by Amanda Tru
That made Joel chuckle. “Actual winter or Eyjanian winter?”
Clari laughed with him. Ancient Eyjanians, like the ancient peoples of other nations this far north, had only thought in two seasons - summer and winter. Eyjanian winter lasted about eight months. “Probably Eyjanian winter, even with the size of the royal family.” There was eleven in King Benjamin’s immediate family alone - his mother and nine younger siblings.
“I guess we won’t starve, then.” His shoulders relaxed a bit, but she still saw the tension in them.
“Why don’t we play a board game or something? There’s no television up here, but we do have some movies and a ton of games.”
Joel turned from the window. In the dim emergency lighting that remained on most of the time, she could barely make out his face. “Sure. That sounds great, but first how about we make a fire? I know you said the heater won’t go out, but just in case, we won’t be starting from scratch.”
She smiled, not understanding his comment, but sensing fear behind it. “Sure.”
Joel loaded his arms with wood once more. There was already enough inside to last for days, but he wouldn’t chance it.
As he walked back into the cabin, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Nothing he could do about it until he set the firewood down. Once he tossed another log onto the already blazing fire, he pulled it out.
Rachel? She rarely called him, especially since they’d just seen each other. He swiped to call her back, grateful for the increasingly ubiquitous cell phone service in the more rural areas of the country. King Benjamin had done that right, too.
“Joe?” The use of his old nickname and the tears in her voice caused Joel to grip the phone even tighter.
“What’s wrong, Rach?”
“I’m fine,” she told him between sobs. “It’s Anabelle. And Gracie.”
A feeling of dread filled the pit of his stomach. “What happened to them?”
“They’re fine, too. Kind of. It’s their parents.”
His stomach clenched. “What about them?”
“They were heading back from Lake Akushla today and...”
He knew. As soon as she said it, he knew they were the ones they’d seen being pulled back over the side of the cliff. “Near the last switchback?” And the most dangerous one.
“How did you know?”
“I drove by it.”
“You drove to Lake Akushla? And you didn’t go the other way? What are you doing there? Please tell me you’re not coming home tonight.”
It wouldn’t be any lighter come daytime though that part of the road did get the indirect sunlight Clari indicated the cabin missed out on. He’d keep that in mind on the drive home. “Clari’s next clue sent her to her grandparents’ cabin. I drove her up here. We can’t leave until the storm lets up even if we wanted to. I ran out of fuel right as we arrived.”
“Joel! How could you?” The fear and reprimand in his sister’s voice served its purpose.
“I forgot to check. I know it was stupid, but we were going up the mountain, not down. I would have made it to the town, but we didn’t stop there.”
“At least you’re not alone.”
No. He wasn’t alone. Not technically. But he suspected Clari would sleep in the room she claimed as her own and expect him to stay in one of the ones upstairs filled with bunk beds. It would be almost like being alone.
“If you need to, you should tell her.” Rachel’s soft words came through the phone. “It might help.”
“We’ll see.” He wouldn’t. Wouldn’t burden an already stressed Clari with something from his childhood.
“You never told me how you ended up as Clari’s Yfir driver. I thought you were taking the day off.”
“I was going to.” Joel sank onto one of the couches. “But a friend called me about a Yfir Delivery, and I couldn’t ignore it. I’m cleared for deliveries to the palace, so I took the job. The tip made it completely worthwhile.” It had finally shown up in his app.
“Was driving her around part of it?”
“No, but you saw her leg. She can’t drive and wouldn’t have been able to do most of this via public transportation. Well,” he amended, “she might have been able to, but she’d just now be getting to your store.”
“And we’re closed.”
“Exactly.” A fresh wave of grief came over him. “How’s Anabelle doing?”
“I don’t know. She texted me, but didn’t answer when I called.”
Odd. His sister’s best friend always answered the phone and texts, except while she was sleeping and with news like that, there was no way she’d have dozed off. “Did she know the cause?”
“If she does, she didn’t say. Just that they were in an accident near the same switchback, and she’d just been notified they were gone. She won’t be at work until further notice. Like that was my main concern.”
“Sounds like Anabelle, though. I guess she’ll be raising Gracie from here on out then?” The toddler won the heart of anyone she came in contact with.
“I guess. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out her grandparents will try to take Gracie from her. She’s really the only family Anabelle has left. She can’t stand to be around her grandparents most of the time.”
Joel had heard enough bits and pieces that he didn’t blame Anabelle.
A door opening caused him to turn. “I’ve got to go, Rach. Tell Anabelle she’s in my prayers.”
“I will. Let me know before you leave for home. Love you. And you need to tell Clari why you’re going to have nightmares tonight.”
Before he could tell her that wasn’t part of the plan, Rachel hung up.
“What was that about? Everything okay with Anabelle?”
Joel turned, but his breath caught when he saw Clari. She’d looked very professional and put together when he’d met her, but she’d been coming from her job in the Queen Mother’s office.
