by E S Richards
“Is everyone ready?” Mia asked loudly, raising her voice to a level she knew no one would be able to ignore. Even the former airport employees took note then, looking up from the game of cards they had been playing. No one answered though, the question seeming mostly rhetorical. Mia looked back over her shoulder at Jorge who shrugged slightly, gesturing for her to continue.
“It’s time to go,” she continued, keeping her voice steady and her tone firm. Mia wasn’t in the mood to deal with nonsense or disagreements. She’d spoken to the group once before and they had all agreed they wanted to join her and Jorge on their journey. If anyone had changed their mind now, then that was fine, and she wasn’t going to try and persuade them otherwise. “Gather your things and follow me.”
Mia didn’t look back over her shoulder to find out if people were following her or not. She just started walking, heading for the exit and securing her rucksack firmly over her shoulders while pulling a thick scarf up over her nose and mouth. For a few seconds, all she heard was the sound of her own two feet and breathing, but then bodies started to move behind her. They were coming. Finally, she was leading her team out into the aftermath of the disaster.
After only ten minutes of walking, they had all been reminded of exactly how serious things were.
Chapter 2
“What’s in this one?”
Riley held another old photo album up to her grandma, enjoying going through all the old books they had uncovered in the spare back bedroom. She’d found old report cards for her and Chase when they were younger, drawings they had scribbled when they were barely able to hold a crayon and pictures from their early days. The one she held in her hand now looked more recent, an absence of tattered edges and layers of dust signifying it hadn’t been shelved for more than a couple of years.
“Give it here,” Linda smiled, enjoying the time she was sharing with her granddaughter. “Let me have a look.”
It was peaceful to have some time not thinking about what was going on outside, even though it was always at the back of everyone’s minds. That was the whole reason they were sorting out the back bedroom, really. The hole in the roof above Riley’s room was growing bigger and bigger and so they had decided to move her out of there until Chase could fix the roof. The move had been quite distracting though, and instead of organizing and clearing things away like they were supposed to, Riley and Linda found themselves sitting back on their heels as they reminisced about times gone by.
“This is the most recent album I think,” Linda spoke softly, flicking through a few pages and seeing photographs taken no more than two years ago. “It’s got ones from that trip we all took to Cancun.”
“Ooh, let me see!” Riley exclaimed, reaching forward and taking the album from her grandmother. What she hadn’t expected to see in her excitement was a picture of her dead parents staring back at her. They looked exactly like she remembered them, the vacation only a few months before they died. In an instant all the excitement faded from her and Riley was trapped in the memory of what she had lost.
It felt like only a matter of days since she had been running around the pool with her mom and dad at that hotel they’d stayed at. It had been such an incredible trip; Grandma and Grandpop had come too, along with Mia of course. Together, the seven of them had spent nine wonderful days playing games in the sun, swimming and diving in the sea, and exploring the local area. None of them would have even considered that it’d be the last trip they made, Riley’s parents’ lives ending just a few short months later.
Thinking back to all the memories she had shared with them, Riley winced again as she remembered how she had refused to say goodbye to her mom before she left. It was her biggest regret in life and one she would never forget. But she also knew she had thousands of happy memories she should focus on instead. There were the swim meets they had always attended, cheering her on from the crowd. The barbeques they’d hosted in the summer, all their friends and neighbors gathering in their backyard and celebrating the Fourth of July like it was meant to be done.
Then there were the quieter moments, the ones that Riley realized she treasured the most. The times when it was just the four of them, no one else around and no other distractions. Just Riley, Chase, and their parents—a proper family—like they were supposed to be.
“Please, Mom,” Riley begged, holding on to her mother’s arm with both hands and trying to drag the woman back. “Please can we go in?”
“No, come on, Riley,” Lauren sighed, “you’ve already done enough today. It’s time to go home.”
“Aw please,” Riley whined. “It won’t take long.”
“What does she want to do now?” Brogan laughed as he and Chase approached, their giant sticks of cotton candy finally disposed of. “The hall of mirrors, eh?”
“Can we, Dad?” Riley turned her attention to her father, hoping to have more luck with him. “It’s the only thing we haven’t seen.”
“The only thing?!” Brogan put a hand over his mouth in pretend shock, making Riley giggle. “At the rate you’ve been dragging us around this park, I can definitely believe that.”
“So we can go in?”
“All right,” Brogan smiled. “Let’s make it quick though. Your mom is right; we should be getting home soon. There’s school in the morning, remember.”
“Yay!” Riley exclaimed, ignoring the latter part of what her dad had said. It was the final day of summer and she was determined to enjoy it to the fullest. The day had been perfect so far. The last day of the traveling circus had finally come around and she had been determined to do every ride and every experience just one more time. Even though they’d been twice already over the summer, there was nothing like the very last ride and she wanted to make it count.
Wandering through the hall of mirrors, Riley giggled at every turn she made. One second she was as tall and skinny as she’d ever been, the next she was short and pudgy. She held her arms out by her sides and waved them around, watching as her reflection danced with her in the luminescent lighting. The day was nearly over now, so the hall was empty apart from her family: the four of them moving around until they stood side-by-side in the floor-to-ceiling mirror that occupied one wall of the attraction.
