Chapter 13: Chapter twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

I woke up to see daylight flooding through the cracks in the windows but more notably, I woke up alone. After a few seconds of panic, I noticed two figures sat at a table metres away from me, talking quietly. Instantly, memories of last night flooded back to me and butterflies swarmed my stomach; I couldn’t stop the smile which jumped to my lips. On paper, it should have been a mistake, something I should have regretted but I just didn’t, I couldn’t. Even in this mess, within this madness nothing felt more right than that kiss, that closeness. I wouldn’t have changed it and even though I knew I had more important things to worry about and I should put this behind me, a very dominant part of me screamed that I couldn’t, that it meant too much to me to simply let go.

Did he regret it?

I shouldn’t have been thinking about this; I needed to push it to the back of my mind for now, it was so difficult though. As I concentrated on my surroundings, I noticed that it was Keith and Percy sat at the table having a conversation and laid completely still, listening to their conversation.

‘Do you think?’ Percy asked, sounding nervous.

‘I hope so. If there’s a way out, we’ll find it’.

I didn’t know what they were talking about but I shimmied closer, holding my breath.

‘How long have phones and the internet been down for?’

‘Days now’ Keith sighed, and I heard him rhythmically tapping on the table. It sounded like Radiohead, the song we’d sung in the car. One again, the smallest smile formed on my lips.

‘It’s weird, isn’t it?’

‘What is?’

‘This’ Percy began, sounding mystified, ‘I’ve spent years and years studying to become a top scientist but this just defies everything I’ve ever learned, everything I’ve ever believed. I’ve written essay upon essay on what is possible and what isn’t, and now England, Wales and Scotland have all been overrun and we’re trapped in New Look sleeping on wooden tables’. At his words, Keith laughed quietly, probably trying not to wake me up.

‘You’re right, completely right. I dropped out of school, worst mistake of my life. I understand though, I’d spend hours and hours on one painting, I wasted so much time and now they’re all probably burned down to the ground and I think, what was the point? What was the point in all those shifts in Sainsburys where I could have been out enjoying my life? How much time is even left?’

‘Precisely. Goodness, we should be on Oprah!’

‘Maybe we should mate, maybe we should’ Keith was laughing again, it was so familiar. When had all this happened, how could I not have noticed?

‘I guess one good thing came out of this though’ I could practically hear the smirk in Percys voice.

‘What’s that?’

‘Can’t you guess?’

‘Oh’ Keith was smiling now, I could tell. He sounded like he had in the middle of the night when I’d awoken; I swore he’d been talking to me in my sleep but I couldn’t be sure, ‘You mean Harley and Lucas? And you of course, Percy’.

‘Mhm, one of the three in particular’.

‘Oh Percy, you realised I have a soft spot for you?’  I rolled my eyes, still listening intently.

‘Don’t beat around the bush Keith, we all know the score, even you’.

‘It just happened really fast, I’m still trying to catch my breath’.

‘You’re mincing your words’.

‘I’m not’.

‘You like her’.

‘She’s a beautiful girl, we just met and she’s a goo-‘

‘Keith’.

‘I like her’ he sighed, making me smile again. For only a moment I forgot my surroundings and just let myself be amazed, let myself feel this without beating myself up about it.

‘I can’t help it’ he continued and I swore I heard him burying his face in his hands, ‘When I first saw her in the car, she just looked at me and it was ridiculous, like I knew her, you know? But there was just no time for it because we’re running for our lives and I don’t even know how long we have left. We could be dead in twelve hours and this will all mean nothing. Why couldn’t this have happened years ago? At least we could have had more time, at least it would have all made sense’.

‘We never stop running’ I barely heard Percy’s bold words as my mind still focused on Keith’s with wide eyes and a heavy heart. He was right, he was so right and even though his words made me feel in a way I didn’t know possible, it was with lead in my stomach that I knew everything he said was true. What if this was it, what if this was the end? I couldn’t just put all this down, I couldn’t just let it all go. So what if I'd known him for the shortest of times, if I didn't know all the things you learn on a third date, on a fifth? He'd saved my life, fought for me, made me laugh in dire situations and above all, I was glad we'd met him and not some randomer, glad we'd met Percy. People click. Even at deaths door, people click.

