Chapter Thirty-Five Luke
Chapter Thirty-Five
Luke
The rain is coming down in sheets, and I’m soaked by the time I reach my truck. I told my roommate to let the organizers know I’d be gone, but not why. I couldn’t repeat the words Abbi had said through the phone when I called her after listening to Sera’s voicemail.
“We’re in Boston. Sera’s fighting, but…I think you should come.”
It’s a Sunday, so the traffic on Route 6 is frustratingly thick.
I sit in the cab of my truck with the rain pounding overhead like the sky is dumping the whole ocean on us.
I inch along with the other cars over the Sagamore.
Finally we pick up speed as two lanes become three and people spill off until it’s just me and the other idiots on Route 3 to Boston.
I remember the drive we took earlier this month to the doctor. The smell of the hospital waiting room. The moment I caught Sera sitting in a pool of light at the museum. The way she glowed around the edges. I can’t imagine her light going out. I can’t imagine living without her.
A car speeds onto the highway and cuts in front of me.
I press on the brakes and slow down to avoid it, honking as long and loud as I can like I’m letting out a scream of rage.
The driver doesn’t even have their lights on.
My frantic heart calms as the car speeds away.
I move out of the lane, not wanting to be behind them, and I slow to five miles under the speed limit.
“I’m coming, Sera. I’m coming. Just hold on for me.”
There’s less traffic moving toward the bright blob of light that is Boston.
Through the rain, still unyielding, my wipers on high, my body tense.
I flex my fingers against the wheel and crack my neck.
I feel my heartbeat and imagine Sera’s breath on my ear with every pump of blood.
Twenty minutes and I’ll be there. I know she’ll wait for me.
There’s a crack of thunder as a flash of lightning hits a building to my left.
It lights up the sky, sending sparks into the rain.
I spare it a glance, immediately thinking I’ll have to draw it for Sera, to show her the way the fire briefly touched each drop, like a nebula, spinning new stars into existence. I feel flooded with purpose.
It’s Sera I’m thinking about when there’s another flash right beside the road. It’s so close I have to squint as it fills the car with light.