Sunlight

by Gwen Cole

  I pulled away and then gave Seth a hug too before stepping away.

  “See you in a month then?” I asked them both.

  “It’s a date.” Ethan gave me a big grin. “Hopefully the house is still there, if not I’ll build us a fort!”

  “It better be a big fort.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course it will be a big fort.”

  I caught Seth’s eye, silently telling him to take care of Ethan. And then they left, walking across the street and into the woods. It was only a month, I reminded myself, and the dangerous of war were gone. We would see them again in the South City. Seth wanted to see Abria again before heading down, and I wasn’t going to stop him.

  West came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He asked, “Ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  West took my hand and led me back to the Bronco. We pulled out of the gas station with an emptiness in the air. I slid across the seat so I could sit next to him, curling under his arm and bringing my feet up onto the seat. We watched the road curve around bends and past fields that seemed never ending, enjoying the time we had together.

  “Are you sure you know how to get back?” I asked. “We never exactly took roads getting there.”

  He laughed a bit and shook his head. “Yes, I do. I made sure I remembered so I could get back to you before you left. I wasn’t going to make a stupid mistake like forgetting the way. But I guess it didn’t matter in the end . . .”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “We’re together now.”

  He answered with a simple kiss, turning away to look at the road.

  I was almost nervous with anticipation for what laid ahead in our path—after my summer vacation of course. It would be a long time before things would be back to the what they once were, even though it would never be the same again. Our old house would feel empty without my parents there, and it was hard for me to think about. I wasn’t sure that my mind had grasped the fact that they were gone forever, and probably wouldn’t until I stepped through our front door again.

  “Will you ever go home again?” I asked quietly.

  He didn’t say anything for a while. I knew Devon was going back, along with everyone else who helped stop this war, to face whatever waited for them there, but promising to come back to help restore what they had destroyed. West, on the other hand, was the one that might be in danger if he went back.

  People would never forget about what he did.

  “I’m not sure,” West finally said. “I would love to see my parents again, and my little sister, but . . . some people over there really hate me. I’m not sure if I’m even able to go back—they may not allow me to.”

  “Maybe time will change their minds.”

  “Maybe,” he said thoughtfully. “I guess we’ll have to see what happens, but if I don’t ever go back . . .” He took his eyes off the road for a moment to look at me, “I don’t think I’ll mind. Wherever we are, it’ll feel like home as long as you’re there.”

  It was amazing how I felt the same way. It was a warm feeling, one you never want to walk away from. Like staying indoors on a cold, snowy day. A feeling of security . . . and rightness.

  We drove until we couldn’t drive anymore, and pulled over on the side of the road with the gravel crunching under the tires. I spread out in the backseat while West took the front, mumbling something about not being short enough. I was barely short enough for my legs to stretch out. Sleepy in cars is never a comfortable idea, even big Broncos.

  This would usually be the point where I say I had a hard time falling asleep. But it wasn’t. It was never hard falling asleep when West was close by, it was as simple as that. I’d never slept so well in the last few weeks than in my entire life.

  My life had changed so much over the last three months just because of one person.

  One day I woke up, thinking my summer would pass by just like all the others before it had. Then when I left our house, alone and unsure what to do, I still didn’t feel any different. Everything around me was different . . . but I wasn’t; I was still the same girl. West had changed me before I knew it, flashing before my eyes without me realizing it.

  We started up the Bronco right as the light was inching over the trees and continued down the empty stretch of road. By early morning, the trees began to thicken and the fields become more sparse. West slowed down and turned onto a dirt driveway, weaving through the woods like a snake for about a mile. Neither of us said a word as the white house came into view through the trees, set in the woods like it belonged there forever.

  He cut the engine. We sat there, listening to our breathing and the birds outside the windows, hiding somewhere in the trees. It felt good to be back where I had spent so long in recovering. It felt like a second home to me, and I couldn’t suppress my happiness. And what was more was that I had West with me, making it seem like it couldn’t get any better than this.

  We climbed out of the Bronco and shut our doors, walking around to the front, staring at the quiet house.

