Page 89 of His Untoward Hate

Sky checked the living room first, then the kitchen, before hurrying upstairs to Jasper’s room. He looked through every bathroom, scanning each corner with growing desperation, but Jude was nowhere to be found.

I want to die, Sky…

I want to die, Sky…

I want to die, Sky…

The words replayed incessantly inside his head, each repetition echoing louder than the previous.

A wave of fear crashed over him.

Sky’s chest tightened, and his pulse thundered in his ears. With every passing second that Jude remained missing, Sky grew more terrified.

“Fuck!”

Sky dragged a trembling hand through his hair in frustration and despair. If anything happened to Jude, he knew he would never forgive himself. Worry and terror gripped him so ferociously that he felt on the verge of breaking down.

“No…no, no, no…”

Sky’s breath hitched as a horrifying possibility flashed through his mind. Without wasting another second, Sky rushed back to his room and snatched his car keys from the worn pair of jeans hanging behind the door. By the time he burst out of the house, he was nearly breathless, skipping the porch step in a hurry.

Rain hammered against the ground. The wind blustered violently through the air. Leaves fell and scattered across the soaked pavement while trees bent and swayed under the force of the storm. Thunder rumbled and cracked beyond the thick disarray of dark clouds above. Without hesitation, Sky ran straight into the storm.

Large raindrops battered against Sky as he pushed forward. He raised a hand to shield his face. His heart pounded with determination; his purpose unwavering despite the chaos around him. But amid the crashing waves of the storm, Sky immediately halted in his tracks.

And for a moment, it felt as though the world had stopped spinning.

The roar of the rain faded. The howl of the wind disappeared. Even the growl of thunder seemed to fall silent. There was only one sound he could hear.

Jude’s voice.

Not too far away, carried through the fury of the storm, Jude’s soft singing reached his ears. And despite the raging weather, Sky recognized it instantly.

How’d I get so far away?

What if I outrun Your grace?

Can You replace these broken yesterdays?

Drenched, Sky followed the sound of Jude’s voice through the rain. Throughout all these years, he had never imagined that Jude could sing like this. He had never heard him sing before. His voice was soft, pure, and angelic, effortlessly swaying through the storm and reaching straight into Sky’s heart.

Jude always managed to surprise him.

Every time Sky thought he had seen every side of him, Jude revealed something new, something that left him even more captivated than before. And with every surprise, Sky found himself falling harder.

Call me home, I want to be Your own

I’m running desperately into Your arms where I belong

The pain and sadness in his voice were evident as it drifted through the wind, sending a shiver down Sky’s spine and raising the hairs on his skin.

And I know Your love can turn this heart

A hundred eighty degrees to bring me back to where You are

Sky’s pace gradually slowed as he listened more closely to the sound of Jude’s voice. At last, he found him in the backyard—standing beneath the old Narra tree, his back turned, at the edge of the pond where it elevated every drop of water from the storm. Jude stood there with his arms slightly outstretched, singing a song Sky once knew all too well.

Even though Jude’s voice had already taken hold of his heart, Sky still had not shaken the fear that gripped him—the fear of losing him.