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“We don’t need anything. We just did what anyone should do when someone needs help,” Callan says. Of the three of us,Callan’s definitely the humblest. But he has his stubborn side, as well.
“It’s a gift you can’t refuse,” she says.
She sits up, and though she nearly drowned only moments before, she seems perfectly fine. Her voice is smooth and her wet hair looks perfectly dry and in place. Did she look this way a few moments before? I can’t remember. Why am I so confused?
“What kind of gift?” Zach asks. He’s definitely the most suspicious of us. He doesn’t trust anyone who isn’t in his immediate circle. If I had to say how my brothers would describe me, it would probably be as the free spirit. I like getting my way — and I don’t fail to go after what I want.
“You’ll know your gift when you see it.”
And with this, she stands. All three of us are in so much shock, we don’t say anything as she begins walking away. I look at my brothers before glancing back toward the woman — but she’s already gone.
“What in the hell just happened?” I ask as a shudder passes through me.
“I have no idea, but I’m a little creeped out,” Callan admits.
“Me too!” Zach says.
“What kind of gift is she talking about?” I ask.
“Nothing I want anything to do with,” Callan says.
“I think that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said,” Zach replies.
“Let’s go home. This adventure is totally over,” I tell my brothers.
“I agree,” Callan says.
We grab our towels and slowly make our way back home. There’s no sign of the woman as we walk. But when we step into our house, there are three packages sitting on the porch, each one addressed to one of us.
“This night gets weirder by the second,” I say as I pick up the packages, feeling like I don’t want to open them. My brothers look at them with suspicion and stand back, not wanting to touch them either.
“Did she look familiar to you guys?” I ask. Callan and Zach nod.
“I can’t place her though,” Zach says.
“It doesn’t matter. This is stupid,” I say.
“Are one of the sorority houses playing tricks on us? Was that woman even drowning?” Callan asks. “It already seems sort of blurry to me.”
“I don’t know. But I’m sure by morning we’ll forget all about this. Let’s turn on the PlayStation and shoot some zombies,” I say.
“Deal,” Zach says.
For some reason we bring the packages inside with us. Maybe we should just leave them on the porch. We most likely would’ve if we’d known what was to come... It will be a long time before the packages surface again though, and at a time we least expect it.
Chapter One
Blaze
15 Years Later
I step from my rental car and gaze ahead at the ranch home I grew up in with my two siblings. It’s not the home of my mother and father. They died in a car accident when my brothers and I were young, too young, leaving us orphans. If it hadn’t been for our grandfather there would’ve been no way we were able to stay together. Foster care homes don’t like to take on three teens at once.
I haven’t been home for a long time, filling me with devastating guilt. The man who gave up his life to raise three rambunctious boys is now gone, and we should’ve been better at showing him what his sacrifice meant to us. We failed him.
I lean against the car as I gaze at the house where memories were made, a few bad, but most good. Some of the stories should be locked inside a box and thrown to the bottom of the sea. I smile again. I would’ve loved to have parents as I grew up, but I wouldn’t trade my time at the ranch with Gramps. It was pretty great.
When I walked away from here I was determined to never come back, not because it was horrible, but because I thought I was too good to live in the backwoods of the state of Washington. I thought a new city in a new country every year was where I belonged. Even though I never thought I’d come back, when Zach called a couple of weeks ago and left a message, there was no doubt I’d come home.
