Epsilon

by Dezirae Bates

  The Origins

  Book 1

  Epsilon

  Dezirae Bates

  Blue Forge Press

  Port Orchard " Washington

  The Origins: Epsilon

  Copyright 2018

  by Dezirae Bates

  First eBook Edition

  November 2018

  First Print Edition

  November 2018

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, except in the case of short excerpts for use in reviews of the book.

  For information about film, reprint or other subsidiary rights, contact: blueforgegroup@gmail.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, locations, and all other story elements are the product of the authors' imaginations and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or other elements in real life, is purely coincidental.

  Blue Forge Press

  7419 Ebbert Drive Southeast

  Port Orchard, Washington 98367

  360.550.2071 ph.txt

  Dedication

  For Joseph, Amelia, and Benjamin.

  The Origins

  Book 1

  Epsilon

  Dezirae Bates

  Chapter 1

  Dad, Dad, yes, I'm leaving work now, alright? Yeah— ju-just stay there, okay? I'll be there in about five minutes,” Cassidy said over the tone of music behind her, the beat of the melody streaming out amongst the crowd as she exited the bar. For a Wednesday night, the bar was overwhelmed with guests and had she not pulled a double the night before, her boss probably wouldn't have let her leave early at all.

  “Excus- please, excuse me!” Cassidy bellowed, pushing her way through the crowds before finally reaching her car. it was rather small, not too fancy or new but it got her from point A to B. A quick scramble through her purse produced a handful of keys, jingling as they found their home in the door of her car. Seconds ticked by, the car revving to life once the ignition flipped over.

  It'd been a long time since she had to pick her father up, drunk, in a bar. Jack had yet to drink to this level since after her mother died, exactly a year ago today. The biggest thing that Cassidy was thankful for was that he called her instead of taking the drive home himself.

  “Hey Bernie,” she muttered, nodding towards the man near the front of the door, his expression lightening at the sight of her.

  “He's in his spot, kinda loud tonight too,” he warned, opening the door for her as she slipped in, heading straight for the far back stool.

  “Cassidy!" Jack exclaimed, hiccuping for a moment, his words slurring as he lifted his head up to meet his daughter's gaze.

  “Yeah, hi Dad, nice to see you too,” she said with a bit of a cough, sliding his stool away from the bar and helping him, a little uneasily, to his feet and trying to edge him out of the bar one foot at a time.

  “I'll settle the rest in the morning,” Cassidy said, mid sigh, as she slid the handful of cash she had in her pocket, giving him a hopefully forgivable smile as she headed back to her car.

  “Dad... you can't keep doing this to yourself, you know,” she started as she backed out of the spot, heading down the more rural roads towards her father's home.

  “Don't start, Cass,” he mumbled, clasping his hand over his face and trying to prevent himself from getting sick all over the glove box, swallowing down the urge as best he could.

  And, instead of getting into with him, she took a gentle sigh, nodded her head and leaned back in her seat, trying to focus on the musical lull as she drove to her childhood home.

  Each road gave way to the next, twisting and turning their way through the town. Over the course of the past fifteen minutes, a total of two cars managed to pass them. To say they lived in a town that closed down when the sun set was an understatement. Despite the fact that the bars had fairly frequent customers, everything else became a ghost town.

  Cassidy was barely four minutes away when the startling bright lights of an oncoming car headlights shone in her eyes. By this point, her father was fast asleep, snoring loudly in her passenger seat and content to start the sleep off now rather than later. Cassidy squinted through the sudden burst of light and wouldn't have had any problem with them other than the fact that while the cars were quickly growing closer, the other vehicle began to swerve into her lane.

  “Come on, asshole,” she muttered, laying on her horn which only seemed to increase the other vehicle's speed and before she knew it, the vehicle she was controlling veered far off the road, far more than she had anticipated and broke through the stone barrier bridge. Her stomach leapt into her chest, the metal crunching sound resonating into her ears as she braced her body for impact.

  “Shit!” she exclaimed, her knuckles ghost white as they gripped tighter onto the steering wheel. The car seemed to float through the air, seconds taking what felt like years to connect with the water below. Lake Holiday’s waterline was much higher than normal for the time of year, mainly due to the great influx of rain for the region. Many townsfolk were worried it would flood several times over the past few weeks but Cassidy never seemed to care. Well, she didn't care, until now.

  The thud that came from the car as it crashed into the water was only masked by the scream that tore from Cassidy’s throat. Her head slammed forward, feet suddenly cold while her face was increasingly warm. She could feel the sticky red substance rolling down between her cheek and her nose, making its way to the edge of her lips before the metallic taste flooded her senses. The haze that fell over her head was instantaneous and was quickly followed by a headache she could only describe as being unbearable. Black spots floated around in her vision causing her to blink several times even just to focus. Pain radiated from her knee, her jeans torn from where the car had thrown her forward and breathing was becoming more and more difficult with each breath. Despite everything, those were the least of her concerns. Currently, her mind was trained on one thing: the fact that the water that was once on her feet was now near her thigh.