  He put his arms around me, putting his head close to mine. I could smell his sweetness when he was this close to me and I breathed it in, closing my eyes for only a moment to make sure we were really here after everything.

  I still couldn’t believe it.

  “I love you, Reese,” he murmured in my ear. “So effing much.” I smiled because he didn’t use the same word choice. I turned and kissed before he could say another word. When our kiss quickly deepened, he swung me around and pressed me against the Bronco. I could his hips against mine, and it wasn’t enough.

  We stopped and turned when the front door opened, hiding our smiles like nothing happened.

  Carrie paused with one hand on the door as she stopped halfway from coming out. She stared at us with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. I took a step forward, West still holding on to my hand, a smile appearing on my face. She broke into a wide grin and turned her head into the house, “Malcolm, get out here!”

  She met me at the bottom of the steps and gave me a long, tight hug, her hands on my back like she never wanted to let go. Malcolm appeared at the doorway and slowly stepped out just as Carrie had done and paused at the top of the steps.

  “I promised I would come back,” I told him, still being sucked out of air.

  He smiled, nodding. “Yeah, I remember. And I didn’t have any doubts.” He came down and hugged me as Carrie was fussing over West, just like she used to do before he’d left.

  “You’re not bleeding anywhere, are you?” she asked, cocking her head and looking up at him.

  He pretended to think about, rolling his eyes up to the sky. “Not that I know of. But I’ll let you know.”

  “If I catch you bleeding on my floors one more time, you’re gonna hear it.” Then she said, “Come on inside guys, I’ll get you some breakfast.”

  We followed them into the house and filled them in on everything that happened. They took everything in pretty well since the surprising fact that neither of us ended up bleeding to death. Casey—Carrie and Malcolm’s daughter—had come home after the war had ended. It just so happened she was also there for the final battle, right alongside us even though we never knew it. She was home for only a week or two then continued south, to help rebuild the crumpled city. Just as we would be.

  Though we’d just gotten here, I was already eager to go, when it was even against my nature of loving vacations. I silently thought maybe we wouldn’t stay as long as we’d planned.

  “Actually,” Malcolm looked to Carrie before continuing, “we were thinking of leaving too. It’s our country just as much as anyone else’s, and we should be a part of helping out.”

  My eyes lit up as soon as he finished his sentence. “You mean you’ll come with us?”

  He shrugged. “We aren’t doing much here anyway.”

  West gave me a glance and he knew what I was thinking. “That’s good to hear . . . because there may be a wedding in the near future.”

&nbs
p; Their pre-excited, shocked faces were hilarious. I smirked and just gave a nonchalant shrug, only two-seconds before Carrie practically jumped over the table to hug me again. But what I wasn’t expecting was the sadness that was radiating inside of me.

  It was starting to hit me that my parents weren’t going to be there. I felt like crying right then and there, I but I held it in, burrowing it inside for another day when I was alone.

  As I sat back down, with Carrie chatting away, West was looking at me curiously but didn’t say anything. We all discussed prior events until we were all talked out and drifted off in different directions.

  I was put in the same room I had before and West was right down the hall. The day went by at a relaxed pace as we watched another movie and lounged around. After dinner when it was dark, West and I went outside and wandered around until we were standing on top of the small hill, looking down at the pond we once sat under. We flattened ourselves on the grass and stared up at the stars. It was so clear in the country, away from the city and pollution. It seemed to go on forever in all directions.

  “I keep waiting for something bad to happen,” I said. “I always seem to in the best of times.”

  “And something probably will,” he said, and I looked over. “But the only way I’m leaving you again is if somebody drags me away.”

  I knew he was trying to be funny, but I found it hard to laugh. Almost because I felt like anything could happen. But I was really starting to believe that this was the end of our bad streak of horrible events. It seemed unreal but true.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, holding me closer.

  “I think so.”

  “Will you please know so?” he whispered, almost desperately.

  “Yes. It’s just . . . I don’t know. When I’m with you I’m constantly scared of something happening again, probably because it always has. It’s like a habit that won’t ever go away. Our whole relationship started with something happening. And it hasn’t stopped until now, but I haven’t realized that nothing is going happen. It just hasn’t hit me yet.”

