Chapter One #3
He hadn’t asked for one about why she didn’t want to shake his hand.
Lincoln leaned in close. “Sunday. And be safe. If you need a ride home later, let me know. I’ll call you a cab.” He waited for her nod of agreement, then walked to the other end of the bar and started filling orders.
Desiree gripped her arm like a vice and pulled her away from the bar. “How could you humiliate me like that?”
She was going to have bruises. “What? I didn’t. I was just trying to set you up. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Not like that. Not in front of everyone. Not with you bungling your way through it. And then I had to watch him eying you and you flirting with him.”
“I wasn’t flirting. I was trying to get a job.” She didn’t know why Desiree was acting so mean when Lucky had tried to do her a favor.
Desiree rolled her eyes. “Come on. Maybe we can salvage this night.”
Their table had been taken by another group. Desiree led her closer to the dance floor where a two top had just been vacated. They took their seats and Desiree people-watched, seemingly ignoring Lucky and sulking. She was really good at that.
The guy who’d come up to Lucky earlier appeared with a buddy and asked for a dance.
Lucky took a chance and danced with the handsome ranch hand out for a good time while Desiree hung back with the friend.
Lucky’s partner tried to get a little handsy, but she backed away enough times for him to get the hint.
After a couple of songs, they went back to the table.
Desiree and her guy were sitting close together, chatting and laughing, their chemistry palpable.
Lucky was parched after dancing and downed most of her drink in a few gulps. “God, that’s good.”
Desiree eyed her. “Looks like you were having fun.”
“I’m trying.” She really wished she didn’t have so many hang-ups.
“Let’s hit the ladies.” Desiree slid off her stool. “You boys want to get us another round?”
They enthusiastically agreed and waved for the waitress.
Desiree turned to her. “Finish your drink.”
Lucky took the last sip, knowing she should never leave her drink unattended.
Desiree looped her arm around Lucky’s and they headed across the dance floor to the restroom.
Lucky did her business, then met her friend at the sink where Lucky washed her hands, really feeling the alcohol now.
Desiree didn’t look at her.
“Please don’t be mad about Lincoln. I was only trying to h-help y-you.” She suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy and leaned into the counter.
Desiree didn’t even look up from her phone as she texted someone. “God, you’re such a lightweight. It’s time to go.”
“I thought we were having a-another r-r-round-d.” Lucky planted her hands on the sink and looked into the mirror, seeing nothing but a blur of lights and her outline.
Lucky felt even woozier. “I think I’ve h-had t-too m-much to d-drink.
The wine thing was s-stronger than I th-thought.
I-I need the restroom.” She turned back to the toilet.
Desiree snagged Lucky around the waist and turned her toward the door. Lucky blanked out, then had a vague sense of the hardwood under her feet moving. Or maybe her feet were. It was hard to tell up from down and in between anymore.
Time disappeared again and she was lying on…a table, looking up at wood beams, her calves and feet dangling off the end, swinging back and forth.
“Finally,” Desiree shouted, rousing her. At least it sounded that way in the quiet room.
“Are you finally going to let me see her?”
Wait. I know that voice.
Panic made her heart stampede in her chest as the ceiling turned into a kaleidoscope of swirling wood beams.
What’s happening?
Why can’t I focus?
What’s wrong with me?
He can’t be here.
I don’t want to see him.
It can’t be him.
Lucky let her head loll to the side. She spotted him by another door, standing in front of Desiree. “W-what’s h-he d-doing here?” She tried to get up, but just fell back down, her heart racing, her limbs numb. She wanted to run. Needed to run. Far and fast and never look back.
Oh god, he’s going to kill me.
She didn’t want to remember what happened to her family, how she woke up groggy and confused—like now—and found them all dead around her.
No.
Not again.
“What the fuck! What is this?” The anger in his voice didn’t match the memories she had of the kind, nice, loving boy who swore he loved her.
Their faces swam in front of her and the room started to spin.
Lucky closed her eyes to try to stave off the nauseous feeling in her belly, while whispers hit her ears but made no sense in her muddled brain.
Someone put their hands on her knees and spread her legs wide.
Her eyes flew open and she tried to move, tried to lean up, to get away.
