A Spark in Darkness Signed Paperback

The sound of chaos assaulted Raven Ryder as she stepped out of the gym. A car horn emitted a continuous blaring as if something or perhaps someone was lodged against it. Black smoke filled the air from the three accidents she could see up and down College Street. Who knew how many more there were across the city? Across the state?  Would there even be enough ambulances to attend to them all? Would there be enough doctors?

It was the middle of summer, yet the air felt cold. So cold. Raven had no idea what this new reality might mean, but she did understand that life as she had known it was about to change radically.

“Did you see where they went?” A hand touched her arm, but the eyes of the woman were blank, overcome with fear and disbelief. Blood flowed from an open wound on her head, but she seemed oblivious to it. She hadn’t even bothered to wipe it away. “I can’t find Amelia anywhere.”

“They’re gone,” Raven said, shaking the woman’s hand from her arm as if her very touch might transfer the disease of confusion. She may not know what the next seven years held, but she knew what her next step was. Kat’s house. Somewhere in Kat’s house was a document that Raven needed. A document that would guide her and possibly save her life over the next few years.

“Gone? They couldn’t be gone. Something took them. Maybe aliens. Aliens could take them all at once, right?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Raven walked away from the woman, but others were beginning to wander her way. People who had been in the cars that now littered the street. People from nearby businesses. They all appeared as dazed as the woman behind her - like zombies. Raven had to get away from them, but would the streets even be driveable? It was a cluttered mess here, would there be room to maneuver? Kat’s house wasn’t far, but Raven wanted the safety of her Jeep  around her. 

“Raven, where are you going?” Jason stood a few feet from the entrance to the gym, a purple bruise already forming on the side of his face. He was an amazing trainer and fast as lightning, but he’d obviously hit something. “Brian’s called an ambulance and the police. He wants everyone to stay put until this gets sorted out.” 

Brian was the owner of the gym, and normally Raven would follow what he said, but this time she shook her head. There was no use staying here. The police wouldn’t be able to help. “I have to get to Kat’s house. She left me something that explains all this. Something I’m going to need.” She turned back to assess her options. The main entrance to the gym parking lot was not an option. People blocked it and an accident filled all four lanes of College Street less than a block from the exit. Perhaps the back entrance would be passable. That street was less heavily trafficked. She might get lucky enough to weave through whatever cars might be there.

“Need? For what? Right now we need to find the kids and Kat. Where is Kat anyway?” His eyes wandered to Kat’s blue Mini Cooper still parked in the space nearest the side door.

She turned back to him, intensity in her eyes. “Kat is gone, Jason. The kids are gone. We could search forever, but we’ll never find them.”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“Come with me. I’ll show you and it will all make sense.” Raven motioned for him to follow her, but he seemed unsure. His gaze flicked back to the gym door. “You can stay if you want, but no answers reside in there. I can give you answers if you come with me.”

His curiosity won out as she figured it would, and he followed her to the Jeep. After they were both buckled in, she fired up the engine and the radio blasted forth the emergency broadcast warning.

“This is an emergency alert. People are being encouraged to stay inside their houses. At least five planes have fallen from the sky over Washington state leaving fires and catastrophes in their wake.”

“Wait, planes are falling from the sky?” Jason turned his attention to the sky out the window. “How is that even possible? Was this a terrorist attack?”

Raven knew he was probably thinking back to September 11th, the worst terrorist attack in US history. Planes had appeared to fall out of the sky then, but only four. And they’d been hijacked. These planes hadn’t, and if five had fallen over Washington state alone, how many others had fallen across the world? She put her finger to her lips to shush him and turned the radio up.

“In addition, reports of car accidents are flooding in faster than ambulances can be dispatched. 911 is overloaded with calls and is asking that if your situation is not a life threatening emergency that you please try later. The police are setting up a hotline for all missing persons, but it is not online yet. Please hold missing person calls until the hotline has been established.”

Jason blinked and ran a hand across his stubbled chin. “So, this isn’t just here? It didn’t just affect the gym?”

Raven sighed. “No, this affected the world, and those missing people aren’t coming back.”

“How do you know?”

Raven looked behind her before throwing the Jeep  in reverse and backing out. “Because Kat told me just like she told you. These people are gone because they were raptured, and now I have a job to do.”

He gripped the dashboard as she threw the Jeep  into drive and gunned it. “Job? What job?”

But Raven didn’t answer. She didn’t know the answer. She only had the few pieces that Kat had been able to tell her. The truth was she didn’t really know what the future held.