Hello Sunshine

Oh!!! Yeah, no problem! The stake vanishes with a quiet little pop as it fades into Twilight. Oooh. We should figure out what other cool things we can do, later. Do you think we can set people on fire with our brain?

 

Eirik stares, wide-eyed. "...that's... so... cool!!! Can you show me how to do that?!"

 

"I'm not sure I can do that with anything else- we'll have to see about that. And the fire thing." Though Corrie would prefer the ability to punch people through the Internet. Would that be a ghost power? There are stories that have them coming out of screens and stuff, right?

First things first: keys in the ignition, back onto the dirt road toward the land of cell reception. It's... a lot later than she should be calling Lee. Hopefully he hasn't actually called out the National Guard yet.

 

The boy watches, then sneakily turns on the radio, which starts blaring heavy metal.

 

It's a bit startling to have turned on suddenly, and it's not entirely Corrie's favorite, but she can go with it for a while. "This is what your Dad does?"

 

"...yeah! Actually..." He closes his eyes, humming along. "...I think this is a live feed from their concert. They're the headliners for tonight at the Desert Rock Fest."

 

"Great!" ...well, she can hardly change the station now. "Don't stop keeping your eye on the phone, though, all right?"

 

"Yeah, you got it." He hums, kicking his feet lightly against the bottom of the seat, watching the phone as a man sings out in... what language is that, anyway?

Eirik seems to be singing along, anyway.

 

Probably something Scandinavian, from the sound of it. Also from the sound of "jotun" from before.

You got a favorite kind of music, Sunshine? she wonders.

 

I like sing-alongs, and... uhm. Like. Glory, Glory, Hallellujah, Glory Glory Hallelujah.... He quietly sings the Battle Hymn of the Republic in the back of her head.

 

It kind of clashes horribly, but... her new friends are enjoying themselves. Makes for a weirdly warm-fuzzy feeling, even in the midst of all this weird bullshit.

And it's a beautiful night, too.

 

Eirik turns down the radio a minute later, holding up the phone, which immediately starts to vibrate. "IT's working, oh. Uh."

He clicks accept call. "Hi. Uh. The lady is driving how are you?"

 

"Whoa, give me that-" There's literally nothing to run into within sight, even the most cautious of drivers couldn't have objected to Corrie reaching a free hand over for the phone. "Lee? Oh my God, Lee, I'm sorry-"

 

"Corrie?!" Lee's voice is loud, breathless. "I've been trying to get ahold of you for thirty minutes, what happened-"

 

"I know, I'm so sorry, I had some trouble..." Corrie's vision is starting to blur. Tears. She was actually- She's known it since it happened, it's not something you can miss, but hearing the fear in Lee's voice now just makes everything--

She was actually dead.

"...I had a lot of trouble, actually, but I'm fine now, I promise, and I'm going to be just fine, and I'm fine. I really am."

She died all alone and her Mom and her Dad and her Lee would all have never seen her again. How long would it have taken before anyone but Sunshine even knew?

 

"I. I. Okay. Okay. I just. Thank god you're okay, Corrie. I panicked." He forces himself to laugh, but she can hear the plastic of his phone case creak a little under the grip he has on it. "Everything's okay? I..."

He goes quiet, then bursts into a nervous, overwhelmed laugh, though his voice is warm all the same as he reaches a conclusion. "Oh god. A kid answered the phone. Did you save the kittens, too?"

 

An answering oh-god-it's-too-much laugh bursts from Corrie's own throat. "I, uh. No, I couldn't find any. I looked. But." The tears are flowing openly now; it's easier to see but harder to talk. "Thanks. For worrying. Everything's gonna be okay though. I promise."

 

"Okay. Okay. Good. I'm glad." Lee's sigh of relief echoes down the line, and she can hear him slumping into his favorite overstuffed, battered chair. "So. Good shots, today? Have... everything's good?"

 

A slightly cold hand rests on Corrie's, as Eirik scoots over to press against her side and keep the wheel straight, face carefully concentrating and clearly pretending he can't hear her crying at all.

 

"Do... do you want me to come down?" Lee asks abruptly, pushed on by Corrie's relieved tears. "...I. if you want. I can probably take a few days off work?"