Page 24 of Anchored to the Storm

The memory of that night had my stomach threatening to⁠—

“Surprise,” Harmony tried to be cheerful, but the celebration expired in her throat. With her hand in the air to show us our gift, she observed five very gloomy faces staring at the much older red jeep. It was metal. Not fiberglass. And it had a roll bar… This ancient tank looked like it was an everlasting Tonka toy from the seventies.

The sun was setting behind Dale as he rested a hand on the hood, his expression full of sorrow since this wasn’t a happy moment. With hopelessness, he shrugged while telling us, “We thought you could come up with a name, like you did, uh… yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

I couldn’t move. Nothing about a new ride could spur me into joy. The reason we needed it was far too tragic. But for the lovable foster parents who refused to give up on us, I numbly named it: “Indestructible Tonka.”

Dale gazed at us, desperation present.

Damn, these two humans loved us dearly.

After a silent moment that seemed to linger, shoulders began to shrug as heads nodded in forlorn approval. Nothing had been indestructible for Caleb.

“Thank you,” Finn finally said, for all of us. He sounded one decimal above monotone. “We are grateful. Promise.”

Harmony held her chest with both hands, nodding. “We know it’s very soon to replace a vehicle, but this ‘flu’ you all have had can only buy you so much time away from school.”

I dreaded that truth.

Finn was attending college on a baseball scholarship yet wasn’t on any field since Caleb’s passing. Nor were any of us attending school. This pace couldn’t last, not for a bunch of foster kids. Harmony was correct. Alarm bells would ring soon.

Kristen must be working like mad to buy us more time. My head dropped. Kristen had looked so guilty when Johnny left this morning. Jesus. We haven’t even survived a full day yet.

Gage exhaled, almost begging while asking, “Please, just a little more time?” He shook his head. “Being in a car is the last place I want to be right now.”

I felt exactly the same. I felt like I was stuck in a car, driving across the world.

Plus, I simply didn’t know how to return to school and face peers all asking which new school Caleb had been transferred to. There was a possibility I would throttle them. Not fair, since they had no idea he was attending Heaven’s classroom now.

Luckily, Dale and Harmony gave us the time we asked for. The next whole day we slept, all having dreams of peculiar things like streetlights, traffic signs, dashboard lights, the smell of bleach, fast food meals, and growing legs that kept wanting to cramp up due to being stuck in a car for too long. And a cloaked man, but all we could see was his grey goatee blowing in the wind that didn’t exist.

Huddled in Finn’s room, we stared at our blood oath hands. “This has to be the why of it,” Finn insisted.

There was no arguing it. We were somehow linked. To what? We had no idea at this point.

Gage asked, “Is anyone feeling sick or… odd?”

Heads shook no because, other than some serious paranormal shit going down, we had no supernatural ailments.

I admitted, while grabbing my stomach, “Unsettled. Agitated… inside.” Then I looked around at my fellow fosters, hoping I wasn’t the only one.

Shoulders relaxed in a way that screamed a pathetic Oh, I’m so glad it’s not just me.

That night, maybe from sleeping all day or being scared of the unknown, I was restless, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Or maybe it was the weird as fuck dream I’d just had. From some sort of bridge I’d never seen, I’d been falling toward water, but in slow motion. On the way down, the same figure, with a grey goatee, in a dark cloak, was standing in a wooden John boat, rowing his way past where I was going to land. As he disappeared into a mist to my left, I crashed into an ocean. And even though I’m normally buoyant in water, I kept falling, except now I was looking up instead of down, desperate for the surface that kept getting farther away.

While in the dream, my heart pounded as my lungs tightened, so hungry to inhale. Next thing I knew, I woke up, feeling as though I was choking on water that didn’t exist.

Plus, now I had an overwhelmingly strong urge to find someone. Sarah?

I knew I cared for Sarah more than I was supposed to, but she was literally in the same hallway as me. Why was I so damn worried about her? Instead of rushing to her side, I decided to check on all the fellow fosters so that I wasn’t Sarah’s stalker, alone. Yes, stalk them all to cover how much you want her. At all times. Fucking idiot.

Gage was safely sleeping in our room as I left to check on Sebastian first. As quietly as possible, I opened his door. He was sleeping, but a phantom knife stabbed me in the fucking chest when I witnessed half his arm hanging off the side of the bed, his hand opening and fingers stretching as if trying to reach something.

I prayed Blue would use her wings and come down to hold it. I wish I could put her back in your arms, brother.

As I shut the door, he mumbled, “Zero-four-nine-nine.” Huh?

Next, I quietly opened Finn’s door. There was a day this would’ve sent him over the edge, me not having permission to enter, but Finn had changed. He was a part of us now. I was thankful. Johnny made that happen.