Read Online Just Like Heaven by Steven Slavick - Free Book Online Page A

you to know you’re lying. What I don’t get is why you care.”
    “I don’t either.”
    Nick’s smile widened. “See? Honesty. Hallelujah.”
    His brother turned and grinned. Then bright lights shin ed through the windshield. A second later, a truck slammed head-on right into them. Through the smoke and blinking interior lights of the Mustang, both N ick and his brother sat unconscious.
    The scene fast-forwarded then stopped as Nick jerked awake. He sucked in a heap of oxygen and opened his eyes, but the headlights blazing through the cracked but intact windshield made him squint. He pressed a palm to his head, wincing and groaning in pai n. He rolled to his left to check on Harold. Both of his eyes were closed and he slumped forward, his face bu ried in a deployed air bag. Nick reached out with his left hand and patted his brother’s shoulder.
    When Harold didn’t stir, Nick nudged him a little harder. “Wake up. We got into an accident.” He cringed with worry, his breath coming thick and heavy. “Ha rold, come on.” He unbuckled his seat belt and pressed a finger to his brother’s neck. “What the hell! ” He shifted in his seat and inspected the other side of his brother’ s throat .
    Harold’s neck flopped to the side and sagged onto his shoulder, a sign that his neck was broken.  
    Nick snapped back. “ Jesus Christ! Oh, God!” He grabbed hold of Harold’s shirt. “Harold?” Tears glistened in Nick’s eyes. He shook his brother . “Harold? Wake up. Come on, wake up ! ”
    A man wearing a cowboy hat appeared beside Nick’s window. “Are you all…Is he okay?”
    Nick spun around, slinging tears across his cheeks. “Get an am bulance, you asshole.” He whirl ed back to his brother. “Harold? You can’t leave me. Harold, don’t leave me .”
    The screen turned black. Lights came to life above them.
    Nick stared at the blank screen, riveted by what he’d just experienced. He could still feel the agony of losing his last remaining family member. He felt numb and lifeless, as though he’d stepped outside of his body.
    Roland looked at him, waiting for a response.
    “Stop looking at me.”
    “I’ve got to look somewhere. Besides, you’re the reason I’m here.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “You ch ose me for this assignment, Nicholas . You wanted me to look after you.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “To oversee your life. You selected me as your spirit guide.”
    “You aren’t making any sense,” he said through barred teeth, his tone both tight and harsh.
    “ To help you navigate your life. Through all your ups and downs.”
    Nick faced him, pointing a finger in his face. Chords of muscles stood out on his neck. “A lot of good that did . You saw what happened. Where were you when my brother died? Or my parents? What about them? Why didn’t you help them?”
    “I’m not their spirit guide. I’m yours. They had their own guides. ”
    “ So why didn’t they help them ? Why did they let them die?”
    “I can’ t answer that. Only your parents and brother can .”
    “Well, they’re not alive anymore, so they can’t answer anything.”
    “ Don’t you have any compassion? Don’t you have any feelings?” He headed for the door.
    “As I re call, one of the ladies you romanc ed asked the same of you. So do you? Have any feelings? ”
    Nick stopped at the door and turned to Roland. “Of course. You’re the one who doesn’t have any feelings, Colonel. You’re the one who watched my brother die, and you didn’t even get rattled. You’re the one without a soul.”
    “Oh, so you believe you have a soul.”
    “Of course, I do.”
    “ Hm mm. Then where did you get your soul – if you don’t believe in God? ”
    “ That’s not—”
    “Yet upon finding your brother had passed on , you called upon God and Jesus. If you didn’t believe in them, why would you say their names at such a time?”
    “I was out of my mind. I didn’t know what I w as