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“Departures” is a supernatural thriller and love story published as a serial novel with new episodes dropping every Tuesday morning. Anyone can read or listen for free. Paid subscribers gain early access to new episodes. Watch the trailer or visit the table of contents to browse all the published episodes.
Previously…
In the last episode, Wild asked June to marry him and she accepted. They had a small, beach wedding at the Thorne family’s home on the Gulf coast. In the midst of the celebration under the stars with friends and family, Wild’s father pulled him aside to remind him of his obligation to make something of himself— to take his place in the family business. As the evening closed and Wild sat by the pool with his new bride, he was filled with both joy and dread. The ticking clock on their time left together would give him no peace.
“Raina, he’s going to love you. Don’t worry.”
Millie hoped this was true as they walked down the concourse toward their gate where hopefully Wild would be waiting. He had assured her she didn’t need to send a car. He preferred to drive himself.
“But did you tell him about me?” Raina asked.
“Not exactly. But believe me, if there’s one person in the world who might get you, it’s my uncle.”
“I don’t think you know people like I do. I just don’t want you to be disappointed if he… if he’s put off.”
Millie wanted to stop there in the middle of the busy concourse and take Raina’s face in her hands. At the very least, she wanted to take her hand and hold it as they walked, but she couldn’t do it. She had spent her life hiding who she was in public spaces and as an executive for one of the largest family-owned corporations in the world, everywhere was a public space. Logically, she knew it really didn’t matter, but shame was a hard habit to break. She looked up at Raina and saw the tension in her jaw. She was nervous. They passed a father carrying two sleeping toddlers and his eyes lingered a beat too long on Raina.
“I love you,” Millie said. “Wild loves me so he’ll love you. Don’t worry.”
A few minutes later they made it to the gate. It wasn’t hard to find her uncle. He was seated alone at the far end of the gate area looking out the large windows at the tarmac. Suddenly Millie was nervous. What had she been thinking? She didn’t do this kind of risky, spontaneous thing. They were about to take a soul-searching trip into the jungle together. These two people she loved were complete strangers. If it was awkward she would be miserable for the next few days.
She took a deep breath and called out to Wild as they approached. He turned, removed his reading glasses, and sat his book on the seat beside him.
“There you are,” he said, smiling.
Millie leaned over the row of seats and hugged him. She whispered in his ear. “Please, please, please, be kind to my new girlfriend.” Turning to Raina, she said. “Raina, this is my eccentric uncle Wild. Wild this is Raina.”
She watched as Raina and Wild gave each other a polite smile and an awkward wave. Raina was a hugger, but she’d been instructed that Wild was uncomfortable with physical contact, especially with new people.
“It’s great to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“I wish I could say the same,” Wild said. “Millie here plays her cards pretty close to the chest. It’s nice to meet you too. I’m not sure I’ll live up to my role as the eccentric uncle, but I’ll do my best.”
Millie’s eyes darted back and forth between them like she was watching a match at Wimbledon. Raina was smiling but trying to make herself small by stooping and collapsing her shoulders. Wild smiled in his easy way, but it seemed to falter a little and his brow furrowed slightly as his eyes did a quick scan of the person in front of him. This was a bad idea. She was about to blurt something out to break the tension when Wild spoke.
“Well come on around here and grab a seat, girls. Raina, I wanna hear all about your work.”
And just like that, Millie’s fears were put to rest. Raina and Wild talked non-stop until they were called to board the plane. Wild asked a lot of questions about psychoactive compounds and Raina answered enthusiastically, always volleying back a question which Wild would answer with some highly-specific reference to something he had read. While they were waiting in the queue to board with first class and Raina rushed off to use the restroom, Wild leaned close to Millie and spoke.
“Your friend’s something special. I like her. She’s trans, right?”
“Yes, but…”
“Mills, you could’ve just told me and saved yourself a whole lotta worry. Will you stop acting like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs? She’s great.”
“You think so? She was really nervous about meeting you.”
“She’s got nothing to be nervous about with me. For fuck’s sake sweetheart, I’m the biggest freak show there is.”
Their non-stop flight to Lima was uneventful. For a perpetual business traveler like Millie, that was no small thing, and she appreciated being able to relax without the obligation of having to clatter away on her laptop to prepare for a meeting while main-lining espressos. It was Raina’s first time ever in first class and she had the enthusiasm of a child over every little thing from the free drinks to the steamed towels to freshen up after the meal. Wild read and looked out the window. He didn’t seem as weary to her. He seemed energized in a way she hadn’t seen since June was alive. Millie was beginning to feel like this trip would be what she had hoped, maybe even better.
After they landed in Lima, they found their driver easily. He was holding a handwritten sign with their last name spelled the way he pronounced it: TORN. He talked incessantly like a tour guide during the twenty-minute ride to the hotel. The city didn’t make much of an impression on Millie. The landscape, at least what she saw of it from the highway along the coastline, was flat and dull, a monochromatic metropolis of beige rocks and buildings interrupted by the occasional scrubby tree. In her mind she was expecting an exotic, tropical locale with lush green trees overlooking an indigo sea. When the driver paused to take a breath, she commented on the arid nature of the place and Wild assured her that the landscape changed dramatically just a couple hundred miles inland and soon they would be in the jungle. The private plane she chartered would leave the following morning, so they had an evening to spend in the city.
The five-star hotel her assistant had booked was lovely and their rooms were in a suite on the top floor overlooking the sea which, even under the cover of clouds, shimmered and evoked the feeling of being on vacation.
“Oh my God, this is unbelievable,” Raina said. “You said you had money, but I didn’t know this is what you meant. It’s a little intimidating.”