  He stayed quiet for a while and I never said anything else. The air had a chill to it again, reminding us fall was almost here.

  “You know what? Even if something does happen, we’ll get through it. If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been through just about everything by now.”

  I shivered involuntarily. “Either way, I hope the feeling will go away soon. I want to feel safe.”

  West pulled me even closer until we were pressed against each other and I laid my head on his chest. “Do you feel safe now?” he murmured into my ear.

  “Yes.” And I really did. His heart was beating under my fingers, strong as it always was.

  “I’ll always keep you safe,” West said. “I promise.”

  We stayed there for the longest time, and even though the air was cold, we never felt it. The night was perfect right now, and nothing could change that. Nothing ever would change that.

  Because no matter what happened during the night, the sun would always come up in the morning.

  Illuminating everything that was once dark.

  The End.

  About The Author

  Gwen Cole

  Gwen Cole is an award-winning author of Cold Summer, Ride On, and Windswept. She grew up in northern New York and after moving to Virginia, she met her husband while playing in a hardcore band. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing Xbox, skiing in the winter, playing softball in the summer, and always watching too much Netflix. She now lives in Richmond, Virginia with her family, always longing for colder winters.

  Books By This Author

  Cold Summer

  Today, he’s a high school dropout with no future.

  Tomorrow, he’s a soldier in World War II.

  Kale Jackson has spent years trying to control his time-traveling ability but hasn't had much luck. One day he lives in 1945, fighting in the war as a sharpshooter and helplessly watching soldiers—friends—die. Then the next day, he’s back in the present, where WWII has bled into his modern life in the form of PTSD, straining his relationship with his father and the few friends he has left. Every day it becomes harder to hide his battle wounds, both physical and mental, from the past.

  When the ex-girl-next-door, Harper, moves back to town, thoughts of what could be if only he had a normal life begin to haunt him. Harper reminds him of the person he was before the PTSD, which helps anchor him to the present. With practice, maybe Kale could remain in the present permanently and never step foot on a battlefield again. Maybe he can have the normal life he craves.

  But then Harper finds Kale’s name in a historical article—and he’s listed as a casualty of the war. Is Kale’s death inevitable? Does this mean that, one of these days, when Kale travels to the past, he may not come back?

  Kale knows now that he must learn to control his time-traveling ability to save himself and his chance at a life with Harper. Otherwise, he’ll be killed in a time where he doesn’t belong by a bullet that was never meant for him.

  Ride On

  In the near post-apocalyptic future, the skies are always gray and people are constantly searching for the sun. For teenage outlaw Seph, it’s the only world he’s ever known. With his horse, his favorite pistol, and his knowledge for survival passed down from his dead father, Seph knows it’s safer to be alone. But after a run-in with a local gang that call themselves the Lawmen, and having been wrongly accused of murder, Seph teams up with Avery—a determined girl whose twin brother has been taken by the same gang.

  After living in a small, rundown town her whole life, Avery knows nothing of the Wild—the lands controlled by nobody where travel is risky. With Seph’s help, they track down her brother but quickly find the tables have turned and they are now the ones being hunted. With rumors of mysterious dangers to the south and a safe sanctuary to the west, they’ve only got one option, but getting there won’t be easy with the Lawmen on their trail. The only thing that matters in the Wild is how fast your trigger hand is, but Seph doesn’t know if his will be fast enough to save them all.

  Windswept

  Every day, Sam endures the same subway ride on her way to school, but when she meets a boy named Reid, suddenly her daily commute isn’t so ordinary. Reid has the ability to teleport—or, drift, as he calls it—and for the first time, Sam has the opportunity to travel anywhere without a passport or plane ticket.

  But as their two worlds come together, Sam discovers her family had been keeping secrets from her, and meeting Reid was just the beginning of unraveling the truth. When drifters begin to disappear, Sam has no choice but to face the threat when she finds out her family is among the missing.

  As Reid and Sam start their search for the missing drifters, help comes from the most unexpected of places. After a significant breakthrough, Reid is taken, and Sam finds herself alone in a world she knows nothing about. With the enemy closing in, she soon realizes she’s the only person who can save them all.