Page 140 of Other Side Of Never
The realization poured over me like the shock of a bucket of icy water.
“She’s at Wildflower Bluffs,” I told him.
He hung up the phone and cursed.
I walked closer.“She’s at Wildflower Bluffs, Daire.She’s at the bluffs.”
“Fuck!”he exclaimed, his hands rolling into fists.
Frustration boiled over.“The bluffs!She’s at the mother-fucking bluffs!C’mon, man!You know where she goes when she’s hurting.Follow the beach to Wildflower Bluffs.”
I watched with relief as something in his eyes settled.“Yes,” I nodded.“That’s it.She needs you.”
Like whiplash, I was back on the trail with Harley, passing The Lookout and the bench where we engraved our names so many years before.
“We had fun, didn’t we, Harley?”I murmured.“We were a bit naughty, but harmless.”
Harley’s stance was stiff and unyielding, yet brittle.As if she was held together with nothing more than spit and sticky tape.
Finally, we reached The Point, a rocky plateau strewn with a smattering of trees, wide open to the elements, and well beyond the safer confines of The Lookout where most people stopped.
I stood close beside her.“You always astounded me, Harley.So small, so fierce.You were an unstoppable force.”I swallowed.“I am so proud to be your big brother.Remember we used to come up here and scream into the wind?”
I did it more than she did.There were times, God, terrible times I believed my brain would split in two.I came up here, let that energy out, and returned more whole.
“Want me to scream with you?”
Harley’s pretty face twisted into a grimace as she pushed the heels of her palms into her eyes.Her breath huffed in and out in little gasps.
“It’s okay, Harley,” I whispered.“Everything is okay.”
An agonized inhuman bark burst from her throat.
“That’s right, Harley,” I urged.“Let it out.”
“Oh, God,” she gasped.“Hunter,” she rasped, the wind stealing her voice.
She sobbed and rolled her little hands into fists.
“I’m here,” I answered, pressing my forehead to hers.
She gulped, her breath heaving in and out, though her voice failed.“Hunter.”
“I’m here, Harley,” I chanted.“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here.”
Here where we stole away when the world became too much for me.When I needed rest.When I needed to yell and scream and release the cauldron of energy that forever boiled beneath my skin.
Here where the wind would carry it all away.
“Hunter,” she sobbed.
“I’m so sorry, Harley,” I choked.
Voice choked with grief, she said, “Hunter, I miss you so much.”
My chest heaved.
I lifted my face to the wind.
