The Waiting by Hunter Shea

can to keep her from slipping away.” She felt hot tears well in the corners of her eyes.
    Brian looked angry, but not at her.  
    “None of this seems real,” he said. “A part of me keeps saying it can’t be real. I know that’s just wishful thinking.”  
    “Don’t let her go, Brian. When the time comes, bring her back to you.”
    She left him sitting on the bed with his wife, his fingers entwined with hers.  
    When she was back in her car, her body shook with chills and her teeth chattered so hard they hurt. She’d told Brian she would be back tomorrow. She prayed they would get through the night.
     
     
    The rain came first. The skies went from sunny to pitch black in minutes. Rain lashed against the house in driving buckets.  
    “Alice, we have to talk.”
    Brian called her into the bedroom. He sat at the foot of Cassandra’s hospital bed. Alice looked worried.  
    “There’s something I need to tell you.”  
    He tried not to sound as bone weary as he felt. If he had to be strong tonight, he would be. And so would his MIL.  
    He told her about Edith slipping the articles in his coat and gave them to her. There were tears in her eyes as she read them. He told her what Louisa had said, and how the boy would try to take her from them to ease her suffering, just as he did to his mother.  
    “She said that because he had killed his mother, even though it was an accident, he could never be with her in the afterlife. He thinks Cassandra is his second chance. We can’t let that happen.”
    “What do we do?”
    “We keep Cassandra grounded, here. It’s all we can do.”
    The house’s frame popped as a gust of wind slammed into it. They heard the thunk of lawn chairs that had been left unsecured, scattering between narrow alleys.  
    Brian said, “We’ll eat in here and make sure she’s never alone. We need to keep our strength up and keep talking to her. That sound like a plan?”
    Alice nodded. “I have to go upstairs and get my Bible. I’ll come back with dinner.”
    Brian heard her sneakers thump up the stairs, and the storm rattled the window.  
    He wrapped his hands around Cassandra’s. “I’m with you, baby. It’s Brian. You stay with me, you hear? Just stay with my voice. If you do, I promise to take you to Aruba when this is done. Palm trees, fruity drinks, walks in the sand, you name it. Just…just stay with me.”

Chapter Twenty-Four
    Brian forced himself to eat some sausage and peppers, along with a side of pasta and a salad. He noticed Alice tuck more into her dinner, too. They were both preparing.  
    The news said the hurricane was expected to hit the Bronx in an hour. It was almost nine o’clock. They had spent the entire day waiting for two forces of nature; one outside, and one inside.  
    Howling winds shook the house. So much rain had already fallen, the unfinished basement was beginning to flood. That was the least of his concerns.  
    At one point, the blinds shook, making him go rigid with anticipation.  
    “It could be the wind,” Alice said, her finger keeping her place in her leather-bound Bible.  
    “Yeah, it could be.”
    The local meteorologist was about to tell them when the storm would pass when the TV winked out. A sharp crack hit the shingles outside.  
    Brian pulled the blinds back to look but it was too dark, the rain smearing the window, distorting the view. “Well, there goes the cable line. Wind must have snapped it off.”
    Alice turned the knob on the battery-powered radio she’d brought into the room. The news blared to life.  
    “I prefer the radio, anyway,” she said.  
    The storm shrieked and the house shook like it was caught in a minor earthquake. Brian watched the IV pole shimmy with the vibration. “You’re missing a heck of a storm,” he said to Cassandra. “I know how much you love the rain, especially at night, but this one’s off the charts. I really wish you’d open your eyes so you can see it, too.”
    He kept urging her