The System

He sighed. “Lucy—” he said and stopped. He had a pained expression, but then he closed his eyes, and turned his head away.

Her heart melted as she looked at him, and she noticed then that her hands were shaking. “I have thought of kissing you for a long time,” Lucy replied. “I’ve thought of us…of what we could be, if—”

He covered his face with his hands.

“I kissed Salem,” Grant blurted. He flung his body forward into hers, straight-down, full dead weight into her shoulder, and banged his forehead against her body. Then he stayed perfectly still, holding his breath.

“Oh please, sit up,” Lucy instructed and she patted his back. He winced as he rose, looking ashamed and embarrassed. “Jeez, that’s what you say first? The first words after we kiss? A blurted confession?”

“It’s not a secret I could keep from you,” he grimaced and looked at her exercising perfected puppy-dog eyes. He brought his hands up in front of himself and folded them in apology. “It wouldn’t feel right. We should put everything on the table,” he took a deep breath. “I kissed Salem.”

“I remember it differently,” Lucy replied and she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “Salem kissed you.”

He pulled back.

“You saw.” Grant’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“I saw,” she answered. “I loved her. She was my everything…but I can admit that she had a way about her…she could be convincing.”

Grant’s shoulders slumped and he smiled. “I thought I’d have to explain it to you. But I don’t. This whole time I’ve been practicing in my head. If I ever got a chance, I’d just say: Please give me a chance, even though I kissed your best friend. But I don’t have to give you that speech? You have no idea how that makes me feel.”

And he cupped her chin and kissed her again.

“Save it,” she replied. “Save the speeches.”

“Just kiss you?” he asked.

“Just kiss me,” she answered.

The room disappeared. The sun slipped down further in the sky. All Lucy and Grant could feel were each other. After minutes or hours they slid back down to the floor and, lying shoulder to shoulder, they just held hands and stared upwards, watching as a few rogue clouds passed into view.

“Will we ever escape these people?” Grant asked after awhile.

“Yes,” Lucy said without missing a beat. “I don’t know how. And I don’t know when. But this is not my life. Huck and the System are not my future.”

“Good. I’ll follow you.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Lucy cautioned. “I don’t know what will happen next. I’m scared of the future…”

“The future will bring what we want it to bring. Whether we stay. Whether we go. We don’t have to fit inside anyone’s system to be happy, Lucy. If I have you…if I have security…if I have…”

“The occasional zombie movie?”

“Then I’m complete.”

They closed their eyes and threatened to drift off to sleep, each of them pondering the future. Lucy daydreamed of escape. Grant daydreamed of stability. Each of them dreamed of happiness.

Then the ground began to shake.

At first Lucy thought she was imagining the subtle vibrations, the nearly imperceptible movement of the glass above them.

“What is that?” she asked, sitting up.

Grant looked around. A rumble accompanied the shaking, but it was not coming from beneath them, it was coming from above. They hopped up and looked to the sky. From their position under the glass, Grant and Lucy watched as a medium-sized passenger plane rolled past. The gunmetal underbelly, with landing gear down, floated by and then landed out-of-sight somewhere out there in the fields of Nebraska.

The ground above them hummed with energy and then everything became still again.

“A plane,” Lucy said in a whisper.

“Survivors?” Grant guessed and he watched the window above with rapt eagerness, as if the plane’s passengers would appear and stare down at them like animals at the zoo.

Then Lucy broke into a grin and jumped up and down. She bounced over to the elevator and beckoned it upward. When she looked back at Grant, she was crying.

“No. Huck said…Huck did it! No, Grant, not just any survivors…my brother’s here,” she exclaimed and she pounded on the door. “Hurry, hurry, stupid thing. Hurry. My brother’s here.”

Grant looked up through the skylight one last time and then rushed over to Lucy. He slipped his hand around her shoulder and then let it fall to her waist.

“Ethan’s home,” Lucy said as the doors finally opened and she stepped inside, tugging Grant along with her. “We’re all here. Everything as it should be. Ethan will be on our side…Ethan will help us fight this. With Ethan and Cass, we’re unstoppable, Grant.”

“Welcome to the System, Ethan,” Grant replied with a sly smile. “Whatever you were expecting…this isn’t it. But hey, we’ve got a restaurant and a basketball court.”

The doors shut. The elevator started its slow descent. They felt the temperature shift, the coolness of the earth as they traveled further away from the surface.

Lucy turned and kissed Grant and when she pulled away, she beamed. “I didn’t think there could be any good days left. I thought I’d spend the rest of my life unable to feel anything but anger and pain. But today,” her eyes brightened and flashed with excitement. “Today is a good day.”

“Maybe that’s just the champagne,” Grant teased. “But hey…don’t shortchange us. It’s a great day!” he added. “What more could we ask for?” He kissed her cheek and nuzzled his nose into her hair. He was the perfect height for kissing her forehead and Lucy’s heart pounded with love and anticipation.

The doors to the elevator opened; holding hands they stepped out, and with smiles on their faces, eager to welcome the new arrival, and feeling blessed by all of the day’s unlikely fortunes.

END OF BOOK TWO

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I read something on the Internet about how awful acknowledgments pages are. And how authors should stop waxing on and on about all the people that made their book great because it’s ridiculous and boring. Shut up, Internet. Even as a reader, I love the thank yous. It’s a glimpse at the person behind the work. (It’s all about VOICE, people. You can hear the author’s voice in this section of the book, and sometimes for the first time. And that’s just cool. Also, did they thank their spouse [check], mom and dad [check], third grade teacher [sorry Mr. Adams]? Or did they pretentiously name-drop authors? Let the judgment fall.)

The article suggested that instead of paragraphs of effusive list of names, the acknowledgments should just read like film credits. Name. Role. Done.

Bo-ring.

But I’ll try it.

So, let’s prepare…fade to black, credit music starts to roll (something from Vampire Weekend’s new album would be good. Peppy). And…

Starring:

Matt Sherman as the World’s Most Gracious and Giving Husband

Elliott and Ike Sherman as the World’s Most Understanding and Patient Children Who Let Me Feed Them Mediocre Di

Ross and Co