Authors: Jane Prescott
“Maybe next time you’ll think about this and remember it rather than yelling at everyone.”
She yawned and stretched. As Tim read a book and Jim worked unhappily on his task, she went into the bathroom to pee. She could hear the storm strengthening outside, lashing the resort. It was loud enough, she couldn’t hear much other than the storm itself. After she washed her hands, she wondered if that was what the boys were yelling about; she heard someone yelling, anyway. She opened the door, frustrated.
“Seriously? Come on boys. Now what?”
But there was only one boy yelling. Tim was pointing to the door. “He wouldn’t listen! He just went out!”
She felt her fists clenching and unclenching. “Jim!” She yelled as she approached the door. “Come in out of the-”
But he wasn’t in the hallway. She looked both ways. Nothing. She felt her stomach lurch.
“Tim, when did he go?” She felt light-headed. This couldn’t be happening. She’d never lost one of the boys, not for a moment.
Tim shrugged. He looked upset.
“No. He said I was not to tell you or else he’d hit me.”
She got down on both knees, eye-level with the little boy. “Tim, you have to tell me. It’s important. Where did he go?”
Tim looked to the carpet, not wanting to break his promise. Then he pointed towards the window.
“He wants the treasure.” He said dully.
She quickly swept him up in her arms and ran down the hall to the DeVilliers. There was no time to be lost.
Wes answered the door and before he could say anything, she pushed the little boy into his arms. “No time! I went to the bathroom, Jim left!”
“What?” He replied, confused. She didn’t wait to explain.
As she ran to the elevator, she sensed Wes was behind her. He wedged into the elevator a moment before the door closed. “Tim is with Sue. Tell me everything.”
On the ride down to the first floor, she tried to summarize, but her voice was shaking as she started to cry and panic. They rushed into the lobby, nearly running into Josh as he was leading a group of guests towards a ball room. One look at Laura’s teary face and he walked away from the group and was instantly ready to help.
They quickly found that no one in the lobby had seen him pass through. “How is that even possible?” Wes raged, pulling at his hair with fury. She’d never seen his face so red with a mixture of fear and anger. “Where could he have gone?”
“The stairwell.” Josh suggested. “Oh God. It would have led to that door.”
They looked and saw that a glass door, impossible to see through, led to the darkness and the beach.
“He wouldn’t.” Josh said, echoing what they all hoped.
But Wes and I knew better. “He would.” He said for them both.
The three stepped outside and were immediately slammed by wind and rain. Wes motioned for them all to go back inside and they did.
“Listen, we don’t know where he went.” He said. “I’m going to go to the right. You to go to the left. Don’t stay out long. If he’s there… and he probably is… he can’t have gone far.”
They stepped back out and found themselves drenched moments after they’d gone out. The tables and chairs normally set out in the area had already been secured by staff, or else they would have been tipped over and blocking their path. As it was, it was a challenge to work their way down to the beach and the water’s edge.
Echoing their bar visit, Josh cupped his hands to Laura’s ear. “We need to split up a little bit further to cover the ground. Go that way!” He motioned away from the water.
It was incredibly hard to see ahead, but they both stumbled and fell several times as they walked up the drenched sand. The water was high, narrowing the beach significantly. Wild waves could be spied further out in the water. Josh pointed towards the water; they both knew they didn’t want to be out there any longer than was absolutely necessary.
As they moved up the beach, she noticed that the ground was rising beside the beach, forming something of a cliff. She hadn’t really noticed it before, so enraptured with her time spent with Josh that she hadn’t really noted the features of the beach. But as they walked further and further, she realized that there were places near the cliff where someone could potentially take some degree of shelter.
She soon found that a rocky area did, in fact, have an overhang. There she found Jim, huddled and terrified, staring back at her. He threw both arms out as she approached, and she quickly grabbed him up and tried to shield him from the elements.
As they started to walk away, part of the cliff face fell.
“Laura!” She heard Josh shout, saw him running towards her, but didn’t know why. Clumps of brown dirt and pebbles showered over her and she crouched involuntarily, covering Jim with her body. A moment later she was covered in the stuff and felt something heavy and hard connect with her ankle.
There was a snap. It was horrible, so horrible, that pain. But the worst part was, as she looked and wondered, that she saw a small boulder had landed on her foot and ankle, pinning her down.
Josh was next to her and shouted into her ear. “Are you okay?”
“Take Jim! Go!” She shouted back.
