Chapter 2 of the Soul Survivor

Chapter 2

Sweating, Madison Montgomery pushed through the heavy brush. Large bugs bit right through her blue jeans and long-sleeved shirt. Her hiking boots were so wet, her toes began to prune.

“Remind me why I’m here?” she asked Caleb, her guide and friend.

Caleb chuckled behind her. “You are here to save the world…remember?”

“Oh yeah, that.” She sighed, slapping at a large mosquito feasting on her. “Holy God, it’s like Jurassic Park here! Everything is ten times bigger than normal!”

“You aren’t used to it yet?”

“Mosquitoes on steroids? No, I’m not used to it yet.”

“Want to head back?”

“Yeah, can’t wait to head back and sleep in a snake infested cabin with spiders waiting to get me. They are waiting you know. I can feel them, watching, with those beady eight eyes, just biding their time.”

“So, it’s a spider conspiracy?”

“Don’t think it’s not, Caleb!” Her face brightened and she laughed.

“That’s funny?” Caleb stopped to drink out of the canteen and then handed it to her.

“No, I was just thinking about what my sister would say. Hayley always thought I had delusional tendencies.” Madison rolled her eyes.

She watched Caleb wipe his mouth with his sleeve then she swallowed the water allowing most of it to rain down her chin. Her hair was a mess, but then it always was. Madison wasn’t one to care about the rat’s nest on her head or make-up.

“I don’t think you have delusional tendencies.” Caleb stared at her intently.

“What?” she asked looking down toward her shirt, wondering what he was looking at.

Caleb wiped a smudge of dirt off her face. “Nothing, Maddy, let’s go back before nightfall.”

“That’s the best thing you’ve said all day.”

Following the path they had come in on, they headed back. Madison was determined to help rebuild the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. With only seven percent of the forest remaining, she was on a quest and nothing was going to stop her this time.

After trudging through the mud they climbed into their small boat and drifted down the Tajacaba River through a mangrove swamp.

A swarm of mosquitoes floated around them, waiting to feed for the night. Madison briefly thought about diseases these vampiric insects might be carrying, waiting to inject her with their numbing defense mechanism before sticking their germs through her skin and into her blood.

You’re being paranoid, she thought but grabbed the can of Off from her back pack and misted herself liberally with the pine scented chemical. She didn’t like using chemicals, but nothing else seemed to work.

Caleb coughed swinging his hand back and forth through the haze. “Can you get me too?”

“Fine, turn around.”

“Don’t douse me like you did yourself. A little goes a long way.”

“Not in this place.”

“Well, it didn’t help with the spider crawling up your shoulder.”

Madison’s eyes widened. She began to hit her arms, while she screamed “get it off me!”

It wasn’t until she saw laughter sparkling in his eyes she realized he’d been joking. “You’re an ass, Tanner.” Composing herself, she sat down and brushed her hair out of her face. She hated herself for having arachnophobia. Caleb knew it from the many times she’d screamed at a spider and he took full advantage of the situation. It still maddened her to no end that she was trying to save creatures of the earth, the trees, sea life and yet she couldn’t stand the thought of a spider being on her. Snakes were almost as bad but not quite.

Knowingly spraying too much Off on him, she made sure she soaked his face as he shut his eyes tightly and held his breath. It was a small triumph for her after he’d scared her.

He opened his eyes and gasped for air when the cloud cleared. “Always have to go to the dark place, don’t you.”

She smirked, stowing the can in her pack. Tired, she stretched her legs in front of her. Although they had been here awhile, it was rare they made the long trip into the hills on foot. Mostly they stayed in their cabins, studying. Once a month they walked through the trees and brush and she tried to ignore her fear of spiders and snakes while collecting specimens. They had worked together for two years now. Even though it didn’t seem as if they were making much progress, she wasn’t ready to give up. A pang of guilt stabbed at her. Had she given up on Hayley too soon after David died, not knowing how to help her grieving sister?

The boat moved slowly through a tunnel of trees as Caleb used the small steering stick to weave in and out of the roots rising from the water.

She had tried to save so many things, and failed. As a scientist, she took this mission seriously. They grew seedlings, outside their cabins, waiting for them to grow tall enough to bring back to the forest. Many species had already died off. Though their efforts seemed futile, it made her happy to at least try.

