lantern in the Blizzard

Chapter 7

I sprinted my way back up the stairs, threw myself onto my once was perfectly made bed, and metaphorically drowned in my own tears. I cry for what seems like an eternity. It starts to get dark outside, then a pair of headlights illuminate my bedroom. Stumbling, i make my way to the window and see Riker's 1967 Purple-almost-black Ford Falcon parking next to my mom's silver Cadillac. Before i even comprehend my surroundings, i find myself across the hall, down the back stairs and into Riker's comforting embrace.

"Riker! Mom, Dad, they..they..-"

I need oxygen...badly.

"Katy! Calm down. What about Mom and Dad?"

I drifted off into my own memories. Dad had driven five hours to take Riker and I fishing. The small paddle boat had flipped over. At that point I was much smaller than most six year olds and living in the midwest, I hadn't learned to swim. My life jacket had slipped off of me and I began to struggle for air as i descended into the freezing waters. My vision starts to fade, until it goes totally dark, then blindly I feel an intense heat surround my body and a set of arms embrace me, and pull me towards the surface. Oxygen tries to find its way into my lungs as the water tries to fight its way out. Still partially blinded I feel myself being dragged against the current to the river bank. When I finally recover my vision I am in the back seat of my dad's SUV wrapped in a blanket and Riker sacrificing heat from himself to keep me warm. I peered into his hazel eyes and spit out three words before falling asleep do to exhaustion: you saved me. Then another memory. The fire cracked out of control spinning, growing, consuming, an explosion. A scream. My scream "RIKER!!!!!"

"-ty! Katy! Wake up! Tell me what's going on with Mom and Dad."

"Oh. Riker I'm sorry I..i..i..was getting lost in my memories. The fishing trip, the boat, the incident, you i..i..i..i-"

"Katy, its okay. You're safe now. I'm safe too. Everything's Going to be okay. Now lets go inside and talk. Its getting cold out here. We can go in the back way. That way we don't have to talk to Mom yet. Is that fine with you?"

"yeah- I mean yes. Nevermind. Lets just go inside."

Riker leads the way up the stairs and into his bedroom. The alternating dark blue/light blue walls and the matching sports themed bed set decreases my worry significantly by the second. Enabling me to become more aware of what's going on around me and not slip into my memories again. Riker takes a seat in his office chair and motions for me to sit on his bed. I shuffle around on his bed trying to get comfortable

"Katy-Kat, what's going on why are you so so..uh..distraught?"

"Riker, I told you to stop calling me that. Honestly, you're the only person that I call me Katy at all."

"Sorry Katy, or should I call you Katherine?"

"Riker, don't you dare call me Katherine, but i don't care if you call me Katy."

"Okay, i won't call you Katherine. Now what's been bothering you?"

"Mom and Dad are getting.....divorced?"

"What? No they can't get divorced. This isn't happening. Katy, what are we going to do? You're going to high school next year and I'm going to college. Come on Katy let's go."

"Where are we going?"

Riker gets up, grabs my arm, pulls me off his bed, and out into the hallway. Riker stops then kneels down, and motions for me to get on his back. Hesitantly I let Riker carry me. It's been about four years since he's given me a piggyback ride, but I am smaller than most girls my age and Riker is stronger than most guys his age. Riker starts moving towards the door. Right as he touches the doorknob my Moms voice travels through the air.

"Hey Rikes, Andi, what do you two want from the Chinese place?"

"uh," Riker replies, "I was going to take Katy out to eat to make up for not being home when she got here. If thats okay with you, Mom."

"Yeah, I guess that's okay. Just don't stay out too late. And wear a jacket, its getting chilly outside.....oh and drive safely."

"I will." Riker said walking out the door.

Riker carries me all the way to his truck. I jump off, open the door, and climb into the passenger seat. As Riker walks around the front of the truck I climb across the cab, then put my entire weight on the steering wheel and Riker's skin almost comes off of his bones. He opens the obnoxiously loud door before I was able to get back across to my seat. While I am awkwardly scrambling my way back over to the passenger seat, Riker grabs my foot, pulls me back to the driver's side door, and back out of the truck, causing me to bang my head against the steering wheel. My "starts to throb and sink into another memory.

The stretcher rolled through the doors. The walls decorated with a thick black ring of soot. An administrator runs up to me. "Did you do this? What in the world were you thinking? Showing off in front of your peers weren't you?" I shake my head. I was only trying to excel at my exam. "Not talking? Well for your information there will be repercussions for your actions, Miss Grey." The administrator stormed over to my brother......My brother. The brother that...that...that....I put into this situation. The brother laying across the stretcher. The brother that is proba-

"Katy!" Riker's voice shocked me out of my trance, "Katy, it happened again. are you going to be all right? Do I need to take you up to the doctor's office?"

My head is still throbbing, but I don't believe the flashback was caused from hitting my head, and even if it was I could never blame Riker for anything, especially not after what I did to him. I hug Riker's waist and force away the sobbs.

"No thank you, Rikes. I'm sure I'll be okay. You're not actually taking me out to dinner are you?"

"Whatever you say, but if it happens two more times I am driving you straight to the doctor's office or the insane asylum, but I am not taking you out to eat, unless you count fast food as taking you out to dinner. You and I are going out to the range for some target practice, and by target practice I mean fire tag. How do you like that?"

"You know Mom doesn't like us going out to the range by ourselves, especially to go play fire tag. That's the most competitive game they host. Riker, how do you think Mom is going to react when we come back with dirt and scorch marks all over us? It's going to be obvious that we didn't go out for a nice dinner."

"It's going to be awesome though, Katy. I was looking at the team sign-up list, some of the elemental guys...and a few girls from my grade are going to be there. You already know most of them. It's going to be me, you, Jake, Austin, Peter, Caleb, Mariah, Lizzy, and Lillian are all on the same team. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah, sounds like a plan, but what are we going to do about being covered in soot?"

"I already have that figured out. Now get your butt back in the truck, we're going to be late to our match. I signed us up for seven, it's about five-forty-six."

"You pulled me out of the truck in the first place-"

"Katherine Andreas, get in the truck before I tie you to the hood."

"Yes, Riker."

"That's SIR Riker to you missy."

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A/N Hey, sorry for taking soooooooooooo long to update, just to put this on hold. At this point i'm not sure if I even want to finish it. If you are really interested in knowing what happens message me and I can tell you. I have the ending and an epilogue written already I just don't know how to build up to the ending. Please be sure to check out my other books, and give constructive feedback. Bye

Kleigh a-x-