Escaping Darkness (Book 2): The Cloud

by Richards, E. S.

  Wandering through the hall of mirrors, Riley giggled at every turn she made. One second she was as tall and skinny as she’d ever been, the next she was short and pudgy. She held her arms out by her sides and waved them around, watching as her reflection danced with her in the luminescent lighting. The day was nearly over now, so the hall was empty apart from her family: the four of them moving around until they stood side-by-side in the floor-to-ceiling mirror that occupied one wall of the attraction.

  Riley stood next to her mother, with Chase on her other side and her dad at the other end. Their faces and bodies were all distorted, not helped by how her parents were pulling silly faces and wriggling around to distort themselves even further. Looking at the reflection, Riley felt a huge smile creeping across her face. It didn’t matter what they looked like, whether they were fat or thin, tall or short—they would always be a family. The smile on her face only grew as her mom reached down and held her hand again, encouraging Riley to wriggle and dance around as she was. Bursting into laughter, she couldn’t help but join in. The summer might technically be over, but all the memories of it would last for a lifetime.

  “That was a good summer,” Riley smiled as she blinked and looked at the photo album again, her eyes slightly clouded over with unshed tears. “I really liked that vacation.”

  “Me too,” Linda shuffled closer, wrapping an arm around her granddaughter’s shoulder. “Me too.”

  The two of them sat on the floor in silence for a few minutes, the photo album still open on Riley’s lap, with the picture of Brogan and Lauren staring up at them. Many more thoughts and memories about her parents swam through Riley’s head, while Linda remembered her son as she always tried to. He had been an incredible man, strong, resilient, determined, and loving. Everything he had taught both Riley and Chase had stuck with them and she saw it more and more every day—especially in Chase. The teenager was beginning to look like Brogan had when he was the same age, something that Linda both adored and suffered through. She would never ask her grandson to change, but sometimes the likeness was so uncanny it was like she was talking to her own son once more.

  “What are you guys doing?”

  The very person Linda had been thinking about appeared in the doorway at that moment, Chase leaning against the wooden frame and raising his eyebrows at his sister and grandmother who still sat on the floor. He folded his arms and cocked his head at a certain angle in exactly the same way that Brogan had always done, so that Linda couldn’t help herself, the words slipping from her mouth before she had time to process them.

  “You look just like your father you know, my dear,” she spoke quietly, barely above a whisper. “We were just looking back through some memories.”

  Chase didn’t know what to say for a second, looking to Riley for support, who could only sniff and nod slightly. Again, it struck Chase so much to hear that he looked like his father. It wasn’t something he necessarily saw when he looked in the mirror himself, but in photographs he could see the resemblance. The work around the farmhouse was hard and thinking about the effects of the volcanic eruption was taxing his mind too. Sitting down next to his grandma, Chase figured it couldn’t do too much harm to take a few moments and join them in reminiscing.

  “Ah, Cancun!” He smiled as he noticed the first picture, awestruck by how happy his parents looked. The sun was setting in the photo behind them as they stood on the beach, the reflection of the sunlight dancing off the water and creating such bright and magical colors. “That was a good trip.”

  “I know,” Riley agreed. “What else is in this one, Grandma?”

  Taking the photo album in her hands, Linda turned through the pages herself, pausing on certain ones which evoked particular memories or feelings. After a few seconds and several page turns, Chase put out his hand to stop her, focusing on one picture in particular.

  “Wow,” he whispered in awe. “I’d completely forgotten about this day. I didn’t even know this picture was taken.”

  On the page in front of the three of them there was a picture of Chase, Riley and their mom—Brogan clearly the one behind the camera that day. The three of them were seated around a campfire in their backyard, the light in the center of the image causing their bodies and faces to appear as little more than silhouettes. In their hands you could just vaguely make out the sticks on which they were toasting S’mores, the thought of them making Chase’s mouth water as he remembered the day.

  “Hey, Mom,” Chase asked with a cheeky grin on his face. “Look what I just found in the back of the kitchen cupboard.”

  At fourteen, Chase knew exactly what he was doing. He’d known the marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers had been there for weeks and had just been waiting until his parents were in a good mood in order to ask for them. It was a Friday night and they had just finished dinner. Their schoolwork could wait until later in the weekend—Chase’s sweet tooth was acting up and he couldn’t wait any longer.

  “Hmm.” Lauren smiled at her son, shaking her head slightly as he held up the treats in his hands. “What do you propose we do with them?”

  “Only one thing we can do, really.” Chase shrugged cheerfully, leaning back slightly and inhaling to fill his lungs before he opened his mouth to shout. “We’re making S’mores!”

  Within seconds, Riley was beside him in the kitchen, the promise of a chocolatey treat capturing her full attention. Their dad was there only a few seconds later too, Brogan also unable to deny the allure of a toasty S’more.

  “S’mores?” Riley questioned excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. “Can we make them outside?”

