Dark and Stormy

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  The radiators were working full steam, so though the fire was laid, it was not lit. Garret had his guitar out and Cadence was on the spoons. I couldn’t sing or play, but I was totally in my element. They played everything from “Peace Train” to JJ Heller’s “Your Hands”.

  Isaac was very professional-who-works-here while we had our little sing along, which was a pity, because it seemed to me like the perfect time to snuggle up and hold hands.

  Just when my hands were feeling particularly empty, he brought me a cup of tea. We exchanged the kind of glance, all, direct eye contact that sent shivers up and down my spine and arms and made my ribs feel like they were full of ice. Which maybe isn’t what love is supposed to feel like, but it was true. Cold, tight, hot, burny, all of that. Like, a chest full of ice that would only melt if he sat beside me and held my hand. Or kissed me. Or both.

  I sipped my tea. It burned the tip of my tongue. Just the tiniest spot, like a hot needle had poked it.

  I watched him pass out hot cups of tea, stare out the windows to check the status of the storm, check the door for drafts, count flashlights on the counter. Generally handle the winter weather with the restless energy of someone who wasn’t used to snow.

  When the phone on the wall rang he lurched forward and spilled his cup of tea on the stack of spare blankets.

  I smiled. The room would be too hot to sleep in anyway, the now-damp blankets wouldn’t hurt anything.

  Garret set his guitar down while Isaac took the call.

  “No, he’s not.” Pause. “Probably so. I can ask. It does look bad, but it’s not whiteout conditions or anything.” Pause. “Okay, I’ll call her. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know.” He hung up. “That was Megan. Rolf never made it to their house.”

  SEVEN

  Isaac Daniels

  The problems on campus were adding up too fast, and now there were too many moving pieces for my comfort.

  I assessed the group that had gathered in the girls’ dorm for the night. We were all here, for better or worse. In the case of Gretchen, I thought for the worse.

  She just looked sick. Her eyes were shadowed, her face thin, and drawn. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks. Still a pretty kid, but not a healthy one. Between the roof tear-down and moving everyone to the girls’ dorm, I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Cadence about Dani’s concerns yet, so having Garret and Gretchen in the same dorm for the night wasn’t sitting well with me.

  Since everyone was in one spot, it was a good chance to ask if anyone knew what had happened to Rolf.

  Nick jerked his head up. “Rolf?”

  “Yeah, the roofer. He was supposed to stay at the Hoffen’s tonight, but he never made it over there.”

  “I saw him a couple of hours ago in the kitchen.” Dani’s big green eyes were narrowed, her forehead creased, not with worry, but suspicion if I had to guess.

  “Did he say anything about where he was going?”

  “Home.” She blushed a little but didn’t lose her intense look. “But it sounds like Megan talked him out of it.” She sipped her tea and looked away.

  “Megan called his cell and he didn’t answer. Bel, you got here last. Did you see him or see his car?” I asked.

  She shook her head.

  “Are you sure? You didn’t have a chance to see if his car was still in the parking lot?”

  She tilted her head towards the window. “It’s been black as night for hours. What do you expect?”

  She had a point. There just weren’t a lot of daylight hours in Sweden in December.

  “Anyone else? Anyone see him or any sign of him between when he told Dani he was going home and when he told Megan he was going to stay over?”

  “He didn’t exactly say he was going home.” Dani interrupted.

  “Details?” I paced the room, looking from face to face. The feeling in the room was both bored and annoyed. Such a pity I had to bother them all with little details like a person missing in a storm.

  “He just, he mentioned having room at his place…I thought it meant he was going there, but you never know.” Her face was so red she had to be burning up. So Rolf had said something rude. Great. Now if I found him alive, I would have to punch him in the nose.

  “Okay. Well, just thought I’d check. Megan asked me to call Stina and see if she knew anything. Give me a minute.” I headed to the hall for some privacy. Stina hadn’t been in the office much during Christmas break, so I didn’t know what she was supposed to know about Rolf. That said, Megan had enough to do with all those kids. I understood why she had passed the call off to me.

