Writing Wednesday: Afterward

I have more projects in the background than I know what to do with right now, which is a nice feeling after worrying that I might be done after finishing Notes from Boston. I’ve set the newer ones aside in favor of returning to an older story. It’s about halfway done, and my hope is to finish by the end of NaNoWriMo. We’ll see…that only gives me about 2 and a half months.

This novel is a road trip story about Luke, who first showed up as a homeless teen in a short story I wrote back in 2014. Now he’s the main character, on a road trip with an old friend.

In this scene, they’re toward the beginning of their journey. Luke has some carefully guarded secrets about where he really came from. Last week, he’d just woken from a nightmare. Here, his friend Connor does his best to figure out what’s wrong.

“Luke.” Firm, steadying. “Stop.”

But he can’t. The fear he woke to is rising again, blossoming into a full-blown panic. All he can think, over and over, is about the rising water and the crackling sky and the whipping winds and the almighty boom before the gust of hot air. He shakes all over, unable to stop.

“Lukey, shhh,” Connor murmurs pulling him in. “You’re okay. It’s just the rain.”

“So hot…” Luke mumbles into Connor’s shoulder. “The fire…”

“What fire? There’s no fire. Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

“No!”

Connor steers Luke to the bed in his room and they sit on the bed. He puts his hand to Luke’s forehead. “You don’t have a fever.” He presses his fingers to Luke’s wrist. “Jesus. Your heart’s going so fast.”

Gently, he helps Luke lie down. For a moment, Luke tries to pop back up. He still wants to get out. But Connor’s hands rubbing his arms feel good, and he takes a deep breath. The room is back in focus, intact. There’s no fire or flood, no high winds turning over cars and splitting trees. The rain on the roof is letting up.

“I’m okay,” Luke says, more to himself than to Connor.

“Yeah, you are.” Connor presses his lips together as if trying to hold in the words trying to escape. He’s unsuccessful. “Is this something to do with Greg?”

Greg? His ex? No. The scars Greg left are different.