Now, she’d changed into clothes she must have had stashed in the room she’d disappeared to. Black leggings were covered by an eggplant-colored shirt. Her hair hung in waves past her shoulders and practically begged for him to thread his fingers through it.
Whoa.
Where had that thought come from?
“Anabelle?” she asked again. “What happened?”
Joel sat on the chair. “That accident we saw?”
Clari sank to the couch near him. “She couldn’t have been in it.”
“No, but her parents were. She texted Rachel that they didn’t make it. That’s all Rachel knew.”
Clari’s gasp mirrored his own disbelief a few moments earlier.
“Anabelle has a two-year-old sister that she’s probably going to have to raise by herself. Her grandparents may try to take the little girl which means Anabelle will have a fight on her hands while grieving her parents.”
“Poor Anabelle.”
He looked over to see Clari wiping her cheeks with her fingers. “Will you get in trouble for not being at work tomorrow?” he asked. “Because if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not head back to Akushla until the roads are completely clear.”
“Shoot!” Clari jumped out of her chair and used a crutch to help her get to her bag on the island in the kitchen. “I forgot to call my boss.”
She rummaged around until she found her phone then held the button until she was able to give a voice command to call. Briefly, she explained the situation only to be told that she wasn’t expected in for over a week. Apparently, the surprise included time off.
A minute later, she was back on her couch. The one she almost always claimed. “So whoever planned this planned to spend some time here.” She turned to stare at the kitchen. “I wonder if that means there’s decent food.”
Joel hopped up. “You don’t need to be hobbling around on that foot. I’ll look.” He opened the fridge. “Fresh milk and eggs.”
“That’s a good start.”
“Fresh vegetables, too.”
“Even better.” She l
eaned against the side of the couch and stretched her legs out. “Did you pick a game?”
He held up two decks of cards. “How about Rummy?”
“I haven’t played that in ages.” She re-situated herself on the couch. “You can deal.” Clari pointed toward the wall. “There’s a bank of light switches over there. We’ll need to see better.”
Cards in hand, Joel stopped at the wall near the front door, flipping one switch after another until they settled on lighting that wasn’t too glaring, but bright enough for the game.
“Tell me one of your favorite memories here?” Joel asked as he shuffled the cards.
“My fifth birthday.”
“Ah, the one on the card.”
“Yep. It was the weekend before my birthday.” She blinked as the date registered. “My grandparents made sure everyone was here, including my best friend.” She leaned the side of her head against the back of the couch. “I didn’t understand it until much later.” Before going on, she realized she’d only known Joel a few hours and wasn’t quite ready to tell him the whole story.
It involved too many other people’s pain.
“Anyway, the whole family was here. I got to pick everything, or my favorites were already picked for me. My favorite meals, games, all of that. Mostly, I just loved spending time with my family, though, because in those days we didn’t get together very often. When I made my birthday wish, I wished we would have lunch at Amma and Afi’s every week.”
“And Sunday lunches were born?”
“Exactly. It’s still my favorite day of the week. I love going to church, but I also love getting to see my family.”
Joel dealt the cards. “I get the feeling there’s a lot more to the story than that.”
Clari picked up the cards in front of her. “Maybe. But I barely know you.”
For ten minutes, they took turns drawing two cards and discarding one, each rearranging the cards in their hands until, finally, Clari had enough points to lay her melds down.
“Good start,” Joel told her as he picked up the discard pile. “But watch this.”
She groaned as he laid down set after set of cards, somehow ending up with just four left in his hand. “Impressive.” After pulling two cards off the deck, she decided it was time to turn the tables a little bit. “What’s your favorite childhood birthday memory?”
Joel didn’t hesitate. “When I turned ten, Rachel and I got to go ice skating, which we rarely got to do. My parents were there, but they just watched. I guess my mom broke her wrist ice skating as a kid, so she didn’t skate anymore. Dad stayed with her because he didn’t want her to be alone on the sidelines. After we finished skating, they took us to the zoo where we fed the seals.” He nodded toward her with a raised eyebrow. “When we got back to the house, all of my friends were there for a surprise party, including some of the extended family we rarely saw because they live in San Majoria. One of my cousins and I were best buds whenever we were together, so that was extra nice.”
“That’s awesome. There’s nothing quite like family, is there?”
This time he didn’t speak right away. “No. There’s not.”
“And there’s more to that story?” Would he think she was prying? She didn’t mean to.
“Like you said, we’ve only known each other a few hours.”
Right. She didn’t push, and the conversation for the rest of the game revolved around the innocuous.
Joel pulled the cards into a pile toward him. “Are you ready for something to eat?”
Clari shook her head. “No thanks. I’m still full from earlier. In fact, I think I’m going to turn in. Will you be okay? Help yourself to any of the food, and you can sleep in any of the rooms upstairs. The other room down here is my grandparents though.” The double doors on the wall underneath the upstairs walkway weren’t locked, but no one ever went through them without an invitation.
