Darkness Falls by A E Faulkner

Author:A E Faulkner [Faulkner, A E]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949193985
Published: 2019-03-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 33

We step into a world of browns and greens. Tree branches, leaves, lawn ornaments, and trash can contents litter the ground as far as I can see. Aidan tugs me along to the path behind the house that leads to the woods.

Our trip today is much slower as we dodge downed trees. Everything feels so wrong. Maybe we were cocooned in Rose’s house for too long. It felt like things might actually be okay in the short time we stayed there. Now, it just feels like the world has changed once again and we’re struggling to keep up with it.

After what feels like hours, but couldn’t possibly be, we reach the tree line that surrounds the trailer park. Reality slaps me across the face.

As I take in the scene, my eyes swell with sorrow and my heart burns with rage. How do things just keep getting worse and worse? Haven’t I been through enough already?

Lawn chairs are strewn about the pathways. Porch railings lie splintered. A few of the trailers closest to the woods bear the brunt of fallen trees, their roofs slouching under the weight.

I stop in my tracks, raise both hands to my head and slowly turn from right to left, digesting the panoramic view. I can’t speak. I can’t express the emotions vying to escape my body. I feel battered, like one of the lawn ornaments destroyed during last night’s storm.

Aidan snaps me out of my stupor. “Quinn,” he says softly as he places a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s keep going.” I barely know him, but, once again, I’m thankful he’s here. I waft between feeling like I couldn’t do this alone to knowing that this is my problem and no one else’s to deal with. I force myself to pick one foot up and place it in front of the other. I focus on taking one step at a time, following the gravelly path toward Aunt Grace’s trailer.

The wooden steps have caved in on themselves. Aidan jumps up onto the porch and holds a hand out to help me up. Physically, I don’t need his help, but emotionally a feather could knock me down right now.

I gratefully take his hand and let him pull me up. The trailer’s door dangles on only its top hinges. Aidan steps in front of me and pushes the door aside. “Riley? You here?” His voice reminds me that I have one too. I push past him into the trailer.

“Riley!” I call. “Riley, we’re here. Where are you?” Aidan points to the bedroom Riley and I shared, “You check out that end and I’ll take the other end.” With that, we separate. My eyes scan the upturned end table and a floor lamp that lies sprawled across the living room. I step over fallen shelves and the old-fashioned trinkets that peered out from them for as long as I can remember.

I push the bedroom door open as I half-heartedly plea, “Riley?” I stop mid-step when a shadow dashes across the room toward the window.

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