  “Dad!" she screamed, her fingers clawing around at her seatbelt clip, desperate to free herself. While one hand messed with the buckle, her other was shaking her father's arm as best she could, screaming out his name as she tried to free herself. A few more shakes of his arm and it was obvious that she wasn't going to be able to wake him from the way she was seated. Getting herself out first would be the only way.

  “Let me out!” she said in frustration, pulling and yanking at the fabric that was supposed to save her life but was now binding her to her car like a coffin. At this point, the water was close to the buckle itself and with one final pull, the belt freed her.

  A quick reach over to her father's buckle resulted in the same issue she had with her own. It was as if the buckle had a mind of its own.

  “Dad, Dad, Dad!!!" she screamed, trying to shake him sober for just a minute to help. The water continued to rise, now to their chests as she finally heard the click of the seat belt unbuckle. Finally.

  Every breath she took up until now was simply to free herself from the car but now, the vehicle was almost completely submerged. The inside of the vehicle wasn't pressurized enough for her to open the door under the water and she wasn't strong enough to kick out a window.

  She screamed out for help, pleading for someone, anyone, to come and help her. When the water reached up to her mouth, a few last ditch grabs managed to pry the door open. A quick breath filled her lungs, a whimper leaving her throat at the pain of breathing so deep caused. Glancing at her father who was almost completely submerged and still unconscious, Cassidy tried to pull the slack of the seatbelt off of him. Gliding through the water brought up the pain in her knee, finally trying to move it for the first time which m
ade her open her mouth to scream. The pain was so indescribable that she would rather lose her last breath she had than not scream.

  Cassidy was at a crossroads. Helping her father would inevitably kill her as the amount of time should could survive without a breath was limited. Swimming up to the surface, however painful it might be, would at least give her another bit of air and perhaps enough energy to swim back down and retrieve her father from the depths of the lake. She had to make a decision.

  Cassidy pushed herself past her father, her gut retching at the idea of leaving him to die instead of saving him. Looking to the surface, she couldn't ascertain how deep the lake actually was but the fact that she couldn't see any light from above told her she had a lot of swimming to do. She pushed on, willing herself to swim harder and faster, a trail of blood flowing after her as she persisted. She closed her eyes as the pain started to take over, not only from her leg but from her head as well.

  It took but a second for her to lose consciousness, her hair flowing in the water around her body as her heart began to slow.

  Cassidy Hawkins was dead. But, for the first time in her life, she was alive.

  Chapter 2

  The room was frigid, a constant beep from the monitor practically sang to her as she laid in the hospital bed. Cassidy was going on hour seven of unconsciousness, a large bandage covering her forehead, IV bag hooked up into her arm, and her knee set in a brace. The clothes she'd been wearing earlier were traded in for a gray hospital gown. A small vase of yellow sunflowers perched next to her on the desk, a card saying something to the effect of “Get Well Soon” sprawled across the top. The light seemed to get brighter as the seconds ticked by and the need to wake up forced Cassidy to open her eyes .

  Cassidy groaned, trying desperately to sit up in the bed but, even through the medicine, the pain hit her like a brick wall. Breathing was difficult but not impossible and adjusting her weight in her bed wasn't going to be happening anytime soon with her leg.

  “I wouldn't move too much if I were you,” a voice echoed, entering the room as Cassidy lifted her gaze to the man. He was wearing a navy blue henley shirt, jeans, Chucks and his brown hair on top was rather short but still had room to play with it if he cared to. She squinted at him for a minute, letting her eyes try and figure out if she knew him at all, which she didn't.

  “Where's my Dad?” she said, pushing herself up in her seat as best she could and pulling the blanket up over her legs to cover herself. The man didn't have any signs of being a doctor and the fact that she didn't recognize him but he was in her room caused a shiver of fear to rise in her chest.

  The stranger's calm demeanor changed ever so slightly as his smile became a grimace, his tongue running over his bottom lip before clasping his hands together. “You don't know yet?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at the doctors who were flipping through her chart, speaking to an older gentleman in a suit and completely ignoring Cassidy.

  “Know what?” she asked, attempting to shift her weight and lean forward, the sharp breath that she took in burned her lungs and forced out a cough. “Who are you? Just, let me see my Dad,” she started, trying to reach for the IV in her arm to rip it out, the heartbeat monitor alarming as she tried.

  “Miss Hawkins, please, we need you to remain calm,” a doctor said, standing next to the stranger. He was roughly five foot five, somewhat plump and appeared to be trying to calm her down, as best he could.

  Cassidy stopped struggling when the doctor stepped in, glancing from the stranger, her heart still racing. “I'm calm... Can someone just tell me where my Dad is?” she asked, a bit of anger creeping up inside her before setting her eyes on the doctor himself.

  “I'm sorry, Miss Hawkins. Your father—he was injured in the crash and while you were already out of the car when Mr. Williams here got to you, you were easier to retrieve. If it wasn't for his quick actions, you might not be with us.”

  He paused, glancing to her chart before looking back up at her to continue. “By the time he learned there was another in the car, your father had already been submerged too long. I'm sorry,” he said, his voice as soothing as he could muster in the moment.

