Chapter 39 #3
Then again, what madness might someone be drawn to if they are subjected to another’s obsession for so long?
Amos had been on his mission to win Lilly’s heart for…
years? Auggie had said that AMOR had been playing the same song all day long for twelve hours for as long as he could remember. Lilly had obviously snapped.
The howling wind, rumbling thunder, and flashes of lightning led me to believe that if there was ever a day to snap, Lilly had chosen wisely.
“LILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY!”
I looked back over to Amos, perched precariously upon the bridge’s railing, as he howled a final time.
The thunder stopped. The sky darkened. The wind drew in a breath.
And everything went silent. It seemed as if the town was taking a collective breath, holding it in anticipation as we watched Amos teeter on the rail of Lovelorn Pass Bridge.
Then he jumped.
Dropping like a stone, Amos went over the rail like a spike, his body turning to send him plunging head first into the water below in Susurrus Creek.
Levi Lee took off in a sprint as the sky roared again and a flash of lightning turned the town a blinding white.
I started to take off after Levi Lee, intending to help him fish Amos out of the creek, but Starbuck grabbed my arm, holding me back, just as the sky let loose.
Rain dropped in buckets from above, stinging my eyes and obscuring my vision as Starbuck kept me from running to the creek. I jerked my arm in his grasp, but he grabbed ahold of my other arm with his free hand and turned me gently to face him.
“Go home, matey!” he declared loudly, fighting against the sound of the storm. “I’ll help ‘im out!”
Then he let go of me and raced towards the creek.
I watched him disappear into the sheets of rain.
At first, I thought I should chase after him.
Ignore his command. However, how many men would it take to fish Amos out of the creek?
I would only be a hindrance to their efforts.
Levi Lee alone could probably get the job done without anyone else’s help.
Other than art, he had proved perfectly capable at any task set out before him.
I don’t know how long I stood there, the rain soaking me to my bones, looking off towards the creek, which I could barely see through the rain.
Finally, however, I spun around and raced away, running as fast as my feet would take me towards home.
Water splashed up, over, and into my shoes as I dashed along the streets, my hair like a drape over my forehead that I had to push out of my eyes with the back of my hand.
The street was flooding by Bend of the Road Graveyard when I approached, and I wondered if that would create a problem for the bodies buried there.
Shaking away the thought, I continued on my way, racing through the deluge, the water sucking and pulling at my sneakers as I came out the other side.
The last fifty yards to home were miserable, my legs wanting to give out from underneath me as I tried to spot the house through the torrent of rain.
Luckily, the rust-red roof stood out like a beacon, so I knew I was nearly free.
The front yard at home was already becoming a swamp as I sloshed and stomped through it, racing for the steps, but I didn’t let it deter me.
I raced through the yard and up the front steps, reaching for the door handle.
I whipped the front screen, then the door open, and ducked inside, quickly turning to close the screen and door tightly behind me.
For some reason, I flipped the lock, as though trapping the storm—and everything else—outside.
Jack was sitting at the kitchen table, working on a crossword.
When I entered the house like a whirlwind, his head snapped up to look at me.
I stood just inside, dripping on the floor, looking like a rat that had lost a fight with a washing machine.
For a few silent moments, he looked me over, obviously wondering why I had been caught in the rain. Finally, he signed:
Dry clothes. I’ll make soup.
“All right,” I said.
Trudging across the kitchen, defeated, tired, cold, feeling hopeless, and bothered by the interaction between Amos and Lilly for reasons I couldn’t understand, I made my way to the stairs.
When I passed by Jack, he stood from his chair and nudged my arm.
I turned to look at him and he gave me a small smile, then reached up and tapped his hand against my cheek softly.
I didn’t know what that meant to him. Or if it meant anything in sign language, but I got the gist.
Before I knew it was how I’d react, I felt myself slump against Jack and my arms went around his middle. I was so…empty.
He didn’t react right away, frozen by the suddenness of my strange reaction, but finally, I felt Jack’s arms go around me.
As he held me to him, patting my back to soothe me, it was possible that tears fell from my eyes onto his shoulder.
It could have been rain. Jack was getting wet either way.
But I knew that rain wasn’t what made my vision blurry.