by Lilah Boone
“Actually Alex, I’m just feeling a little worn out today.” She tried to make her voice sound chipper. “New Guy, as you so cleverly called him, is a real champion in the sack.”
Alex’s grin faded. “You’re so full of shit.”
“Okay then. Just thought you’d be interested in hearing about the best time I’ve ever had in my entire life. It was amazing. I can barely function today. I’m not upset in the least. Just can’t stop thinking about that huge…”
“Enough.” Alex put up his hand. “I’m good. Don’t need to hear another word.”
“Fine.” The forced glee left her voice. “Then get back to work and for the love of everything that is holy please shut your mouth. If you don’t I’ll let Jimmy wrap that roll of duct tape around your head and shut it for you.”
Alex glanced behind him, through the open curtain and into the living area where Abby’s uncle was inspecting the sink pipes. Jim tossed a roll of duct tape between his hands and raised an eyebrow. As Alex looked the older man in the eye, Jim twirled the silver tape around his fingers and nodded seriously.
“Great. Just my luck to get stuck in an underground chamber with a couple of crazy Connelly’s. You Irish people should really learn to relax more. Drink some whiskey or eat a potato or something.”
The loud sound of duct tape being pulled from the roll echoed through the bunker making Alex jump. “Okay okay. I’m done. I’ll shut up.”
But he wasn’t done. Alex gestured to Abby to come with him to the far corner of the bunk area. He kept his voice low. “Seriously, just answer a few questions for me.”
Abby sighed heavily. “I’m not going to go in to detail for you Alex. What I do is none of your business.”
He gestured for her to be quiet. “Stop. I’m trying to be your friend here. Sorry I was an ass. I don’t have to like that we’re no longer a couple, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to worry about you. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on between you and the farmer.” His face held genuine concern. “Why are you so upset? Really?”
Abby felt the tension in her muscles relax a little and her shoulders fell. It was then that it all came out. Words gushed from her mouth like a raging river until she was close to tears.
“Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. You knew him in a past life? And you know this because you had a vision – a shared vision? With him?”
Abby nodded sadly. “We were together then and I was so… in love with him.”
Alex looked at the wall in thought. “Huh. This all makes so much more sense now.”
“What are you talking about?”
He almost laughed. “You’ve known each other for like a day but I never had a chance anyway. This thing between you and what’s-his-face is apparently a whole lot bigger than I thought.” His laughter came then. “I thought you were trying to get back at me by screwing around with him.”
“No. I wouldn’t do that.” She stopped, considering the thought. “Well I might, but there’s a lot more than physical attraction at work here.”
“I should hope so.” She glared and he continued. “Seriously Abbs. What’s with those eyebrows? If we make it through to Christmas he’s getting some tweezers in his stocking.”
“Just because you don’t go anywhere without hair product…”
“That’s another thing. He should really do something about that hair. He just lets it lay there on top of his head…”
“Sheesh, you’ve been spending a whole lot of time looking at the guy. Do you want to date him?”
Alex scoffed. “I was just sizing up my competition, that’s all.”
“Well it’s like you said. You never had a chance.” She sighed. “I’ve never felt anything like this before in my life.”
“He’s your strawberry sauce.” He continued when Abby sent him a questioning glance. “It’s not a boy meets girl thing. It’s a boy finds girl again after a really long time apart. Then boom. Love at first sight.”
Abby looked at him, shock registering on her face. She had never heard Alex talk that way before and the sudden romantic standing before her was someone new.
Alex appeared almost serene. “Don’t you see what this means? All that stuff is real. It’s not just fairy tales and movies. It’s actually a reality.”
“Wait, I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Yes, I feel something for him, something… well fierce, but that doesn’t mean I’m planning on walking down the aisle any time soon. Past lives of not. The present is still the present.”
“Yeah, but there’s hope now.” His voice softened. “Hope for everyone else and maybe even for guys like me.”
Abby let his words sink in and felt a rush of realization. The hope Alex spoke of filled old voids inside of her, tucked its way into places she had never known were empty.
He touched her arm. “I won’t get in the way anymore. I’m here for you.” An impish smile crossed his lips. “Just don’t lose my number in case it doesn’t work out between you two.”
She punched his shoulder companionably. “Very funny. By the way, when did we become girlfriends? You’re the last person I would’ve thought I’d be talking about guys with.” He smiled.
“Somewhere between a purple bra and the end of the world.”
She returned his smile and the conversation ended as the sound of a car door slamming came from above ground. The three of them made their way to the surface to see Kyle walking towards the bunker.
At the sight of him Abby felt her stomach do a somersault and her hands began to tremble ever so slightly. She could barely stand to be near him, to look at him at all. It was like staring into the sun. How long could she stand it before she went blind or got burned? The better question was whether or not she was willing to risk it.
On one hand she was completely overcome with emotions that made her want to leap into his arms and go to bed with him. No, it was more than that, she reminded herself. It was more than attraction. On the other hand, she wanted to beat his ass for pretending like she didn’t mean anything to him when she knew damn well that she did. She had seen that he cared for her, felt it in the vision. For a split second she considered trying to hunt down her prescription. She was feeling a touch bi-polar and numbness was starting to sound pretty good.