After banking the boat, they walked along the man-made path back to the village.
Madison jolted to a stop and peered into the dense brush and trees.

“What?” Caleb turned to see what she was looking at.

“A dark shadow. Something…,” She shook her head. “It’s gone now,” she said as a strange feeling entered the base of her spine and traveled up to her neck. A feeling of being watched spread through her and she visibly shuddered.

“You sure you’re okay?” Caleb turned her to face him. “You’re pale. Are you feeling all right?” He felt her forehead.

She brushed his hand aside and continued on their way. “I’m fine. Just my delusional tendencies creeping up on me I guess.” She chuckled but picked up her pace.

The small village of Tajacaba came into view. Madison had almost gotten used to living primitively in the small village and the way of life here. The natives were kind and helped them tremendously.

As they walked toward their cabins, Caleb grabbed her arm. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Is it a hot bath?” She couldn’t remember the last time she had a hot bath and she shut her eyes momentarily to bring the sensation out of her memory.

“Something better, come with me.”

“What are you up to, Caleb Tanner?”

“Don’t you trust me?” he asked with a wicked grin.

“No, I don’t. But I’m too tired to argue.”

“That’s a first,” Caleb mumbled under his breath and headed toward his cabin.

“I heard that”

He pushed open the door and headed for his chest. “I got a package from home today.” He threw out some clothes, soap and shampoo.

Madison grabbed the shampoo. “Oooo, this is a great surprise!”

“Not that.”

“Well can I use it anyway?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He waved his hand at her and then he found it; a six-pack of beer. “Got it!”

“Warm beer? That’s your big surprise?” She laughed in spite of herself. He looked so proud and happy, she couldn’t resist.

“Shall we?” He twisted off the cap of one bottle and handed it to Madison.

“What the hell.” Madison shrugged. She waited for him to twist off his own cap and
then held hers in the air. “To the salvation of the forest,” she said.

“To us,” he corrected her, and clanked her bottle with his.

Madison almost spit it out at the first sip. It fizzed in her mouth and she wasn’t a fan of beer to begin with.

“No good?”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you.” She took another drink to prove her point.

Her chestnut colored hair frizzed around her face, which was covered with mud. Her shirt clung to her body with sweat and her head began to ache.

Caleb cleared his throat, sat on the bed next to her, and took her hand. “Maddy, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Madison’s stomach clenched. She thought she knew what he was going to say. She was attracted to Caleb but had a larger plan in front of her. As much as his light brown eyes made her heart skip a beat every time they turned her way, she was on a mission.

She almost laughed at the serious look on his face, streaked with dirt. His light brown hair had grown considerably in the two years they had been stationed here.

“Caleb…”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say and you are stopping me?” Caleb rose and paced the room. He thrust one hand into his pocket showing his frustration, while he twirled the bottle of beer in the other.

She had seen the look in his eyes, the nervous twitch of his fingers tapping against his thigh. She had assumed he was going to bring up the subject of marriage once again. He’d brought it up many times, but Madison wasn’t ready, she wasn’t sure if she ever would be. Feeling her face flush, she took a sip of warm beer.

“I’m sorry, what were you going to say?” she asked, tugging her shirt down in embarrassment.

“Well, I was thinking we should ask for new satellite equipment.” Caleb leaned against the wall crossing one long leg over the other.

“That’s what you wanted to talk to me about?” Madison laughed.

“I’m sorry, was there something else on your mind?” He lifted the bottle to his lips and drank it down.

“You know damn well what I thought you were going to say.”

Caleb put his hand to his mouth, mocking shock. With wide eyes he spoke, “Ah, you thought I was going to talk about us,” Caleb said. “Jesus Maddy, is that all you ever think about? I know I look especially handsome in these dirt-stained jeans and this sweat-soaked shirt…”

Madison couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re an ass, Caleb.”

“Fine, if you want to talk about us, let’s get it out in the open.”

Madison lifted her left eyebrow in awe. “We’ve talked about this before Caleb. In a different place…a different time…,”

“Why? We both want the same thing. Why can’t you admit it?”

“I admit that I am attracted to you and I care about you a great deal,” Madison said. “But...,” She put her hand up to stop him from approaching her.

“No buts.” He stopped her argument in one stride. With his mouth on hers he stopped her from saying anything at all.

