by L. L. Akers
She could probably put on her heels and make up her face and saunter right in and make him believe she was just crossing to another dorm. Then she could high-tail it outta there. But she couldn’t leave empty-handed. And she couldn’t leave in heels. She’d probably be walking... all the way home.
She sighed as she pulled her shorts up and looked for the hand-gel sanitizer. She couldn’t wash her hands, but at least it was something. She placed her hand under it and pumped. Empty. Dammit. They’d used all of that too. Thanks, girls.
She stomped into their room with her hands on her hips. Becky had come back while she was in the bathroom and now she lounged on the bottom bunk—Graysie’s bed—brushing out her fake-blonde hair and reading a book. Her hair was damp. Graysie wanted to rip a hunk of the long strands right out of her head.
“Get off my bed, Becky. And thanks a lot for using all the water. Now we can’t flush the toilet. That’s disgusting,” she yelled at her.
Becky rolled her eyes. “My hair was disgusting. I haven’t washed it in three days. What did you expect me to do?” She slowly climbed off of Graysie’s bunk, leaving strands of hair behind her with no regard. She was so clueless.
Graysie swept her hand across the bedspread, wiping the hair onto the floor, and then laid down. “I expect you to go find more water to replace it. We’re going to need some to drink too. We’re almost out. You drank all yours too fast. I’ve got three bottles, and I swear if you take them, I’m going to kill you.”
Becky shrugged her shoulders. “I did go. The security guard said there’s no more water for the toilets... or bottled water. But I’ve still got a case of Monster Drink, so I don’t need your yucky water. They’ll have the power back on soon, anyway. And if they don’t, my parents will come and get me. I’ve got plenty of food too.”
Graysie shook her head. Becky’s food consisted of junk: Oatmeal cream pies, Ramen Noodles that required water, and potato chips. Nothing healthy. Nothing fresh. “No, they won’t. Their car doesn’t work either. And what if the power doesn’t come back on? My dad warned me about this. If it affects more than the power... like the cars, the laptop batteries, our phones... then it might be an EMP. And most of our infrastructure is made up of parts from China. So it might be awhile before even the power is restored. Your parents can’t come for you. Your car doesn’t work. No one’s car works. Why would you think your parent’s car would work?”
“They’ll find a way,” Becky answered and then fanned her hair out behind her and closed her eyes.
Another nap. Go figure.
She hadn’t expected a logical answer back anyway. Becky was a spoiled, rotten airhead. She was the princess of her world. She ate Graysie’s food, used her things, left a mess everywhere, never cleaned up after herself and relied on her parents for everything. She didn’t even have to work a part-time job. Her parents gave her $150/week allowance. She had it made.
So sure, in Becky’s little mind, they’d magically appear to take her home to a nice, air-conditioned McMansion overflowing with fresh food and drink. They’d run her right home and keep her in a fancy bubble until this all blew over and their little princess was safe and secure once more. Well, would if they could. Good luck with that, Becky.
She rolled her eyes and buried her face into her pillow. She had to get away before she strangled her. She thought about her dad and Olivia at the farm. They had plenty of everything... and her dad was probably going nuts thinking this was the big event and wondering if she had figured that out yet. She felt bad about the years of eye-rolling and long sighs she’d given him every time he’d lectured her on what to do if something like this ever happened.
But is this really it?
If it was, it was much more serious than she was prepared for.
She gasped and sat up. Her bug-out bag! She’d been thoroughly annoyed when her dad had put it in the trunk of her car, and made her double-dog-pinky-swear she would never, evah take it out. Several times she’d wanted to throw it out to make room for something else, but then she’d think about the trusting look her dad had given her when they’d crossed pinkies. She couldn’t break his heart—again. Thank God!
She grabbed her keys and rushed out of the room, ignoring Becky’s question of where was she going. She had no idea what was in that backpack, but her dad had promised that it was full of things that would help her get home if she was ever stuck somewhere. And boy, was she stuck.
Graysie practiced her sad, pitiful look on her way down the stairs to the front door where the security guard sat. She had an idea to get past him. The dude was middle aged—like her dad. If he was anything like Dad, then she had a story for him...
***
“Sir, I know we’re not allowed out of the dorm. But I promise, I’m just going to the parking lot to get my backpack! See, these are my keys.” Graysie held up her keys and jingled then, smiling innocently.
