The Journal

Chapter Eight

Daniel rapidly shifted from that of surprise to being dumbfounded.

"How did you know Grace was on the news again? I was just coming out to tell you."

This time it was Brooke who began to look confused.

"No, not on the news, on the phone! She called me. That's what the crazy number was. She was calling from a satellite phone. She said she's in Texas and getting on a plane and heading back here!" Brooke shouted as she pushed past Daniel back into the cabin. Daniel closed the door and spun around to follow Brooke into the kitchen.

"Well, what else did she say? How'd she get to Texas? Did she say what happened to Adam or Mr. Collins, or what happened in general? What happened t—" Daniel's rapid-fire questioning was silenced by Brooke throwing her hand up in front of his face as she pinched her thumb and pointer finger together, accompanied by a hardened expression that conveyed a 'quit flapping your lips so I can tell you' look.

"All she said was she is on a plane headed back here, and she would land in a few hours. Beyond that, she said she wanted to come here mostly because she needed somebody to talk with and didn't know who else to turn to." Brooke finished her explanation with a roll of her wrist, implying she had released all the information she held.

"So, are you going to go pick her up from the airport or something?" Daniel questioned, brushing Brooke's sassy attitude aside.

"Well, yes, but would it be okay if we stayed here tonight? Grace said she wanted to come here." Brooke asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I don't mind, but first off, why would she want to come here in general? Not just to my house, but back to North Carolina? I thought Adam mentioned she lived out west in the desert or something? Doesn't she want to go to her actual home?" Brooke tried not to become aggravated after a second assault of questions she couldn't answer.

"Well, that was the whole thing... She said she needed to come here specifically." Brook lowered her head and looked away from Daniel, obviously hesitant to continue.

"But why here? I don't understand!" Daniel asked, becoming agitated.

"To... to see Adam's stuff..." Brooke trailed off, briefly entertaining the worst-case scenario inside her own head despite her usual optimistic view.

"But why?" Daniel asked angrily, raising his voice. "Is he dead? Did he even make it off the boat? What HAPPENED?"

"I don't KNOW!" Brooke shouted back, beginning to tear up. Daniel suddenly realized he had pushed past a line in the sand and quickly changed his demeanor.

"I'm sorry, Brooke. I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just so worried about Adam, and just the fact that I feel like every update is still holding something back, and I don't have even half of the full story, it's so frustrating! I need to know what happened to my friend." Daniel finished his apology by placing both hands on Brooke's shoulders before reiterating, "I really am sorry, Brooke. I know I kind of lost it there, and I feel terrible for making you cry." Daniel's apology was genuine and sincere.

"It's alright, Daniel. I just don't know any more than you do and wish I could answer your questions. I feel so relieved that Grace is okay, but I'm sure you're only more worried since Adam hasn't showed up." Brooke finished by wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Well, I'll stop asking questions before curiosity kills the cat, and when I say curiosity, I mean you, beating me up for being so rude."

Despite the situation, Brooke laughed at Daniel's joke, obviously meant to cheer her up and simmer down the heated conversation. She wiped the last tear from her eye and ran her fingers through her thick purple hair, tousling it, making it more hectic than it was before.

"The airport is almost an hour away, so we have a little bit before we have to leave." Brooke ended her sentence acting as if there was more to say.

"I was just about to make some dinner if you want some?" Daniel offered.

"I'd like that, Daniel." Brooke answered, sniffling.

While Daniel cooked dinner, Brooke again went over the brief conversation she had with Grace. Brooke confirmed, once again, that she received no further knowledge about the events that had transpired over the last forty-eight hours besides the fact that Grace was on a plane headed back to North Carolina.

"She didn't mention anything, but something must've happened. Something bad, and she saw it, guaranteed, she just didn't want to say it over the phone, or someone was close who she didn't trust to say it near. I could tell by the way she talked." Brooke added, squinting her eyes slightly and nodding to herself, remembering her conversation with Grace.

Daniel stifled his curiosity for the time being and replied to Brooke with the best answer he could muster.

"We won't know anything for sure until we pick her up, and maybe not even then. She went through a traumatic experience and may not be able to talk about it yet." Although Daniel wanted answers, he realized Grace might be emotionally unable to recount the possibly horrific events that had transpired.

"Yeah, you're right." Brooke agreed. "I want to know what happened, but I don't want to bombard Grace with stressful questions! She's been through enough. She could've died out there!" Brooke emphasized.

"That's what worries me..." Daniel said under his breath beyond the vicinity of Brooke's earshot.

By the time Brooke had finished eating, Daniel partially cleaned up the mess he had created making dinner and saved a container full of leftovers for Grace.

"Let's get going," Brooke interjected. "Grace will be landing in an hour, and I want to be there waiting for her when she gets off the plane."

Daniel answered Brooke's request by grabbing his keys and shaking them enticingly toward her.

"Let's go rescue your friend!" Daniel declared heroically, like a knight preparing to save a damsel in distress. They both ran out the door, and for the third time today, Daniel left the house, forgetting to power down the television. A quick relapse of the North Carolina college student rescued from the oceans off the southern tip of the Americas led to another update from South America that once again went unheard in the vacant cabin.

"In further updates from South America, A strange medical emergency seems to be spreading rapidly throughout the population in the most southern reaches of the Americas. Numerous reports from Chile and neighboring Argentina recount an illness that is unable to be identified or categorized at this present moment. Witnesses say that all who have happened to contract the illness, numbering in the dozens, have fallen ill, but as of the latest reports, all those affected are expected to make full recoveries. The unexplainable illness has been confirmed as confined to just a handful of small towns in the furthest tip of the populated southern hemisphere."