𝐅𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 828 || 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒

𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 || 𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬. 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫

"cmon mick! seriously?" ben yelled, laughing. mick was cheating at monopoly, again. "you know it!" she said, putting her fake dollars into her pile.

you and cal looked at each other and laughed. he slid his hand into yours under the table. he rolled the dice and moved his piece.

"zeke! don't you see this!" you say, holding in a laugh yourself, pointing at mick's cheating.

"hey! the girls got technique, that's all i'm saying." zeke replies, holding his hands up in self-defense. a round of laughs and chuckles flew their way around the table as saanvi moved her own monopoly piece.

everyone continued playing the game, some people stealing a few more dollars than they should in monopoly. everything was going good until suddenly a sharp pain surges to your head.

you let out a small yelp in pain and clutch your hand to your forehead. it was a calling. flashing images of a creek upstate flashed through your mind. it was the same area we found zeke.

cal quickly held you up to prevent you from falling as you stood up. everyone looked at you and asked questions like "are you okay?" and "what happened?"

"it was a calling. some images of a river upstate. i think it's for zeke. it's the same area. drive me, zeke?" you say, slowing letting your hand down from your forehead as the pain disolved.

"uh- yeah." he said, standing up and grabbing his keys. his hands were shaking quite a bit. it occurred to you that this area was the same as where chloe's memorial was. he hadn't visited it since the day he met mick.

"i'm coming too. there's no way i'm letting you solve this on your own." cal said, pulling you into a hug from behind, and resting his head on your shoulder.

"sounds like a plan." zeke says smiling. you lock eyes with him. he knew you understood. you gave him a reassuring smile. he returned the gesture with a gentle nod of his head.

the three of you climbed into zeke's car. cal laid down in the backseat, as you messed around with zeke's radio.

"hey! that was a good song!" zeke said, trying to switch the channel back.

"yeah, back in 2018, zeke. music changes a lot when you go missing in a cave for a year." you reply, jokingly, changing the station back to the one you had liked.

zeke nodded his head in amusing disbelief. there was still a wide smile across his face. both of you knew this calling had something to do with chloe, but you knew he'd be okay.

cal reached his hand from the backseat up onto the center console to hold yours. you intertwined your fingers with him, rubbing a gentle thumb over the back of his palm.

as you arrived upstate, you and zeke shared a glance. you both knew you needed to go to the creek closest to chloe's memorial. the callings had a funny way of the passengers, as well of zeke, to communicate with each other. no words needed to be shared, just a simple glance.

zeke pulled over alongside the river, it was dark out and clearly no one else was out hiking these parts at this time of night.

cal climbed out first and opened the passenger side door for you, holding your hand and making sure you didn't trip on any loose rocks or gravel. he got it from both his parents. his kindess and thoughtfullness for others. zeke always said how proud he was of cal, especially knowing he lost 5 years of his childhood.

you looked up the creek, exactly where you saw your calling. there it was, clear as day. chloe's memorial. you looked over and zeke and he was tearing up at the sight.

"the calling was for you zeke, i think it's chloe saying hi, she wanted you to come pay her a visit." you gave him a sad smile, tears were slipping from your own eyes.

"hi chloe." he choked up on his words. "i miss you, so much. i'm sorry i don't come to visit more." he said, tears were falling down his cheeks.

cal held you in his arms as the two of you watched zeke talk to his baby sister. both of you looked at each other, knowing that for this lifeboat to stay afloat, you would need to solve as many callings as possible.

to the two of you, callings like these proved that there must be an afterlife or a higher power, and there was something beautiful on the other side.