AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop being sweet,” Mera playfully admonishes me, before tacking on, “You’ll give me a toothache.” A rosy-pink blush paints her cheeks as she bashfully angles her face down, her fingers playing with a frayed string that’s come loose on the hem of her T-shirt.
She doesn’t do well with compliments.
“Keep it up, and I’ll add some sprinkles to that sundae,” I singsong, using one of our terms when the other doesn’t take praise and own it.
“Don’t forget the hot fudge too. That’s the best part of the sugary dessert.” Mera shyly giggles, letting me know she’s uncomfortable.
“Keep going and we’ll top it off with a cherry and some whipped cream,” Charlee says, not wanting to be left out of the banter, easily picking up where we left off.
“As long as you keep the stem on,” Mera sasses, her eyes lighting up with another person getting in on the ribbing. Four sets of eyes roam to the other, and after a few beats of silence, we all crack up in belly-aching snickers.
Charlee and Hemmi finish telling us all about their family, those in the motorcycle club, as well as those who are not. They sound like an interesting bunch of characters, and I’m not as scared as I initially was to trust them to keep me safe.
Eventually, time catches up to us and we end up going down to the communal dining room to eat dinner with the nuns and other residents of the school.
* * *
For the past two days, we’ve been packing and hiding our things close to the back fence line, so that the men who dropped them off—who are around acting as their security detail—could grab them and keep them safe until we find a way to escape undetected.
The girls finally confessed that they were “wired up” which I’d never considered seeing as its new advanced technology that hasn’t made the local news. The only television program, outside of biblical documentaries, we’re allowed to watch.
All that technological mumbo-jumbo goes above my head.
I’ve led a simple life, and the nuns don’t teach us about militaristic equipment. Not only because that goes beyond their scope of expertise, but because they abhor violence, which includes our armed forces. In my opinion, that’s absurd. They’re there to protect us against foreign threats, and at times, ourselves.
Hemmi was appalled when she heard this. I knew she was a tough woman, but when I learned that she’d been one of our country’s soldiers, I was flabbergasted on her behalf.
The four of us have spent many nights talking about our pasts. The things these ladies have survived is heartbreaking. I can’t say that I’d be as strong as Hemmi if I’d gone through what she has.
She conveyed that she still talks to a therapist to deal with the trauma, and in her words, she still has a few hurdles to jump over. But the fact that she’s here, helping another woman that she never met, simply amazes me.
And her man, Tyson, his actions and support are breathtaking. It takes a strong man to raise another’s children as his own. Not to mention, the way he loves her, the way he’s devoted to her, is inspirational.
It makes me believe that out there, somewhere, is a man who can be that for me.
It’d have to be someone with steel in their marrow to stand up for me, for us, and go up against my brothers. Not for the first time, I wonder if that’s a true possibility.
Six Days Later
Outside of our knickknacks, photos hung on our walls, and toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, and so on, everything has been delivered to the patch of land for retrieval. I wasn’t a believer that our stuff would be recovered unseen, however, they have been.
It’s actually been a fun, covert, and clandestine game. I’ve never had the nerve to play espionage, nor to be sneaky, but Charlee and Hemmi seem to bring out the braver part of me. I have a feeling that through time, they’re going to become an integral part of our lives, plus great friends to both Mera and me.
“Are you sure they’re waiting for us?” Mera asks. “You can only give them information but can’t receive any back. What if something’s happened and they can’t make it? I don’t trust that her siblings don’t have someone watching to make sure she doesn't attempt to escape.”
“That makes me nervous,” I grumble, biting on my thumb cuticle. “I wouldn’t put it past them. Is there a way we can find out if your people are out there waiting on us before we tempt fate?”
“Country.” Charlee says his name into the small device tucked into her bra. “Can you set off some sort of alarm if y’all are here and ready to break us out?”
For five minutes there’s no sound, and I begin walking from one end of our room to the other.
Was this too good to be true?
Did I get my hopes up for nothing?
Will I be stuck marrying a man who could hurt me in ways that there’ll be no coming back from?
All of these questions bounce around incessantly in my brain. The longer it takes to hear something, indicating everything is good to go, the more skittish I become.
