Worthy of Rain

by Elizaveta Fehr

  The ladder stopped at the very top level. I inhaled a deep breath and climbed after him.

  Once I reached the last rung, Noah reached out his hand to help me onto the deck. When I was safely off the ladder, Noah started to say something. A deep-throated bellow erupted into the air and cut him off.

  He chuckled again. “Why don’t you just see for yourself?”

  I walked with him to the edge and looked out.

  My mouth fell open.

  The line of animals stretched so far, it rose over the hill and disappeared past the horizon. The sky was swollen with a gray cloud as every kind of bird you could possibly imagine gathered and hovered in the air. They all waited in line, filing slowly into the other entrance to the ark.

  “That’s why we need so much space,” Noah said next to me. I was almost too stunned for words.

  “Where…where did they all come from?”

  Noah lifted his arm to let the dove fly away. “Everywhere.”

  Another person climbed up the ladder. It was a man who looked much younger than Noah. He introduced him immediately, clapping him on the back.

  “This is one of my sons, Shem,” Noah said.

  Shem nodded to me and turned to his father. “The others have brought hay bales from the farms. We only have one cartload left before all of the stalls will be ready.”

  Noah nodded. “Perfect. The animals have already arrived.”

  So that’s what the separate rooms were for.

  From the deck, I watched as men carried hay bales and grain into the ark. The hammering had seemed to die down a bit. The rest of the ark was nearly finished. They must have been working all night and all morning.

  We watched the line of animals grow shorter as the sun finally disappeared beneath the earth. Noah glanced up at the sky, the ocean ceiling above a deep blue before it was about to turn dark. A drop of water fell on my head and I looked up too. The sky directly above had accumulated thick, gray cumulonimbus clouds that hovered in the sky. Noah turned and climbed back down the ladder

  “The flood is starting,” he said and disappeared.

  I hesitated at the trap door. A little rain wouldn’t flood the whole earth. It was impossible. Did I actually believe what Noah was saying? I took a breath and stepped back onto the ladder.

  I didn’t know a better way to find out.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Just as I gave you the green plants,

  I now give you everything.”

  Genesis 9:3 NIV

  Noah was already heading down the hall, the same passage as before, except he ducked into another hallway a little way down.

  I followed. There were open bedrooms on either side. I could see the corner of a small cot barely big enough for an eight-year-old in each room.

  Noah stepped towards a room to the left and led me inside. “This is where you’ll stay,” he said. “It’s not luxurious, but it’s better than a bed of water. If you need anything, you can come get me.”

  He started to turn away.

  “Noah.”

  He glanced back at me.

  “Is it really going to flood the whole earth?”

  “Yes, it will.”

  I looked at the candle flickering in the draft that’d just entered the room. “So why are we the ones who are going to be saved?”

  He looked at me somberly. “Because some people choose not to be saved.” And with that, he left the room.

  The ark, now finished at the last second and packed tight with animals, shook as the ramps were shut tight. I hugged my knees and sat on the bed. Straw poked out of the bedding and spiders scurried out from underneath as I sat. Rain pattered on the roof with a drippity-droppity, drippity-droppity, patter, patter, patter, patter, drippity-droppity, drippity-droppity. The rain seemed to beat incessantly against the wood, and I wished for windows.

  My vision blurred. My head was spinning. The ground beneath me vibrated as water from beneath the earth gushed out like a geyser. The rain had started to leak through the ceiling, but only in small dribbles. The whole world was flooded in a few minutes as the rain beat on.

  The sounds were the worst of it all.

  There were screams as the rest of the world was swept away. Animals cried out too. The minutes ticked on, and the sounds of human terror wouldn’t leave my head. It mixed with the sound of the rain and the waves crashing against the boat.

  After an hour, I understood why there weren’t windows in my room.

  The many days in the ark were bleak. I ate with Noah’s family, but we hardly noticed each other. The food was like chewing on rock. My jaw ached and my stomach groaned.

  But through it all, Noah prayed every day. At mealtime, at bedtime, everywhere he went in the ark. I saw him a lot in the animal stables, murmuring quietly to the sheep or the parakeets. He seemed so calm, speaking softly to them and talking to the Lord. The waves slapped and shook the boat.

  I scratched constantly. The fleas the animals brought were climbing all over my skin and the smell of manure lingered in my nostrils. Day. Night. Night. Day. My dreams took me to dark places, and I could still hear the screams of frantic people.

  After weeks on the boat, there was one day when the weather was good. My body was screaming for fresh air and sunshine. Noah had brought a dove out and was stroking the bird’s feathers. He lifted his arm up and the bird pumped its wings and soared into the air. “He’ll come back,” Noah assured me, then went back inside. A raven he had let out earlier was perched on his forearm, cawing annoyingly.

  The sun was going down, firing a red and blazing gaze across the water. The dove came back empty handed. The following week, he let it go again, but this time, it came back with an olive branch. The third time he let it go seven days later, the bird never returned. The most vibrant rainbow I’d ever seen appeared from behind the clouds.

  The next day after the ark docked, I slipped away from the group. I knew I couldn’t stay with them any longer.