‘We never stop running and we keep going till we can’t go anymore. We’ll be okay, we have to be. Think of how small Great Britain is compared to the rest of the world; we’re tiny and we can leave this tiny, tiny place and explore the rest of the world. I know it’s okay out there, I can feel it’.

‘I can too. I’m not giving up just yet, especially not now, especially when there’s so much to fight for’.

‘You like her a lot, don’t you?’

‘More than should be possible within a matter of days. I can’t let this go, I can’t let her go. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I’m not usually this sappy’.

‘It must be love, love, looove’ Percy sang out of tune to which Keith burst at laughing and shushed him.

‘Quiet, you’ll wake her up’.

‘I’m awake’ I called suddenly, standing up. The look of pure surprise on their faces was enough to strengthen my smile.

‘How much of that did you hear?’ Keith asked, paling immediately.

‘Some’ I said mysteriously before walking up the stairs and having the longest shower I’d had in weeks. Why a staff room would have a fully equipped bathroom was beyond me, but I tried to do it quietly so as not to wake Lucas who I tiptoed around as I walked back down stairs with drying hair and a large towel wrapped tightly round me. I felt awkward walking down to the main room but the idea of putting back on bloody and dirty clothes was enough to make me physically retch. I avoided the boys eyes as I walked towards a section of the small shop with jeans in it, full well knowing I was still in their eye line.

‘Can you.. cover your eyes while I change please?’ I asked, looking towards them. Percy immediately brought his hands up to his eyes but Keith smiled for a minute before he did, sending me a look I couldn’t quite decipher. In minutes, I was re-dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans which would be easy to run in and a slim-fitting white long sleeved shirt which I knew nothing would be able to grab and pull me backwards in.

‘Done’ I called, wondering when I became good at picking clothes for an apocalyptic minefield. My own calmness was surprising me too, the long night’s sleep, the shower and admittedly, Keith had done me a whole lot of good.

I was going to channel this vigour, the fire in my heart and bones. I felt like I was alight; a girl on a mission. The clock was ticking and I knew exactly what we had to do.

Sandler Young

‘Prime minister, I strongly recommend you do not carry this ou-‘

‘Well I recommend that you remember your position’ I bit back with a heavy sigh. It was not up to them what I did, not my Secretary, my advisors nor the other. No, one look at my baby girls was all it took for all the remorse to flood through my body like an unwanted tidal wave. Here I was, sat in a temporary building in America while my people died. ‘The area is devoid of life’ they told me, ‘There’s no hope’ but of course there was life, of course there was hope. Just because people weren’t running round the streets with banners didn’t mean they weren’t alive and waiting for help.

Help that would never come.

The bombing would happen tonight; it would wipe out the entire race of infected and prevent a global spread but it would also destroy so many innocents. Of course I was aware that many thousands would have killed themselves by now, tens upon tens of thousands had been ravaged to death while even more had succumbed to the virus but even if it was in mere hundreds, there had to be survivors. They were going to be punished, survival of the fittest didn’t matter now, not when they were all about to be obliterated.

I could never live with myself, never would I look at myself in the mirror again. My wife kept looking at me with pleading eyes, as if I had the power to change things, as if I had been unaffected. What could I possibly do? Two army rescue missions were sent in, both failed immediately causing an immense death toll. Evacuations went underway in all three countries, each got overrun and all personnel and civillians were killed or turned. Putting in more and more people meant opening the country to more and more infected. More undead.

It would be too risky now to evacuate anyone, if they were infected then the world would fall, the chance could simply not be taken. The world was in absolute uproar, it was funny but the people of the UK would never be able to see how hard the rest of the world was fighting to save them. Massive strikes all over the globe, even countries at war stopped to unite in their support for Great Britain. When news first spread about the virus and News stories hit the TV with live feeds on youtube, people took to the streets in support and protest of the lack of action being taken. They didn’t understand we were trying everything but simply nothing could help. The UK went into uproar when a few inches of snow falls, how on Earth were we supposed to react when a life-to-death-to-life virus rages? Everybody came together, pleaded with the EU to stop the bombing. Many tried to rescue people themselves, took planes over there.

They were all shot down.