  “Au, Stina.” Stina answered the, Swedish way, on the first ring.

  “Hey, this is Isaac. Rolf Vaarland was going to stay on campus tonight because of the storm. He was going to stay with the Hoffens, but they haven’t seen him. You wouldn’t know anything would you?”

  Stina yawned. I hadn’t expected our international supermodel/secretary to keep early hours, but she sounded like I had woken her up. “Nej. I haven’t seen him since the summer.”

  “Megan thought you might know something.” I drummed my fingers on the phone. I hated wasting my time. What was Stina holding back?

  “Ja. Sure. I might have. I know Rolf and he doesn’t live far from me. But the last time I spoke with him was when they were putting shingles on the skola.”

  “He didn’t answer his cell when Megan called, so she’s worried.”

  “He’s a Swede. He can drive in the snow. He’s probably safe at home right now.”

  “Do you have his number? I can give him a call.”

  “Sure.” Stina gave me Rolf’s cell number. Maybe he hadn’t answered Megan’s call because he was driving, or something. Or maybe he didn’t want to take a work call in the evening. He was probably fine.

  The common room was getting noisy again, so I wandered to the end of the hall and stared out at the storm. The street lights that lined the driveway illuminated the swirling, wind-kicked snow. I had to agree with the going theory that this wasn’t a blizzard, but it was definitely nasty out. I tried Rolf’s cell, but there was still no answer. I drummed my fingers on the window sill and wondered if he would laugh, knowing we were on the hunt for him while he dug into his dinner or whatever it was he was doing.

  Off to the right, near one of the old street lamps that lined the parking lot, a thin tree bent under the wind. The tree didn’t snap, being young and flexible. I watched it struggle against the wind, like it wanted to straighten itself out, but couldn’t.

  Just beyond the tree, Rolf’s car sat under a couple of inches of new snow.

  The phone clicked to Rolf’s voice mail.

  I stared at the car, just an outline, really, with light sparkling on the snow-covered shape. But I knew it was Rolf’s because the other two were the school cars, and he was the only one who had come by the school today.

  Rolf wasn’t at the girls’ dorm with us. He wasn’t with the Hoffens, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t somewhere on campus still. The lights over at the huset were out, but that didn’t mean Rolf wasn’t back in one of the apartments…mine even.

  I went back to the common room where everyone seemed to be enjoying the campout kind of atmosphere. I knocked on the wall to grab their attention. It took a second, but they quieted down. “Rolf’s car is still here. I just noticed it.”

  Dani set her book down. “Oh, no.”

  “So I’m going to go check the huset. He might have wanted to stay somewhere other than the Hoffen zoo.”

  “I’ll come, too.” Dani stood up. Her face was grim and determined. She was already in her pajamas, just a pair of flannels and a sweatshirt. She was barefoot, her adorable toenails freshly painted. There was no way she should be out in the storm. I reached for her and let my fingers stroke the ends of her long hair before I could stop myself. Now was not the time for romance. “No. It’s pretty nasty out.”

  Nick stood up. “I’ll come.” He still had his boots on, and grabbed a co
at from the floor.

  “All right.”

  The wind hit us in the face like a shovel when we opened the door. For a minute I wondered why I couldn’t let Rolf ride the storm out in his own way while I snuggled the pretty girl with the silky hair and the cute toenails.

  The night was colder than anything I’d felt before, by at least twenty degrees. It cut through my fleece jacket and jeans like scissors. Despite the wind driving the snow like icy nails, visibility was decent. I couldn’t see all the way to the Hoffen’s place, but I wouldn’t get lost and freeze to death on the way to my apartment. In the distance a branch broke from a tree with a thunderous crack.

  The large brass handle on the front door to the huset was so cold it burned my gloveless hand, but I got it unlocked and then swung it shut behind us. The huset, the largest building on campus, was dark, cold, and very empty. We trudged upstairs to our rooms in silence. If Nick was thinking like I was thinking, there wasn’t anything good to say.