Riley stood next to her mother, with Chase on her other side and her dad at the other end. Their faces and bodies were all distorted, not helped by how her parents were pulling silly faces and wriggling around to distort themselves even further. Looking at the reflection, Riley felt a huge smile creeping across her face. It didn’t matter what they looked like, whether they were fat or thin, tall or short—they would always be a family. The smile on her face only grew as her mom reached down and held her hand again, encouraging Riley to wriggle and dance around as she was. Bursting into laughter, she couldn’t help but join in. The summer might technically be over, but all the memories of it would last for a lifetime.
“That was a good summer,” Riley smiled as she blinked and looked at the photo album again, her eyes slightly clouded over with unshed tears. “I really liked that vacation.”
“Me too,” Linda shuffled closer, wrapping an arm around her granddaughter’s shoulder. “Me too.”
The two of them sat on the floor in silence for a few minutes, the photo album still open on Riley’s lap, with the picture of Brogan and Lauren staring up at them. Many more thoughts and memories about her parents swam through Riley’s head, while Linda remembered her son as she always tried to. He had been an incredible man, strong, resilient, determined, and loving. Everything he had taught both Riley and Chase had stuck with them and she saw it more and more every day—especially in Chase. The teenager was beginning to look like Brogan had when he was the same age, something that Linda both adored and suffered through. She would never ask her grandson to change, but sometimes the likeness was so uncanny it was like she was talking to her own son once more.
“What are you guys doing?”
The very person Linda had been thinking about appeared
in the doorway at that moment, Chase leaning against the wooden frame and raising his eyebrows at his sister and grandmother who still sat on the floor. He folded his arms and cocked his head at a certain angle in exactly the same way that Brogan had always done, so that Linda couldn’t help herself, the words slipping from her mouth before she had time to process them.
“You look just like your father you know, my dear,” she spoke quietly, barely above a whisper. “We were just looking back through some memories.”
Chase didn’t know what to say for a second, looking to Riley for support, who could only sniff and nod slightly. Again, it struck Chase so much to hear that he looked like his father. It wasn’t something he necessarily saw when he looked in the mirror himself, but in photographs he could see the resemblance. The work around the farmhouse was hard and thinking about the effects of the volcanic eruption was taxing his mind too. Sitting down next to his grandma, Chase figured it couldn’t do too much harm to take a few moments and join them in reminiscing.
“Ah, Cancun!” He smiled as he noticed the first picture, awestruck by how happy his parents looked. The sun was setting in the photo behind them as they stood on the beach, the reflection of the sunlight dancing off the water and creating such bright and magical colors. “That was a good trip.”
“I know,” Riley agreed. “What else is in this one, Grandma?”
Taking the photo album in her hands, Linda turned through the pages herself, pausing on certain ones which evoked particular memories or feelings. After a few seconds and several page turns, Chase put out his hand to stop her, focusing on one picture in particular.
“Wow,” he whispered in awe. “I’d completely forgotten about this day. I didn’t even know this picture was taken.”
On the page in front of the three of them there was a picture of Chase, Riley and their mom—Brogan clearly the one behind the camera that day. The three of them were seated around a campfire in their backyard, the light in the center of the image causing their bodies and faces to appear as little more than silhouettes. In their hands you could just vaguely make out the sticks on which they were toasting S’mores, the thought of them making Chase’s mouth water as he remembered the day.
“Hey, Mom,” Chase asked with a cheeky grin on his face. “Look what I just found in the back of the kitchen cupboard.”
At fourteen, Chase knew exactly what he was doing. He’d known the marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers had been there for weeks and had just been waiting until his parents were in a good mood in order to ask for them. It was a Friday night and they had just finished dinner. Their schoolwork could wait until later in the weekend—Chase’s sweet tooth was acting up and he couldn’t wait any longer.
“Hmm.” Lauren smiled at her son, shaking her head slightly as he held up the treats in his hands. “What do you propose we do with them?”
“Only one thing we can do, really.” Chase shrugged cheerfully, leaning back slightly and inhaling to fill his lungs before he opened his mouth to shout. “We’re making S’mores!”
Within seconds, Riley was beside him in the kitchen, the promise of a chocolatey treat capturing her full attention. Their dad was there only a few seconds later too, Brogan also unable to deny the allure of a toasty S’more.
“S’mores?” Riley questioned excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. “Can we make them outside?”
“Why not?” Lauren laughed, a smile spreading across her face as she saw not only how excited her two children were at the promise of the campfire treats, but her husband too. Sometimes Brogan was just as much of a kid as Chase and Riley were. It was one of the things that she adored so much about him. No matter what the situation, he could always find a positive spin to put on things and never let anything bring his mood down for too long.
“Yes!” Chase grinned and threw the bag of marshmallows up in the air in celebration, catching them again as they fell back down. “Thanks, Mom!”
Not wasting a second, they all rushed outside to get the campfire started, none of them realizing just quite how long it would take. The sun had completely set by the time it was burning enough for the S’mores and they all huddled around the small fire for warmth, the October air sending a chill through their bones.
