Forgive Me

Kimberley McArthur

Description

After losing both parents in a car crash and his little sister, Lindy, to illness, Jasper moves away in search of a better life. In doing so, he is faced with new challenges, all while trying to find the forgiveness he needs.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528964043
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Forgive Me
Kimberley McArthur
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-10-30
Forgive Me About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgement Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38
About the Author
Kimberley McArthur is from a small town in the South Island of New Zealand. She started writing at the age of 14. It was only little stories that she would share with her classmates and family. Then in 2016, she began writing Forgive Me and finished it in April of 2018. She enjoys cooking, spending time with friends, meeting new people and travelling.
About the Book After losing both parents in a car crash and his little sister, Lindy, to illness, Jasper moves away in search of a better life. In doing so, he is faced with new challenges, all while trying to find the forgiveness he needs.
Dedication
I would like to dedicate Forgive Me to my parents.
“Without the inspiration, drive and support you gave me, I might not be the person I am today.” I am endlessly grateful for everything you have done and continue to do for me.
Copyright Information
Copyright © Kimberley McArthur (2019)
The right of Kimberley McArthur to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528964043 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
There are simply aren’t enough words to convey the gratefulness I feel to each and every one of you. Your dedication, love, kindness and generosity have shaped me into who I am today.
To Ms Waide, my English teacher of two years, I can’t thank you enough for your endless support and wisdom since the beginning. You taught me to value the art of writing and sculpted me into the writer I am today.
To my parents, Teresa and Phil, thank you for encouraging and loving me in all the choices I make, and pushing me forward when I lacked the motivation to write. I love you.
And to Peech and Mikaela, my two best friends, thank you for inspiring me every day and supporting me in bringing my novel to life. I am eternally grateful.
Chapter 1
There were eight years between us. Eight years where I had not yet seen her face. Eight years where I felt as though my life was incomplete.
I remember my Aunt Kelly telling me my parents had the biggest smiles on their faces when they first held me, but also looks of confusion. She told me that they thought I was going to be a girl, so they had bought boxes of girl clothes and toys in preparation for my arrival. They had even picked out my name: Lara. My mum had always liked that name ever since she was a little girl. When they saw I wasn’t a girl, they decided on another name: Jasper. So from that moment on, my name was Jasper Duville, their first child, born into a very loving family. Little did I know that in eight years’ time, I would be a brother to a new baby girl and that made me very happy. I remember my Aunt Kelly, myself, and my Uncle Ronan were sitting in the living room one night talking about the kids at my school, and my parents walking in with smiles spread across their faces. They looked at one another and then back at us, and told us they were having another child. I remember running up to them, whispering “Thank you” and hugging them tight, never wanting to let them go.
Her name was Lindy. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I remember walking into my mum’s hospital room a few hours after Lindy had been born. She had been born three weeks earlier than her due date. The nurses told me both Lindy and my mum, were lucky to survive the procedure. When the nurse left, I walked over to my mum’s bed whilst she was holding my new baby sister in a white blanket. She looked up at me and smiled. My dad came round to the other side of the bed and told me to sit down. He walked over to my mum’s bed and carefully picked up Lindy and placed her into my arms. I looked down at her. Her eyes, blue like the ocean, gazed up at me. I placed my finger into her tiny, fragile hand. She gripped it tightly as I placed a kiss on her forehead. As I kissed her forehead, I made my lifetime promise, to always protect her and make sure no harm ever came to her. I was forever content with that day. Knowing that I had made such a promise to Lindy made me more encouraged to pursue it and make sure it was never broken.
Each day made me more proud to be Lindy’s brother. Each day, I felt more encouraged to protect her and keep her off harm’s path. Each day, our bond grew stronger. Lindy was different to the other kids. She was smaller than they were. Constant ridicule of her size made her insecure, which made anger build up inside me. Tears had covered her fair skin most days after we had picked her up from school. I remember early one morning she burst into my room, but this was not about constant ridicule of her height. No, this was something different. I awoke to her hand poking my face to try to wake me up. Her big, blue sapphire eyes stared back at my emerald-green ones. I was only half-awake when this happened, and I felt a tear fall onto my face. I tilted my head over to the clock, it read 6:50a.m.
“What’s is it, Lindy?” I asked sleepily.
“I had a really bad dream.”
I knew what she meant. Dreams had the power to consume us. The most vanilla things are able to haunt us when we least expect it, but they can also be things that we learn from or find joy in. However, at this time, it was the opposite.
“What was it about?”
“Well, I got taken away from you.”
“What? Why?”
“Well, some men came to our house, and they said that I wasn’t safe with you. I told them that you were a good brother and you love me, but they took me away to a horrible place. It was so scary, and you were chasing after me, but you couldn’t get to me. I thought it was real.”
At that moment, I thought about how to reassure Lindy.
“You’re right. I do love you, and I would never let anyone take you away from me.”
The seconds stretched between us as she let this sink in. It seemed to reassure her, and she began look calmer.
“Climb into bed with me,” I said lifting up my duvet, and she crawled in next to me and slowly closed her eyes.
“I love you, Lindy,” I said, stroking her hair softly.
“I love you too, Jasper,” she said, drifting off to sleep.
When I opened my eyes, the first thing that I did was check on Lindy. To my surprise, she wasn’t next to me. I looked at the clock once more, it read 8:31a.m. That was the first sign: difficulty sleeping. At that time, I was completely oblivious to what that sign was telling me. I just assumed she was up this early to go and play with her Lego or watch the morning cartoons. I went downstairs to get myself some breakfast. I walked into the living room to find Lindy on the couch with a blanket around her, and my mum trying to relax her. Her face was red, I knew she had been crying. Mum told me she had been up with a terrible headache. She told me she had given her some Panadol, but it had not really done anything for the pain like it normally did. I told Mum we should go to the doctor to get it checked out just in case. She just shook her head at me and said not to worry about it. It’s a headache, and it will go away with a little rest and some warm food. Little did Mum and I know, that was symptom number two. I went to the kitchen and heated up some warm soup for Lindy as well as a big glass of water with a couple of slices of lemon put in it. I just prayed that it would make her feel better.
Chapter 2
It started with a few small symptoms here and there. An ongoing headache, pale skin and trouble sleeping, but then progressed to ongoing dizziness and weakness in her arms and legs. Mum and I then knew it was time to take Lindy to the doctor and get the symptoms checked. Dad agreed and gave Lindy a hug goodbye before going he headed off to work. When we arrived, I looked to Lindy; I prayed it was nothing serious. I went round and walked into the hospital with her. She didn’t say much really, she just looked to the ground until we got to the front desk. A woman tilted her head up from the computer. She had blonde hair, tied into a bun exposing her face, brown eyes and small button nose. She looked at Mum, then to me and then to Lindy. She gave us each a small smile, which showed her pearly white teeth. She didn’t look much older than twenty-six. She asked Mum for her surname and then gestured us to go and take a seat.
A while later, a tall man came out and called, “Lindy Duville, please.” We all got up and walked over to him. None of us had ever seen this doctor before. He was probably new, but judging by the certificates on his wall, he looked like he knew what he was talking about. He turned to Lindy and asked her for her age, to which she replied,
“Eight.” He smiled and began typing into his computer.
He told us his name was Doctor Hayes and that he had just moved here from New Zealand. He asked what the problem was to which Lindy replied, “Well, I have been feeling r