  Once upstairs we went separately into our rooms. Neither door had been locked.

  My room was cold and dark, all of the lights out. Rolf hadn’t crashed on my bed, wasn’t at my desk, or in the bathroom, and that was it. The extent of my apartment. I grabbed my parka and a pair of gloves and met Nick in the hall.

  He shook his head. “Maybe the guest rooms?”

  I pushed open the door of the third apartment on our floor, but that apartment, like each of ours, was empty.

  I leaned against the door and took a deep breath.

  “So he’s out there.” Nick nodded to the window.

  “Yup.”

  Nick tossed me a flashlight.

  I clicked it on and took the stairs, again wordlessly.

  I stopped at Rolf’s car and brushed the snow off the window. I shined the flashlight in, but the car was empty. He wasn’t hiding out from the storm, and the company, in his car. I stamped my feet to warm them up and stared into the swirling snow.

  The roaring wind and crushing darkness distorted all of my senses. I could hear the crunching of footsteps in the snow but they sounded like they were miles away. And yet a quick glance revealed Nick, right behind me.

  A thunderous cracking sound in the distance was probably an old tree succumbing to the violence of the night.

  I headed toward the kyrka—the chapel—without saying anything to Nick. He’d follow or he wouldn’t. It didn’t matter to me.

  There were several areas that offered meager shelter around the kyrka and the wellhouse. I stopped at the well, but Rolf wasn’t huddled next to the old stone structure. The steps up to the kyrka were protected with a strong roof and half walls on two sides. Snow had begun to build up in the protected space as wind drove it against the door, but Rolf hadn’t dug into the snow. And why would he? From the kyrka steps I could see lights on in the girls’ dorm.

  I couldn’t see all the way to the Hoffen’s where Rolf had been planning on going, but with at least one building glowing with welcome, I had a hard time imagining Rolf had done anything stupid.

  A great gust of wind rammed me, and I fell into the door. A crack, followed by a thud shook the roof above me—a branch, likely from the hundred-year-old oak standing off to my right, had been wrenched from the tree. I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked up at the roof, glad that this building had been one of the recently fixed up ones.

  Rolf hadn’t driven away, and he hadn’t made it to either of the unlocked buildings. The snow was the least of his worries.

  To my left, the boys’ dorm stood dark, one corner a stark silhouette created by the nearby streetlamp. Rolf had last been heard from in the kitchen, so assuming he had headed from the huset to the Hoffen’s he would have…

  I scanned the long driveway that bisected the campus. If he had been knocked out by a falling tree branch, which tree was the most-likely culprit?

  The driveway was partially lined by a hedgerow, interspersed with lamps. Most of the trees along the driveway were young and flexible, but the hedged area seemed older, if I recalled correctly, and might have had more dead wood. Though there weren’t any trees large enough to stand out as likely suspects.

  I headed to the hedge anyway, walking into the wind, the hood of my parka pulled low over my face. I walked both sides of the hedge, but saw nothing. No recent footprints, no snow piled suspiciously as though over a body, and no fallen branches.

  I left the hedge and walked as though going to the Hoffens’. I passed under one old oak that swayed and creaked. The snow had piled up against the wide trunk so I knocked it over with my foot, careful not to kick too hard, in case Rolf was in the pile, but he wasn’t.

  I made it to the Hoffens’ back door, as clueless as I had been when I set out.

  Rolf’s car was still on campus, but Rolf seemed to have disappeared.

  EIGHT

  Dani Honeywell

  Cadence and Gretchen went to bed as soon as Isaac and Nick left.

  I didn’t get it. How could they sleep while the boys were outside hunting for Rolf? I took a seat on the couch and pressed my forehead to the cold window. The lights that lined the long, narrow driveway flickered in and out as the snow flurried around them. In the fifteen minutes that Isaac had been gone, it had definitely gotten worse out. “How long does a winter storm like this last?”

  “Not long.” Troy was still up, but I suppose he would be, since the common room was his bedroom for the night, and I was still in it. “A couple of hours at the most.”