It was a memory that Chase adored—even if it had been one that was previously forgotten about. He loved how spontaneous his parents had been. Not that making S’mores on a Friday night was particularly wild, but they were always up for doing fun things like that and going on adventures at the drop of a hat. That was something he really missed. Of course, he knew that his grandparents weren’t at that stage of their life anymore and Mia did her best when she was around—though she was often working. But it wasn’t necessarily the adventures or the spontaneity of it all; it was doing things with his parents. Whether big or small, he just missed being able to spend time with them.
“It’s a nice picture,” Linda smiled, understanding that both her grandchildren would be experiencing a whirlwind of emotions because of the photos in front of them. “You know your parents loved you both very much, right?”
Neither Chase nor Riley replied in words, both merely nuzzling closer to their grandma in their seated, three-way hug. It was a nice moment and they didn’t want to spoil it. Everyone knew how much Brogan and Lauren had loved them and how much Riley and Chase, and Linda and Jerry had loved them back in return. When the pair of them died, they left a hole in all of their hearts that would never be filled or forgotten. And as the three of them remembered those they had lost, all their worries and fears about the eruption escaped their minds and for just a brief moment, they shared a feeling of peace.
Chapter 3
The scenery that surrounded the airport was horrifying. Evidence of the lahars that had swept through the building were everywhere, the once well-kept lawns and organized bushes that lined the parking lot that Mia’s group walked through destroyed and cast aside. The air was also thick and difficult to breathe. All of them wore scarves or some sort of fabric over their mouths to filter it somehow, but Mia was certain particles would still make it into their lungs. It was impossible to avoid this close to the eruption site; the air wouldn’t be clean for thousands of miles.
Even with the breathing difficulties, there was something that made their situation much, much worse. Bodies were everywhere. Bodies of people they had known.
Mia winced at everyone she saw, whether she recognized the faces or not. The sky was still dark and murky overhead, the ash cloud hovering above them like a constant reminder of what had happened. Even in the dim light, it wasn’t difficult to identify the bodies.
A gut-wrenching cry came from behind Mia as the group reached the end of the airport base. It filled her ears and punctured her heart, raw emotion filling the body of whomever it had come from. Mia didn’t need to turn around to guess who. They had all been silent as they walked and for one main reason, no one wanted to discuss or display how everything was making them feel. But for one man that was now impossible. Finally turning around, Mia saw Patrick kneeling on the ground, his body hunched over as he clutched at his dead wife’s clothing and sobbed into it.
His whole body shook with emotion. Clearly, he had known she was dead, but to see her body was an even worse fate. Allie stood next to her crying father, her body frozen and her eyes glazed over as she stared at her mother. Unable to let the scene play out any longer, Mia walked back a few paces so she was beside Allie and gently steered the young girl away from her mother’s body. She didn’t need to remember her like that. Mia firmly believed your final memories of your loved ones should be of them full of life, smiling and happy. Not crumpled up in the mud with the stench of death clinging to them like an unwelcome visitor.
That was something she regretted about how she remembered her brother and Lauren. Fifteen months ago, Mia had been the one to identify their bodies after the crash. It was, without a doubt, the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. Their bodies were mangled and
out of shape, their faces torn apart by the force of the impact in a way that Brogan had been almost unrecognizable. He wasn’t, though. Neither of them were distorted beyond recognition. They could’ve been even worse off and Mia would have still known it was them. Now, whenever she remembered Brogan and Lauren, that image always crept into her head in one way or another. Still, she was glad it had been her instead of her parents or—heaven forbid—Chase and Riley. It was a burden she was willing to bear for her family and one that she would take to her own grave one day.
Allie didn’t need that burden, though. Patrick had a right to look and to grieve, and Mia wasn’t going to try and take that away from him. But Allie was too young for that. She was too young for all of it. Her childhood was undoubtedly ruined already, perhaps even her whole life, considering what she had lost. The very least that Mia could try and do was preserve the memory of her mother for her. In however many years’ time, when all was said and done and Yellowstone was hopefully in the past, the image of her dead mother was not one that Allie should have to see every time she closed her eyes.
There was a respectful silence among the group as they waited for Patrick. They hadn’t made it far and Mia knew they had to keep going if they wanted to reach their first destination before nightfall, but even she wasn’t willing to rush him. He stopped crying eventually, wiping a dirty sleeve across his face to absorb the tears that streaked it. Then he straightened his body slightly and did the same to his wife, positioning her in a manner that made it look like she was sleeping, like she hadn’t been dragged out of a building by violent and acidic lahars. He closed her eyes for her too, so she was completely at rest. And, finally, he leaned in closer and kissed her on the forehead before standing up and walking away, refusing to look back.
Patrick offered Mia a weak smile as he approached, doing his best to keep himself together now that he had said his goodbyes. He reached down and picked up Allie, hoisting her body up in his arms while she wrapped her legs around his waist. From the sight of it, it didn’t look like something they often did, but Patrick clearly wanted to be close to his daughter. The widowed man then continued walking in the correct direction, whispering quietly in his daughter’s ear.
