White Space Season 1

and “managing too many people and moving parts.” Whatever his job was, it kept him away from home sometimes for weeks at a time.
    “Do you think she’s going to ever come back?” Milo asked.
    His father met his eyes.
    “I don’t think so.”
    Fresh tears stung Milo’s eyes. “Why? Doesn’t she love us enough?”
    “Oh, no, buddy. It’s not that,” his dad said, hugging him even tighter. The same sort of hug that used to make everything okay, back when his dad was still Superman. Back when he could do anything, and his answers never came with “not now,” “I don’t want to talk about it,” or “maybe some other time, Milo.”
    His mother’s disappearance was Kryptonite, however, turning Milo’s father into a mere mortal.
    After Milo cried some more, his father pulled away and met his eyes again. His father swallowed a knot in his throat, then forced the something he’d been working up to say from the frown of his mouth.
    “Your mother was sick, Milo.”
    Milo was confused.
    “Sick? What do you mean?”
    “She never wanted you to worry, so she never told you, but she wasn’t well. She was clinically depressed.”
    “Depressed? No. Mom was always so happy!” Milo said, confused by his father’s clearly wrong confession.
    “She was, Milo, and she was taking medication to help her. For a long time, it seemed like she was better. Earlier this year, the depression started coming back again. The doctors prescribed her something else. And I thought it had been working.”
    Milo sniffled, then wiped his nose. “What do you mean, thought? ”
    “After your mother left, I found out she hadn’t picked up her meds in over a month.”
    “Maybe she didn’t need them anymore?”
    “When you have clinical depression, you can’t always tell when you need your medication. And sometimes, when people go off it, they can get real bad.”
    Milo’s dad stared at him for a moment, as if waiting for Milo to finally understand what he was saying. But Milo couldn’t figure out what his dad was trying to tell him.
    “Sometimes when people go off their meds, they get suicidal.”
    Milo stared at his dad, unable to believe what his dad was suggesting.
    “No! She didn’t kill herself!” Milo shook his head violently back and forth, suddenly sobbing.
    “I don’t know if she did,” his father said, looking down. “But we have to consider the possibility, Milo.”
    “No!” Milo screamed, launching himself from the couch. He ran up the staircase, taking the stairs two at a time, then went into his room and slammed the door so loud that his lamp, which was turned off, fell from his dresser and onto the ground.
    Milo heard his father running up the stairs, calling after him, “Milo!”
    Milo locked the door, then fell into his bed and pulled the covers over his head.
    “Milo, please. Open the door.”
    “She didn’t kill herself!!” Milo screamed.
    “I was just saying that …” his father started.
    “She’s alive!!” Milo repeated, screaming louder.
    A deafening silence thundered on the other end of the door.
    As Milo continued to weep, his father dropped his voice to a gravelly whisper and said, “I’m so sorry, Milo.”
    Milo heard his father’s feet pound down the stairs as he left his son to grieve alone.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 2 — Alex Heller

    Hamilton Island, Washington
    Friday afternoon

    “We should get back,” Alex said, about five minutes after running from the racquetball courts. They were in the woods just east of school, which rose steeply with the island as you headed north, until you hit the center of the island and Cedar Park. If they went east, they’d reach his neighborhood in about 20 minutes.
    Alex wanted to head south instead. Hit the ferry and never come back.
    “He might be dead,” Alex said, turning back and peering through the woods for any sign that someone might be following them.
    There was nothing but the thick of a million branches, clawing at the angry clouds moving in above.
    “Well, there’s nothing you can do about it now,” Katie said. “Besides, I’m pretty sure I saw him move.”
    “You did?”
    Katie met his eyes, then looked down for a moment, biting her lip like she always did when lying.
    “I think so. I mean, I’m pretty sure.”
    Alex grabbed two fistful of his hair, then paced back and forth, screaming.
    “Dammit! Why the hell did he have to come at me like that?”
    “He’s an asshole,” Katie said, standing away from Alex, eyes