Horrific, every second of the last week, the last few months where only we knew what was to come. It could have been prevented, we didn’t need to carry out those tests, we didn’t fucking need to. But we did. Under my orders. We weren’t even sure what we were going to do with the UK after it was bombed, the EU were hoping it would be salvageable enough to rebuild. The strength of the bombs meant that we weren’t exactly sure what would remain afterwards. All we knew was that all life, and death, would be wiped out completely. It wasn’t as if those native to the UK would be wiped out completely, so many people had been evacuated on that first day. Families of scientists, of some doctors, of us in Parliament. Relatives of these people, possibly thousands. Those who we were able to save immediately without risk of infection, the lucky ones.

So the unlucky ones would die. My fault.

No, not just my fault. Everyone’s, the EU, MP’s, hell, even the tiniest amount of the public wanted them cordoned off, disposed of]f. Mind, that really was the tiniest amount. They just didn’t understand though, they never would – if the virus spread, the human race would be wiped out, eliminated and no trace of us would remain. Everything would burn, no hope, no future. Hadn’t I already thought all of this a thousand times over? Like I was trying to come to some sort of conclusion, like I was waiting for a light bulb to suddenly ping in my head and let me know what the right thing to do was. Those bombers would kill everyone soon, under not just my orders but those of the EU too. They never liked the UK, they never wanted us to be a part of their community. Were they getting what they wanted?

I wasn’t fit to do this job anymore.

I couldn’t.

How did everything go so wrong, so quickly?

Wait.

Wait, no. I couldn’t stop the bombing, it was far too late for that. But there was one thing I could do, one thing that would let people speak to their families again one last time before they lost their lives. It wouldn’t cause any harm now, we’d only done it in the first place so nobody could spread any stories, slow down the hearsay.

This would be my final act before I resigned as Prime Minister.

May everyone rest in peace.

Harley Sawyer

‘What was that noise?’ Percy’s whole body twitched as he cried out, responding to the melodic noises radating from various places around the room. It wasn’t loud enough so that anything outside would be alerted, but it was loud enough to make us all jump.

‘I don’t..’ Keith began, looking confused before a genuine shocked expression flashed upon his face, ‘I don’t believe it. My iPhone, it’s my iPhone!’

Lucas’ face paled as he glanced towards his bag where a similar noise had jumped from.

‘My mobile, that’s the connection noise.. it’s on, it’s working!’

Now I understood. The little tinkling melodies from each bag were each of our mobile phones, all alerting us that they were connected. With full knowledge that my battery was low and that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, I leapt from my seat and dove towards my bag, almost bursting with anticipation. This could mean everything.

Frantically I dialled my mother’s number, stumbling and having to start again a few times. Bringing the phone to my ear, I waited patiently and actually burst into sobs as I heard the dial tone. They were connecting my call.

‘I’ll ring Dad’ Lucas said with wide eyes, glancing at my phone. When his eyes locked with mine, we shared words so very secret and vulnerable that even we couldn’t quite decipher them. This was it; this call would change everything.

Ring, ring.

Ring, ring.

Silence.

Ring, ring.

‘Please, please’ I muttered, shaking the phone against my ear as if that would help. Percy had retreated into a corner with his own phone and Keith was doing the same but had his eyes towards myself and Lucas.

‘Come on!’ Lucas growled, ‘Pick up!’

I let the phone ring for another few minutes, just making noise. It took a long time before the automated woman’s voice pierced my ears. The phone silently slipped between my fingers, falling to the floor. My legs buckled at the same time and soon I found myself on the carpet, breathing heavily into my hands.

She’s busy, she didn’t hear her phone, her phone is in her purse; the purse we have.

No, she had her phone, we knew that.

She’s asleep, she’s talking to Dad and Joel.

She’s dead.

Dad didn’t reply either. From the way I could hear Percy sobbing, nobody had replied to him, nobody was answering Keith. A trick, a cruel trick?

Or was everybody dead?

I would never hear their voices again. Joel would never burst into my bedroom again with chocolate dripping from his face. My Dad, oh god, my Daddy would never be proud of me again, I’d never get to run home and tell them all about my crappy day. They’d never hug me again, never smile again, never breathe again.

Empty. I felt empty, I felt my heart breaking, this couldn’t happen. No, I could never be without them, they were dead, all of them. No, no I couldn’t breathe, nothing would work, nothing wou-

Ring, ring.

Wait.

Ring, Ring.

‘My phone!’ I exploded, shaking violently with fear, excitement. I couldn’t hit the little green button fast enough and I barely noticed the stares I was receiving, each from boys with their mouths agape.

