From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone (22 page)

Chapter 4

It was a long time later that Uncle Paul tucked David into bed. He’d not been able to eat a thing even though there was lots of food, from lasagna to chicken, sandwiches, even cookies. Everyone who walked through the door had brought food with them. But only a few ate, picking at what was there. Even the chocolate chip cookie, David hadn’t been able to choke down. And they were his favorite.

Uncle Paul turned on David’s night light in the corner and closed his door. Mom had said nothing, but cried off and on. And that was when she wasn’t on the phone with someone from the airlines. Well that’s what Uncle Paul said anyway. David tried only once to talk to his mom, but Aunt Betty had scooted David away and back to his Uncle Paul. And the only thing David could think, is his own mother didn’t want him around, and that’s what hurt more than anything. His dad held this family together. Mom kept the house running, but Dad was the heart and soul and fun and when they were all together, it was better than perfect. And all David wanted was to have that again. Mom was no good without Dad. And when mom had gone away for a week last year with her sisters on a cruise, the house fell apart. Dad couldn’t cook at all, he’d even burnt the soup; so after that kitchen disaster, David and his dad ate out. But nothing got done, from the dishes to the laundry. And by the time his mom returned, David had nothing clean left to wear. And the kitchen was the worst, not a clean spot could be found on the counter. Papers piled by the door so David couldn’t even find his running shoes. But his dad had called a cleaning lady hours before his mom was to come home, and thankfully she’d cleaned up most of the mess. But somehow Mom knew. And it was a month before Mom stopped mentioning to Dad every night how he destroyed the house and couldn’t get by without her.

But the fact was, David needed both this parents. And right now, he had neither.

He had no idea how long he lay there before drifting off. But the next thing he knew, he was in a dark place, cold and damp. There were pieces of metal, smoke and a feeling of loss. He could see the front end of an airplane. A bonfire was burning beside it. People were crowded around it. David was shouting but nothing would come out of his mouth. He called his dad, over and over, in his head. But there was no answer. And then he saw him, sitting on a metal box with a dirty cloth wrapped around his head. His coat torn, gazing into the fire with a look David had never seen before, as a single tear fell down his grimy cheek.

Chapter 5

Water was dripping on his face. Bruce Hines blinked a few times, trying to vanquish the fog in his brain. He couldn’t remember where he was, or what he was doing lying on his back in a forest, staring at a thick heavy green tree. There was no sun, just thick clouds overhead creating a very gray dismal day as a sprinkling of showers fell around him. He couldn’t feel anything, but he was shivering where he lay on the hard ground. He could hear an awful racket in the distance, like an engine, and crying. But who the heck was crying? He could feel movement all around him, although no one said anything to him. So he just lay there in this wet forest on his back until slowly he remembered it was Christmas, and he was supposed to be going home. But why was he here? He blinked but nothing happened until he tried to sit up and that’s when a sharp pain shot through his side. He yelled and then touched his head feeling something warm and wet running down his face. He pulled his hand away and gazed at something red and slimy covering his hand, and it took him a moment to realize it was blood. It was then he looked around at the smoke, the fog, steam and twisted metal. Seats from the airbus were scattered in the brush. Trees surrounded him. A man touched his shoulder and said, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Bruce nodded, “What happened?”

“The plane crashed.” The man was wearing a gray wool sweater that was torn and covered with blood and grime. He helped Bruce to his feet. “Your head’s bleeding, here hold this.” The man pressed a piece of cloth to the cut. And then put Bruce’s hand over it. At least now the blood wasn’t dripping in his face. The man tied a scarf around his head to hold it in place.

“Can you help me?” the man asked. “There are a lot of hurt people.”

Bruce glanced around at the surreality and what looked like a war zone. He nodded and finally found his voice. “Yeah, sure I’ll help.”

****

The sun was streaming in the window when David woke. He could hear voices in the kitchen as he rolled out of his twin size bed. He pulled open his bedroom door and stayed close to the wall. And that’s when he saw his mother sitting at the table, still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Uncle Paul was there as well. But no one else. David wondered if everyone stayed over, and when he peeked into the living room he saw Uncle Mike asleep on the couch with a knitted blanket draped over him.

It was Uncle Paul, not Mom, who held out his arms to David and said, “You’re awake. Did you have a good sleep?”