A warm feeling spread through the pit of her belly as she wrapped her hands through his long hair and opened her mouth to his. She tasted beer and instinctively pulled her body closer to his.

Madison’s eyes were still closed when he pulled his head away from hers with his hand against the back of her neck. She opened her eyes to see him smiling at her.

“Let’s get some sleep. We’ve got a long day tomorrow,” Caleb said.

Dizzy, Madison stood numbly and let him lead her toward the door. It wasn’t until she lay on her own hard bed that she let herself think about his lips on hers. She groaned loudly and turned to her side. She was drunk from Caleb instead of the few sips of warm beer and she closed her eyes. She was weakening.

A palpable sense of dread, a nagging unease she couldn’t shake, ate away at her gut, ever since she’d seen the shadow in the forest.

Looking at the back of her eyelids, she let her mind wander into the space between wakefulness and sleep.

“Madison,” a whisper came in her ear.

She tried to sit up, but found she was paralyzed.

“Madison,” it came again.

“What?”

“Your sister needs you.”

“Hayley? What’s wrong with her? Who are you?”

“Name’s Lange…come home, Maddy.”

Madison opened her eyes to see a man with a black hat lowered over his eyes. His long black jacket smelled of mildew. His face was only an inch from hers and she could feel his warm breath on her face. He held her arms down with his hands.

Madison screamed.

“Madison!”

“Go away!”

“Madison!” Caleb grabbed her flailing arms.

Madison’s vision cleared. Caleb was standing over her, holding her arms down the same way as the man in her dreams. “Let go of me!”

Caleb stood with his hands in the air. “Fine, I’m away. Maddy, you’re dreaming.”

She sat up with sweat dripping down her back, and looked around the room groggily.

“You’re dreaming,” he repeated, stepping closer. “I could hear you all the way from my cabin.”

She held her arms out and Caleb grabbed her, rocking her back and forth like a child. “It’s okay, it was just a dream,” he whispered against her ear.

“I need to go home,” Madison said.

“You are home, Maddy”


“No! I need to go back to the States, Caleb.”

“Why? Because you had a dream?”

“Yes!” Madison shook her head. “No…I don’t know. It seemed so real, like someone was trying to tell me something.” Madison trembled, ridding herself of the face she saw.

“What were they trying to say?”

The dream began to fade. She tried to pull it forward. She remembered the hat and the face but the words were fading.

“I don’t know now.” She shook her head, trying to remember.

“It’s okay, Maddy. It’s this place. It’s getting to you. It’s bound to get to anybody after awhile.”

Madison nodded but the feeling stayed with her. A deep feeling of foreboding spread through her.

Caleb climbed under the covers next to her and pulled her close. It was a long time before she finally drifted off.

Morning came quickly. She didn’t remember falling asleep but it couldn’t have been long ago.

Caleb’s arm was wrapped around her belly, his body snuggled up against her. She didn’t want to wake him, but she needed a shower desperately. Slowly, quietly, she lifted his arm off her waist and sneaked out of bed. She grabbed the shampoo she had taken from him last night and a clean towel for the shower outside. The villagers used the lake to bathe.

“Morning,” Caleb mumbled.

“I thought you were asleep,” she said, looking around the room for her khaki pants.

“I was. You’re not as quiet as you think you are. How are you feeling?”

“Okay I guess. I don’t remember much.” Madison still felt the menacing feeling but didn’t share it with Caleb.

“You gave me quite a scare last night.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what that was all about.” She chuckled but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Don’t be sorry. It gave me a chance to slip into your bed.”

“You’re hopeless!”

“Hopeful.” He winked. “Huge difference,” he added.

Madison smiled. “I need a shower.” She found her pants and snatched them up off the floor.

A knock came from the door and Madison froze. “Who could that be?” Instinctively she backed away, the feeling hitting full force.

“Room service?” Caleb said, but all laughter from his voice was gone. “I’ll get it.”

A short, dark man stood at the door, holding a yellow piece of paper. “For Miss Madison,” he tried to say. It came out as: “For Me Madisone.”

Caleb took the telegram and nodded. He shut the door and turned.

Madison’s insides cramped and the back of her neck grew clammy.

