White Space Season 2

thought of Blake Conway, then wondered why. For a hysterical moment, Sarah giggled uncontrollably, lost to the thought that one of the world’s richest men was Emma’s grandfather.
    Her insides suddenly screamed with irrational thought.
    My baby is dead!
    Too painful to think, Sarah closed her eyes and fell slowly asleep, then opened them to nothing but black, and the seas of stars in between.
    Everything seemed so … familiar.
    Déjà vu but worse.
    A ball of light shot through the sky, dragging a plume of lavender behind it. It erupted and rained all around her.
    No …
    The room started to shift, and Sarah felt weak. Walls returned; sand-colored and straight.
    Suddenly in front of her, festering, was the most horrible thing Sarah had ever seen.
    She screamed.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 6 — Cassidy Hughes

    Cassidy was hoping to stay the night at Jon’s, but a phone call from Vivian dragged her from cozy anticipation and into the crushing reality of dealing with her mother.
    Vivian didn’t even wait for Cassidy’s eyes before she was barking into her side of the glass. “I need groceries, and my back is acting up again.”
    Cassidy didn’t snap at her mom like she wanted to, or like Vivian probably expected, she simply left Emma with Jon for the night and figured she’d stay with her mom, miserable as that prospect might be. If the last thing she wanted was to leave the sofa and go to the grocery store, she sure as hell couldn’t imagine having the will to drive back after dropping the bags at her mom’s.
    Of course, Cassidy could go to her own place — it wasn’t far from her mother’s — but the thought of hitting hay in her shithole apartment was too depressing, especially after drying her naked body at Jon’s with what might have been the world’s most perfect towel.
    I don’t want to be alone.
    When alone, Cassidy’s mind circled the pills.
    She looked at the “GrocerEZ” app, glanced at Vivian’s list, said her goodbyes and goodnights to Jon and Emma, then got in her car and headed toward Al’s Fresh Meats and Produce.
    Nineteen minutes later, she was wrapping her hand around a can of steel cut oats. Cassidy dropped it in her cart as an icy chill slithered her body, starting at her shoulders and — inexplicably — whispering Sarah as it went.
    The Sarah whisper fled her body and — like crickets chirping — surrounded her in sudden echo, first hissing by the dozens, and then the hundreds. It half sang Sarah, the other rang with Cassidy.
    Cass screamed, and the canister of steel cut oats slipped from her hand, crashing to the floor with a thud.
    “Sorry,” she said, twisting her head to search Al’s empty aisles.
    Cassidy gripped her cart and rolled it toward the back of the store, feeling a hundred eyes behind her, though she couldn’t see a single one. As Cassidy rounded the corner, she saw Jason Monroe, a biology teacher Sarah had dated maybe three times.
    Sarah never told Cassidy much about her dates, but on the rare occasions when she had them, Cassidy had always watched Emma instead of their mom since Sarah hated discussing her dates, and unlike Vivian, Cassidy cared enough not to ask.
    Cassidy wheeled her cart up to Jason. Before he turned to face her, words that weren’t quite hers escaped from her mouth.
    “Hey Jason, how are you doing? I was just wondering if you ever managed to get things settled with Tom?”
    Jason turned to Cassidy, his eyes two pieces of the same puzzle and the corners of his mouth drooped in a frown. His right hand seemed to twitch, showing the same uncertain nerves as his left, which he thrust deep into his pocket.
    Cassidy could understand his anxiety. She shouldn’t know anything about Tom. Yet, somehow she did. She knew that Tom had been trying hard to become “Mr. Monroe’s” friend, and that Jason had been discouraging any sort of relationship at every chance since according to Jason (and Sarah agreed) “Teachers should be friendly with students, but never friends.”
    “Um,” Jason swallowed, then finally found a friendly smile. “Sorry about that, Cassidy, for a second there you looked just like a … ”
    He couldn’t finish. She did it for him.
    “Like a ghost?”
    A too long pause, then, “Yeah … sorry.”
    “It’s OK,” Cassidy smiled, feeling out of her skin.
    He said, “I think of Sarah all the time, you were another reminder.” He looked away for a second, blinked, then turned back to Cassidy. “How did you know about