Crown the King by D.S. Weissman

Author:D.S. Weissman
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: ABDO
Published: 2016-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

JAMES

Captain’s “It could have been worse” rang against the glass shards that the group quietly swept up.

“Yeah,” James said, “and if my grandma had balls, she’d be my grandfather.”

The words brought Captain back from whatever worry he may have had, brought him back from the hollowed-out house and empty life he had been living since his wife and son didn’t make it past the first few weeks of snowfall. There would always be time to stagger in the past, but eventually you’ll have no more future left to look forward to. It was a hard truth to understand, one that James fought with almost every day, one that most Fornland kids struggled with based on their fears, sorrows, angers, and anxieties that came with them to the boardinghouse. What was the single moment that would have changed their lives forever? What could have kept their parents from that last hit, their mother from her last boyfriend, their father from his last drink, the truck driver from falling asleep on the highway, their parents from walking out the door and never coming back? Sooner or later they would have wound up in Fornland anyway. The world wanted that of them, and the world brought them here, to a room where even the glass swarmed like a blizzard.

“It’s a joke,” James said. “I don’t know my grandmother.”

“It means don’t look at the ‘could haves’ and the ‘should haves,’” Charlotte said. “Anything is possible if you open those floodgates. It’ll drive you crazy.”

Captain placed his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. He looked back down at the glass without the sense of horror that had filled his face when he had entered the room. Concern stayed, but not fear, not responsibility.

“Anyone hurt?” Captain asked.

“A few—” Charlotte stopped herself. “We’re fine.”

James wanted to know where Charlotte’s fear went, where she kept the anxiety that he had seen when they decided to leave Fornland, how she kept her composure through the storm, through the trek to the ship, through their lives. It was she who kept him from wanting to scream in the thunder and the shattering chandelier. It was she who soothed him with her fingers in his hair. Now it looked like she did the same for Captain, soothed him with her words, understood James enough to know that possibilities could always be endless.

“This was a terrible idea,” Geoff said.

“We know Geoff,” James said. “They always are. Keep cleaning.”

The ship was their home, it was their space, and it was their safety. It had taken them from the growing hell of San Diego and, even in the storm, had given them a better chance of survival with Captain as their guide and Abe as their unifier. They had escaped and were on their way to somewhere where warmth could fill them.

Whispers spread about staying on the ship. James had heard the soft words and seen the sidelong glances. People noticed the comforts they had gained and didn’t want to give up. They had lights, energy, and food, but all that would fade with time.

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