“Ravynn,” he whispered. His voice was raw, full of a year’s worth of pain and loss.
Her image reappeared faintly, rippling through the water. She smiled at him. “Hello, Ray.” Her smile faded as quickly as it appeared.
“No,” was all he could manage as he shook his head back and forth. “No. This is crazy.”
“Listen, Ray. I don’t have much time. I am here. You are not crazy.” There was a determination in her voice that forced him to listen; a tone he’d known very well since they were kids.
“But how?”
Another flash of lightning streaked into the room, giving Ravynn’s visage a ghostly glow. A boom of thunder pulsed through the air, shaking the floor. Ravynn’s image faded, jostled by the storm, then reappeared.
“I can’t explain now,” Ravynn continued. “It’s all so much bigger than that.”
Ray was frantic. “Bigger than what?”
“The world is falling down, Ray---”
A knock on the other side of the bathroom door interrupted the conversation. “Ray, you okay? Did you call me?” Feet shuffled by the door. It was Elena, Ray’s wife.
Another clap of thunder rumbled through the house. The vibration pulsed through his body, or maybe, he thought, it was the chilly sense of foreboding in seeing his dead sister. He turned to reach for the door, to make sure it was locked.
Elena asked again, “Ray?”
The lock was on, much to his relief. He sighed and leaned into the door, body pressing against it. “Give me a few minutes, please.” The plea in his voice sounded too desperate, even to his own ears.
“Okay,” Elena replied.
Ray leaned his head against the door, waiting for footsteps move away. When he was sure she was gone, he went back to investigate the basin. Nothing. Nothing but water.
“I’m definitely losing my mind,” he said to the sink. He reached in and splashed chilly water on his face, hoping to wash it all away.
ON the other side of the bathroom door, Elena tried to talk herself out of her concern. It hadn’t always been this way. She used to be so laid back, stress free, carefree. Until Ray’s twin Ravynn died. Within an instant she went from being just a wife to being a mother to Ravynn’s six-year-old daughter Amelia. Not only had she become Amelia’s caregiver, but somehow, Ray’s too. Now she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, adrenals in a constant squeeze.
Not that marriage should be easy. It never was, but Elena had never bargained for this. A woman can only be pushed so far, can’t she? And pushed away. As Ray’s mental state worsened each day, Elena feared the rift between them would only grow larger and harder to mend. Sleep had been a problem for him that had worsened over the year, but now he was being secretive, hiding in a way. How many times had she heard him talking when no one was around lately? Was he going to end up like his father?
She backed away from the door as fears raced through her mind. So much more than grief, so much more than nightmares. He was talking to her. Ravynn.
Elena shuffled to the bedroom window and pushed the curtains aside. The backyard had become a pool, unable to soak up the heavy rains. The picnic table where they used to host so many BBQs had a puddle of water streaming underneath. Amelia’s swing-set had a swing rocking eerily back and forth with the wind, as if giving a ride to an invisible guest. Ray forgot to put the cover on the grill, again. She stared at the mess outside and couldn’t help but compare it to the mess inside their lives.
The chill deep inside her had burrowed its way in, like a vole digging down inside the earth, making a home. Over the past year, it had worked its way in, tunneling through her mind and body, taking up permanent residence. Ever since Ravynn died. Elena knew he talked to her, his dead sister. Like her ghost wouldn’t leave him alone. Not a ghost. He was losing his mind, Elena was certain.
A double flash of lightning chased her away from the window, pulling her from her thoughts. Thunder growled behind, loud and rolling, like an angry dog giving warning to a stranger.
Elena headed for the bedroom door, intent on checking in on Amelia, afraid the storm might have frightened her. She glanced at the clock by the bedside. 2:18 a.m. She sighed, knowing yet another night was passing without being able to sleep all the way through. She wondered how long she could maintain this level of sleeplessness before it started to affect her daily routines. Down the hall, she pushed the child’s partially opened door further and stuck her head inside. The glow coming off the bunny-shaped nightlight revealed Amelia with her eyes closed. She waited a moment longer to make sure the child was asleep, and Amelia rolled to face away from the door. The little girl let out a sigh and tucked her head into the blankets.
Satisfied, Elena backed into the hallway in tiny steps, careful to pull the door back to its prior position. A mumble escaped the child. Something about the sun? The words themselves meant nothing to Elena, yet they stuck with her as she headed back to her bedroom.
Back in their own bedroom, as she waited for Ray to come out of the bathroom, Elena climbed into bed, grabbed her glasses and her book, The Last Man off the nightstand. She flipped through the pages, unable to focus on the words, her eyes flitting over them again and again, forcing her to go back several times to re-read a passage.
The words didn’t have a chance to soak in as the bathroom door opened and Ray trudged through into the bedroom. Elena tried not to look at him, but she couldn’t help it. She dropped her book into her lap, tilted her head down and shifted her eyes up over the top of her glasses. Held her breath and waited for him to speak first.
Eluding eye contact, he said, “I’m beat.” The bed gave to his weight as he sat on his side. “I think I’ll sleep well, soon as my head hits the pillow.”
Elena tried to bite her tongue but couldn’t manage. “Who were you talking to in there, Ray?” She was pretty sure he’d been talking to Ravynn. But what information would he offer her? She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to challenge him.
He shrugged, finally facing her way. “Must have been the storm.” As he said it, he bit the inside of his cheek, like he was trying to hold the truth from sneaking out. Or like he had to chew on the answer a bit, roll it around in his mouth before finally spitting it out.
What a crappy poker player he’d make, Elena thought. What a tell. Always does that when he lies.
“Uh-huh,” she said instead.
He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Love you.” He flopped his head down on the pillow and said no more. Within seconds, he was asleep. Elena hoped and prayed it would stay that way, through the whole night.
RAY stands utterly still, not breathing, hypnotized by the foreboding, dark gray-blue mountainous mass in front of him. The sand pulls gently around his feet, like some master puppeteer is trying to pull the ground below him with invisible strings. The wet saltiness looms in the air above him. He knows something isn’t right, but his brain can’t process it all. The eerie silence is gone, chased away by the coming onslaught. His eardrums pulse with the deafening roar of what he now recognizes as a wall of water barreling toward him. His heart slams, too fast to count the beats, too fast to be safe. A sickness overcomes him as his stomach seizes. He’s sure he will vomit. At the same time, a warm stream slides down his pant leg.