Chapter 35 The Present
THE PRESENT
AMELIA
The sky twisted into an ominous beast of inky black, like molten tar churning above us. Heavy clouds writhed with malevolent energy, their undersides illuminated by streaks of pale lightning.
A distant roll of thunder rumbled through the air, vibrating my bones and dredging up the memory of our last kayaking trip. How the wind had snatched at our paddles and sent shivers crawling down my spine.
Now, as I stared up at the furious heavens, cold dread pooled in my gut.
At last, we crested the ridge and dropped into the flatlands, where pines stood as lonely sentinels amid scattered aspens, their pale bark flickering in the dying light.
A narrow stream cut through the meadow.
“Caiden, I think it’s going to rain,” I murmured, tension tightening my chest.
He didn’t pause. His boots crunched against the rocky soil as he kept walking. “No shit, Sherlock,” he snapped, sarcasm laced in every syllable.
I wanted to throttle him, but I was too spent for violence. The fatigue in my bones was so deep it felt geological, as if I’d always been made of salt and dust and regret, and every step I took was just the world grinding me down a little more.
We trudged onward, the ache in my calves and soles eclipsed only by the war in my head.
The wind picked up, flinging needles of rain against my face, each drop a cold slap that made my vision blur and double.
My hands were numb. My lips had gone blue. I might have been dying, but it was a slow, boring death.
I thought about Lillian, about how she’d always hated storms. The electric charge in the air would make her hair stand on end, and she’d clap her hands over her ears at the first rumble of thunder.
I wondered if she’d made it to the other side, wherever that was, and if she would be waiting to laugh at me when I finally gave up and crossed over myself. I wondered if she’d forgive me, or if she’d just look at me with that same disappointed silence she’d mastered in life.
We barely made it a quarter mile before the first drops fell, a light drizzle.
I hunched my shoulders and kept walking, every step a sullen admission of defeat, a surrender to the fact that the universe always had one more humiliation up its sleeve.
“Great leadership,” I muttered, the words barely audible above the roar of rain. “March us right into a fucking cloudburst. I’m sure that’ll get us rescued real quick.”
He fired back without turning, his voice slicing through the storm. “Next time, I’ll schedule the weather just for you. Maybe get you a golden umbrella to match the attitude.”
I wanted to scream, to pick up a rock and split his skull, but the only thing that came out was a bark of laughter.
It surprised us both. The sound was so raw, so unlike me that I clapped my hand over my mouth and nearly bit through my tongue.
He stopped dead in his tracks. “What,” he demanded, “is so goddamn funny right now?”
“I don’t know,” I said, choking on a fresh wave of giggles.
The hysteria came fast, brittle, shattering the numbness that had been calcifying inside me.
“It’s just you. Me. This. We’re in the middle of nowhere.
We’re going to die out here, and you’re still that kid who thinks he’s some kind of messiah. It’s pathetic. We’re pathetic.”
He stared at me, rain streaming down the planes of his face, then sloshed through the muck toward the nearest copse of trees.
“We need shelter,” he muttered, his hand already peeling wet branches aside. “Unless you want to sleep standing up.”
I rolled my eyes and glanced skyward, where the clouds swirled faster now, black veins spreading outward.
A sour gust raced past, wrapping us in its icy grip, and the murmuring breeze sank into a savage howl that echoed between the trunks.
A thunderclap shattered the woods, louder than any beast’s roar, and the ground shivered beneath our feet.
My heart lurched. Gooseflesh prickled my arms. “That doesn’t sound good,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around my ribs.
Caiden’s voice was strained. “We might have to wait it out.”
“Where?” I protested. “There’s nowhere to hide under these trees, storm’s right on top of us.” Every instinct screamed that we were trapped, like prey pinned in the jaws of a predator.
He shot me a glance of anger “I never said we’d find perfect shelter. We just can’t stray from our path. We’re going to get drenched.”
My stomach sank. Back home, I’d curl under my comforter with a mug of tea, let the rain lull me to sleep.