Josh looked torn, unsure of what to do. He delayed in his uncertainty, but she grabbed his shirt. “He’ll die out here- he’s freezing!”
“Damn it. Damn!” He cursed, frustrated. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. Hang on, do you hear me?” Once he’d made up his mind, he wrapped the child in his arms as quickly as he could and started to run in the direction of the resort.
Laura tried to move the boulder, but it wouldn’t budge for her. He felt strangely tired. Had she been hit in the head? She felt like she might have been. She reached up and touched her head, and found that there was blood washing off her hand as she looked. Her vision blurred as she looked.
“Tired.” She said quietly, laying down and no longer feeling the rain, the cold, and the break.
---
“There she is!” She slowly opened her eyes. Two faces greeted her; the first she was very glad to see. It was Josh. He was sitting next to her bed, holding her hand.
The second was Wes. He was standing nearby, a smile on his face.
She looked around, not recognizing her surroundings. “Where am I?” There were a lot of flowers.
“Sorry. You’re in the hospital, hon.” Josh said, clearly happy to see her awake. “You took a really bad hit. How do you feel?”
“Mmm. I’m not sure. My leg aches.”
“That’s a break, I’m afraid.” Josh explained.
“You’re parents are on their way.” Wes piped up. He looked embarrassed to add, “Don’t worry, they didn’t pay. I took care of it. Everything will be taken care of.”
“Okay.” Laura felt somewhat grateful, but didn’t think too much of it. She was too busy feeling strangely high and tired at the same time. “I must be on meds or something?”
“No, that would have been dangerous. You’re still coming back from being out. You were out all night.” Josh said. He pets her face gently. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Jim?”
“He’s completely fine. Shaken up, scared, and worried about you. Both the boys are. But Jim will be okay. You’re going to be fine too.” He assured her.
Wes went around to the other side of the bed. “Listen- I want to tell you on behalf of Sue and I we know it’s not your fault Jim left. We’ve been hard on you, but you… well, we owe you everything. I want to repay you. We’ll talk about it when you’re feeling better. For now, get better and don’t worry about taking care of the kids.”
“All right.” She yawned mightily. “I need to sleep some more. Will you be around?” She asked Josh.
He shook his head. “Absolutely. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
“He’s hardly left your side.” Wes said, but his voice trailed off as she felt warm and safe, drifting into calm dreams.
---
Laura and Josh looked over the freshly painted wooden sign. He was holding a brush in one hand, his other hand on his hip as they looked down at it.
“It looks nice.” She decided. The words on the sign were in a lovely, flowing script- “The Willow House, Bed and Breakfast.”
“You think it’ll work?”
“Absolutely! Let it dry and hang it this afternoon, okay?”
“Yes, Mrs. Philips.”
“This afternoon, Mr. Philips. Don’t forget!”
He held up his hands in protest. “When have I ever let you down, dear?”
She laughed and put an arm around his waist. “Okay, fair enough. You have been doing good work around here.”
They looked over their little plot of land. It was shady, tree-lined neighborhood in small town, coastal Maine. The ocean was still another three miles away, but the historic little town had a great antiques district, and tourists were big fans of the stop on their way to Bar Harbor and parts north. The Willow House was already booked through the summer, and their first day in business was still a week away.
“You know the DeVilliers will be our first guests, right?” He said, with a note of warning to his voice.
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. You can hardly blame them. They’re our main investors, after all.”
“A little more than that, I think. Pretty much our only investors, other than the money we kicked in which- let’s be honest- wasn’t that much.”
“Uh huh. Don’t remind me!”
He gave her a kiss on the forehead. “It’s not forever. We’ll get them paid back before you know it.”
“I’m sure. Still, it’ll be nice to see the boys.”
He nodded in agreement. “I’m glad Sue and Wes are spending more time with them. I hate to say it, but they were kind of-”
“Self-involved jerks?” She laughed.
“You said it, not me! But yes. Well, before the accident. Yes.” He shrugged.
They walked around front and climbed up the short stairway to the porch. She fell into the porch swing and held a hand out to him. “Not too tired to sit and rock with me a minute?”
“Never.”
He snuggled next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “I bet you never thought you’d be here this quickly. How’s your ankle today?”
She held it up her foot and turned it slowly. “It’s not given me any pain in a week. I think it’s finally past.”
“About time!” He pets her knee. “I think I could just sit on this swing forever and not move.”
“Forever is a long time.” She mused, turning to meet his eyes. She rested a hand on her husband’s chest. “Maybe not long enough.”