ShutterSpeed EBook1 by Michael Gullikson

Author:Michael Gullikson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lost

Carson paid closer attention to his driving, this time. He knew how much Beau loved his Humvee. More important still, was that Beau's truck was the only way they could even move around the island, during the hurricane.

The big vehicle fit Beau fine, but Carson sat, like a little kid, in the immense space of the driver's seat. He couldn't lean back all the way and still reach the pedals. He doubted that Darlene even noticed. Bob Marley, or Jimmy Cliff, continued to sing happy songs on the radio.

"I'm sorry, Carson," she said. It was quiet and sincere.

"For what?"

"For those things I said. It was mean, but I was feeling mean." She turned to look at the black pane of the passenger's window. The light from inside the truck was there with her own ghostly reflection. "Now, I just feel cold, deep down inside. I don't understand it."

"Just hang in there, Baby. This story has a happy ending."

She continued staring at nothing. "You think so?"

"I know it."

"Yeah? How's that?"

"It only makes sense. Didn't you listen to Beau? No fishermen would go out to kidnap our daughter. There are plenty of people, though, who would try to help. That's all this is, you'll see."

"I never knew a person could feel so dead inside and still be alive, Carson. I think I'm dying."

"You're not dying, Darlene. It's shock. You'll be fine. We'll get Grace back and we'll be fine."

"Hah!" Darlene barked out, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "Get Grace back? You ever think you'd hear those words? Huh? I'll be fine? Sure, I'll be fine. I'll be dead, if we don't get her."

"Come on, now." Carson pulled into the driveway and aimed all the lights at the big, blue house. He wished that he'd listened to Kenny-Ray, or that big constable, and gotten off the island. It was too late for that, now.

Up toward the front of the house, near the stairs, the black beach seemed to dance before the dune. Carson grabbed Beau's flashlight from the center console and got out. Darlene met him at the front of the Humvee.

"Tuck your hand down inside the back of my pants!" he hollered. "Grab my belt, till we get inside! Hold on tight, okay?!" Darlene nodded. Her gaunt face strained and was filled with sorrow. He had used the word, "shock," on the drive over, but was now just beginning to believe it.

Carson leaned into the wind, behind the big Maglite, and pressed toward the stairs. Darlene didn't drag at all. If anything, she pushed him further into the storm. When they got there, the waves were washing up to the lowest tread.

That was why the beach looked like it was moving; the beach was gone. The high dune that separated the house from the ocean would just be an island, now. He wondered what it looked like and then, immediately, felt a sense of relief that he couldn't actually see the work of this wicked storm.

Carson turned up the stairs, toward the top of the deck, and considered how far distant the ocean had seemed, earlier that day.

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