The security guard gave her a stern look. “Sorry, miss. I’ve got my instructions. I can’t let you leave. It’d be my job on the line.”
Her shoulders fell and she let her head drop, causing her long, red hair to fall over her face. She shook her shoulders slightly and sniffled, followed by a low whimper.
He took the bait. “Miss? Don’t cry... I’m sorry. Look, what do you need so bad out of that bag? Maybe I can help you?”
Graysie used her best fake-crying-voice. “I doubt it, Mister. See, when young women are cramped up all close together like this, we tend to all start our... mensies... together. There’s not a feminine product to be found on my whole floor. Probably not on this floor either. And I have a lot of problems in that area, if you know what I mean. And now, there’s not water to wash with either... But my daddy made sure I was prepared. He and my step-momma packed me a whole bag of girl-stuff and it’s in my car. I just need that bag—quick.”
She crossed her legs and leaned against the counter, taking a quick shuttered peek at her victim. As she thought he would, he looked flustered. “The whole floor of ladies, you say? All having this same problem?”
“Yes sir, and I intend to share with them too.” She took a swipe at her fake-tears before looking up through her long lashes at him. He quickly looked away. His face was turning red. She almost laughed. What was it with middle-aged dudes not being able to talk about a simple fact of life?
“I’ll... um... I’m being relieved in thirty minutes. If you’ll give me your keys, I’ll get your bag and bring it to your room. Can you... um... wait that long?” he stuttered.
“Yes, sir. Thank you so much, sir. My car’s in the first row of B Lot. It’s a red Mustang with a peace-sign on the back window. The bag’s in the trunk. I’m in room 205. Last room at the end of the hall. I’ll be waiting. We’ll all be waiting. You’re our hero,” she said, and then reached over the counter to give him a one-armed hug. She almost giggled when he cringed.
Dude, it’s not contagious, she thought as she ran up the stairs toward her room.
She burst into her room with a smile on her face, startling Becky from her sleep.
She rubbed her eyes and glared at Graysie. “What are you so happy about? Did something change?” she asked.
“Only that my dad really is going to help me get outta here and get home,” she answered slyly. “I’m leaving within the hour.”
SAMPLE CHAPTER
“Yeah, I’m a damn apocaloptomistic alright. I know the shit has hit the fan but I’m playin’ like it’s all gonna be alright. Way to be a good neighbor, Jake,” he said out loud to himself. He slammed his fist against the wall. He felt like crap for lying to the neighbor. He cringed as he thought about the conversation.
The idiot neighbor—the one that had been driving him crazy for years with his unkempt grass, stupid mulch-straw mounds with nothing growing in them, and once, even putting a beekeepers box in his back yard...the darn bees chasing Gabby away from her beloved koi pond all day long for an entire summer until they’d discovered it—had knocked on his door an hour ago
. When he’d answered it, Kenny had asked him what he should do with all the food in his freezer that was defrosting. Jake had just shrugged and said, “Eat it or throw it out, I guess.”
He’d played stupid...
Kenny had asked him if he thought the power was coming back on and Jake had shrugged again and said, “Sure. I guess it will eventually.”
He’d lied through his teeth. His brother-in-laws, both Grayson and Dusty... had been telling him for a long time that this could happen. And if it did, the power wasn’t coming back on for quite a while. And Kenny, and a lot of the neighborhood here, were clueless.
Most of them lived in their McMansions, drove high-priced cars and kept less than a week worth of food on hand. Heck, some of them probably less than that. They didn’t have the first idea of what they should be doing. That food needed to be canned or dehydrated. They needed to conserve food—and especially water. They were just lucky the power had gone out at night, while most of them were in their beds sleeping, and that they weren’t having to trudge home on foot from their high-falootin’ jobs.
He sighed. Although he was well-liked by everyone here, he’d never felt at home. When Gabby had found the house and fell in love with it, he’d agreed to move here for her. She was making good money in her job as a human resource manager, and he was doing okay as a mechanic, so they could afford the place, but they were surrounded by doctors, lawyers and company-owners—people who made a lot more money than they did, and lived a different lifestyle.
They’d made a few close friends... but not many. But as a mechanic, he seemed to be the guy that everyone came to for all questions regarding small engines, broken irrigation, appliances... you name it. Probably because he didn’t hesitate to lend a hand whenever someone needed it and had a knack for figuring most anything out. He wasn’t surprised Kenny had chosen him to come to. There’d probably be more knocks on the door.
