“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, Eileen reflected on the time right after her son, Marvin died and how much she had relied on Wild and June to survive her grief. It was through them that she met her husband, Boots, the man who would give her two more children and further reason to live. But in the present, with their marriage on it’s last legs and their kids grown, Eileen’s thoughts turned to Wild after Boots mentioned meeting him for dinner while in Atlanta weeks prior.
Raina was not a fan of tension. She had grown up in a household strung so tightly that the air practically sang with it when both her parents were home. Millie was angry with Wild and wouldn’t speak to him. They were on day three at the retreat and Raina was far from feeling the mellow vibe she had been hoping for. The Thornes were behaving like spoiled children but that couldn’t be helped. How else could they be?
The one-room maloca was too small for this level of energy. Raina got up from the bed and slipped her sandals on.
“Where are you going?” Millie asked, looking up from the work laptop she had promised not to bring.
“Anywhere that’s not here,” Raina said. “The two of you need to work out whatever this is.”
“There’s nothing to work out,” Millie said, closing the laptop. “I’ll come with you.”
“No, you and Wild need to talk. This is an important trip for both of you and you shouldn’t waste it.”
Wild was looking up at her over his reading glasses with an unreadable expression on his face. Though Raina had only known him a few days, it felt like a lifetime. That was the work of the ayahuasca. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.
“I don’t want to talk to him,” Millie said. “I know how he feels about me.”
“Millie, for god’s sake, don’t be so dramatic. I love you like you were my own daughter. The point I was trying to make was…”
“You think I’m like my father– that all I care about is money.”
“No, that’s not what I said, and you know it. I said our family’s money and how we came by it is a poison and it’s making you sick.”
Millie’s face was bright red and her nostrils were flaring. She whipped her attention back to Raina. “Do I look sick to you?” she asked. “Do I look like someone who’s poisoned?”
Raina never knew what to do with rhetorical questions, especially ones delivered with this much heat. She was relieved when Wild jumped in to answer.
“You don’t behave like a well person. You’re skin and bones. You don’t sleep. You work all the goddamn time, and I’ve heard the way you rage on business calls. I know that’s not who you are. I know it’s the family legacy, the disease you’ve inherited. Your mama didn’t want this for you.”
There was a vibrating silence, like the backdraft before a house on fire explodes. Millie screamed so loud and with such ferocity that Raina winced, expecting objects to fly across the room. Instead, Millie pulled at her hair and thrust her legs out with such force that the laptop clattered to the floor. Then she curled up into a ball and began to sob with the complete abandon of a small child. Raina was at a loss for what to do. Their relationship was new, and this was a side of Millie she had never seen expressed, though she had felt it coiled inside her. She moved over to the bed and placed her hand gently on Millie’s shoulder, but Millie swiped it away and continued to cry.
“Don’t look at me,” she pleaded. “Go away and don’t look at me like this.”
Wild rose slowly, closed his book, and carefully set his reading glasses beside it on the bed. He crossed over to Millie, sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Millie struggled half-heartedly to shrug him off but then turned and allowed him to hold her like a child, rocking her back and forth.
“I know sugar. I know you miss your mama. I do too.” His voice was little more than a whisper. “I’m sorry I made you feel bad. I never ever want to do that to you.”
Millie’s sobs downgraded to sniffles and her breathing relaxed. Raina didn’t want to be here in this private moment between them. Her eyes filled with tears and suddenly she felt a sharp sense of loneliness. There had never been a father or uncle or any man in her life who loved her like this. When Wild looked up and saw the tears tracking down her cheeks, he motioned for her to come over to them. Raina hesitated but then moved over to sit on the edge of the cot. Wild gently put his free arm around her and pulled her into his embrace with Millie. Raina stiffened at first, so conscious of her large frame, her big body, but Wild didn’t seem fazed and eventually she relaxed and allowed herself to be held.
After a couple of minutes, Wild got up and walked over to the window. He stared out into the trees and there was a stricken look on his face, his brow furrowed and his mouth half-open.
“Wild, you okay?” Millie asked.
He didn’t answer. He appeared to be somewhere else. She repeated her question, and he turned around. As he did, his expression reset with the agility of someone with a lifetime of experience masking.
“I’m fine, sugar.”
He poured them each a drink of water from a pitcher sitting on the desk. Then he pulled the desk chair over to the bed, sat down, and leaned forward.
“Millie, I wasn’t trying to put all this on you. I was trying to do the opposite. What I saw, what I felt in the vision was so strong and clear. I know it’s not convenient, but I think it’s worth exploring. We’re more than just the handful of years we live on this planet, don’t you think? We’re a part of everything that came before us, and we’ll be a part of everything that comes after.”
Raina couldn’t see the expression on Millie’s face, but she could feel the tension in her body. This wasn’t a subject Millie wanted to explore. Raina wasn’t entirely sure what Wild was proposing but she liked the energy she felt from him. She wanted to nudge Millie, but didn’t feel like it was her place. This was family business, quite literally. So, she waited. After an uncomfortable amount of time, Millie finally responded.
“I don’t know if I believe all that. Maybe this is all we have.”
“Maybe so, but isn’t that all the more reason to do something better with the time we’ve got?”
Millie pulled away from Raina and turned so she could address her directly. “What do you think?”
How did she get in the middle of this? She had never even owned an apartment and now she was being asked to weigh in on the future of a company that owned half the commercial property in Atlanta including a stadium. Raina took a deep breath.
“I think your uncle’s right, but that’s easy for me to say. I don’t know anything about your world, really.” Millie looked stung so Raina kept going. “What I mean to say is I think I know you, on the inside at least, but I don’t know anything about the business or your family. I do know that from the moment I met you, you’ve been conflicted.”