He loomed over her, his gaze roving over her body, then landing on her face as he reached a hand out toward her.
Fear spiked. “D-don’t t-touch m-me. No one touches m-me.” Not anymore.
He reached for her.
She screamed. At least she tried. Did it come out or get swallowed in the terror engulfing her.
Everything went black.
Lucky opened her eyes just as someone shoved her legs into a car. She was lying on the back seat, staring at the sky out the back window.
“This isn’t right.”
I know that voice.
What’s hap—
Cold. Everything felt cold.
It felt like someone was jostling her. Everything smelled like pine. Maybe the poky things biting into her feet were pine needles. Rocks?
Am I outside?
She tried to open her eyes but they wouldn’t obey. They opened and closed like the shutter on a camera.
The sky and land swirled into a swirl of colors.
Where am I?
She came to again. Seconds, minutes, hours later. She didn’t know.
“You deserve this after everything I’ve done for you. You selfish bitch.”
Suddenly the person holding her under the arms as her legs and feet scraped against gravel and dirt pitched her forward and she slid down a slope, unable to maneuver her arms or legs.
She felt like a rag doll or Jill tumbling down a hill.
One that never seemed to end. It was nothing but pitch black as her leg smacked a large rock, her hip skidded against the dirt and debris as she rolled this way and that, her head bounced off a tree, and her chest slammed into the ground, something sharp speared into her shoulder, and her forehead smacked into stone.
Everything stilled with a jolt and an explosion of pain and the lights went out again.
She couldn’t move. Everything felt battered, broken, and bashed.
Cold. She’d never felt so…frozen. Like ice ran through her veins.
She couldn’t even open her eyes, but she knew she was outside.
In a forest maybe. Crickets chirped and bugs buzzed.
Occasionally she heard the rustle of a bush, an animal pulling off leaves or berries or something.
Where am I?
What’s happened?
Everything hurts.
An eagle or hawk screeched overhead. Blinding light seared her eyes and made the pounding in her head worse. She tried to move her arms, but a searing pain shot through her shoulder, so sharp and piercing it sent her down into the black abyss again.
Night again. The cold. The throbbing pain. The ache in her belly. The desperate need for water. Her lips cracked as she tried to call out, her voice nothing but a rasp.
She opened her eyes and stared at the black ooze on the rock she lay on.
It hurt like hell, but she lifted her head and stared at the tree root that had stabbed through her shoulder.
She was lying in a pool of her own dried blood.
Ignoring the pain, she shifted her shoulder, hoping to break the root so she could move, maybe sit up and eventually try to find help.
But the thick root kept her trapped. The best she could do was curl her left arm into a makeshift pillow and wait.
For what, she wasn’t sure.
No one is coming.
I'm alone.
Like Always.
Night turned into day, turned into night, then day again. Maybe.
It was hard to keep track of time when she spent so much of it unconscious.
Her tongue felt thick and dry. Everything hurt, including her hair, even her fingertips and toes.
Everything in between. She tried to catalogue her injuries.
Her head. Her shoulder. Something was wrong with her knee and thigh. Her back and side.
An animal skittered nearby.
Smelled like a skunk. Or maybe that was just her.
Something thrashed through the brush. Maybe it was only the wind.
She tried to move her head, but it was too heavy.
Her neck and back were sore from lying in the precarious position on the downslope of the hill.
She’d landed in front of two trees growing out of the hill before it dropped about five feet down to another level spot that looked like a creek bed or an abandoned trail of some kind.
She had no idea where she was or how long she’d been here.
Too long.
Too isolated.
She hadn’t heard a car or person, a plane or ATV. Not even a hunter or hiker.
Whatever happened, whoever left her here, knew exactly what they were doing.
I’m alone.
No one is coming.
Another wave of nausea and thirst hit her.
She repositioned her head on her arm and was just about to close her eyes, probably for the last time when she spotted something red bobbing far ahead of her. Her vision was blurry at best, but in a sea of greens and browns, that red ball cap stood out.
In her desperation, she used the last of her energy and called out before she passed out, knowing she probably wouldn’t make it out of here alive, but at least she wouldn’t die alone.
“I’m here. Help me! I’m here. Help me!”