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About the Author

Graham Armstrong was just a sales assistant in Ramsgate, Kent.

He enjoys writing, watching films and spending quality time with

his family. Graham is the youngest of three, and the only son of

Graham Armstrong Sr. and Kim Armstrong. Graham has

ambitions of being a successful writer, and he also hopes to go

and explore the world one day.

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Copyright © Graham Armstrong (2015)

The right of Graham Armstrong to be identified as author of this

work has been asserted by him 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 unauthorized 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 978 1 78455 398 2 (paperback)

ISBN 978 1 78455 398 2 (hardback)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2015)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

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Acknowledgments

To my ‘Little Nan’, Sylvia Corbin.

She taught me that life is too short and that I should smile while I still had my own teeth. I found her coming into this

story in a way that only she could. I miss you dearly. Second to my sweet nephew, Oisin. Even though I didn’t get the chance to meet you, just know

that I love you and think of you. You taught me that beginnings are scary and endings are sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most.

I hope I’m making you both proud.

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Chapter One

THE GREATEST THING

I’m sitting on a flat-out cardboard box in the middle of an alley that sits between two blocks of flats, somewhere in

London.

I think I’m around 80 years of age. I at least feel it. I am

unsure of my exact age as the sense of time was lost somewhere in my life.

I have been wearing the same clothes for the past few

months and I sit with my legs spread out in front of me and with my head resting on the hard brick wall behind me.

It’s night, and I find myself staring up at the stars as I

have been doing every night since I got here. I spend this time thinking about my life.

If you was to walk past me now, as only a few people do, you would see a cold homeless old man. I wasn’t always like this. I did once have a life. I did once have a home, although it

was a very long time ago.

As I look up and stare into the stars my mind wanders to

when it all began, to where it had all went wrong.

It had happened within a split second – however – for me, for me it felt like I was there for hours.

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I was down on one knee, feeling the dampness of the street cobbles melt their way through to my skin, looking up at the most beautiful sight I had ever seen – and in the air the

moon shone so bright, the only light in paradise.

“Do you love me?” I asked.

She smiled, showing off her pearl-like teeth. A single teardrop fell from her eyes. She had perfectly clear skin and golden hair, and freckles that only showed when she spent too

much time in the sun.

“With all of my heart,” her sweet voice responded.

“Then why are you afraid?” I murmured. “We belong

together.”

She stroked my face with the back of her hand. Her touch

brought warmth to my icy skin.

“I am not afraid, James.” She took a hold of my hand and helped me onto my feet. “I am happy.”

She kept her hand intertwined with mine; it wasn’t until this point, where I could see directly into her eyes, that I realized what true beauty really was; compared to this, I had

never felt a single thing in my life.

Her eyes were like the ocean; just as calm, just as

peaceful. The soft summer night’s breeze surfed through her blonde locks.

“You don’t understand, May.”

Being brought up in the local orphanage not only meant that I had no family, but it made sure that I had no friends, too. May was all I had.

“Close your eyes?” I asked.

May gracefully slid her eyelids over her eyes.

“What do you see?”

“I don’t understand,” she said. “I don’t see anything.”

I pressed my lips against hers.

“Exactly,” I said. “That would be my life without you.”

This time it was her lips pressing against mine.

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“When you talk to me, May, when you smile at me, when you make me laugh, I fall in love over and over again. You mean more to me that anything else in this world. And I don’t

want anyone else to have your heart, or kiss your lips, or be the one you love. I don’t want anyone else to take my place.”

We embraced. Mays arms spread around my neck, her head rested on my shoulder.

“Yes! Yes!” she released. “Of course I will marry you!”

I could feel my heart doing cartwheels in my chest, and as we kissed my stomach burst with butterflies. Her sweet lips pressed against mine, like a volcanic eruption in my mouth. I

could conquer the world with one hand, just as long as she was holding the other.

I bet you’re wondering why I proposed to the love of my life in the middle of a street. It’s because there, right on that

spot, was where we had our first kiss all those moons ago.

My name is James Wayne. I was twenty-three, and I had known – my then fiancée – May, for the best part of five

years, although to me it didn’t feel anywhere near as long as that.

I can remember the day we met as if it was yesterday. But before I had met May, I had no idea what it was like to be able to look at someone and smile for no reason. Before May there

was no reason for me to smile.

I was found by Sister Mary on a wild and stormy night in

October, on the doorstep of St. Joseph’s Orphanage.

I was told to think of it as less of an orphanage and more of a lost-and-found for children, at least that’s what Sister

Mary called it.

I could always count on Sister Mary to reassure me that I

would be the next to be taken a big house, to be part of a big family; a mum and a dad, brothers and sisters, and maybe even little chubby spoilt cousins too.