  Like the unreturning dove, something else tugged me on.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was on my birthday when we rented kayaks from Renly’s Boat Shack and took them out on the river, the one that meandered through the outer edges of town. I’d never kayaked before and I was excited to do something new that day. It was just the three of us, but it was all I could have ever wanted in the world.

  She taught me how to use the paddle. Dip one side in the water and tug, then the other side. Don’t dig so low in the water. Keep a steady rhythm. Balance the kayak with your weight. And I did all of those things. I soared down the river, my skinny arms pushing the kayak forward. Left, right, left, right, left, right. At one point, I tried to turn around to see if she was watching. If she could see me soaring on the water just like she’d taught me.

  She smiled at me and lifted up her paddle over her head and screamed at the top of her lungs. A laughing scream, the kind that said we were free. I echoed her, the water carrying our voices up and down the river where they were probably trapped forever. My dad just laughed at us.

  I would have this same dream every year. The “kayak dream.” It would happen the night before my birthday, and I would wake up with a half scream on my lips and her smile still in my mind. A part of my heart ached for the things that never happened, and I wondered how I could visualize her so well if she’d only been with me a few years of my life.

  Maybe that’s just what happens when you miss someone. You make up the life you could have had if they were still around.

  “So…the big fifteen, huh? How does it feel?”

  Aven leaned against the locker next to mine. The voices from the hallway muffled our conversation as people passed by. A group of people were laughing as a kid pretended to sit in the trash can.

  “I feel old. Everyone else turns fifteen the summer before high school or freshman year. Not…now.”

  Aven eyed me. “Are you sure you didn’t get held back?”

  I frowned at her, annoyed. “No, I jus
t went to kindergarten late. They thought I still needed time to…get over the accident.”

  “You were so young. How do you remember any of that?”

  I swallowed, the vision of the hospital flashing past my mind. “It’s the one day I wish I could forget.”

  Aven paused to open her locker that was two lockers down. “Anywho, what are we going to do? Let’s do something fun! I mean, it’s not your sweet sixteen but it’s close enough, right? Let’s steal your dad’s car and take it for a spin.”

  “You can do that when you turn fifteen.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Dude, you could technically get your permit right now.”

  Realizing my locker was empty, I closed it. “No, I have to wait until I take driver’s ed in high school until I can, remember?”

  Aven sulked. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Well, are you having a party? Also, where’s your backpack?”

  “I put it in my first hour after I went to the library today.” I shook my head. “And probably not. Dad’s taking me to my favorite restaurant for dinner, but I didn’t really ask for anything else.”

  “What if we kayaked? That would sound so fun! It’s warm enough now.”

  I flinched at her words. “I’m not much of a kayaker.”

  She looked at me. “Since when?”

  I didn’t answer as I fiddled with my lock.

  “Well…what do you want to do then?”

  I paused. “I think I’ll just spend the evening with my dad, if that’s okay.”

  Aven didn’t seem as deflated as I thought she’d be. “Okay, I’ll just hang out with Alex.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Alex? Trailer Park Alex?”

  “You’re a little judgmental today.”

  I cleared my throat. “I’m not being judgmental. I just didn’t know you hang out with her.”

  Aven shrugged. “I mean, she’s kinda turned around a little. She’s not the obsessive goth girl she was before.”

  “And tight dresses are a better substitute?”

  “We just hang out sometimes, Gen. Calm down.”

  I was offended by that. “I’m calm, I just didn’t know.”

  Aven blew me a kiss as she headed to her class. “Well, now you do.”

  I sulked all the way to class. Yes, I did tell her I was spending time with my dad. But seriously—Alex? Since when was this a thing?

  Now that I thought about it, I had been kind of distant from Aven lately. The book had been keeping me busy most nights. Sometimes, I was too exhausted to do anything after running from murderers or suffering through weeks on the water. I hadn’t exactly asked Aven to hang out most of those times.

  But neither had she. Had she been spending her time with Alex while I was gone?

  I was so lost in thought I nearly bumped straight into the red backpack that was staring at me in the face. Its owner turned around.

  “Do you like running into me all the time?”

  Jace’s brown hair fell over his eyes and he flicked his head to move it. He had both of his hands resting on his backpack straps.

  I looked around at the rest of the class sitting outside the room. The door was ajar and several teachers were milling around inside.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, ignoring his comment.

  “Pipe broke. The classroom is flooded.”

  I blinked. “How fitting.”

  Jace glanced at me, annoyed. “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  Jace’s eyes softened ever so slightly. “You’re turning fifteen today, aren’t you?”

  I froze. “Yeah…how…do you know that?”

  Jace stuck his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know, didn’t something bad happen on your birthday or something?” He was fumbling for words. The hint of annoyance was back in his voice.

  My heart crumbled. “Yeah…my mom…”

  There wasn’t surprise in Jace’s face. “I’m sorry.” But his tone was flat.

  “You don’t have to say that.” I was irritated. What did he care? He never cared. Why was he all of the sudden trying to act sorry?