“What are we even talking about here?” Millie’s tone was even. “You guys think it’s so easy to just blow it all up, liquidate the company and give it all away? I have a responsibility to a lot of people.”
“It’s not all or nothing, Mills,” Wild said. “All I want you to do is consider how you might change things if you listen to your heart for a change. Forget about your daddy, and my daddy, and all the rest of ‘em going back to when Emmet first stepped off the boat.”
Before Millie could respond, her phone began to ring. She picked it up, stared at the incoming call, and frowned. “Speak of the devil. It’s daddy. He’s tried calling all day. I need to take this, so he’ll stop worrying.”
She got up, slipped on her flip-flops and went outside. Raina heard her answer the call but then her voice faded as she moved down the footpath.
“Sorry about all this,” Wild said. “I can imagine it’s pretty uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine. Better than you two not talking. Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“What exactly are you trying to get Millie to do? She’s under a lot of pressure.”
“I know she is. I don’t honestly know what I want her to do. I just feel something shifting inside me, deep down and it’s all connected to this family and how we came to have what we have. I know it all must seem pretty strange to you.”
“Yes, I can’t say I relate, but I do recognize suffering. I can feel it from both of you.”
“Ah hell, this isn’t suffering. There’s true suffering in this world and this, what we have, isn’t it.”
Raina nodded and took another sip of water. “But suffering is universal, don’t you think? It doesn’t matter how much you have.”
“I’m glad she has you. She’s been lonely for a long time. That girl carries the weight of the world on her shoulders trying to be what everybody wants. I feel like I just added to it.”
“Maybe, but I don’t see it that way. You want to help her.” She was uncomfortable pushing him, but she couldn’t help herself. “You never answered my question. What do you think she should do?”
He didn’t answer right away. She could tell her directness made him uncomfortable. What was it with Southerners and their inability to say what they meant without this complicated dance? He sighed, ran his fingers through his hair and then looked over at her.
“I guess I do want her to blow it all up. It wasn’t a happy kumbaya I had two nights ago. It was a walk through hell and the ones holding the pitchforks were the patriarchs of this goddamned family.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean our legacy was built by people who treated other humans like livestock– worse than that. This is not anecdotal. I’ve done the research. There’s a direct line all the way back to when our family transitioned from plantations to manufacturing and then diversified into real estate, covering our tracks so we could whitewash the whole dirty business.”
Raina studied the old man’s face and tried to see his connection to the bloodline, tried to imagine him brandishing a whip. But that was not who he was. He may have been born into it, but his soul was not.
“Can I ask what it would look like, blowing it all up?” she asked.
“Millie’s in line to be the head of the whole shootin’ match when her daddy dies. She will hold the majority stake, and she can do about anything she wants with our fortune. Sure, there’s some board members but Thorne’s a privately held, family company. There’s no shareholders.”
“I don’t know anything about business. How big is the company?”
“Ninety-seven billion dollars in revenue last year.”
“My lord.” Raina couldn’t hide her shock. “I had no idea. Millie never really talks about it, and she lives, well, not like someone who’s a billionaire.”
“I know. That’s why she takes criticism so hard. It’s the ones like her father who live like billionaires and treat people like tools. They have no trouble sleeping at night.”
Raina must have made a face at the mention of Millie’s father because Wild laughed.
“You don’t like Gerry much either, I take it.”
“I only met him once, and Millie, well, she didn’t really introduce me as anything but a friend.”
“I’m sorry. She’s better than that. I know she is. She’s got her mama’s heart, but she wants to be her daddy’s girl.”
This made sense to Raina. There were definitely two sides warring against each other inside her girlfriend. “I was hoping she would do the ceremony last night. We’ve only got one night left.”
“Me too, but she’s got to come to it on her own. As much as I think it would change her perspective, I worry that it might do something awful to her and I can’t bear that.”
Raina had no idea what exactly Wild meant. She knew Wild had had a bad trip in his twenties, but he seemed okay, better than okay. There weren’t many men close to seventy she could tolerate. Before Raina could respond to Wild, Millie came back into the maloca. She seemed even more upset.
“What is it?” Wild asked. “Everything okay?”
“He’s acting so fucking strange,” Millie said, throwing her phone onto the cot. “Did you… tell him something?”
Raina could sense they were speaking in code. She was missing some significant piece of the puzzle.
“What do you mean?” Wild asked.
“You know what I mean. He’s asking me to fly home immediately. He’s assembling the board because he wants to talk through the top line of the business, the trust, and his will.”
“Jesus,” Wild sighed under his breath and Raina could, once again, see a flicker of the man behind the mask. “I need to get some air,” he said, turning to open the door. He looked back and added, “We’re not going back until tomorrow. You need one more day.”
The screen door slammed closed behind him. Millie took the chair he had vacated and looked at Raina.
“I’m sorry you’re having to witness all this drama but I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“Do you want to go back?” Raina asked.
“No, I don’t. Fuck him,” Millie said.
The words were fierce, but her delivery was not. Raina reached over and took her hands. “I’m here for you. Whatever you want to do.”
“I want to do it tonight. I’m still a little scared, but more scared of things staying the same than of things changing. I don’t want this life I have anymore, but I feel stuck. It’s hard to breathe most days. Do you think I can get unstuck? Do you think doing the ceremony would help?”
Raina nodded. “Maybe so, if it’s your intention. I should go and let them know you want to do it.”
Raina had a strange, giddy feeling of unreality. How was it possible her path had brought her here to be with this woman in this moment? She felt, maybe for the first time, like she mattered to someone, like she was needed and more importantly, like she was at the fulcrum of some powerful change that was coming, a change that would make a real difference in the world.
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