It was awkward walking past Mom who stared with big eyes that were red rimmed and puffy. She looked so tired, and appeared ghostlike. She rubbed her neck with her hand, and then pushed away from the table without a word to him. So of course the jagged lump in David’s throat throbbed worse than a toothache. And of course the only thing David could think is she didn’t like him, and that hurt too. He cried inside, his heart breaking as his little voice screamed in his head.
Why couldn’t she hug me, and tell me it was going to be okay?

Uncle Paul pulled David on his knee and hugged him. But David couldn’t hug him back because it felt as if his guts had been yanked out and he’d lost his family overnight. “Why doesn’t Mom love me?”

David didn’t realize he’d said it out loud until Uncle Paul narrowed his eyes at the empty doorway Mom had slipped through. And then stared back at David with the same tired eyes.

“Don’t be too hard on your mom. She’s not coping well with what’s happened. She’s trying to get through the day. She loves you very much.” Uncle Paul rubbed David’s bed head. “You need a haircut. I could pull out my clippers and take care of it right now.”

“No, I like my hair. Uncle Paul, if I tell you something will you think I’m weird.”

He stared at David and quirked his lips in slight smile. “You know you can tell me anything and I won’t think you’re weird.”

“I had a dream last night and I saw Dad.” David held his breath waiting for his Uncle to say something. But he didn’t. He stared at David with wide eyes, and that’s when David felt stupid for saying anything. So he looked down and slid off his lap.

Uncle Paul stood up and peeked down the hall. And then strode across the kitchen and yanked open a cupboard door. “Do you want some cereal?”

David just shrugged his shoulders. When you were under four feet and still a kid there was one thing that was truly annoying, and that was how adults ignored what you said as if it was of no importance. At least he didn’t say what his mom always said:
Oh that’s just your imagination
. Uncle Paul placed two bowls on the table along with a box of corn flakes and then rummaged in the fridge for milk. He poured David’s cereal and a bowl for himself, and it was when he dug into his cereal that he asked in a quiet voice, “I’d like to hear more about your dream.”

And that’s when David really looked at him. He was serious.

Chapter 6

“He was sitting around a fire. He was dirty, his coat was ripped, and he had this dirty cloth wrapped around his head. Dad looked so tired. You think I’m making this up don’t you?”

Uncle Paul leaned closer when David shoved a spoon into his cereal. “No, David, I don’t. What I think is you saw your dad in your dream. It’s a gift.”

When David gazed up at his Uncle Paul his ears were doing that buzzing thing when something weird was happening. And it took David a moment to realize, Uncle Paul wasn’t just messing with him. He really did believe him, and David wanted to shout out loud that hey there are adults that listen.

Paul must have known because he reached out and touched his arm to stop him from shouting out that he saw his dad, and racing down the hall to tell his mom. Even though David was convinced she’d be as excited as him.

“Just settle down, champ. We’re going to keep this between you and me for now. Because not all adults will get this connection between you and your dad. It’ll scare some adults and some will think you’re making it up, or lying. And that’s only because they’re not believers. They’re stuck too much in the physical world, and unless they can see it physically, it’s not real. And dreams are just that to many people, just dreams.”

David looked at Uncle Paul with a heavy heart because he knew this would help Mom feel better. If she knew Dad was okay—he was alive. Because even though Uncle Paul said she loved him, right now David didn’t believe it.

“Tell me again what you saw?” He kept his voice low when he asked.

“Dad was sitting on something, he was dirty and had something wrapped around his head. He looked tired and upset, like the time when Grandpa died.”

“Well what about where they are? Tell me what you saw around him. Anything familiar?”

David squinted his eyes and tried to think. “He was outside. There were lots of trees. There was a campfire. Other people sitting around it. It was a forest.”

“Did you see water, anything unusual, like big rocks or colors. Anything?”

David squinted as he didn’t understand what his uncle wanted, but a forest was a forest; they all looked the same to him. And he felt as if he was letting his uncle down. “Well maybe…”

“Don’t guess, only tell me what you saw.” David glanced up as his mom walked in and stopped.

“Did the phone ring, did you hear anything?” She was wearing her pink pajamas, the two-piece ones she wore only in the winter.

“No, nothing Gloria. I was just having some breakfast with David.” Uncle Paul said nothing about the dream.

