The baby of the family, Lorenzo Bennie Dalton, is twenty-two and finishing his carpentry apprenticeship. I hardly know the man, to be honest. I was eight by the time he was born and didn’t have much time for poopy diapers and spit-up. By the time he was old enough to start kindergarten, I was in high school and definitely not interested in his life. Do I regret it? With my whole being. Lorenzo has grown into a strong, dedicated, hardworking man with depths to his soul no one even knows about. He’s occasionally said something here or there at family dinners to me about his gift, but for the most part, I’m as much in the dark as everyone else is.
That leaves me, Tabitha Rose Dalton, the oldest of the Dalton siblings. No one, and I mean no one, in my family understands the things I see on a daily basis, and for that, I’m grateful. I wouldn’t wish this gift on anyone, especially when I’m powerless to change the things I see. I spend a lot of time trying to outrun the visions when I know I can’t change what is about to happen. Sometimes I look for an escape in a bottle, and sometimes I find it on the pole of the local strip club. The music is all encompassing and pounds through my head at a volume that drowns out everything else. I’m not proud of it, but don’t know any other way to cope. I spend a lot of time crying, and praying for someone, anyone, who will listen and help me carry the burden. So far, those prayers have been unanswered. I know I need to find a healthier way to deal with the fallout from this gift. Waiting at home was a new pair of running shoes and an iPod I had loaded with the music they play at the strip club. I was going to start running, marathons if that’s what it took, to drown out the images in my head. It was time to grow up and stop the self-destructive behaviors.
I glanced around the room at the five people in attendance and another vision washed over me. I whimpered audibly, unable to stop the images from reeling across my eyes. It was there, all of it, and I didn’t know any way to stop what was about to happen. I sniffed then sucked in a deep breath when the hooded figure stood with its back to me over my dead family. They were all there; Mabel, Maḿa, Dad, Lorenzo, and Cinn. Oh God, this can’t be happening. I begged the hooded figure to turn and show me his face, to show me anything I could use to stop the slaughter, but the image began to fade. The hooded figure drifted apart until it was mist and left me staring at my dead family. In that moment, as I sat in a little funeral home on a hot summer day, I realized the truth behind something I’ve fought against all my life. I would do anything to save my family, and the time had come to prove it.
Inherited Light_A Small-Town, California Romance Filled with Dogs, Deception, and Finding True Love Despite Our Imperfections Page 29
