Divine (18 page)

“Forgive your parents.” The shocking remark
snapped the heavy tension-filled room from sad to loathing. “They
can’t help that they’re jackasses.”

A half-crazed chuckled escaped her. She had
a choice to either laugh or go berserk. Leave it to Bebe to demand
such a request on her deathbed. If they hadn’t forced “do the right
thing” upon her since she was a toddler, and then behaved the
opposite, forgiveness might have rated high on her to-do list. “I
can’t believe you asked.”

“Can’t you?” Concern strengthened her tone.
“I hate conflict.”

Autumn did, too, but to make peace with her
parents? Such a stupid act that had landed them both in jail during
her last year of veterinary school…
Forget about it
! Her
thoughts tumbled to the incident that day, to what she had
visualized after hearing so many accounts of how her father and
mother ended their freedom. On her father’s way home from work, he
inadvertently cut off another driver. That driver took the act
personally and chased after him. Instead of heading to the nearby
sheriff’s office, where an officer could deal with the road-raged
man, Dad called Mom to bring him his truck. They met on the side of
the road at an intersection not heavily traveled. By the time he
climbed out of his vehicle to explain the situation to Mom, the
road-raged man arrived, yelling how he was going to kill Dad. The
man bolted out of his vehicle toward them. Dad snatched the gun
from the truck and shot him. Two hours later, the man died.

The decision to have Mom meet him with the
truck, carrying the firearm used in the shooting, provided the
evidence for the jury to declare him guilty of first-degree murder.
Mom went to jail as his accomplice. Their decisions left her
parentless and emotionally paralyzed. She managed to graduate vet
school with no ambition. Desire to achieve still hadn’t returned,
nor had she forgiven them. No matter how many letters they wrote or
voice mails they left, explaining how panic took over their
rationale, apologies fell on deaf ears, and she couldn’t shake the
betrayal. “I’ll give it a shot.”

“No, you won’t. God love you for saying so.”
Bebe snorted, a gasped followed, stilling Autumn’s heart. She
released her bracelet and clutched Bebe’s hand.

“I’m not going anywhere yet,” she wheezed.
“I have one more request.”

A rush of nerves hiccupped through her
veins. “Anything, you name it.”

“Go to Apple’s Peak, a mountain in Montana.”
Bebe’s words broke off as she smacked her lips together. Autumn
grabbed a cup filled with water and brought the straw to Bebe’s
mouth. After a few pulls, she pushed it away. “The Leviathan
Rainbow,” Bebe continued. Leviathan meant powerful and strong. For
the last few weeks, she had regaled Autumn with stories about this
rainbow, but her internet searches came up empty. “Go there for
me.”

Autumn dropped her chin to her chest and
squeezed her eyes. She would do anything for her friend, but some
mountains possessed more tricks than a magician’s bag.

“Will you do it, Autumn Pearl?” A cool hand
touched her. “Will you engage in life?”

She loved when Bebe called her Pearl. It
took the edge off the dead-on, sensitive question. Ever since
moving into the trailer, she had skipped out on life and lived
Bebe’s.

“If you don’t grasp the bull by the horns,
then you’ll never find yourself.”

Thinking about how she completed veterinary
school without searching for a job sickened her. “How does hiking a
mountain help?”

“Take my word for it. Hike to the rainbow I
dreamed of seeing, and you’ll find your way. You’ve been taking
care of my withered old body for far too long. I’ve loved every
minute of it.” Bebe set her hand on Autumn’s cheek. “I admire and
appreciate you.”

Even dying, Bebe put her first. “There’s
nothing to admire. I don’t have a job, disappointed my imprisoned
parents, and live off the land whenever I can. What’s to like?”

The corner of Bebe’s mouth twitched. “Autumn
Pearl, you have balls!” She spoke with such energy she coughed.

Autumn lifted the water toward her, and Bebe
shook her head. “Find your destiny,” Bebe said, her voice becoming
hoarse again. “In everything I am, in everything I’ve been, I feel
your life will start when you hike the mountain.”

Autumn didn’t feel it at all. For someone so
in tune with nature, animals, and other people, she stunk at
knowing what she needed or wanted. She had been taught since
elementary school to do the right thing, be respectful, and strive
for the best grades. Then to have the very people who enforced
these values to go to jail, for something as stupid as road rage,
knocked her off-kilter. “Apple’s Peak is on the other side of the
world.”