‘Mum?’ I breathed into the phone. All I could hear was a faint crackling on the other end and I wondered if I really was talking to my Mum, ‘Mum, please?’ I pleaded quietly, my voice cracking.

‘Baby?’ And suddenly it was her, it was my Mum with warmth still radiating from her voice, even in this mess, ‘Oh god, you’re okay’.

‘Mum’ I sobbed, seeing Lucas’ eyes turn into saucers and dive towards me, pressing his ear towards the phone.

‘Oh Harley, Harley. Are you okay? Is Lucas okay?’

‘We’re fine mum’ I grinned, tears still streaming down my face. Keith had his head tilted to the side as was grinning towards the both of us, reaching out to grip my hand. His fingers entwined round mine gave me a little more strength and so I asked the question quietly which had been plaguing my mind for days.

‘Are you okay? How’s Dad, how’s Joel?’ There was an unnerving silence after I asked the question and I almost felt my heart triple in speed.

‘Put her on speakerphone’ Lucas said and so I clicked the little button, unsteadily holding the phone in front of me.

‘Mum? Mum, are you alright?’ Lucas’ voice filled the room and I heard my mum laugh on the other end.

‘Oh Lucas, oh my boy. I hope you’re looking after everyone.

‘Not on my own Mum, Keith is here, and so is Percy’.

‘Oh wow, Keith? Oh I’m glad he’s okay, and Percy?’

‘We met him on the way, you’ll like him Mum, you can meet him’.

‘Yes’. Her voice sounded different, subdued. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was fighting back tears because her voice sounded thick with grief, even underneath all her warmth.

‘Mum’ I whispered, ‘Where’s Dad and Joel? Where are you?’

‘I’m in a cellar baby, underneath someone’s house. Your Dad is sat right next to me, he’s listening and Joel is completely safe'.

‘Hi sweetheart, hey champ’ My dad’s voice echoed through the earpiece and I released a breath I didn’t even know I’d been holding. My Daddy, he was okay, so was my Mum and my brother, totally against the odds.

‘Dad’ Lucas and I both smiled simultaneously, knowing there were over a million things to say.

‘Where abouts are you?’ I started in a rush, suddenly worried about my battery, ‘Where can we meet, what town are you in?’

‘We’re in England sweetheart’.

‘Wait, what? But we were moving North! We were trying to find you, it’s not safe down there!’

‘I know sweetheart’ My Mum started, ‘we were on our way to the evacuation but the Army vans told us to move back down South. We thought you’d been taken there too but halfway down we found out you weren’t. Harley, you musn’t trust the army, they-‘

‘I know Mum, I know, we have to get together soon to leave though, they’re planning something awful’.

‘I know honey, somebody told us. You need to get out, I hear there are some places on the coast that are completely unattended at certain times of the day, you’d need to leave now though’.

‘We need to leave’ I corrected her, ‘I know it won’t be easy but we ca-‘

‘Harley’ My mother’s voice sounded strained and I knew immediately that I wouldn’t like what I was going to hear, ‘We’re too far away, you two are much closer to safety than we are. Coming back here.. it’s just not possible baby, please keep moving and make sure to do it quickly’.

‘Mum’ Lucas’ voice was firm, ‘I will come to get you guys, we can find a car, we’ve found a couple already, they’re just laying around’.

‘We’re so far away from you..’

‘I know but we can make it work, Mum, Dad, just hear me out, Harley had faith that you were okay and I wanted to believe her but the odds, they ju-‘

‘Lucas’ My father’s voice sounded not like his own but was gruff and quiet, like he too had been crying, ‘Down here in England.. well, it’s a whole lot worse than Scotland, son. I barely even know how we got down here with minor injuries, outside the house now there are just thousands, you couldn’t even get close.

‘What are you saying?’ I asked at the same time that Lucas said ‘Minor injuries?’

There was a silence, the kind that scared me wore than their words. Were they trying to insinuate that we weren’t going to go get them. No! I could barely believe I was talking to them, hearing their voices like I’d dreamed for so many days now so they couldn’t push us away. We would be reunited, we were a family, the best. Nobody could quite replicate us, nobody knew me like my Mum, nobody made me feel better like my Dad.

‘Dad?’ Lucas probed, fear in his own voice.

