Finding Reese (Tremont Lodge Series Book 1)
Page 18
I pull into the Walmart parking lot, crack the window open, and lock the crazy lady inside. After fifteen minutes I return with Mom 4’s goodie bag. I’m not a heartless daughter. I try to leave the moms with more than my money: comforts like a blanket, slippers, flashlight, and snacks. Mom 4 is still sleeping, so I drive through town and back to the corner I found her on. I look at the dilapidated buildings. Each building has one more broken window than the next, some boarded up with cheap plywood, some with jagged glass, some with pretty flower curtains blowing in the wind showing an owner’s attempt to replicate suburbia despite the poverty that pours from the neighborhood. I wonder what happened to Mom 4 to send her to this hell hole. I know my payment today won’t make a dent in her life. That makes me sad. She looks so peaceful now. I can’t keep her, though. I can’t keep anyone anymore. I open my water bottle to douse her face.
“What the hell?” She bolts upright.
“Look, I don’t know what happened back there, but it’s time to go.”
“I’m sorry, so, so sorry.” She keeps repeating it over and over, but I don’t think she’s talking to me.
“Here’s your money.” I hand over $150 in cash. “Please do yourself some good and use it for food and shelter. You deserve more than this street corner.” I hand her the bag, too. She clings to me like a child that’s been frightened by a bad dream. I don’t mind, though. It reminds me of Mom’s hugs.
Chapter 2:
I drive back to my two bedroom apartment. It has everything I need: a couch, a kitchen, a shower, and a toilet. I bought the couch and a coffee table at a garage sale when I drove into town last week. The old guy who sold it to me took pity on me when he saw my small Toyota Camry and drove the furniture to my new apartment. I don’t live in seedy downtown, but it’s not exactly suburban living, either. It’s the kind of neighborhood where no one asks questions about a young girl securing a month-by-month rent on her own, over the phone no less. All the landlord wants is the rent paid on time. I’ll keep them out of my business by paying them early. I don’t know too many seventeen-year-old girls who could live alone. But a lot of eighteen-year-olds do it, so why not one year younger? I don’t have a choice. It is what it is. Such is life.
I lay on the couch that acts as my bed to look over the school handbook. There are only 200 kids in the whole high school. Maybe I should have chosen a larger school, but I wanted to be within an hour of home this time but not so close Mom will know I’m here. That’s one reason I chose a private school, less chance of running into kids that may know me from track or cross country meets. Other than electives, most of the kids in my first period English class are going to follow me from class to class. When the same group of kids shuffle through the hallways to lockers and back to the same classroom, there’s a lot more opportunity to get to know people. And this is something I definitely don’t want to do. When I decided to run away at the end of my junior year, I vowed I’d never let anyone get close to me again.
I look over my choice of electives: band, chorus, fitness, wood shop, home economics. I choose fitness and chorus. Dad used to say when I started singing that the angels stopped what they were doing to take notes. Now Dad’s my angel. I killed him. I didn’t literally kill him, but I might as well have. That’s what guilt does to you. He and Mom used to fight all the time…about me and what I did. They couldn’t agree on how to handle the situation. So one day Dad just moved out. Mom was pissed.
“So that’s what you do when things get tough? You leave. Nice example you’re setting for your girls,” I remember her screaming at Dad’s truck as it backed out of our driveway. But at night I could hear her crying through the bedroom wall. I knew how sad she was that Dad was gone. And if I hadn’t done it, if I’d made a different choice…none of this would have happened. Two weeks later I was helping Dad hang curtains in his new apartment when he lost his balance on the ladder and fell through the glass kitchen table underneath him. He didn’t die right away, but after being in a coma for a week with a head injury, Mom pulled the plug. He died in about forty-five minutes. It was all my fault.
The Lexie and Rhett Chronicles Trilogy http://amzn.to/12jasER
Prom for One (Short Story 1): http://amzn.to/11mQbxc
One senior girl without a date + One perfect boy…with a girlfriend =Prom for One
Seventeen-year-old Lexie doesn't care that she's dateless for her senior prom. Sure, her dream boy has a perfect 10 girlfriend. Sure, her best friend has a serious boyfriend. Sure, the school cad can't stop ogling her. Sure, her Dad's still in Afghanistan. But what could go wrong on such a special night in a teen girl's life? Plenty! While most of the evening is a nightmare worth forgetting, Lexie finds that sometimes when you least expect it, life gives you memories to hold onto forever.
Please note: This is a short story (approx. 9800 words).
**This short story is not intended for children under the age of 14.**
Graduation for Two (Short Story 2) http://amzn.to/1asFUkk
One graduating senior girl in love with One graduating senior boy = Two uncertain futures…In Graduation for Two
Graduation for Two continues the love story of Lexie and Rhett from Prom for One. Only weeks into their relationship, graduation and the promises of new love beckon from their future while trouble looms all around them. Lexie and Rhett must decide whether taking a chance on their uncertain future is worth the potential heartbreak.
Graduation for Two is a short story following the main characters from the short story Prom for One. While this story can be read alone, it makes the most sense to read the introduction of the characters in Prom for One first.
Please note: This is a short story (approx. 10200 words).
Test for Three (Short Story 3)
One heart + One mind + One body battling the odds in a quest for love = Test for Three
Test for Three is the final short story in The Lexie and Rhett Chronicles trilogy. After a serious accident leaves Lexie in the hospital fighting for her life (and with Rhett away at basic training), she struggles with memories of the past, desires for the future, and the pain of the present.
Test for Three is a short story following the main characters from the short story Prom for One. While this story can be read alone, it makes the most sense to read the introduction of the characters in Prom for One first.
Please note: This is a short story (approx. 6000 words).
About the Author:
Marcy Blesy is the author of several middle grade, young adult, and new adult novels and short stories. Her picture book, Am I Like My Daddy?, helps children who experienced the loss of a parent when they were much younger. She has also been published in two Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as in various newspapers and magazines. By day she runs an elementary school library and enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys.
Marcy is a believer in love and enjoys nothing more than making her readers feel a book more than simply reading it. She likes to connect with her readers via twitter, email, or her blog.
@marcyblesy
mablesy(at)yahoo.com
www.marcyblesy.com