“It’s just a telegram, Maddy.” He tried to sound calm, but she saw the worry in his face. “It’s probably from the lab back home. Would you like me to read it?”

She nodded, wringing her hands together.

He read it silently then he looked up with sorrow in his eyes.

Madison shook her head. She covered her ears with her hands. “I don’t want to know,” she whispered.

“No, you don’t.” Caleb walked forward as she backed up. “How did you know you had to go back?”

“Is—is she alive?” Madison’s voice broke as tears stung her eyes.

“Maddy, it doesn’t say. It’s from Florida. A place called Naples. They need you at the Hospital. Looks like they’ve been trying to find you. It doesn’t mean she’s not alive.” He went to her then and she clung to him, her nails digging into his shoulders.

“The commuter plane, when does it leave?”

“There’s one leaving today. It will take you to Rio de Janeiro. From there you can fly to Miami.”

She packed quickly. Suddenly the man’s words from last night came back to her. Come home, Maddy.

Madison numbly hugged the locals and Caleb good-bye with a promise she’d be back once she found out what was going on.

“You be careful,” Caleb said, removing a strand of hair from her eyes.

Her mind in a blur she boarded the tiny plane. The propellers looked old and rusted, but Madison didn’t care. She just needed to get to her sister.

She slumped in the seat and shut her eyes when a warm hand came across hers.
Madison opened her eyes and turned to see Caleb sitting next to her. He smiled and shrugged when she pulled her head back in shock. “Where do you think you are going?” she asked him.

“You didn’t really think I’d let you go alone did you?” Caleb asked. “And I knew if I offered, you’d say no.” Squeezing her hand tighter, he pulled her head onto his shoulder. “You didn’t sleep much last night, here’s your chance.”

“I’m glad you’re here, Caleb. I didn’t want to ask.”

“I know.”

***

Madison was anxious and edgy. It seemed as if the plane would never touch ground in Miami.

Caleb slept, leaning against the window. She envied him. She hadn’t been able to sleep, too consumed with worry. She should have made it easier for Hayley to get a hold of her. She should have stayed with her sister longer after David’s death. What was her sister doing in Florida anyway? She’d never believed in premonitions, and yet she could still hear the man from her dream; come home, Maddy.

Shivering, she reached up and turned the knob to lower the air coming at her.
When the plane finally landed and pulled to the terminal, they ran for the rental car counter.

“It’s Christmas weekend. I’m sorry.” The rental car companies had no cars. Madison stomped from counter to counter. Nothing was available.

“Let’s go outside and see if we can find a taxi,” Caleb offered.

Taxi cabs pulled up to the curb, but no one would drive them the ninety-nine miles to Naples.

“What are we going to do now?” Madison bit her bottom lip. A flurry of panic took residence inside her chest. She was so close, a hundred miles at most, with no way to get there.

She watched Caleb turn his head in all directions and followed his lead. A man, dressed in a white suit, stood in front of a gleaming white limousine. He held up a sign that read: Adams

Grabbing Madison’s hand, Caleb pulled her toward the man. “Did your party show up?” he asked him.

Madison stood next to Caleb looking at the limo driver. With his slick black hair, clearly greased, and his white suit with matching shoes, he could have come straight out of a movie. If her heart wasn’t in her throat, she’d have laughed.

The man looked at Caleb and shook his head. “I’ve been waiting for at least an hour. No one’s called to cancel either.”

“Have you paged them?” Madison hoped the answer was yes and they hadn’t showed.

“Of course.” The man glanced around the terminal and then back to them. “Are you Robert Adams?”

“I can be, if Robert Adams is heading to Naples,” Caleb said, with a smile.

The airport was emptying out from the last three flights. “It’s a hundred and fifty dollar drive to Naples, Mister…”

“Adams,” Caleb answered. He opened the door for Madison.

They pulled out of the airport and headed toward the highway.

“I live in Naples,” the driver said, looking in the rear-view mirror.

“What are you doing in Miami then?” Madison asked.

“More money here. Fort Myers is the closest airport to Naples and most people have friends or family pick them up. There’re a lot of business travelers in Miami.”

“You commute every day?” Madison looked around the pristine limo. The guy definitely liked white and by the looks of things, he was a clean freak.

“No, not every day. When you called to book the ride it was worth the drive.” His glance slid to the rearview mirror.