  I shivered. In the far distance, out by the little chapel, I thought I saw a small light bobbing around. My mind went to will-o-wisps, but it was the wrong kind of storm for ball lightning.

  I narrowed my eyes. The light flickered again, closer to the old well this time—the “brunn” the little town was named after. “Do you think he’s out there?”

  “He’d have to be crazy.” Troy joined me on the couch.

  “Look out by the well….look close and you’ll see a light.”

  Troy stared in that direction. “I don’t know…” He paused. “Wait, I think I see.” He leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “That might be him. I’ll go check.”

  None of the panic that had filled me when Isaac said he was going to head into the storm was present at this announcement.

  “I’ll go too.” Xavier grabbed his coat from the back of the chair.

  The two guys left without another word. Now it was just Si and Bel in quiet conversation in the corner, Garret plucking his guitar, and me. I wanted to stay by the door until Isaac came back, but I was feeling like a fifth wheel, of sorts. I got up and paced the room.

  “Shouldn’t we pray together about this?” I asked after a few minutes passed.

  “You do that for us.” Bel lifted her eyebrow like it was a challenge.

  Si laughed. “She will. She loves God.”

  “Oh come on, Si. I’m sick of this thing you’ve been doing since Bel got here. Something awful probably happened to Rolf. Don’t you feel even the slightest draw to ask God for help?” In the background Garret picked out the melody line to “Let it Be.”

  I sighed. Were all three of them really here against their will? Hadn’t anyone but me come to Bible school for the actual Bible part? I turned to Garret. “You too, then?

  He grinned. “Whisper words of wisdom, friend. You pray, and we’ll all join you in spirit.” He lifted one of his perfectly shaped eyebrows. Before I had begun to notice how seriously handsome Isaac was, I had noticed Garret. I hadn’t thought he knew, but his look spoke volumes.

  “Oh, never mind.” I curled up on the couch again, tucking my cold feet under me. I prayed in my head, mad at the other students for not being serious, mad at Rolf for getting himself lost in the snow, and mad at myself for not standing up and leading them all in prayer. Some future church leader I was.

  Garret switched to As the Deer, which did make me feel better. I breathed easier, and my shoulders, which I hadn’t realized were up around my ears, relaxed. I cau
ght sight of the flashing light again, this time bobbing down the path on the way to our dorm.

  The door popped open with a gust of snow and wind, and Isaac stepped in. He shook the snow off his parka and laid a flashlight on the couch next to me. “No sign.”

  Nick was right behind Isaac. When he had ditched his coat and gloves, he sat on the couch next to me and stretched his arm across the back. “He’s not out there. I’d bet krona on it. He must have taken a taxi. Maybe it was too cold, and his engine wouldn’t start.”

  “I noticed that his car isn’t plugged in.” Isaac said. “I hope that’s what happened.” He sat on the floor in front of me and drummed his fingers on his knee.

  “Did you guys see Troy and Xavier out there? They saw a light and went to see if it was Rolf.”

  “Nope.” Nick craned his head to look out the window.

  “You guys had the lights, right?” I pressed my lips together. I hated what storms did to perception—the way that the world closed in around you, but flung every landmark into obscurity. The way things that should have been close disappeared altogether, and how a storm always led you off course. “Troy and Xavier were looking specifically for the lights, but none of you met up. Don’t you think you all could have missed Rolf, too?” I tangled my hair around my fingers. It seemed possible to me. It seemed very possible that Rolf was out there and would freeze to death.

  “He’d not be wandering around right now.” Nick said. “He’d be holed up somewhere trying to stay warm, and if he was on campus still, we would have seen him.”

  Isaac leaned his head on the couch, very near my knee. “Nick’s right.”

  “But you guys, I grew up with bad winters. I don’t agree.”

  “Relax.” Si said.

  “What do you know about it? Lots of big snowstorms in Tonga?” I spit the words out. Si was useless. Isaac was the best ever, but he was from Portland. He didn’t know the first thing about snow. And Nick…. He had been here a couple of years, so he should know something. But none of them knew what I knew.