Chapter Three-Hundred and Fourteen
John leaned back on the sofa, looping his arm over Claire's shoulders as she snuggled into his side. He pressed a tender kiss to her head, making himself comfortable as the family gathered around the TV for the nightly news.
"Breaking News, Hurricane Danny has hit the gulf coast of Florida United States."
John sat forward, looking at the hurricane. His eyes flashed yellow, fear reflected in the light from the screen.
Claire touched his back, biting her lip with the memory of how John felt about storms. "John?" She jumped as he stood and marched out of the room, meeting her mother's eyes before she went after him.
She followed him to his room, pausing at the door when she saw that he was stuffing clothing into his suitcase. "John?" She asked, smiling when he looked up at her. "Where're you going?"
He jumped as a strong gust of wind swept through his window. "I need to help." He stuffed a pair of underwear into the suitcase, only pausing when Claire's hand rested on his back.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked, sitting down on his bed as he bowed his head.
"When I was a kid, there was a big storm on Lake Superior." He closed his eyes as the memory started to play like a movie in his head. "We were living right by the shore then, and Jacob had locked me in the crawl space right before it hit." He could almost feel the water rising around him, his small body struggling to keep his head above the surface in the dark. "I was lucky to survive, but the house was flooded beyond repair, and that's when we moved over to our neighborhood in Shermer."
She nodded, slowly placing her hand on his knee as if asking to touch him. "And that's when it got bad."
He swallowed, his head bobbing as his hair fell over his eyes. "Yeah…"
Steven rubbed his chin, thinking about John's proposal of a fundraiser for the Hurricane survivors and their families. "I think we can work that out." His eyes lit up with the idea of the profits. "It'd be good publicity."
"I don't even want the publicity." John stated, the feeling of water rising around him returning. "I just want to do the right thing."
"I can have you all out there by next week, but I've gotta try to find three tour busses with how big of a family you've got."
"Just get one bus, and I'll take care of the hotel expenses. We just need the bus for shelter and our instruments, if we get in a tight spot." He thought back to the times he'd had low blood sugar, or gotten over heated and had a seizure, and the few other times he just needed a break.
Steven nodded, patting John's shoulder as he stood. "I'll start looking for some plane tickets."
John's heart dropped into his shoes, but his lips curled in a smirk to hide his fear. "Thanks man."