Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Eighty Eight

     "Do you know why they say light always travels faster than sound?" Baker asked, hoping that asking him random questions would do the trick. He waited for a response and received nothing other than his continued heavy breathing. 

     "Did you know that the sound of thunder is caused by lightning? The bolt is so fast and hot that it causes the air to expand, and that's where you hear the sound. That's why they say you never see lightning without hearing thunder. Many people believe they witness this phenomena that they call heat lightning, because they claim they can't hear the sound of thunder. But you can witness a thunderstorm in many towns over. In fact, that brings up something interesting that happened when I was a kid," Baker said, and he did happen to notice that he loosely had Rhett's attention.

     "I was riding my bike on a perfect summer day, and I kid you not, I look up at the sky and there's this single puffy cloud. It didn't look ominous at all. In fact, it reminded me of a floating fluffy pillow that I wanted to curl up and take a nap on. The cloud seemed to follow me, and I know this sounds really funny, but I stopped pedaling my bike and I could swear I felt raindrops. I looked down at the pavement and sure enough, there were little dark spots indicating that it was raining. I rode my bike a little further and the same thing happened. So what I did was I back-pedaled a bit and literally watched as the cloud moved in the opposite direction of me, dropping rain as it went. It was the coolest thing ever!" 

     He looked over at Rhett, and thankfully he was a lot quieter and still conscious. He didn't seem interested in Baker's story, and Baker really didn't mind. His idea had worked, and he was grateful when they finally took the ramp that they needed and came to a stop at a red light.

     "Okay Rhett, I'm hoping you can tell me where I need to go from here," he prompted, and Rhett swiftly pointed to the left. Baker gave a quick nod of his head and turned left. They had hit some light traffic, and the lightning and wind had eased up quite a bit. It's a scary experience to drive through an open space with no trees when the winds were whipping, because nothing was barring the wind from traveling. Instead of being encased in a neat little confined area, it was bouncing all over the place like a bouncy ball set loose in a padded room. 

     Baker was glad they were finally hitting the housing areas. He stopped at another light, and Rhett pointed to the right this time, and they entered a street. Rhett indicated the third house on the left and Baker pulled up in the driveway. The curtain opened slightly, revealing an older curly haired boy. 

     Locke. Rhett threw his seatbelt off of him and bolted out of the car into the downpour. He was drenched head to foot before he could even make it to the door, Baker running after him.

     Locke pulled the door open just as Rhett was about to open it, and he attacked his father with a bear hug. Shepard ran up behind him and wrapped his arms around Rhett's legs. He waddled his way in with his boys wrapped around him and made enough room for Baker to step in. Rhett ruffled Locke's hair, causing him to look up.

     "Something's wrong with Link, dad," he said, worry in his tone. Rhett could see the worry reflecting in his eyes and he felt a painful stab in his chest.

     "Is he gonna be okay?" Shepard asked. 

     Lando walked into the hall with a blanket draped over his head. "My dad is really sick," he said, before turning and running off into the living room. Rhett happened to look up to see Lily standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, staring down at the floor absentmindedly. She looked pale as if she had been up worrying all day long instead of being a kid. Rhett broke away from the boys and wandered over to her, crouching to the ground in front of her and pulling her into a tight hug. She laid her head on his shoulder and they sat there in silence for a few moments.