“Find some good stuff in town?” Jim called out as Kyle approached.
“Yeah, not bad. There were still some things left at the grocery store, though it was well guarded. I managed to get some goodies and walk away with a shot gun all for two hundred bucks.”
Jim managed a smile. “Sounds like an interesting day. You’ll have to tell me the details later.”
Abby stood in place quietly examining her hands. The awkward silence was thick enough to touch. She could feel Kyle’s eyes on her. And Alex’s too.
Jim broke the silence. “Well we took care of the list and I can’t think of much else that needs doing in the bunker.”
“Okay that’s great. I have a couple more projects to take care of today but you guys should grab some lunch and relax.”
“Are you sure? If you need a hand or something I don’t mind.”
“No, really. I can handle it. Take some time to yourself. Watch a movie, play with Bo and Daisy or whatever makes you happy. I’ve got it under control.”
* * *
After a sparse lunch of an apple and a glass of milk, Abby wandered into Kyle’s living room. His books lined the shelves along the back wall, a mix of old literature, poetry, and modern paperbacks. As she checked the spines she realized she had read next to none of them. There were volumes by Joyce, Keats, Yeats, Kerouac, Poe; all alphabetized in perfect order.
She found The Poems of Oscar Wilde on the coffee table, absorbed a page, put it down again. She was too anxious to read. She was an artist and when artists needed a quick outlet they picked up the nearest drawing utensil. So she sat down on the porch of the Blue House with a diet coke and her trusty sketch book.
She could see the Yell
ow House from her spot on Kyle’s porch and watched as her uncle ran around with the dogs in the yard, tossing a tennis ball in the grass for each of them. Alex was nowhere to be seen and was most likely sitting inside watching anything he could get to come in on the television and sucking down a cold beer.
Abby could also see Kyle, at least when he wasn’t working inside the barn. She could hear the horses from where she was and the cluck of the chickens in their coop. Every now and again the sound of muffled hammering came from inside the barn. She had no idea what Kyle was doing in there but she was sure he had his reasons. Just like he had his reasons for avoiding her and for pretending like she didn’t exist.
When she had walked into the kitchen that morning to see him shirtless and drinking coffee, she had hoped his attitude from the night before had only been because he was in pain. She had expected he would see that the two of their destinies were connected, that their souls were linked in a way that was bigger than them both. Was it so much to ask for him to acknowledge that? She wasn’t asking for him to profess his undying love or anything. Their present situation was not the same. They were different people, but once upon a time they had been in love. He knew it and it drove her to the point of insane that he pretended he didn’t.
Abby bit her lip in frustration and turned to her drawing with a huff. Her pencil moved furiously over the blank page, quickly sketching out the barn and the Yellow House beyond it and all the way to the road. She added in the unfinished General, her Jeep, Jimmy’s truck, and Kyle’s too. She looked up every few minutes to check the scene and get the details right.
She made an annoyed sound, tossed her pencil into the bushes, and stood. The drawing was crap and she was just too irritated to sit still. She needed to talk to Kyle.
When Abby entered the barn through the wide double doors she saw Kyle standing in front of the stall of a brown mare. The horse’s head dipped down into his waiting hands as he patted the side of her face and stroked her black mane.
Abby studied him with eyes that were at once curious about the man he was yet acutely aware of the nature of his soul.
“Hi.” She approached him, leaning up to rub the mare’s ears. The horse turned from Kyle, sniffed at Abby’s palm and lipped her outstretched fingers.
Kyle’s face was blank though Abby could see something like struggle in his eyes. “Hi.”
“I was hoping we could talk about what happened last night without you avoiding eye contact.” He raised a thick eyebrow, glanced at her sideways before putting some distance between them and stepping to the next horse’s stall.
She grin slightly and tried to be casual. “So I guess this means you’re still treating me like a leper?”
Kyle kept his attention on Bucky, an older gelding Abby’s mother had always had a special fondness for. Abby remembered the horse well and smiled in memory as she waited for Kyle to say something. He pulled a piece of carrot from his jeans pocket and fed it to the horse. The simple action had Abby fighting to keep her steely composure.
Bucky nipped at the band of the thick black leather watch on Kyle’s wrist but Kyle didn’t seem to notice. He didn’t bother to look at her when he finally spoke. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Abby took a few steps toward him, smiling at Bucky as the horse flashed her one big eye. “Say what’s on your mind. It’s easy. I do it all the time, often when I should be shutting up.” She tried to laugh at herself, hoping to lighten his mood. “Why is it so hard for you to talk to me?”
He didn’t answer, refused to look at her.
“Kyle please.” She stepped closer. “Cal…”
His eyes locked onto hers, an angry fire burning within. “My name is Kyle Devon Windstone. I was born in 1983. I am a farmer. I will not be held to anything else.” He ran a hand through his already messy hair, relaxed his jaw. “There’s no time for this. We have things to do and we have to stay focused if we want to survive.”
Abby planted her feet. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me.”
