“Tori!”
A sudden wind hurled dust into his face. He raised his left arm to shield his eyes and moved forward into the murky field. Scrub grass crunched under his sneakers. A drop of rain struck his nose.
He almost tripped over a rock. When he regained his balance, he shifted ahead and tried to continue in a straight line toward the distant lights. The dust made him shut his eyes for a moment. More drops of rain pelted his forehead.
The next flash of lightning revealed silhouettes closer ahead. Once the crowd had reached the field, everyone had separated, desperate to avoid the crush of people that had propelled them over the toppled fence. They looked confused, as if they suddenly realized where they were.
Thunder shook Page’s chest. Then he was sightless again, over- whelmed by darkness.
The next moment, the storm unloaded, the force of the downpour making him stoop. Shockingly cold, it enveloped him, obliterating the distant lights. Without them, he had no bearings. Even the lights back at the observation platform were no longer visible.
“Tori!”
Gusts whipped his face. His wet clothes clung to his skin, the cold rain making him shiver. The next flash of lightning struck nearby. He saw its multiple forks and heard a crack. The two-second blaze of light revealed a figure stumbling ahead of him. Then darkness enveloped him again. Propelled by thunder, he shifted toward where his memory told him he’d seen the figure.
Abruptly they collided. He knew at once that the figure was Tori. Ten years of marriage made it impossible for him not to be able to recognize the feel of her body in the dark.
“Thank God, I found you,” he said. “Come on. We need to get back to the car.”
“No.”
The rumble of thunder made him think he hadn’t heard her correctly. “What?”
“Leave me alone.”
“You’re not safe out here.”
Page gripped Tori’s hand, but the rain slicked her skin, and she was able to pull away, rushing from him.
“Tori!” he yelled. “We need to get back to the car!”
For a panicked moment, Page couldn’t see her. Then lightning revealed her outline, and he charged after her.
“Tori, you could get killed out here!”
Page grabbed her shoulders. Standing behind her, he tried to turn her in the direction from which he’d come. She rammed her elbow into his stomach, knocking him away.
The unexpected blow made him struggle to breathe. Holding him- self, he realized that she’d disappeared again.
The next time lightning flashed, he saw that she’d gone much farther than he’d expected. He ran to catch up to her. Again he grabbed her from behind, but this time, his arms pinned her elbows to her sides. He linked his hands around her stomach and lifted her, trying to carry her backward.
She kicked her heels against his knees. When the pain in his legs made him drop her, she spun.
“You bastard, don’t take me away from the lights again!”
“Again?”
“If you’d let me stay, if you hadn’t grabbed me and shoved me into the car-”
Stunned, Page realized she thought he was someone else. “Tori, I’m not your father.”
“All I want to do is see the lights! You son of a bitch, you’re always yelling at Mom! You’re always trying to touch me!”
Page was shocked by this further revelation.
“Tori, your father died a long time ago! It’s me! Your husband! I love you!”
Lightning showed her frenzied features as she drew back her fist. Drenched by the rain, he waited for the blow.
Her fist struck his mouth. His head jerked back, but as he tasted blood, he kept his feet in place, preparing himself for what he knew would be another blow.
She drew back her fist again. Then darkness made her disappear. The next time lightning flashed, Page saw her staring at him in shock.
Her shoulders heaved. Some of the drops streaming down her face weren’t rain, he suspected, but tears. Her mouth opened, releasing a wail of anguish. When she clutched him, pressing herself against him, she did so with the force of a blow. Her arms clung to him tightly. With her head pressed against his chest, she sobbed uncontrollably.
“Scared,” she moaned.
He could barely hear her in the roar of the wind and the rain.
“I’m scared, too. But it’s going to be all right,” he promised, tasting the blood from his swelling lip. “I’ll do anything for you. Please, let me help.”
“I don’t know what’s happening to me.”
“I don’t know what’s happening to me, either,” Page said close to her cheek. “But believe me, we’re going to find out.”
With his arm around her, he waited for the next crack of lightning. It split the sky so close to them that he flinched, but its blaze allowed him to orient himself. Behind him, he briefly saw the shape of the observation area and began to recognize the faint illumination of headlights and flashing emergency lights.
Tori must have seen them as well. As thunder coincided with renewed darkness, she plodded forward through the gusting rain. Page took her hand and moved next to her. If the lightning didn’t provide more visual bearings, they risked going in circles in the field.
The ground became muddy, their sneakers sinking into it.
“Cold,” Tori murmured.
“Think of a hot bath,” Page told her. “Dry clothes. Steaming coffee. Warm covers in bed.”
“Lost,” Tori said.
“Then we’re lost together.”
Lightning fractured the sky.
Tori pointed. “The fence.”
Their shoes were weighed down by mud. They slipped in it, holding each other up.
When they reached the fence, Page shouted to be heard above the wind. “I’ll pull the strands of wire apart! Try to squeeze through the gap!”
As he used both hands to yank a middle strand up while pressing down on a lower one with his muddy sneaker, he feared that lightning would strike the fence, rush along the wires, and fry both of them.
“I’m through!” Tori yelled.
Page climbed the post and jumped to the ground, where he skidded in the mud, falling to his right knee. Lightning cracked close enough for him to smell it.
“Are you okay?” Tori asked.
“I will be in a minute.” Page came to his feet.
Down the road, headlights glared, revealing the row of cars and people hurrying for shelter. Gusts of rain buffeted them. Some wore ripped clothes and held themselves as if injured.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” Tori shouted.
“Better than the way they look,” Page answered. He and Tori ran along the line of cars until they reached the Saturn.
Inside, Tori already had the keys from her pocket. She turned on the engine and started the heater, but the rush of air was cold, and she quickly shut it off.
As rain lashed the windshield, Page shivered.
Tori’s teeth clicked together. Her red hair was stuck to her head. Water dripped from her blouse, her muddy clothes clinging to her.
Behind them, more headlights blazed as cars pulled out of the line, retreating to Rostov. Thunder shook the car.
Tori wiped blood from his mouth.
“I’m so sorry,” she told him.
Page touched her hand. “It wasn’t really you who hit me.”
“The past few days, I feel like I stepped out of my life. I don’t understand myself any longer. What the hell is happening?”
“Whatever it is, it’s happening to both of us.” Page held her, grateful that she let him. He loved her so much that he could barely speak. “We’ll find out together.”
THREE – EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
41
Chilled by his drenched clothes, Brent stood at the back window of the broadcast truck and stared into the murky rain. Behind him, Anita and Luther Hamilton slumped against a wall, sipping tepid coffee from plastic cups.
The news producer watched as a technician and a cameraman finished stowing the equipment. “Time to head back to the motel.”