“Caleb.” Her whisper carried through their empty house. “Caleb? Can you hear me?” The house was dark, with creepy shadows dancing on the walls from the yellowish streetlight outside. Caleb and Kassie gathered the last of their things, doing their best to finish moving before it got dark. Kassie hated this house, hated it when they first moved in, and now? Now, her newly wedded husband was missing. At least, that’s what was going on inside her head.

“Hey, baby. You awake?” Caleb sat beside her in the cabin of the 737, the whine from the engines a low throbbing sound. Kassie didn’t sleep well on airplanes. At least that’s what she told everyone, including Caleb. The truth was she’d never been on an airplane before. Ever. But if there was one thing Kassie wasn’t, it was petrified by fear. Even if that fear was confirmed. Her mother was killed in a freak airline incident just outside Nashville, Tennessee. Kassie didn’t talk about it for years, afraid that her worst nightmare would come true, namely that she would die in an airplane. “You were whimpering in your sleep.”

“I didn’t say anything stupid, did I?” she whispered to Caleb. The couple were married a few hours earlier, heading south for their first international trip as a married couple. Caleb considered taking her to Puerto Vallarta with all his United Airlines travel miles. He was granted several perks as a million-mile flier, which other frequent fliers were not, one being an automatic upgrade to a first-class seat and two if he was flying with his spouse. Caleb waited until after the marriage, thinking a trip to St. Lucia would be better. She checked her cheeks for drool. Kassie had been known to drool when sleeping in Mr. Tyson’s history class in high school. But that was years ago. She hoped it wasn’t true but knew better.

Caleb smiled at his bride. She had a bit of sleep in her eyes, the flight a late-night, last-minute red-eye out of Seattle. The couple had spent the better part of three hours in the United Lounge, a perfect place to relax before your international trip. He had a few drinks, as did she. Now that it was well past 2 A.M., Pacific Standard Time, he started dozing. His wife’s whimpering kept him from falling asleep. Caleb grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. “Not any more than usual.”

Kassie tickled him. It was her way of getting his attention without violence. She hated violence, even if it was playful. This seemed to be way better than slapping or punching him in the shoulder. “Hey!” Caleb hissed at her, his smile growing. “That’s not fair. Stop it.”

“So? Did I say anything stupid?” Kassie whispered.

“No. You didn’t really say anything. Like I said, it was more like whimpering. Like Doughbee does when he’s not getting your attention.” Doughbee was Kassie’s 45-pound Golden Doodle, his coloration looking like raw pizza dough, a yellowish-white color, with dark brown patches around his eyes. The breeder Kassie got him from said that was to keep the sun out of his eyes. She eyed him. “Seriously, honey. You didn’t really say anything. I swear.”

“Cut it out, Caleb. We don’t ‘swear’ on anything.”

“Yes, dear,” he said. He let go of Kassie’s hand.”Wait. We don’t swear? Why not?”

“It brings dangerous juju in.” She squeezed his hand tightly. “How much longer?”

“Four hours and change.”

Kassie leaned her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes doing her best to go back to sleep.