“Come on, Lilly, keep up,” Grant called as he moved through the crowd with a purpose. It had finally stopped raining and Grant, Lilly, and their fourteen year old son, Mark, decided to make a mad dash for the new ride that had just opened at the park. Hopefully the remaining drizzle would keep a lot of the guests inside a little longer and they would beat the crowd, avoiding a horrendously long line.
Mark tried to hurry his mom along, but Lilly was trying to pull her poncho over her head while they were moving and, of course, she got her hair stuck in one of the snaps. She couldn’t see where she was going, so was glad for Mark’s guidance. If she was lucky, they would get there without her mowing down half a dozen people with the same idea of hightailing it to the ride.
She was still wrestling with her hair and the snap it was stuck on when she heard him. Somewhere very close to them, a little boy was crying but Lilly tuned him out because kids cry at parks all the time. He probably dropped his ice cream or something. She continued to tug, and let out a whoop when the unrelenting snap finally came undone, but as she was balling up the poncho, she noticed the boy’s cry was becoming a little more urgent. Lilly quickly looked around to see if she could find him, but the thick crowd masked his whereabouts.
Lilly started to feel a small vibration on her skin; a sensation she always experienced whenever the energy around her became charged, especially negatively. The boy was frightened. She could sense it, and the next thing she heard stopped her in her tracks.
“Mommy?” the boy said unsurely, like he was aking a question. Then again, but a little louder and more ragged. “Mommy??” She could hear the panic rising in him. Where was he? All Lilly could see were the tall adults. Then it hit her. This boy is lost! One more time, she heard his cry; his call for his mom overflowing with sheer terror and despair. “Mommy?!”
Lilly couldn’t take it anymore. She could feel his fear and dread like it was her own. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her breathing became short and shallow, and the crowd looked like it was spinning all around her. Finally she spotted the flashing red of a child’s light-up shoes. She followed its haphazard pattern until she found him. He couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 years old, with a chubby face and shaggy hair. His nose and cheeks were red from crying and his eyes were wide with the terror of being alone and surrounded by strangers.
She wanted to go to him, but her feet were anchored to the ground. Her heartbeat sped up and there was a stabbing ache in her stomach. Lilly thought of her own son and her mind transposed Mark and this little boy. In that instant, her soul crumpled, her breath was sucked from her lungs, and she was hammered with the excruciating pain she would feel if she would’ve ever been separated from him. These feelings paralyzed her and all she could do is stare at this sweet boy’s face.
Then she felt a hand on her arm and a slight pull. “Mom, come on.” It was Mark’s voice. “Mom,” the voice repeated. This finally got her to turn her head and she saw her son. He wasn’t a few yards away yearning for his mother. He was right here, and he was safe and sound.
Lilly blinked twice and then took a slow breath in before looking back for the lost boy. There was a woman standing with him and a park employee who was radioing a police officer for help. The boy was going to be ok. They would find his parents and everything would turn out fine.
She was still out of sorts, but followed Mark to the other end of the park where Grant was holding their spot in line. The two of them ducked under the turnstile to take their place next to Grant and when he saw Lilly’s face, he knew something had happened. “Lil,” he asked calmly, “is everything ok?”
Lilly looked at her husband, but found she couldn’t answer. The intensity of the last 10 minutes churned in her gut and her heart was still slamming into her chest. Her eyes moved to her son and she had to reach out and touch his face to assure herself he was real. When Mark smiled at her and took her hand, everything came flooding out of her. She broke down, sobbing uncontrollably, right there in the middle of the line. Her boys didn’t care; they knew how empathic she was, so they did the only thing they could do. Grant pulled Lilly into his chest, cocooning her to keep her safe, while Mark stood behind her with his hands gently squeezing her shoulders, and here they would stay until Lilly cried out all the feeling and energy she absorbed from the little boy who was now, she would be happy to know, reunited with his family.
