When I Find You

I sit in my chair stunned staring at my monitor as it pulses red. The hidden underground fissures that have been their for years, decades, maybe even centuries. Waves of grey roll across the monitor. I nudge my wife’s arm and she looks over.

“That represents…” she trails of.

“Stress moving through rocks, I know.” I say.

Her next question echoes my panic. “What does this mean?”

Geologists have known about the hidden fissures for years. No one agrees on when they were first discovered. And we can’t tell anyone. Not without triggering mass panic, the kind that comes from telling the world its ground isn’t as stable as it believes. But as the stress waves become more aggressive, I can’t help but wonder if they are connected. Something shifts on the screen catching my eye, Selene points it out.

“Where is that” she asks.

“Fogo island” I reply, “I think”.

The island that is a screaming red. The island of Pico de Fogo a huge active volcano. The center of everything we have been tracking. Most importantly, the place where all the cracks meet.

I refresh the screen again and again hoping, praying that it is actually a system error. That this isn’t true. Nothing changes. I look over at Selene, the dread spreading across her face says she was hoping the same thing I was.

“Doctor Marlow.”

Our boss, Ethan Varan’s voice is sharp as it cuts across the quite of our office. Selene and I both look up.

“Yes, both of you,” he confirms. “My office, now.”

His voice is final leaving no room for protest . Not that we would.

We enter Mr. Varan’s office slowly, carefully. We already know why he called us in here. He saw the same thing we did.

“This” he says slowly, turning his computer screen towards us, “is what every monitor in the system is showing right now.”

We nod.

“So tell me, why, you are the only two who look concerned.”

“The monitor was, no, is flashing red” I start. “And the grey waves are stress waves pulsating through the ground, by the cracks, moving aways from them.”

He nodes slowly. “And this means” he asks,

“It means that they are getting worse” Selene says.

Suddenly the phones are ringing. All of them. Every monitor line in the office lights up at once, simultaneous calls from stations positioned over the major fault lines. Six calls. Six stations. Six people rush into Mr. Varans office. They’re all trying to talk at once.

“The cracks have broken the surface” one is saying.

“Massive earthquakes” adds in another.

The rest are nodding along, confirming that this was universal.

“They are getting worse” Selene whispers.

“Everyone out” Varan partially has to shout for them to hear. I stand up. “Not you Elias” he hisses. “You stay here.”

I sit back down. Selene puts her hand over mine under the desk. It is almost reassuring. Almost.

The last person leaves the office closing the door behind them and silence stretches over the small room. Varan turns back to look at us.

“As my lead geologists, I need the two of you to go to Fogo island and check this out.”

I stare at him.

“We aren’t just going to leave our kids here alone while we are facing world destruction” Selene snaps.

He considered this for a moment. “Then they can go with you.” He says finally. “The company will pay for everything, but I need you two there. I need you to figure out what the hell is going on.

The drive home is quite. No traffic at this time of night. No one out waling. Selene and I don’t talk. We are both in our own little worlds of panic. I pull into the driveway, turn of the car and open the door. Selene doesn’t move. I sit back in my seat, pulling the door closed behind me.

“Honey” I say, trying to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

She still doesn’t move. That is when I notice the tears rolling down her face as she stares through our living room window.

“What’s wrong?” I ask leaning over to wipe her tears of her cheeks.

“What do we tell our kids?” She chocks out. “How will we be able to keep them safe if…if everything falls apart.”

“I don’t know” I say, “but we will get through it. Together.”

She sighs and wipes her face. We get out of the car and walk to the front door hand in hand.

I catch movement through the window as my key turns in the lock. The door opens and all four of our kids freeze.

“What are you guys still doing up” Selene asks as we walk into the house. “It’s almost midnight.”

No one speaks. No on moves. She sighs.

“Well since you are here, you should go pack your suitcases. We are leaving in the morning for a work trip, and your coming with us.”

Our oldest daughter Lyra scrunches her eyebrows together as she does when she is trying to figure something out. She looks over at her twin brother Draven who just shrugs. Then the four of them head upstairs to pack their things. No one is talking. It’s unsettling, they normally can’t stop.