Page 16 of All the way home

It’s easy to picture them all sitting around the kitchen table within elbow’s reach, having the conversation by text at the same time they’re having it out loud.

A begrudging smile defrosts the edges of his anxiety. His mom especially likes to tell Dad her jokes before she sends them.

Four months had seemed like an eternity at the front end of the semester. Really, the time had skipped past, but now that he’s on the other side, it feels like it’s been a thousand years since he’s stepped through the front door and been immediately accosted by his mom waving a stick of camphor incense at him.

The relentless snow has obscured everything past the windowpane, a shocking white void looming behind the frosted edges of the glass.

Zach lets out a huff and rubs at the knot in his neck. It’s hard to imagine this kind of blizzard dispelling at all, let alone by 2:30.

If his mom were here, she would tell him to manifest it. She’s good at believing things into existence.

But she’s not here, so Zach is going to have to do it himself.

Staring out at the snow, he thinks firmly, It’s going to stop snowing. I’m going to get home on time and see the meteor shower and everything will be fine.

Carefully, so he doesn’t deepen the creases in the cover, Zach pulls out his book.

It’s more than a little worse for wear, with its cracked spine and worn pages. It had been Anwen’s first, and then Tove’s—who’d taken her sweet time with it—before he’d finally gotten his hands on it over the summer. He’d meant to read it all semester, but it had just sat on the edge of his desk for weeks, taunting him.

Well, he’s going to read it now.

Instead, Mara texts again.

hello loren

security??

i’m actively developing an ulcer

STOP I’ll be back in like 6 hours

and yes i made it through security

you want the bad news or no

there’s bad news??

someone stole my carry-on

EXCUSE me??

they’ll mail it to me if they find it

IF they find it??

loren how are you not dead in a pile

like on the ground

how are you being chill

oh believe me i’m not being chill

are you at the gate yet

yeah

and i forgot my fucking headphones life is terrible