Here, there was no refuge. Just this wild fury waiting to tear through us.
A cold drop struck my cheek. Then another. And another—tiny, stinging beads that blossomed into a full-blown downpour.
Caiden’s eyes widened. “Move!” His voice cracked the roar of wind and rain.
He plunged forward between the trunks, and I lunged after him, legs slick with mud. Rain plastered my hair to my face, drumming on my shoulders like a thousand impatient fingers.
The world became a blur of trembling branches and swirling leaves. Each footstep sank into soft earth, and I fought to keep pace.
“Caiden!” I yelled. My voice was swallowed by the storm. “Where—where do we go?”
He pivoted, rain streaking his features, and pointed. “There!” A cluster of thick pines and mature aspens leaned together, their branches interwoven like a cathedral vault. “Under that canopy!”
We scrambled through the storm, branches whipping at our skin, needles and leaves raining down.
Finally, we slammed against the rough bark of the largest pine. I pressed my back to its soaked trunk, the resin’s sharp tang cutting through the damp air.
Caiden collapsed beside me, chest heaving, eyes scanning the tempest.
“Why is this happening?” I gasped, voice trembling. “Why won’t it stop?”
He drew a shuddering breath, rain streaming off his brow. “I don’t know. But panicking won’t help.”
The storm raged on. I felt the anger bubbling up inside me, a response to the helplessness that threatened to consume us both. “You think I’m not trying? I’m doing my best to keep it together, just like you!”
Caiden scoffed, his hair whipping around his face like a wild animal from the harsh wind. His voice bellowed over the intensity of the downpour. “No. I don’t think you are trying. All you’ve done since we have been out here is complain. I’m sick of it!”
I stood my ground amidst the storm. “Yeah? News flash buddy, I never wanted to be stuck out here with you. Of course I’m going to complain, I’m trapped in the wilderness with the person I hate the most. I’m probably going to die out here with you. I have every right to be negative!”
The ferocity of my anger whirled as harshly as the storm, engraving a sense of adrenaline within me. It rained furiously, as if a vengeful deity was unleashing its fury upon us.
Darkness fell, a reflection of the turmoil that echoed within us, as the sky devoured the last silvers of light.
“I’m so sick of your damn victim mindset.” His words were raw with frustration, screaming alongside the howling wind.
“Maybe I wouldn’t have a victim mindset if you hadn’t made my life miserable. I never deserved that, and you are constantly shutting me down anytime I react to how you treated me.”
The sound of my voice rose higher and higher; Caiden and I were clashing into each other amidst the war of the storm. It was poetic in a way.
“You can’t blame me for that. I had no choice! You have no idea what I went through with my father. He practically beat it into me that I had to hate you. I was a terrible person, but we can’t change the past.” His eyes held a darkness that seemed to engulf him, like a poisonous substance.
The darkness drenched me, until I was wrapped with his rage.
In the midst of our screaming, the world was collapsing. The trees were bent so low they looked as if they might uproot. Twigs were swirling around us, as though propelled by an unseen power.
The landscape was shrouded in a ruthless, rain-blurred veil, barely recognizable. Cracks of thunder roared above our heads.
"I can blame you," I said, my voice starting low before rising, "You were the one who tormented me. You had a choice, but you chose to be a monster. Just like your father."
He had a sudden, chilling change of expression.
His face hardening like stone, as if overtaken by a brutal spirit.
“I should have just left you to die by the water after our kayak fell down the waterfall. You have no fucking clue what it was like to be in my shoes. I’ve tried to be nice, but you are insufferable. ”
The harsh words he spoke sliced through me. Suddenly, in his presence, I trembled with fear.
Before I could speak, a jab pierced my neck. A numbing sensation crawled over me, my body succumbing to being motionless. Consciousness began to slip in and out.
The rain appeared to melt. The last thing I saw before my eyelids shut was the image of Caiden running towards me. His lips were moving, and I thought I heard my name.
As I fell to the ground, everything went silent and dark, and it felt as if all of my perceptions had ceased.