she snapped back.

Malachai walked in right about that point.  “You know, Jord, I know you didn’t much care for Devon, but I did care for her.  The least you could do is show some respect to the deceased”, he said as he fought not to knock his younger sister into next week.  He knew that his father would kill him for hitting his sister.

“Your brother’s are right, Jordan”, David said.  “Suicide is nothing to joke about and she kept your younger sisters entertained so that you didn’t have to.  You owe Malachai an apology right now or you’re grounded.

Jordan rolled her eyes then looked at Malachai.  “I’m sorry, big brother.  I shouldn’t have been so mean.”

“Well, to quote a good friend of dad’s, ‘You should have known the price of evil’.”  He took his seat at the table and waited for his mother to set his plate in front of him.  When he got his breakfast, he ate his breakfast in silence, ignoring the ranting of his sisters about school and the boys they liked.  He didn’t care.  He was mourning right now.  It had only been a few days since Devon’s mother called and broke the news to him.  Just thinking about her, he had to excuse himself from the table so that he could break down in peace.