“What’s your name?” Caleb asked.

“George W. Bush,” the man answered.

Caleb and Madison laughed. “It’s nice to meet you Mister Bush. I’m Caleb Tanner and this is Madison Montgomery.”

“Oh, we’re using our real names?” The man chuckled. “I’m Levi. It’s no problem taking you to Naples. I really don’t think Mister Adams was going to show anyway.”

“I hope not. I feel bad.” Madison looked out the window. Miami was a busy town. She watched him head toward I-75 and the traffic eased up a bit. “Well, not that bad,” she added. “I really do need to get there.”

“Christmas throws a lot of people off. They probably changed their plans last minute and forgot to inform me about it.” Levi shrugged. “It happens.”

“You are an angel! I need to get to Naples as soon as we can.” Madison threw her head back against the seat, somewhat relieved but still tense about Hayley.

“You here on vacation?” Levi asked.

Madison didn’t know why she answered honestly, but she shook her head looking back at Levi in the rearview mirror. She supposed his kind eyes caused her to open up. “My sister is in the hospital and she needs my help.”

He studied her for a moment, a slight frown on his face. “Looks like we were meant to cross paths then,” he finally said.

They settled back into their seats as the scenery changed. The buildings faded away behind them as they entered the wetlands.

“This is what they call Alligator Alley,” Levi said as they passed through a toll booth.

“I can only imagine why.” Madison looked out the window at the Everglades. The road had nothing but swamp and thin wire chicken fencing on both sides of the highway. She assumed it was to keep the alligators off the road.
Time stretched by as long as the two-lane empty highway. “What was Hayley thinking? Why would she move here?”

“Doesn’t look much different from where we just came from, maybe she’s not so different from you.” Caleb looked out his own window.

“Oh she’s different then me all right. It does look like Brazil though. It’s just not like Hayley to up and move. She had friends in New York. It was where David…”

The car swerved, cutting off her words. She slammed into Caleb and held on as the car slid off the road and through the chicken wire fencing. Madison gripped the seat tightly as the car glided through marshy plants and trees.

When they finally stopped spinning and came to a stop, Madison looked to Caleb. Her head ached, as if she had hit it, but his mouth was bleeding and she had no doubt he had hit his head as blood seeped out of his forehead, his eyes shut.

“Caleb?” Madison lifted his head into her arms. “Are you all right?” Fear gripped her insides. She tried the door, but it was stuck. They were sinking into the mucky waters as Madison shouted up front, hoping Levi could hear her.

With no answer, she grabbed some bottled water from the tiny refrigerator in the limo and poured some on Caleb’s forehead. His eyes opened and he moaned.
“Thank God. Something happened. I don’t know where the limo driver is.” Madison tried the door once again, it wouldn’t budge.

“My head is killing me.” Caleb put his hand to his forehead and pulled back his blood soaked palm.

“Looks like you got a bleeder.”

“Feels like I have a concussion.”

Then the rain came. It sounded like it was denting the roof of the car like spoons. Madison rolled down the window and climbed out, sinking to her knees. The rain pelted her head. “Rain isn’t much different from the forest either,” she yelled through cupped hands.

Caleb slowly followed, holding a shirt from his pack to his forehead. “Where the hell is Levi?”

They looked through the steamed windows in the front seat, but the man had disappeared.

“Maybe he got out?” Madison looked up at the dark cloud above their heads. A few feet away, the sun was shining. She could actually see the wall of rain sitting over them.

“And went where?” Caleb looked around the swamp.

They couldn’t see the highway. The only thing they had to go by was the tire tracks, and they were fading quickly from the rain. They had no idea how far they had slid into the swamp.

“Levi!” Madison shouted for the driver. Her voice echoed back at her from the thick rain.

Caleb pulled his cell phone from his pack. “No signal; yours?”

She shook her head as she stared at the LCD screen with a red light on the top of the little phone, indicating no signal.

“Let’s get back to the highway. We can call for help from there. I saw one of those call boxes for emergencies not far from where he swerved.” Caleb walked inside the small indent the car had left behind while Madison followed. The rain was washing away any evidence of the car leaving the road.

They walked until they could see no more tracks. The rain was relentless. She turned back to see the rain had washed away their tracks from behind.

They were lost.