  “Why not?” Lauren laughed, a smile spreading across her face as she saw not only how excited her two children were at the promise of the campfire treats, but her husband too. Sometimes Brogan was just as much of a kid as Chase and Riley were. It was one of the things that she adored so much about him. No matter what the situation, he could always find a positive spin to put on things and never let anything bring his mood down for too long.

  “Yes!” Chase grinned and threw the bag of marshmallows up in the air in celebration, catching them again as they fell back down. “Thanks, Mom!”

  Not wasting a second, they all rushed outside to get the campfire started, none of them realizing just quite how long it would take. The sun had completely set by the time it was burning enough for the S’mores and they all huddled around the small fire for warmth, the October air sending a chill through their bones.

  It was a memory that Chase adored—even if it had been one that was previously forgotten about. He loved how spontaneous his parents had been. Not that making S’mores on a Friday night was particularly wild, but they were always up for doing fun things like that and going on adventures at the drop of a hat. That was something he really missed. Of course, he knew that his grandparents weren’t at that stage of their life anymore and Mia did her best when she was around—though she was often working. But it wasn’t necessarily the adventures or the spontaneity of it all; it was doing things with his parents. Whether big or small, he just missed being able to spend time with them.

  “It’s a nice picture,” Linda smiled, understanding that both her grandchildren would be experiencing a whirlwind of emotions because of the photos in front of them. “You know your parents loved you both very much, right?”

  Neither Chase nor Riley replied in words, both merely nuzzling closer to their grandma in their seated, three-way hug. It was a nice moment and they didn’t want to spoil it. Everyone knew how much Brogan and Lauren had loved them and how much Riley and Chase, and Linda and Jerry had loved them back in return. When the pair of them died, they left a hole in all of their hearts that would never be filled or forgotten. And as the three of them remembered those they had lost, all their worries and fears about the eruption escaped their minds and for just a brief moment, they shared a feeling of peace.

  Chapter 3

  The scenery that surrounded the airport was horrify
ing. Evidence of the lahars that had swept through the building were everywhere, the once well-kept lawns and organized bushes that lined the parking lot that Mia’s group walked through destroyed and cast aside. The air was also thick and difficult to breathe. All of them wore scarves or some sort of fabric over their mouths to filter it somehow, but Mia was certain particles would still make it into their lungs. It was impossible to avoid this close to the eruption site; the air wouldn’t be clean for thousands of miles.

  Even with the breathing difficulties, there was something that made their situation much, much worse. Bodies were everywhere. Bodies of people they had known.

  Mia winced at everyone she saw, whether she recognized the faces or not. The sky was still dark and murky overhead, the ash cloud hovering above them like a constant reminder of what had happened. Even in the dim light, it wasn’t difficult to identify the bodies.

  A gut-wrenching cry came from behind Mia as the group reached the end of the airport base. It filled her ears and punctured her heart, raw emotion filling the body of whomever it had come from. Mia didn’t need to turn around to guess who. They had all been silent as they walked and for one main reason, no one wanted to discuss or display how everything was making them feel. But for one man that was now impossible. Finally turning around, Mia saw Patrick kneeling on the ground, his body hunched over as he clutched at his dead wife’s clothing and sobbed into it.

  His whole body shook with emotion. Clearly, he had known she was dead, but to see her body was an even worse fate. Allie stood next to her crying father, her body frozen and her eyes glazed over as she stared at her mother. Unable to let the scene play out any longer, Mia walked back a few paces so she was beside Allie and gently steered the young girl away from her mother’s body. She didn’t need to remember her like that. Mia firmly believed your final memories of your loved ones should be of them full of life, smiling and happy. Not crumpled up in the mud with the stench of death clinging to them like an unwelcome visitor.

  That was something she regretted about how she remembered her brother and Lauren. Fifteen months ago, Mia had been the one to identify their bodies after the crash. It was, without a doubt, the most gruesome thing she had ever seen. Their bodies were mangled and out of shape, their faces torn apart by the force of the impact in a way that Brogan had been almost unrecognizable. He wasn’t, though. Neither of them were distorted beyond recognition. They could’ve been even worse off and Mia would have still known it was them. Now, whenever she remembered Brogan and Lauren, that image always crept into her head in one way or another. Still, she was glad it had been her instead of her parents or—heaven forbid—Chase and Riley. It was a burden she was willing to bear for her family and one that she would take to her own grave one day.

  Allie didn’t need that burden, though. Patrick had a right to look and to grieve, and Mia wasn’t going to try and take that away from him. But Allie was too young for that. She was too young for all of it. Her childhood was undoubtedly ruined already, perhaps even her whole life, considering what she had lost. The very least that Mia could try and do was preserve the memory of her mother for her. In however many years’ time, when all was said and done and Yellowstone was hopefully in the past, the image of her dead mother was not one that Allie should have to see every time she closed her eyes.

