Page 14 of Resilience on Canvas

The moment hefinallyfound a ratty old towel balled up beneath the ratty old couch in the living room of the ratty old house, everything went black.

Chapter Four

Henry

Henryfrozethesecondthe room went black.

“Christ!” Robert shouted. “I can’t see two feet in front of me!”

Slowly, Henry lifted his hand in front of his face. Forget two feet, he couldn’t even see sixinchesin front of him. God Almighty, that whole mass of clouds had been enormous. How long would this last? It was blacker than even the blackest night. Heck, it was like a night without stars.

Only slightly louder than the sound of the small pebbles and plumes of powder hitting the window panes was the sound of Robert making his way through the room, his weight causing the floorboards to creak as his shoes made littleswish swishsounds like maybe he was shuffling his feet to be extra careful, and then there was a thud.

“Goddamn son-of-a-bitch bastard!” he hollered. “I knocked my knee on somethin’.”

Robert’s temper sure was interesting to witness. He was probably fighting the urge to break whatever had hurt him clean in half.

Carefully, Henry slid one foot forward to try to find his injured companion. How the heck was he supposed to navigate the room like this? If he tripped over something, then they’d both be injured.Or, well,moreinjured. He still had the splinter. Gosh, if it became infected...

“Hen?” Robert called out. “Come over here and help me with the towel. I’m tryin’ to keep us from chokin’ to death.”

“I’m comin’,” he said, shuffling a couple more steps.

Or, kind of coming. At this rate, he wouldn’t make it before the sky turned clear again.

Inhaling a trembling breath and mustering up the rest of his courage (which, truthfully, there wasn’t that much of), Henry started forward in earnest, moving with slow but purposeful strides. Along the way, he swept his hands back and forth in front of him, hoping to protect himself from slamming into something.

And then his hand made contact with the back of Robert’s head.

“Ow!” Robert said. “Why’d you smack me?”

“I can’t see!” Henry exclaimed. “Gosh, Robert, I’m sorry. Are you—”

“I’m fine, dammit.” Robert took hold of Henry’s sleeve. “We’re walkin’ together now, though. Don’t need you to keep slappin’ me.”

Maybe it was the nervousness Henry was feeling, but for some reason, that statement was too funny not to react to. He started chuckling.

“Don’t laugh at me, you Goddamn shop boy,” Robert said, though he was starting to laugh himself. “First, you break yer promise to marry my sister, then you hit me when I couldn’t even see you comin’, and now you’re mockin’ me with that little laugh of yers?”

Clutching Henry tighter, Robert started shaking him in a lighthearted manner, and Henry’s face began to burn so hot he couldn’t barely keep himself from melting. Holy heck, RobertDavis—theRobert Davis, the very handsome and ever-impressive Robert Davis—was being playful with him. It was incredible.

Henry’s foot kicked the wall.

“Alright, I think we’re close now,” Robert said.

Henry reached out one of his hands to try to find the knob, but found Robert’s hand instead, and the moment they connected, Henry recoiled.

“Are you scared I’ll bite you or somethin’?” Robert said, his tone light and teasing. “Geez, I think you might even be more skittish than Clara. No wonder you called off the weddin’.” Henry heard the rattling of what was probably the metal knob. Robert must have found the door. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what you need is a strong woman, Hen. Someone like... oh, hell, I can’t think of no one. But I’m sure there’s someone out there for you.” Robert bent low, taking Henry with him, and then Robert’s hand found his. He pressed the end of the towel into Henry’s palm. “Here, you take this side.”

Together, they stuffed the towel into the little space where the wind was coming in. Robert took hold of Henry’s shirt sleeve once more when they stood and then started walking. Henry figured Robert was taking them to the couch. Lord knew how long they’d have to stay here.

After shuffling forward for a while, the couch was exactly what they found.

Robert let out a long sigh when he sat. Henry settled on one of the old cushions and immediately started twisting his hands in his lap, equal parts elation and nervousness making his entire body hum. He was sitting right next to the man he fancied. Even though he couldn’t see Robert right now, he couldsensehim.

And,God,it was wonderful.

Oh, what a wicked thing it was to be so happy right now. Others were probably out there suffocating, their lungs filling up withearth, and Henry was in here feeling like one of the luckiest men in the world.

---