‘We love you so much’ My mum suddenly broke into tears and my body began to shake at the same time that my chest constricted and I forgot how to breathe.

‘Mum? Mum, what is it?’ My brother’s voice was frantic now.

‘We don’t really know how it happened, kids’ I could practically see the tears streaming down my Dad’s face now, could practically taste the salt on my tongue, ‘We were running from the van, running to this house’.

Like we did.

‘They were so close, so fast. We were just trying to protect Joel, he was in my arms and so tired’.

‘What then?’ I breathed.

‘Oh, Harley’ I was certain he was crying now; it was like a heatwave in winter because my father never cried, just the one time my Mum wanted to watch My Sisters Keeper and we all sat down, he cried, we all cried. Looking back at that, it seemed so long ago.

‘Harley, Lucas’ he continued with a deep breath, ‘We couldn’t help it but you have to stay strong. They grabbed us, they kept grabbing and they bit us, your mother and I. Joel is fine, unscathed for once but we’ve been bitten’.

No.

No, they were joking, or wrong. They hadn’t been bitten, they were immune. Maybe they were immune? Could they be immune, was it possible? Maybe, maybe they were, they had to be. No, other peoples parents died, other peoples friends died but not mine, never mine. I was the one giving comfort to other when they had lost. My family were going to be around for the long haul, they were going to be at my wedding, my Daddy was going to give me away. I was going to cook dinner for my Mum next Friday, she was going to get a promotion at work. Joel – oh my lord, Joel. He wasn’t even seven yet, he had so much to experience.. No, because if they had been bitten then Joel wouldn’t be able to experience those things and that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right.

No. They were wrong.

‘Oh no’ Lucas muttered, his eyes wide and full of unshed tears, ‘Oh no, please no’.

‘You’re wrong’ I said quickly, ‘Are you sure they didn’t scrape you? Because it’s spread through blood, maybe you’re immune, ma-‘

‘Harley, sweetheart’ My mum laughed through her sobs, ‘I’m going to miss this, I’m gonna miss your babbling. You never believe anything sweetheart but after this, I want you to go believe in yourself, don’t second guess what you do ever again. Go meet a nice boy – Keith was a nice boy – and get married, go have children and teach them to be just like you. You too Lucas, there is a lovely girl out there for you so don’t you dare marry someone we wouldn’t approve of. You got through this and you will never understand how proud we are, me and your Dad’.

Silence. Silence.

‘No’ Now I really let myself go, tears falling down my face to the floor and my body racking with sob after sob as my heart twisted and broke, puncturing my faith and my belief, my love and my hope. I could never be without my family, never.

‘We love you too’ Lucas’ voice was much calmer than mine but the undertone of grief was not something to be ignored, ‘Joel. What’s happening with Joel?’

The question I knew I should have asked right away but my throat wouldn’t let me, it was fighting against me. Keith sat opposite to me, staring me down with such emotion in his eyes that I didn’t know whether to cry some more or ask him to leave so I didn’t have to have someone looking at me as though they could see right into me in such a frightening way.

‘He’s on his way up to the coast, an ex officer made sure he’d get him there safe, we said our goodbyes after we were bitten, we didn’t want.. well..’ she broke into tears again so much like all that time ago in the car, my father took over.

‘The best thing we could do for him was make sure that he stood a chance, if he’d stayed down here with us.. I don’t know when we’ll turn but I’m hoping it will all be over by then. You have to find him when you get off this Island, please make sure you do. I know you’ll be fine, I can feel it. My two wonderful children, you’ve come so far. My god, I’m so proud of you’.

‘It’s because of you both’ I smiled despite myself, knowing now, knowing after all this time that we were finally saying goodbye. My heart had slowed down and my breathing had become more regular and even though I had never felt grief or emotion quite in the way I was feeling it now, an eerie calmness suddenly washed over me.

‘We’re happy Harley, don’t you fret about that’ My Mum said, sounding much more in control, ‘We’ve had such a wonderful life, a brilliant marriage and three children who will change the world, no doubt about that. We’re going to end our lives on our terms, happy and proud of you. Please don’t be upset my babies, you’ve made us so happy’.