  There was a respectful silence among the group as they waited for Patrick. They hadn’t made it far and Mia knew they had to keep going if they wanted to reach their first destination before nightfall, but even she wasn’t willing to rush him. He stopped crying eventually, wiping a dirty sleeve across his face to absorb the tears that streaked it. Then he straightened his body slightly and did the same to his wife, positioning her in a manner that made it look like she was sleeping, like she hadn’t been dragged out of a building by violent and acidic lahars. He closed her eyes for her too, so she was completely at rest. And, finally, he leaned in closer and kissed her on the forehead before standing up and walking away, refusing to look back.

  Patrick offered Mia a weak smile as he approached, doing his best to keep himself together now that he had said his goodbyes. He reached down and picked up Allie, hoisting her body up in his arms while she wrapped her legs around his waist. From the sight of it, it didn’t look like something they often did, but Patrick clearly wanted to be close to his daughter. The widowed man then continued walking in the correct direction, whispering quietly in his daughter’s ear.

  Mia took this as a cue for the group to continue and followed behind Patrick, leaving a respectful distance between herself and him so she couldn’t overhear what he was saying. Everyone else continued to follow behind, the silence in the group much more morbid than before. They were more reluctant to look at bodies as they passed them, for fear of something similar happening again.

  It only took a few more minutes for them to leave the airport grounds behind though, and with it the bodies grew less and less frequent. The valley continued to drop ahead of them and the evidence of the lahars was unmistakable. The entire landscape had been flattened, trees brought down by the force of the water and a dirty layer of black covering everything that remained. It was like the earth had been charred, none of the greenery or bright colors that had dotted the scenery only a few days earlier left in its place.

  “Holy cow,” Michael exclaimed quietly from the back of the group, though in the silence it was loud enough for everyone to hear. “Angelica, is that our home?”

  Angelica didn’t reply, her eyes transfixed by a small collection of houses farther down the valley. There was a winding road that led down to them from the airport and then continued off into the distance—presumably toward the nearest large town. Their group was cutting across the valley toward it now, the place where Angelica and Michael lived the first destination on their long journey. It would still take them a few more hours to reach it, but already they could all see what had happened to it.

  In all honesty, Mia was surprised the place was still standing. After a quick rough count she estimated there were no more than fifty houses in the town, a close-knit community where it was very likely everyone knew everybody and they weren’t very welcoming to outsiders. In a way, it made Mia understand more about the way Angelica and Michael acted. If they had been brought up in that community, they were unlikely to be the friendliest of people. She had experienced it many times before, though she still believed people had the ability to change that sort of thing.

  None of that really mattered anymore though. What was more important was whether there were still any people left in the village at all. It looked like the lahars had swum directly through the middle of it, some houses already brought down and destroyed.

  “I can still see people there,” Michael continued, his voice slightly muffled through the sweater he had wrapped around the lower half of his face. “They’ll still be all right, won’t they?”

  Squinting slightly through the murky air, Mia too managed to identify a few bodies moving between the houses down below. They were still much too far away to see anything in any more detail, but there were people alive down there for sure.

  “Mia?” Michael questioned, desperation filling his voice as he looked upon his home. “They’ll still be all right, won’t they?”

  “I—I think so,” Mia replied uncertainly, “but I can’t really say for sure until we get down there.”

  “You don’t think people will have died, do you?” Not only desperation but also sadness and a touch of fear oozed from Michael with his words. It was obvious he was afraid of what had happened down there. It was likely where his family lived. Mia realized she didn’t even know if Michael had children or not. If they had been down in the village, he was almost certainly thinking the worst, his body nearly shaking as he looked at the scene below.

  “I don’t know,” Mia replied, wishing she had something better to say to him. She didn’t want to fill him with false hope though, knowing in reality it was very likely that people had lost their li
ves. They all saw what had happened in the airport, and just because the people down in the valley would’ve been inside their own homes didn’t mean they would have been any safer.

  “Oh man,” Michael ran a hand through his hair, biting his bottom lip so hard that he nearly drew blood. “Angelica, what do we do? Do you think Mom will be okay? Talk to me!”

  Furrowing her brow, Mia waited to hear what Angelica would reply, but again the woman remained silent, staring blankly down at her home below. Were the two of them siblings? They didn’t look very similar, but Mia figured it had to be possible. It was really starting to hit her how little she knew about everyone she was traveling with. With the exception of Jorge, she didn’t even know anyone’s last name.

  “We should keep moving,” Mia offered when Angelica still didn’t respond. “We can’t find anything out from just looking at it. We should keep moving and ask these questions when we can get some answers.”

  “Angie...” Michael pleaded, shortening Angelica’s name in an affectionate manner. Still it had no effect and in frustration he threw up his arms and huffed aggressively at her. “Fine. Whatever. Come on, let’s just get down there.”

  Storming off ahead of the group, it was now Michael’s turn to lead the charge. Patrick hadn’t said anything since the encounter with his wife, though Allie now walked beside him rather than being carried in his arms. The three college students were all huddled together too, reluctant to speak due to the frosty air in the group. With everyone now aware of their destination and the path they would need to take to get there, Mia let herself float to the back of the group and walked beside Jorge, finding comfort in a familiar face that she knew the history of.