Bebe gave a slight laugh, her strength
depleting even more.

She knew this day would come, but she hadn’t
faced the terminal outcome until a week ago. A lost, empty feeling
filled her that she didn’t know how to handle it.

“Montana isn’t far from upstate New
York.”

“Might as well be.” Autumn bit her bottom
lip to stop from arguing and said, “I’ll try.”

“Give me a hug, sweet girl, my Autumn Pearl,
and promise me you’ll leave as soon as possible.”

Emotions rushed forward. Her visions twisted
and contorted as if she viewed her dear friend through a prism. She
hugged Bebe, wanting to hold her tight, to reassure her everything
would be okay by saying this was temporary. They’d already gone
through too many setbacks for Bebe not to know the difference.
“After I take care of everything.” The idea of arranging the
funeral clogged her throat. How would she get through this?

“No! Today! Go Today.” Her voice came out in
a strong burst. “I’ve taken care of everything. You can’t
stay.”

Bebe’s demand came from love and
understanding. Staying in the trailer would end with Autumn
miserable and lonely.

A cold hand touched her back. “Don’t forget
me,” Bebe whispered.

“How could I?” she muttered, the lump in her
throat growing at a fast rate.

Bebe’s slight grasp relaxed. “When you find
the Leviathan Rainbow, you’ll find your destiny.” A gurgling sound
escaped her.

The death rattle.

Autumn laced her fingers with Bebe’s and
with the other hand rubbed her forehead, petting her as she would a
hurt kitten.

Another gurgling sound.

“Oh, God, no. No! Don’t take her from me.
Please,” she sobbed. Pain sliced through her with the severity of a
sword thrusting into her and twisting. “I love you, Bebe.”

“Autumn Pearl, I love–” Bebe’s voice
drifted. “—you.”

A gasp coincided with a horrific strangling
noise then silence.

Like a dam breaking open, Autumn's tears
fell. She couldn’t stop them. She couldn’t stop anything. The years
she’d trained to care for animals and to give medical attention;
none of her education helped her best friend’s worn out heart. The
walls of the trailer closed in, a weight pressed on her chest, and
sweat broke out across her skin.
I have to get out of
here.

She darted out the door and practically
jumped the few steps to the small gravel road. Hands on her hips,
she sucked in the scent of the passing rain and stared at the
setting sun that appeared from behind gray clouds. Brilliant rays
of orange and yellow glistened off the colorful foliage. Cotton
candy sky, Bebe called it.

The ending of a day. The ending of a
life.

A gush of wind touched her exposed skin that
her tank top and shorts didn’t cover. The aroma of steaks grilling
made her stomach growl, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since early
this morning.

She tuned out the birds singing and
squirrels scampering amongst the leaves. Like a relentless
jackhammer pounding in her head, she concentrated on Bebe’s words.
Head to Montana, climb Apple’s Peak, find yourself, and find your
destiny. Traveling alone with no plan wasn’t anything new. She
backpacked from Georgia to New York with no problem, but this time
she carried the sensation that Bebe’s prediction would end up true.
The idea that she’d find an unknown something or someone terrified
her.

A siren blew.

She smacked her chest and stumbled out of
the way of the red Emergency Medical Service truck. An ambulance
followed the red lights flashing in the gravel driveway.

Pete Doyle climbed out from behind the wheel
of the truck. “Sorry, Autumn,”

His easy smile and sincere eyes comforted
her. “The monitor told you?” She let out a shaky breath to calm her
racing pulse and push away the agony ripping out her heart.

“It did,” he said, his tone and face as
tight as hers. He pulled her into a hug. The same way he had
whenever they talked about Bebe’s condition. He’d lost his father
not long ago. Because of that, he considered them kindred
spirits.

Pete’s brother, Phil, almost identical with
dark eyes and hair, also wore the matching EMT clothes of charcoal
gray. He approached from the passenger side of the truck. “Would
you like to see her before they go inside?” He pointed at the
ambulance parked next to his truck and the two people walking
toward the back.

No way would she go inside the trailer with
Bebe’s lifeless body. Even the thought of retrieving her ferret and
her belongings turned her stomach. “No, thank you.”

