The Beginning of the End by Lorana Hoopes (readict txt) 📕

passable. That street saw less traffic, so she might get lucky enough to be able to weave through whatever cars might be there.

“Need? For what?” Exasperation threaded Jason’s normally even tone. “Right now we need to find the kids and Kat. Where is Kat anyway?” His eyes wandered to Kat’s blue Mini Cooper still parked in the space nearest the side door.

Raven bit the inside of her lip. What was going to happen to Kat’s car? Or the rest of her stuff? Did she have family who would come looking for her? People that Raven should notify? How would she even know?

She turned back to Jason, intensity in her eyes. “Kat is gone, Jason. The kids are gone. We could search forever, but we’ll never find them.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“Come with me. I’ll show you and hopefully it will all make sense.” Raven motioned for him to follow her even though she actually had no idea what would be waiting for her at Kat’s place. Nor did she know if he would believe her. She certainly hadn’t been easy to convince, and one thing she’d always liked about Jason was that he didn’t buy into crazy theories. This was definitely the craziest theory she’d ever entertained, but suddenly she didn’t want to do it alone. She didn’t want to go into Kat’s house, find nothing, and realize the last week had been some bad hallucination, but even more than that, she didn’t want to find something that proved Kat was right and not have someone there with her.

Was this why she’d been left behind? Because she still doubted? She’d been about to tell Kat she believed before the disappearances, but did she really?

Jason’s gaze flicked back to the gym door, and Kat shook her head. “You can stay if you want, but no answers reside in there. I can give you answers if you come with me.”

His curiosity won out as she figured it would, and he followed her to her Jeep. After they were both buckled in, she fired up the engine and the radio blasted forth the emergency broadcast warning.

“This is an emergency alert. People are being encouraged to stay inside their houses. At least five planes have fallen from the sky over Washington state leaving fires and catastrophes in their wake.”

“Wait, planes are falling from the sky?” Jason turned his attention to the sky out the window. “How is that even possible? Was this a terrorist attack?”

Raven sighed as she turned the key. “No, this affected the world, and those missing people aren’t coming back.”

“How do you know?”

Jason said the words slowly, cautiously, and his face wore the one expression she had hoped to never see on it. The one that said he thought she was nuts and might even regret getting in the car with her.

Raven avoided Jason’s question as she looked behind her before throwing the Jeep in reverse and backing out. Could she tell him the truth? Did she truly believe? Once she uttered these words, their relationship would change forever. Was she really ready to do that?

Believe! The word floated through her mind like a whisper and carried the hint of Kat’s voice. Raven stepped on the brakes, took a deep breath, and turned to Jason. “I know because Kat told me just like she told you. These people are gone because they were raptured, and now I’m pretty sure I have a job to do.”

His eyes searched hers as if looking for the joke, the catch, but she didn’t have time for him to catch on. She threw the Jeep into drive and gunned it, causing Jason to grip the dashboard with white knuckles.

For a moment he said nothing, and they traversed the street in silence. Then, finally, he uttered three words. “Job? What job?”

But Raven didn’t answer. She didn’t know the answer. She only had the few pieces that Kat had been able to tell her. The truth was she didn’t really know what the future held.

She felt she was supposed to be some sort of guide and she knew that a ton of people had disappeared and that more bad events were coming, but that was the extent of her facts.

“I don’t know. I’m hoping I’ll figure it out when we get there.”

They continued the rest of the way in silence which Raven was thankful for as she needed to focus on navigating the obstacles in the road. Even though this way was less heavily trafficked, there were still accidents and dazed people wandering the streets. Finally, Raven pulled up to Kat’s house.

“Moment of truth,” Raven said as she put the jeep in park and turned off the engine.

“What is it you think Kat left you?” Jason asked as they stepped on her front stoop.

Raven bent down and retrieved the key from under the welcome mat, just where Kat had said it would be. “I’m not sure exactly. She just said she left something for me. Something that would help explain all of this and what’s coming.” Even in Kat’s normally quiet neighborhood, the sound of sirens and confusion carried on the breeze.

She inserted the key into the lock and pushed open the door. It felt weird stepping into Kat’s living room. It would have been weird even if Kat were still here as the two hadn’t been friends, but there was something even eerier knowing that Kat wouldn’t be coming back here.

Her touch was still palpable in the room; Raven could see it in the arrangement of the furniture and the placement of the pictures. She could feel it in the carefree way the shoes were placed by the front door and the way a recently-worn sweater draped across the back of a chair. A sweater that would never be worn again.

Raven wandered the room, hoping whatever Kat had left for her would be obvious. Though she was not above snooping through drawers, the thought felt a little like disturbing a dead body.

“Well, she certainly was neat,” Jason said as