Mom went straight to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup. She didn’t even glance at David, but stared straight out the kitchen window.

Uncle Paul ruffled David’s hair when he gazed at his mom and said, “Go get dressed, champ.”

Chapter 7

Bruce couldn’t shake the overwhelming sense of holding his son. When he’d leaned against the luggage and closed his eyes, he’d fallen asleep. But where he went had left him confused when he awoke. It was as if David had been with him in that dream.

It was raining again. And the survivors had managed to get a fire going. But keeping it going took all of them. Well, those of them who could still get around. Which was only a dozen or so. Many hadn’t survived the crash, and they’d dragged the bodies to the other side of the airplane that was split in two. Many were injured and thankfully a stewardess with first aid knowledge had been among the survivors. Those injured were lying close to the fire. Some of the suitcases recovered had been rummaged for any bits of clothing to keep them warm.

Food was scarce. There were only a few packages of nuts and pretzels. Some water bottles survived, along with some juice and pop.

Bruce expected a rescue team in before now. But still none had shown. So he could only surmise they didn’t know where they were. He knew they were somewhere in Montana… or maybe it was Idaho. But if he was right, and the emergency locator was working why hadn’t they heard any planes or helicopters overhead? So that left one big problem: The locator box had either been damaged in the crash or wasn’t turned on. And it was a tall brown-haired lady in her forties, named Sally, who knew where to look. She went to the panel and showed the few of them still walking where it was. The switch was on, so the only thing to do was wait. Fortunately for them, she had some survival training.

Jack and Ed were two college students flying home to Seattle to see their family. And both wanted to set out on foot to get help.

Sally never raised her voice when she said, “Stay by the aircraft. They’ll find us. If you leave they may never find you. This is a wilderness. You’re young, but you can only go so long without water and food. And you’ll most likely succumb to the elements.”

“What if they don’t find us?!” It was Ed who shouted, but Jack flanked him. Two gangly young men operating on pure emotion.

Bruce didn’t have the energy to fight. And he was thankful when Adam, the man who’d wrapped his head and was helping all the injured, stepped up. He was a big guy and someone who easily took the lead. A man not that old, probably closer to Bruce’s age of 35. Bruce recognized the young male arrogance in Jack and Ed, and where patience had yet to be learned.

“Hey, we don’t need this right now. Everyone sits tight here. They will find us. You two, I know you’re scared. But running off half-cocked because you don’t know what else to do is only going to put you in a worse situation, one that could get you killed. Neither of you are dressed for a trek through the wilderness. And don’t let this weather fool you. Where we are we could have a ton of snow dumped on us by morning. If it’s raining, it’s still warm enough we won’t freeze. And we need everyone to help. To find wood for the fire, and food we need now. Water, too.” Adam stumbled a bit and then pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

“Adam, sit down, before you fall down.” Bruce stood up and grabbed Adam’s arm. “Look, you need some rest. The rest of us can look after things for a bit. You’ve been pulling everyone together.” Bruce was so exhausted he ached deep inside, every muscle right through to his bones. And he was cold. Everything he had on was damp. And he was hungry, thirsty, just like everyone else. And he hadn’t been pulling his weight. He’d sat in shock for hours.

Adam rested his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Thank you Bruce, but we need to get every able body now doing something. It’s going to be night soon, and we can’t go on without water.”

Sally strode over, her tangled brown hair drooped in her eyes. She pushed it back with a shaky hand and tried to tuck it behind her ears. “Adam is right. We need water. I can go with one other person to search. We won’t go far, but we need to find a stream, something, as there’s nothing left.”

“I’ll go with Sally.” Bruce wasn’t an outdoorsy guy by any means. He’d grown up in Seattle, lived there his entire life. Camping was done only at those campgrounds that offered every amenity, including showers, flush toilets, and even swimming pools. He’d never even gone on a hike in the woods. Sally glanced at the loafers on Bruce’s feet, and the suit pants he wore. At least he had a somewhat decent jacket, fleece lined with a red shell that was waterproof.

“Well, let’s find something to bring water back in.” She turned away and strode back to the front part of the aircraft, wedged in the thicket of trees. She gazed back at him, and where he stood frozen as if he didn’t know if he should follow or not. “Come on, Bruce. Daylight’s wasting.”

“Sure.” He said, as he stumbled over a suitcase and walked to where Sally now rummaged.