Hot tears of course kept streaming down my face and upon Lucas’ too. Keith quietly shed a tear in front of me and Percy at the other side of the room was looking towards us with a lopsided smile and seemed to be wiping away evidence of his own grief. I understood that this was the end and yet again, these people who had raised me and loved me even at my worst took some of the pain away like they always had. A few minutes ago I lost all my fight and my passion, I thought I’d almost lost the will to keep on living and breathing if my parents weren’t, the people I loved the most in the world. But no, that wouldn’t be reflective of them. It wouldn’t be right. And so I breathed. I smiled for them and with a look shared between Lucas and I, I knew he would too.

‘Harley has got herself a man friend’ Lucas burst out towards the phone, laughing like this was suddenly a normal conversation.

‘Harley!’ My father said sternly, ‘I need to vet him, I nee-‘

‘Dad, dad! There’s no one!’ I protested, widening my eyes to Lucas.

‘I think I know’ I could hear the coy smile on the mothers face, I could even see it, ‘Is this a familiar young man who took a ride in our car? Looked after you?’

‘No other’ Lucas grinned to which Keith laughed too, slapping him on the shoulder and nodding to us and he got up, no doubt leaving us in privacy.

‘Well then..’ Dad replied, ‘I’m even more happy! Look after her Keith, I mean that’.

‘Oh I don’t think she wants me, sir’ Keith laughed awkwardly, sending me a half smile as he moved across the room.

‘I think you’re wrong’ my mum sniggered, ‘You should’ve seen the way she was looking at yo-‘

‘Mum!’

‘Harley!’

And then a hush descended and goodbye was suddenly obvious. My phone had beeped several times to tell me my battery was depleting and I could hear the beeps from their side too – the moment I didn’t think I’d have to worry about for another fifty years was here and it was happening over a phone.

‘I don’t know how to do this’.

‘Then we keep it short, ‘my father said in a gruff voice, ‘You guys have made me so proud and we only beg you to tell Joel that as he grows up, that his parents love him and always will. Keep him safe and never underestimate yourselves you two. Oh god, I love you, you’ve made me so proud, so very proud. The proudest father in the world’.

‘We love you too Dad’ I breathed heavily into the phone, trying not to let my tears alter my voice, ‘We’ll tell Joel everything, absolutely everything’.

‘Maybe he’ll even be a doctor like you’ Lucas smiled.

‘My babies’ My mothers voice took over the earpiece and involuntarily, I smiled again, ‘I want to stay here for hours and tell you how I love you but you know, I know you do. Lucas, be Keith’s best man when him and Harley are married, tell her she looks beautiful for me and walk her down the isle for your father, please do that. Kiss Joel, hug him, never let him go. Stay safe, do what you love. Harley, you always wanted to write movies, you can do that, you’re so talented. Lucas, my god you could put that wonderful mind to anything boy, absolutely anything. Harley, make sure he does something wonderful with that brain.

‘I will’ Lucas and I said in unison, holding hands and sobbing almost simultaneously. It was one of those surreal moments where you feel as though it’s not really happening and you’ll wake up somewhere completely different, somewhere perfect.

‘It’s time to say goodbye, kids’.

‘No, just another minute’ I pleaded, panicking.

‘I  wish we could sweetheart, I do, but I don’t want my battery to die mid-sentence, or yours’.

She was right, this couldn’t end unfinished.

‘Bye Mum, bye Dad. Thank you for everything, you know what I mean. I’ll look after Harley and Joel, I promise you. I love you’.

‘I love you too’ they said practically at the same time, and for a second I was simply happy they would be together when it all ended. Now it was my turn and reluctantly I forced the words from my lips, know I couldn’t postpone them anymore.

‘No one will ever replace you’ I whispered.

‘And no one could ever replace you, sweetheart’ my Dad spoke through the phone, the love was obvious, I’d never heard it so clearly before.

‘I love you. I love you so much. I don’t know, I just..’ I trailed off, trying not to break down on the phone and tell them I couldn’t function without them and that I don’t know how to be me without the people that made me the way I am. But being strong was what they needed, what they wanted. As long as they knew how much I loved them, then maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult. Maybe we would be alright in the end, ‘Thank you, I’ll do everything you taught me and I will not be getting married any time soon. I’ll write movies, I promise you. I’ll make one about you. I love you Mum, I love you Daddy’.

‘We love you too' My mum whispered.

‘Goodbye’ Lucas moved closer to the phone as he whispered the words and I could actually hear his heart beating.

‘Goodbye, my beautiful children’.

And the line went dead.