  That’s all Jace was. A fake. Always saying what he thought people wanted him to say.

  Jace didn’t answer. His face was an eternal frown whenever he looked at me. I couldn’t tell if he was annoyed, angry, or…was that remorse?

  I was distracted by the principal who had started talking.

  “Class will be moved to the library today. It will take at least until tomorrow for the pipe to be fixed.”

  Mrs. Whitaker, who was standing next to the principal, added, “Just take your bookbags with you.”

  That’s when it hit me.

  My backpack. I’d left it in that room.

  “Mrs. Whitaker!” I pushed through the crowded group to get to her. “I left my backpack in there. Please, there’s important stuff in there. Did someone grab it?”

  She frowned. “Hon, I don’t know. We moved as much as we could, but some of the bags that were already in there were pretty soaked.

  My heart sank to my stomach. “Is it still in there?”

  I felt a thud near my feet and I looked down. Jace stood next to me, having dropped my backpack in a heap at my feet.

  “Here,” he said. His face was expressionless. “I grabbed it before it got wet.”

  My words caught in my throat.

  “Thank you, Jace. That was thoughtful,” Mrs. Whitaker replied instead.

  I swallowed. Jace turned around and headed towards the library before I could say anything.

  I grabbed my pack by the handle and set it on a table sitting outside the classroom. Sure enough, the bag was dry. I reached into the deepest pocket and felt around.

  The soft pages of the Bible tickled my fingers in response. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  I needed to be more careful.

  I glanced at Jace as he disappeared down the hallway. That’s all Jace was. A fake.

  Or maybe he wasn’t.

  “So, Hemingway’s tonight?”

  I’d already shut the car door and buckled my seatbelt. It was about seven o’clock and the sun was starting to set a little later in the day now. My dark red wrap dress was so flowy, it scrunched up as I sat and I had to adjust it so it wouldn’t wrinkle.

  “Yup, as usual.” I tried to put on a smile. Tonight would be good. I’d made a deal with myself earlier that I wouldn’t think about her. That’d I’d try to have fun. That I’d try to enjoy my night with my dad.

  My dad rubbed his hands together. “Can’t wait.”

  Tonight would be good. It had to be.

  We took a turn into the town square and parked by one of the light posts. It was still daytime enough to see, but the streetlights were on and I could see Hemingway’s lights from here.

  The restaurant was one of those homey, rustic places with thick wooden tables scattered throughout the room. Town relics and road signs were nailed to the walls, and there was a deck showing off twinkling string lights that hung overhead. I loved how you could walk in and smell the smoked chicken and spiced potatoes wafting from the kitchen.

  The attendant seated us at a table inside the restaurant and handed us our menus. The deck’s French doors were open, so I could tell it was a warm night. There were several groups already outside, clinking their glasses and murmuring to each other under the deep blue of the sky. It was an almost exact replica of what the sky looked like before the flood in the Bible.

  “Hm, what looks good? I’m thinking baby back ribs.”

  I laughed. “You always get steak, Dad.”

  “I was obviously avoiding looking at that portion of the menu, but now that you’ve brought my attention to it…” He pushed his reading glasses up his nose.

  I scanned the menu for something new tonight. The special was clam chowder. My mouth instantly watered.

  “Are you two ready to order?” Our waiter, a lanky teenager with pants too short for his legs, stepped up to our table with a notebook in hand.

  “You
ready?” my dad asked me. I nodded.

  “Alrighty, I’ll take the steak and the baby back ribs special with a side of mashed potatoes.”

  I laughed, shaking my head.

  “What?” he said, smiling. “I couldn’t choose.”

  The waiter turned to me. I smiled up at him. “Alright, I’ll have—”

  It was then through the space between the waiter’s skinny arm and his body that I caught sight of something that made my blood boil.

  In through the entrance to Hemingway’s walked none other than Jace Anthony himself.

  With his entire family.

  “Oh crap.”

  “Um…that’s not on the menu, miss.”

  I looked at the waiter. “What? Oh, I know. Just—” I craned my neck to get a better view around the bar.

  Sure enough, Jace was standing with his hands in his pockets next to his mom. A younger boy that was probably his little brother stood next to his dad and his little sister braided strands of her hair absentmindedly. My eyes widened as I watched his dad point to a table.

  In our seating area.

  Jace was not about to ruin my night. I snapped back to my spot and smiled sweetly at the waiter, trying to hide my panic. “You know, I hate to do this, but could we move? I’m feeling like the deck would be a nice spot.”

  The waiter looked at me nervously. “Um…I guess you could.”

  “Gen, do we really have to? We already sat down.”

  I showed my teeth to my dad. “Birthday girl’s birthday night, right? It’ll only take a second to move.” I was talking at lightning speed, glancing at the Anthony family who had already started walking towards us.

  “Well, I guess that’s fi—”

  “Great! Cool! Fantastic.” I bolted upright and grabbed a menu from the table to hold it over my face. The waiter walked us over and seated us on the deck.

  “I can take that.” The waiter glanced at me suspiciously and plucked the menu from my hands.

  “Oh right.” There were already menus at this table.