White Space Season 2

reassure her that everything would be OK.
    She thought of a show that Mama watched, called Dr. Surprising , which Mama said was “sort of soap opera and sort of not.” Mama watched the show on Blu-ray sometimes while she and Cassidy did their homework. The show had a lot of surgeries, and the doctors were always talking during the operations. Sometimes her mom talked to the TV along with the doctors, loudly announcing to the girls, who weren’t even paying attention, whether she thought the patient on the table would survive through the episode.
    The surgeons were never silent, though, always talking to one another about things both relevant to the surgery, and mundane, like trimming strokes from their game of golf.
    Can you hear me? Anybody?
    Still, Sarah heard nothing but silence. She listened for the sound of her own breathing, but couldn’t hear even that. Just the mounting pressure in her head, which had its own odd low and piercing scream. She thought it odd how silence could have a sound , a sound that hurt no less.
    Suddenly, one of the shadows moved closer, as if leaning over her body. The shape slowly swam into focus. It was a surgeon! A woman wearing a soft, blue mask at the bottom of her blurry face. She shined a light into Sarah’s eyes, causing her to blink.
    When the light finally faded from her eyelids, Sarah opened them again to see a second shadow above her. The new shadow looked different, blurrier. For a moment Sarah wondered if she had double vision, or perhaps saw two people close together.
    It was so hard to see.
    The second shadow leaned closer, and when it did, Sarah felt a giant knot form in her throat, then tighten.
    The shadow wasn’t a person — it was something impossible, a thing that should not be. And as it inched closer, Sarah finally got her mouth to work, then used it to scream.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 1 — Milo Anderson

    Milo stared at the caskets waiting to be lowered into the earth, down into their new and ugly forever, feeling the déjà vu of death on Hamilton Island.
    The vicious cycle started when Roger Heller opened fire on five students, including Teddy Henderson. Now it had come full circle with Teddy’s father Bruce claiming vengeance by killing Roger’s son Alex along with his mother Liz.
    Milo couldn’t believe his best friend was dead. Just five days ago he’d gone over to his house for a clumsy goodbye. As awkward as it might have been, it also felt right, almost comforting, like maybe they’d had a chance for a fresh start; an opportunity for a different beginning. Sure, things would never — could never — be like they were, that was impossible. But at least there was a chance for something more than the decay they had been left with since the school shooting.
    Milo left Alex’s house feeling almost hopeful, if not for life on the island, then at least for his chance to maintain a true friendship with Alex. They made plans to finish their script for The Atrium Divided and promised to keep in touch after he and his family moved to California. Alex had even logged into their shared Raconteur account later that day. Now all those tomorrows, along with everything said and unsaid between them, well, it was all gone with no hope of ever coming back. The unwritten pages of their stories and lives, were now nothing but blank scraps; torn, tattered, and tossed into life’s cruelest winds.
    Milo wanted to cry, maybe sob. He felt like screaming, or doing anything other than standing there frozen like a zombie. Helpless. But he had to keep his cool, hold it together for Katie and her mom, who were standing beside him, one on either side, both barely able to keep their shit stitched together.
    Milo turned to Katie, and found her red eyes. She reached out, took his right hand, and squeezed it softly. He squeezed back, but harder. It was a show of support, and sweet, but it nudged him closer to the edge, and pushed him deeper into his despair.
    Milo turned his attention from Katie to Pastor Avery, who was offering the congregation comfort through prayer as two men from either the church or cemetery, Alex didn’t know which, lowered the matching caskets into the ground.
    Katie and her mom had each eulogized Alex and Liz already, at the church service, then again at the cemetery. They were the only ones, save for the pastor and a few people at the church who had spoken on their behalf. Milo wondered how many people refrained from speaking because they sympathized more