  Cassidy had assumed when the stranger skirted around the question that something dreadful had happened but she didn't anticipate it being his death. She did everything she could to pull him out of the car.

  The tears edged over her eyes and she tried to blink them away, swallowing back the sob as best she could as she brought her hands to her eyes and wiped them from her face. Her eyes closed, clutching them shut for a moment as her shoulders shuddered, trying not to blame herself for not getting there in time. It took her a moment or two before she glanced up at the doctor, unsure of what to say to him.

  “Wha- what do I need to do?” she whispered, clearing her throat to stop herself from sounding weak and the doctor cracked a half smile, surprised at her resilience.

  “Well, we've taken scans of your brain and it appears to be a bad concussion. We'd like to monitor you for the night, see how your headaches go and check over your lungs. You'd been out for about thirty seconds before he was able to pull you out,” he said, nodding to Chase who's arms were crossed over his chest.

  “I'm just glad I saw you go off. And was able to get to you in time,” he said, running his hand over the scruff of his jaw as Cassidy stared.

  “So, you're saying I was dead? Legitimately, for thirty seconds or so?” she asked, clearing her throat again, rubbing away the burning pain as Chase quickly grabbed her a glass of water and handed it over.

  “Doc said your heart stopped for a few seconds. Another minute or so down there and you wouldn't have made it at all.” Chase nodded, Cassidy quietly thanking him for the glass of water as she sucked it down.

  “Guess I should thank you,” she mumbled, not meeting his gaze as she looked back at the doctor.

  “We'll let you rest for now, the nurses will be by in a bit. You can let them know if you have any pain or discomfort, they'll try to make you comfortable,” he said, glancing to Chase for a minute before turning on his heel and leading out the room.

  Chase stood for a few seconds, glancing from her flowers to Cassidy, to the floor and back up to her. He cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets before speaking.

  “I guess, well, you're in good hands now. Ill see ya around. I'm sorry, bout your dad,” he said, not waiting for her to speak again before heading out of the room and leaving Cassidy by herself.

  Chapter 3

  The funeral went as well as could be expected. Most of the town—actually close to all of the town given the fact that it wasn’t the largest of places—showed up. Jack might’ve had his issues but he was a man who was beloved by his town and his daughter. After all, he was all the family she had left.

  Cassidy had fairly consistent headaches since being discharged. The concussion was the primary reason for the pain but so was the entire planning process for the funeral, burying her father and mounting the task of surviving the world without him. She’d already given up her tiny apartment at the edge of town to live in her childhood home which was far too large for just her but it was home. It was where she was brought home from the hospital, where she had her first kiss, senior prom... where every memory that made her originated from. She couldn’t just leave it empty.

  Today was her first day back at the bar since her accident. Her boss was fairly understanding, giving her whatever time she needed but Cassidy needed to keep her hands and mind busy. It was the only way to survive the grief that was welling up inside her.

  The doctors were surprised her leg had healed as quickly as it had, a small brace covering just her knee was necessary to stand on it for long periods of time. The hospital had thought she had extensive damage to it but as the xrays proved, she has merely strained the tendons holding it all together.

  She had on a pair of black shorts that covered close to mid thigh, black tennis shoes and a blue tank top with the words Charlie’s embl
azioned across the chest. Her shoulder length hazelnut hair was pulled up into a rather messy bun, a few fly away curls framing her face. A quick glance at herself in the mirror caused her to sigh, her blue eyes even more blue due to the blue shirt she was wearing. “You look like death warmed over,” she muttered to herself, running her fingers under her eyes, trying desperately to wipe away the circles that took up home there. To no avail, she shrugged, adjusting one of her bra straps before heading downstairs.

  “Ruca,” she called out, a chocolate labrador poked her head out from under the dining room table, quickly following out after Cassidy and heading to her dish. Tail wagging to and fro, Ruca whined before Cassidy was even able to open the pantry to feed her.

  “Okay, I get it, I get it,” she said with a gentle laugh, grabbing up a cup of the dog’s food and tossing it into the silver bowl. She picked up the water bowl as Ruca started to chow down, filling up the bowl to about halfway as a quick rap echoed against the front door. Cassidy jumped, still on edge from the accident and the fact that she wasn’t expecting anyone caused the reaction as well. Her head had snapped up to the door, glancing away from the water. If she’d been looking at the faucet in front of her, she’d have noticed that the water stopped mid air from continuing to flow when she was startled by the door.

  It wasn’t the first time that water seemed to react while being around her. Cassidy chalked it up to her being skiddish around water after nearly drowning to death but there was definitely something else that was causing the sudden change in water. And, if Cassidy were being honest with herself, she might have figured it out before the knock came upon her door.

  “C-Coming,” she called out, reaching out and turning the water off to the faucet and setting Ruca’s bowl down on the ground, grabbing up a towel to dry her hands off as she made it to the front door. A quick peak into the peephole discovered that it was Chase Williams, the man who had saved her from drowning in the first place. She hadn’t seen him since he left her in the hospital.