He groaned quietly and turned pained eyes on her. “I can’t talk to you. A big part of me wants to, but I’m not ready for this… whatever it is. I’m not comfortable giving myself away so easily, especially when I feel like none of this was a choice I made. Christ, we just met two days ago Abby. Whoever we are… were… it’s too fast and it’s not normal.”
“I don’t care what’s normal. I know what I feel and I can’t just turn it off like you can. I don’t have a switch I can flip on and off.”
“I’m not flipping a switch. I’m trying to be sensible. There are more important things to worry about.”
“Sensible?” She laughed, threw her hands up in the air. “Since when does any of this make sense? Please Kyle, there’s a reason where both here and it’s not just about the end of the world.”
“I can’t do this and worry about surviving at the same time. I can’t be near you…”
“Why?” She took a step closer. “I don’t understand why I’m so terrible. I’m sorry about the headache last night. I won’t touch you again if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He leaned his back against the stall, shoved his hands deep into his pockets. Bucky nudged his human friend’s chin affectionately.
Locking eyes with her again, he continued. “I can’t be near you because I lose my focus, get distracted.”
“What does that mean? I don’t understand.”
He sighed, ran a hand through his hair again. “I get distracted not because I’m worried about another headache, but because I would live through it again just to kiss you one more time.”
His words and intense gaze made her feel dizzy. She closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled deeply. She knew then that he felt the same things she did. But why was he fighting it?
With her eyes still closed a terrible thought entered her mind completely uninvited. A tingling sensation slithered over her skin. It was the same feeling she had experienced on the highway, just before huge boulders started tumbling down the mountain side and crushing cars. Her eyes flew open, snapping to Kyle with urgency.
“Everyone needs to get underground.” Kyle said the words without anything from Abby.
They made it to the door when Abby stopped. “Kyle, the horses.”
He stole a look at Bucky. “There’s nothing we can do. We have to move.”
She nodded, said a silent prayer for the horses and ran.
The two of them raced through the barn doors and up to the Yellow House. Abby’s foot caught an uneven spot of ground sending her stumbling slightly from her feet. Kyle reached down and grabbed her upper arm to steady her, accidently brushing two fingers against the skin of her elbow.
Abby’s breath came in sharply as information flashed through her head. “We don’t have much time. We have to go now.”
Kyle looked confused. Obviously he was not getting the same insight into the situation as Abby was. But there was no time to explain.
“Connelly!” Kyle yelled, waving his hands as they neared the house. “Let’s go man. Into the shelter now.”
Jim spread his arms out to his sides in question. “No time.” Kyle was moving fast now, his long legs spanning two of Abby’s steps. “Gather up the Dukes and head into the bunker as quick as you can.”
Clouds started gathering overhead much quicker than anything Abby had ever seen before. “We have to move faster.” She scanned the area. “Alex! Let’s go!”
Her shout was directed towards the house from where Alex came running with a terrified look on his face. “Is it happening?”
Abby yelled up to where he stood on the porch. “Something’s coming this way. We need to be in that bomb shelter before it gets here.”
Alex didn’t ask any questions, just started moving towards the hatch to get underground along with everyone else. He would be the last one she would have to worry about acting like a hero.
The four of them hovered over the shelter, opened the hatch, and starte
d climbing down one at a time. Abby waved away the hands who tried to get her in first. She was not a fragile doll. It was her vision that was guiding them and she wouldn’t be treated like a silly girl who needed to be looked after.
They were lowering Bo into the hatch when Jim yelled out. “Is Daisy up there with you?”
Kyle and Abby were still above ground and both of them began to search the farm with their eyes.
Kyle looked down the hatch at Jim. “We’ll find her. Stay down there. No matter what happens.”
Abby grabbed his shirt with a light yank. “Let’s split up, cover more ground.”
Kyle nodded and they were off, sprinting in different directions.
Abby went straight to the barn to search for the dog, running as fast as her legs would take her. The wind was picking up at a furious pace and the sky was now a strange mixture of red light and deep, black clouds.
As she came out through the barn doors empty handed the first tornado touched down behind her. She felt her feet come off the ground and the wind whipped her limbs around wildly. She was thrown hard against the panels of the barn and collapsed with a thud on the ground. The horses whinnied from within and she could hear their hooves hitting the ground in panic.
It took a moment to recover her breath. When she was back on her feet Abby suddenly found herself surrounded on all sides by twisters. There were two smaller funnels whipping in from the west, one from the east, another pair in the south, and a giant whirlwind heading towards her from the north. For a moment she was completely frozen, stuck within a mixture of awe and terror. Then everything went black and still.
* * *
Kyle found Daisy cowering beneath Jim’s porch, panting and scared out of her little mind. “Come on Daisy girl.” He was careful to use a gentle tone with her. “Everyone’s waiting for you.” He scooped her up into his arms tenderly and began hauling her towards the shelter.
He was lowering the dog down to a grateful Jim when he realized Abby wasn’t in the shelter and a huge tornado had just touched down towards the north. Glancing around him he saw four more in the other directions moving in fast. A sick feeling tumbled through his body, making sweat instantly break out on his brow.