A shadow moved into a mangrove tree to her right. “Levi?” Madison called out.

“You see him?”

“I saw something.”

“You ever see that movie with the giant alligator? There was this woman in it and she was feeding it cows and…”

“Can we change the subject please?” Madison couldn’t be more wet if she had filled a bathtub and sunk down into it. It seemed as if they were following the wall of rain.
Caleb shrugged and forged ahead. “We could be lost in here for days. No one would ever find us. I read once about this woman that got lost in the Everglades. Her car drove off the road and she stayed there for a week, trapped inside her car. She drank the rain water and she waited. When they found her…”

“Caleb!”

“Just trying to pass the time.”

Madison’s legs ached from pulling her feet out of the mud on every step. It seemed to want to pull her into its depths and keep her there.

“I can’t believe this is happening!” Madison stopped and leaned against a palm tree. She wasn’t one to give up, but this was becoming impossible. She was tired and hungry and most of all she was scared. Not for herself as much as she was for Hayley.

Caleb didn’t notice, until he had gone a few feet, she wasn’t behind him. She watched him turn to her, a slight frown on his face. “I’ve known you for a long time and I’ve yet to see you defeated. You’ve walked for miles through the forest, you’ve whacked snakes in half, which I know you are terrified of, and you’ve never given up. What’s the problem?”

“She’s going to die. She’s going to die and it will be my fault. I have to get there!”

Caleb was silent for a moment. “You stand there much longer and you’ll sink straight down,” he finally said, with water pouring down his face.

“I can’t go any further,” Madison admitted.

“In this? Maddy, you’ve walked through much worse than this. The only way you are going to get there is to keep going.”

“I’m—well, I’m scared okay? Are you happy? We have no idea where we are. We could be heading farther into the Everglades while Hayley could be dying. What if she needs one of my kidneys or my blood? What if it’s my fault that she dies this very moment because we took a wrong turn? What if…”

“What if we keep going until we find help or the highway? How would that be?”

Madison chuckled allowing the rain to flood her open mouth. She spit it out. “Have I thanked you for coming with me yet?”

“No, you haven’t. And I gotta tell ya Maddy, my feelings are hurt. Very hurt. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.”

Madison put her hand to Caleb’s cheek. She didn’t know where she would be if he hadn’t come along. “Let’s get out of here.”

“There’s the Madison Montgomery I know and love.” Caleb smiled. He grunted, his muscles straining as he pulled her out of the mud and they continued on, hoping they were heading the right way.

They were losing the light and Madison’s faith was diminishing with it. They were definitely lost and she wasn’t sure she could go on much longer.

“Caleb, we’re done. We’ll never get out of here.”

“Shhh.” Caleb put his hand up with his head turned to the side. “You hear that?”

Madison listened intently. She couldn’t hear anything through the rain. She looked up to Caleb when she saw the shadow, again, out of the corner of her eye. It was a fleeting dark figure; a suggestion of a body, moving through the trees. When she looked again, it was gone. Whatever it was, it had been looking at her, she was sure of it with the feeling of being watched tickling her senses.

She glanced to Caleb to see if he had seen it. His stare followed to the place where her eyes filled with alarm, but she knew he hadn’t seen anything through the unrelenting rain storm.

“What?” he asked

She walked toward the tree, reaching the place the shadow had been lurking, but it was gone. She heard traffic.

“It’s the highway!” Madison ran up the hill.

They climbed over the fencing and she ran into Caleb’s arms. “We made it!”

“Have I ever let you down?” Caleb brushed her soaked hair away from her eyes.

“There was the time you let me fall into that hole. Oh, and the time I slipped on your jacket and fell down that huge mountain. And remember the time…”

Caleb laughed. “There was the time I led you out of the Everglades when we were lost. You remember that one?”

They walked along the road until they reached a call box. Within fifteen minutes they were sitting in a truck, heading toward Naples. The patrol officer called the station about the missing limo driver name Levi, they had no last name.

“Where can I take you?” the man asked when she started seeing signs for the town.

“The hospital?” Madison asked. She searched through her soaked purse for the telegram.

“No need, I’m sure it’s Naples Hospital.”

“That’s the one.” Madison remembered the name from the telegram. She wished they would have given her more information.

“I just hope I’m not too late,” she whispered to Caleb.