“Sorry, do you want me to find a less intimidating hotel?” Millie asked.
“Um, no, I think I’ll manage through my discomfort. Can we put on cushy robes and order room service?”
“Anything you want.” Millie pulled Raina to her and kissed her deeply.
The French doors, open to the sea breeze ushered in the exotic smells of a foreign city and the promise of an adventure. They moved to the bed and tumbled onto the expanse of white linen. The sensation of the cool cotton beneath her and the warmth and urgency of Raina above her made Millie shudder and giggle. The self-conscious, deferring nature Raina exhibited as she walked through the world fell away when they were together in private and Millie had never had a lover who made her feel so much, so intensely for so long.
Afterward, they lay together coming down. The hammering gallop of Millie’s pulse throbbing in her temples slowed, making room for the erratic symphony of car horns and a thousand conversations on the sidewalk below. The room filled with the tangerine glow of the setting sun. She sighed and flexed her toes.
“I changed my mind,” Raina said. “I don’t want room service. You have that all the time. Let’s take your uncle out and find a local place to eat.”
An hour later they were sitting across from Wild in a restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge. It was elegant and modern and completely generic. It could have been in any fine hotel in any major city in the world. But what the menu didn’t bring in authenticity, it made up for in variety. They all found something tasty on the menu including Wild who was a vegetarian and very particular. Millie studied his face as he listened to Raina share her story. He had always been a good listener. It was something to do with his eyes, the open but intense focus of them. She understood it was an adaptation he had to make because he couldn’t just reach across the table to take someone’s hand. Raina paused for a moment, overcome with emotion. Wild had a disarming way of getting people, often complete strangers to share their most intimate stories.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to keep going,” he said.
“No, it’s fine. I think it’s the wine. I don’t drink much,” Rain said, dabbing tears before they ruined her mascara.
“So, your daddy hasn’t talked to you in how long?” Wild asked.
“It’s been almost ten years. He called on my birthday a few years ago, but when I asked him not to use my dead name, he handed the phone to my mom.”
“I know all about those kinds of fathers,” Wild said. “I was nothing but a disappointment to mine.” He took a sip of wine and redirected the conversation. “So, what made you want to be a guide?”
“I’m not sure it would make sense if I told you.”
“Try me.”
“Well, I’ve always felt like there was something moving, vibrating just below the surface with everyone and yet nobody talks about it. Maybe they don’t feel it or maybe they do but don’t care. I want to know what it is. I want to know what moves us in one direction versus another. I found a way to drop down into that mystery with the psychotropics. And once I got a peek behind the curtain, all I wanted to do was help other people do the same.”
Raina paused and took a sip of her wine. Millie squeezed her hand. Wild appeared deep in thought, his gaze no longer on Raina, but somewhere a thousand miles away.
“What are you thinking?” Raina asked.
“Nothing, everything. What you said makes a lot of sense to me. I think it’s admirable that you try to help others. I’ve tried but I don’t know. I wonder if any of it amounts to a hill of beans. I mean what I’ve tried to do in my life.”
Was Wild about to tell Raina everything, just like that? Millie had an irrational flash of jealousy. He only shared his secret with her because she had forced it out of him. But he didn’t go further. He took another sip of wine.
“I think it all matters,” Raina said. “All we have is the kindness we give each other. It doesn’t matter if it achieves anything or not. The act of doing it is enough. In my experience, we don’t really change people. All we can do is accept them.”
“I like her,” Wild said, turning to Millie. “You found yourself a good one here, Mills.”
“I know I did.” Millie leaned over and kissed Raina on the cheek. “I’m glad we’re all here together. This feels good. It feels important.”
“Yeah, it does,” Wild said. “I can’t believe I’ll get to see Diego again after all these years.”
“What are the odds that the place I found online would be run by his family. It feels auspicious,” Millie said. She turned to Raina. “It was this guy Diego’s grandfather who guided Wild on his trip when he was here in his twenties.”
“The grandfather,” Raina asked, “he was the Shipibo medicine man, the elder who guided you?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Wild said.
“Have you done ayahuasca since that first time?” Raina asked.
“No, I’ve been too scared, to be honest. I didn’t want to risk going any deeper.”
Raina nodded, holding Wild’s gaze. She was such an empath. Millie could sense her trying to understand what she felt moving below the surface of Wild’s kindness and Southern, genteel demeanor.
“So why now?” Raina asked.
“I’m old. I don’t have that much time left and I don’t have that much left to lose. Besides, it was Millie’s scheme. I blame her for my sudden surge of courage.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Raina said, laughing.
They all raised their glasses. As Millie sipped the last of her wine, the weight of what she had brought her uncle here to do settled onto her shoulders. She was, without a doubt, out of her depth.
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If you’re enjoying “Departures,” chances are you will also like my two previously published novels. I’ve made the first two episodes of each free for you to preview. If you prefer reading the old fashioned way, you’re in luck because “The Memory of My Shadow” is now available in print, ebook, and audiobook anywhere you purchase books. I give you all the details in this announcement post.
In 2052, Magdalena, a brilliant programmer invents a device for telepathic communication with AI, seeking to decode the mind of her twin, the shooter in a school massacre she alone survived, but when she resurrects his consciousness, she unleashes a malevolence that could destroy her. Fans of the movie “Ex Machina” will love this story.
In the reality show competition for Houze, a revolutionary eco-home, six contestants face a winner-takes-all challenge. Beneath the surface of sustainability, altruism battles greed, turning a hopeful vision into a life and death struggle. Fans of “Nine Perfect Strangers” by Liane Moriarty will love this story.
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