On Phil’s nod, two EMTs opened the ambulance
doors and latched onto the opposite ends of the small hard mattress
that would take her friend out of the trailer and out of her life.
A moment later, they disappeared through the front door.

“Do you have plans to hang around?” Pete
grabbed her hand and led her away from the front of the trailer.
Phil followed.

She appreciated the brothers’ attempt to
distract her from the goings-on inside. Still, the heaviness
weighed on her as if parallel jaws clamped on her chest.

“I know how restless you get,” he added.

The brothers knew her well. Over drinks,
they’d discussed her struggle with running when life grew sad, yet
she stayed for Bebe. The whistle of an engine drew her attention to
the sky. A small plane with a white and red belly flew overhead.
Maybe she should go. Find a pilot who’d give her a free ride and do
what Bebe requested. “Where’s an airport?”

“Travis,” Phil eyed the plane disappearing
over the top of the trees. “He doesn’t hold-over long.”

“Travis?”

“Yeah,” Phil continued. “He’s the search and
rescue pilot we’ve mentioned.”

The guy they thought could do no wrong.

“I think he’s hanging it up to move to
Montana with his brother.” Pete’s eyes grew intense, studying her.
“Where are you headed?”

She didn’t want to confide her dear friend’s
wishes and went for a lackadaisical tone as the thought of Bebe
felt like sandpaper scraping across her heart. “Montana works.”

A scuffling noise came from inside the
trailer. Phil stepped in between her and the house, blocking her
view. “Travis hangs out at the airport’s restaurant when he’s in
town. When I get to work, I’ll ask if he’s able to give you a
ride.”

The idea of a quiet, empty trailer sent a
shiver down her spine. “I can’t stay here,” she muttered more to
herself than them. “Thank you.”

“Understandable,” Pete said. “I imagine
you’re tired. There’s a hotel at the airport. It’s not much, but it
has a bed and is clean. Or would you rather hang out with me until
I finish my shift?”

Hope shined in his eyes. Pete was sweet, but
she needed time to herself. Time to get a handle on her rocky
nerves. Fatigue had a lot to do with it. She hadn’t slept in days.
But being in a confined room or the inside of a vehicle, for who
knew how long, with the walls enclosing on her and the silence, the
loneliness... Pete would be great company, but hanging out would
give him the wrong idea. “Ah, no thank you.” She and Hopper would
stay outdoors and let the insect noises and animal calls keep them
company. “I have it covered.”

The front door opened, and the scratching
noise of the gurney rolling across the gravel echoed through her in
a way nails did on a chalkboard.

Heat flooded her like a bucket of hot water,
the hair on the nape of her neck stiffened, and sweat soaked her
armpits. She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t deal with seeing Bebe’s
sheet-covered form. Not having her friend gaze back unsettled her
in an indescribable way. Panic clenched her gut. The brothers must
have realized her nervousness since they flanked her sides.

Boots crunched on the gravel. The ambulance
doors closed, and the EMTs climbed inside the cab. In a daze, she
thought out what would transpire in the next few days—making
arrangements, going to the funeral.
Oh jeez,
she didn’t
think she could handle the pain. “I have to…”
Run!

“I’m taking care of the funeral
arrangements.” Pete studied her. Bebe mentioned that she’d taken
care of the arrangements. “She asked you?”

“Yes.” He kissed her cheek. “I’ll come back
soon.” With that, Pete and Phil climbed into the cab and drove
off.

A long time after the ambulance and the
truck had disappeared, she turned to face the trailer. Hopper stood
on his hind legs, his front paws on the screen, and his nose and
mouth twitching. Dark coloring outlined his beady eyes, like a
mask, yet didn’t hide his sadness. She opened the door a fraction.
He darted out and clawed at her leg. She picked him up and headed
for the woods.

****

Travis Carson tapped the gas gauge. The
needle jumped from E to F. The Cessna he bought last week off a
friend, who decided to downsize from a nine-passenger aircraft to a
six, was a sweet deal. With a few cosmetic repairs, like new flight
instruments, the plane would be ready for scenic tours.

“Hey, man!” called Allen Brooks, the owner
of the airport and surrounding businesses. “You’re seriously giving
up Search and Rescue?”