He glanced out the window just in time to see the neighbor across the street dump a bucket of what he assumed to be dirty water onto his blue hydrangea. Jake rubbed his hands over his face and looked away. He couldn’t watch anymore.
Of all times for Gabby to take off on a vacation with her sisters. It’d been two days... two long days of him sitting alone, hoping the power was coming back on... yet knowing it probably wasn’t. He knew he should be getting busy. There was so much to do, and he should be helping Grayson and Dusty out at the farm—assuming Dusty was there by now. He was a cop and Jake wondered if he, or any of the police, were still on duty without patrol cars available.
He just couldn’t stop worrying about Gabby and the girls. Heck, he’d been laid out on the couch, avoiding the neighbors most of the past two days, frozen with anxiety over his wife.
He rubbed his knuckles and was surprised to see blood over his oil-strained creases. Crap. Not cool in a grid-down situation to purposely hurt yourself. He limped into the bathroom—his old injury really bothering his leg today—and grabbed the big brown bottle of peroxide. He poured it over his hand and then shook it off. It was time to get the heck out of there. If Grayson had been right these past few years, it was slightly possible Ruby would still run—after he put her back together. He just had to get to her first. Then he could get to Gabby.
Ruby was a 57’ Chevy step-side truck who was currently disassembled on one side of Grayson’s barn. Of all the luck... his wife and her sisters take a girls-trip to Myrtle Beach, two hours away—by vehicle—while he’s rebuilding the motor on his old truck, at the same time as their world gets bitch-slapped? Great day. No phones. No cars. No power. No running water. No shit?
He shook his head. It was time to stop procrastinating and hoping it wasn’t real.
It. Was. Real.
He had a plan. He wasn’t a tree... he could move if he wanted to. He just had to get motivated to get moving. He passed their bed and glanced at the end table.
There was his motivation.
He stepped over and picked up their wedding picture. She had been eighteen years old. A child-bride. Her long-brown hair and sapphire eyes had mesmerized him from the moment he’d met her. Now she—and her twin—were thirty-two years old, and they both looked more beautiful than they had at eighteen. Same long dark hair... same blue eyes. And their little sister, Emma, looked just like them.
Jake shook his head and swallowed hard. What the hell is wrong with me? Women like this... on the road? His pulse quickened as a thousand bad scenarios flashed through his brain. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It wouldn’t do to get all worked up. They were probably doing the same thing everyone else was... sitting around waiting for the lights to come back on. It would be sometime in the next few days that they’d realize they’d have to hoof it.
He needed to get haul his ass over to Grayson’s and get Ruby running. Maybe he could get to the girls—before someone else did.
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THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading Find Me, Keep Me, book 3 of The Let Me Go Trilogy. If you enjoyed this novel, please consider leaving a review for this book on Amazon here (it can be anonymous). Authors rely on reviews to interest other readers. I’d really appreciate your help in getting this trilogy discovered.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
L.L. Akers is originally from the Midwest. She now lives in the South, the silly wife of a serious man, and mom of a very gifted and fetching offspring, a chubby beagle that looks astonishingly like a mini-cow, a deranged terrier, as well as a herd of tiny but boastful lizards, and dozens of obnoxiously loud serenading frogs.
After a career in human resources, she now pursues life as a writer. She loves dragonflies, staring at word art, and slinging ink. She also enjoys 4-wheelin', marksmanship shooting, canning fruits and veggies, and studying potential survival situations. Eyes wide open...
Note from the Author
If you’ve read my work, you know it’s my passion to bring real-life awareness of abuse and survival to readers—through my stories. In the first three books (the Trilogy), I focused on abuse and then living as a survivor with PTSD, and finally finding the happily ever after.
In Find Me, Keep Me, I wanted to give Olivia her own happily after, as well as broach the subject of human sex-trafficking that is the focus of Book 4, Fatefully UnFree. The research I did was heart-breaking; the true stories I read were appalling. The videos I watched were shocking. So I foreshadowed a warning that the upcoming Book 4—apart from the trilogy—will be about Ember taken into a human-trafficking ring.
While it will be fiction—it could be brutal to read. Sex-trafficking is really happening all around us, in the United States and globally. Every. Single. Day.
I hope you will read it, but even if you don’t, know that this affects you and yours too. Please... Watch. Listen. Be Aware. Be Free.