The Journey The Only Survivors

Chapter XIV: A Wishful Day

"I will always be here for you," Liam told me while I sat on the rail of the back of the ship. The water flowed under us. It was a beautiful pale blue that reflected the sun's brightness.

I wanted to take him home, back to New York City, and show him around. I wanted to introduce him to my horses, and I wanted to race him like Bryan and I used to.

He pulled me off the railing and set me down on the ground. "Would you like to ride on my horse with me around the ship?"

"I'd love to."

Liam locked his hand in mine as we walked to the stables, making me hope we were in for a long journey, but we arrived sooner than I hoped.

We chose a light brown horse, but in reality, she seemed to choose us. As we were trying to decide which one to ride, this particular horse locked eyes with us. She even seemed to motion us over with her head. Liam mounted her first, and then he lifted me in front of him. When I was situated, we rode out onto the deck. No one was around. It was a perfect morning with a slight chill in the air, as there were no clouds in the sky but, rather, a sun with rays that highlighted everything below it. I felt like I was back home, riding with my brother.

After three rounds around the deck, Rosie ran out in front of us. Liam couldn't stop.

~ ~ ~

"Kyara?"

I opened my eyes. Bella stood over me. "Huh?"

"You were having a bad dream, screaming the word 'no'," she said.

I took a deep breath and looked around. I closed my eyes and then opened them. I was in our room, in the bed. It really was just a dream. There weren't even any stables on the ship. I wondered if this was what Liam went through every night.

"We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Bella said.

I shook my head, trying to clear the image of Rosie running out in front of us from my mind. But it didn't work. I imagined Rosie with curly blond hair waving freely and shining in the sunlight, her chubby smiling face, her brown eyes opened wide and just so happy and gentle, her tiny legs running faster than she could manage to meet Liam. But she was gone in the blink of an eye.

It was a glimpse of the pain and sorrow Liam felt. It was the same pain I felt on that fateful day when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers. Uncle Scott was working in one of the buildings. He was a big part of our lives. He was Dad's older brother and best friend. They were only fourteen months apart. Uncle Scott came over to our house every now and then just to hang out and play games or watch movies. He was at the hospital for our birth, and he became like a second father to us.

One of Uncle Scott's friends asked him to join his company in the Twin Towers, and he moved to New York in the summer of 2001. Then everything changed. I was only six when I first heard the news, but I knew straight away what it meant to lose a loved one. Life really is but a mist. It's here one minute and gone the next. But something changes inside loved ones who are left behind—a little piece of them dies. I just couldn't imagine adding guilt to such pain. That was what Liam experienced every day of his life.

"What are we going to do today?" Bella said, bringing me back to my senses.

"Try to find the cell phone. It's our ticket home." I pushed the covers down, ready to take on the day.

"Do you think we'll find it? We had no luck yesterday."

"It'll turn up somewhere." I rubbed my eyes with my knuckles. I wasn't tired, and yet I was fearful and lonely.