Excerpt: Connect

Uncle Ethan didn’t know why he worked so hard on the house until Lauren was born. He didn’t understand why she would need it, but he knew when he first saw her that he would give everything he had to keep his little niece safe. He helped build the house, and died in 2006. He was only 29. He’d died from a cancer that grew in his liver, and spread. No Sight could have stopped it. Lauren remembered that, when Uncle Ethan died, her father cried for a week.

Her father was the pastor, though, and had to hold the funeral for his only brother. Lauren was all he had left, after that.

Lauren Saw Ethan Rains work on the little house below the ground. She Saw him playing with her as a child. She Saw him talking with her father about this issue and that. He didn’t See, so he didn’t know why David wanted something a certain way.

Her father, David Rains, brought her down here when she was 12. He told her each story, and had her Look at the marks and See each life that worked hard to keep her safe. She didn’t See why, at the time, and he never told her. He just told her that he was making it so that, when the time came, she could be safe.

“Lauren,” he said. Lauren was only thirteen at the time. It was a week before he died. “Lauren, listen to me. I know that you’re scared. I know a lot of things. But, honey, listen. It’s up to you, now. I know that’s a lot to take in, but you know. You’ll See, soon, what will happen. You’ll See, and everything I’ve shown you and taught you in life is about to make sense. Everything you are is for this purpose, do you understand?”

“Yes, daddy.” Thirteen-year-old Lauren stood by her father. Present-day-Lauren saw her younger self through the eyes of her father. There were tears in her eyes, both times.

“God gave us all a purpose, sweetie. To raise you was my purpose. To help you through life, even after I’m gone, is my purpose. Yours will come, and when it does, you’ll be ready, because you’re strong enough to make it through.” David Rains was close to crying. It was important to have this conversation now, or else he wouldn’t be strong enough to get through it.

Lauren cried and pulled her hand from the wall. She’d lived that day over and over again, every time she touched one of the planners. She Saw her father’s life, and watched it end every day.

On August 17th of 2012, he’d died from lung cancer. He was only thirty-five. It broke Lauren’s heart to See him fall asleep, and eventually stop breathing. She cried every day, if only for a little while.

She sunk to the ground just next to the door and cried for her father. She missed him, and wished he were still alive to help her through this. She didn’t know if she could do this without him.

She pulled out her pocket watch and saw that it was only six o’clock in the evening. It took longer than she thought to get down there.

She wasn’t alone, though. She had Ava, and she had her father in the planners. She only hoped it would be enough.