Joel didn’t look up as he flipped a couple of red-backed cards into a pile before putting the next two blue-backed ones in a separate one. “I’ll be fine. I may just sleep out here on a couch by the fire though. I don’t like leaving it unattended.”
She glanced over at it. Though it had been roaring enough that she’d turned the heater down a bit earlier, it had almost died out. There wasn’t really anything to leave unattended, especially if he closed the glass doors.
But something in his tone told her there was more to it than that. Maybe he knew someone who’d been in a house fire.
Without pushing him on it, Clari leveraged herself up from the couch and grasped one of her crutches. “Then good night. I’ll see you in the morning.” Such as it was in this part of the world in late November.
“And maybe by then, the snow will have stopped, and we can head back to Akushla, or your surprise will have shown up.”
Clari had almost forgotten about that. If she hadn’t heard what the surprise was by morning, she’d call Afi and convince him to tell her.
Meantime, a good night’s sleep was just what she needed.
Joel fought the growing apprehension as Clari’s door closed behind her. Should he tell her? Ask her to sleep on one of the other couches? Beg her to let him sleep on the floor in her room?
Anywhere but one of those bunk beds.
Alone.
Anywhere at the lake alone.
Incoherent prayers fled from the depths of his soul upward. Would this be the time God would hear his plea and no nightmares would plague him?
He didn’t hold out much hope of that, but he prayed anyway.
After putting both decks of cards back in their respective boxes, he walked back into the kitchen and pulled out some veggies. He could eat them raw as a snack. No sense in actually trying to make something just for himself.
After munching for a few minutes, he washed it all down with a bottle of water. He turned out the lights then laid down on one of the couches. Pulling the blanket off the back, he rolled onto his side before plumping the throw pillow under his head.
Sleep wouldn’t come easy, but he focused on breathing in and out slowly. He counted backward from a thousand, concentrating on not missing any or getting distracted by other thoughts, good or bad.
999
998
997
Focus. Don’t get distracted.
More counting.
948
947
Keep going. You’re getting sleepy.
Still more.
862
861
860
He felt himself drift and fought to let the sandman carry him away while praying for a dreamless sleep.
Darkness enveloped him.
Mom? Dad? Rach?
No one was there.
No one was anywhere.
Joel sat straight up, cold sweat pouring off him.
“What is it? Are you okay?”
He couldn’t see who it was. Then he remembered. “Clari?”
“Yeah. I’m here. You were having a nightmare of some sort.”
His breathing started to even out as he swung his legs over the side of the couch and braced his hands against his knees. “Most likely.”
She sat on the on the other end. “Want to talk about it?”
Joel made himself take a deep breath then lean against the back of the couch. “Not really but I probably should.”
Clari didn’t say anything but just waited.
“We rented a cabin on the other side of the lake when I was about six.” He closed his eyes and tried not to dwell on the feelings. “I was supposed to go fishing with my dad. We were going to leave early in the morning and be gone overnight and be back after dinner the second day. I wasn’t feeling well, so I didn’t go.”
He ran his hands down his face. “My mom and Rachel decided to go grocery shopping in town. They didn’t realize I was still asleep in the other room.”
A small gasp came from the other end of the couch. “How long were you left alone?”
“Nearly
three days. One of those horrific rainstorms came up, and my mom and sister decided to stay in town. My dad didn’t make it back because of the rain and all. It wasn’t until he made it to town and ran into them that they realized what must have happened.”
With his eyes closed, he tried not to relive it. “They left Rachel in town with a friend and drove through the downpour until they got to the cabin. There were a couple of low water areas, but the truck was big enough to get through them. Barely. By the time they got there, I was a mess. There was enough food and water than I didn’t go hungry or anything, but ever since, I haven’t been able to be alone overnight outside the city. Here or at the beach or wherever, I can’t sleep alone. Usually, my dad or a friend stays in the room with me. As long as I’m not alone, I’m okay.”
Clari shifted on the other end of the couch. “Why didn’t you say something? I would have stayed out here with you or in one of the rooms with the bunk beds.”
“I don’t do bunk beds anymore either. Not if I can avoid it.”
She stood, and he heard her crutches thunking on the floor. “Then I’ll sleep out here on one of the other couches. Try to get some rest.”
Even though she didn’t say anything else, he knew she was there, and that helped immensely.
Feeling much more at peace, Joel blew out a deep breath and stretched back out on the couch. This time he sunk into a deep sleep and didn’t wake up until the smell of bacon woke him up.
“Did the light bother you?” Clari asked from the kitchen.
Joel sat back up and stretched his arms over his head as he yawned. “No. But the smell of bacon might have had something to do with it.”
She chuckled. “I can’t say I’m sorry about that.”
“Never apologize for bacon.”
“And eggs. They’re almost ready. If you want to wash up, they should be done by the time you are.”
When he came back downstairs, she had set two plates on the island with glasses of orange juice next to them.
