Excerpt: Saint

Lacey saw it all happen in slow motion. A warning cry. Josh, turning his head and seeing the car barreling down at him. Josh, frozen in his tracks. The car never slowing down as it struck Josh and sent him flying up, and back, and over the car. Josh, landing with a hard thud just feet from where his father stood. The sound of bones breaking. Rick dropping his messenger bag and dropping to his knees beside Josh.
And then time began flowing again, and people began to gather. Ro pushed through the crowd to where her father was, took one look at Josh, and said loudly and clearly, “Does anyone here have a phone?”
There were some murmurs, but Ro didn’t wait for an answer. She pointed at a middle-aged man wearing a golf cap. “You, sir, in the cap and the denim shirt. Go into the conservatory, call 911 and tell them there’s been a car accident in Assiniboine Park near the conservatory. Once the ambulance is on the way, come back and report to me. Can you do that?”
The man nodded, turned, and headed into the conservatory. Ro began motioning for people to move back out of the way. “You, sir, and you, ma’am, can you please give them a little more room? Thank you.”
Lacey heard the whispers from the growing crowd around her.
“Is he still alive?”
“He can’t be.”
“He couldn’t have survived that.”
“Did you see what happened?”
“Look! He’s still breathing.”
Lacey looked, and she thought she saw Joshua’s chest move slightly. Rick stayed kneeling with his back to her. She couldn’t see his face.
Then, without any conscious decision on her part, she was speaking, speaking loudly and clearly. “Joshua. You are not going to die. In fact, you are going to live to thank God for this day.” She took two steps forward, almost against her will, and knelt beside Josh.
He was unrecognizable. Bones in his arms and legs had snapped. One arm was twisted under his body; the other lay bent in a way that was against Nature. Sharp splinters of bone protruded from his flesh. His legs were crumpled, and he lay in an awkward sprawl. His head was shaped oddly, and there were blood trails down his face and neck from glass cuts and gravel scrapes. He barely looked human.
Lacey took this in at a glance, even as her hand was going out to rest on Joshua’s shoulder. Her eyesight blurred for a moment, although not from tears. When she could see clearly again, Josh was lying on his back, looking entirely as if he’d just lain down for a moment. Then he opened his eyes. “Dad?” he said. “Why are you crying?”
Rick didn’t answer. He turned slowly to Lacey, held out his hand, and said in a rough whisper, “What have you done?”
Lacey held his gaze for a long second, then began to shake her head as she grabbed his hand and pushed it away. “It wasn’t me,” she said desperately. Then she ran.