Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Alright. That earns you a pass.” I relaxed a little, and he leaned slightly toward me. “This time. But you need to understand I can’t just keep looking the other way. If you’re late again, you’re going to lose your job.”
Any relief I felt drained away, and I nodded. “I understand.”
“Okay. Get to work. We’re swamped out there.”
He walked away, and I let out a breath, feeling a bit shaky as I clocked in. I definitely didn’t want to lose my job. It wasn’t the most glamorous job I’d ever had, but it also definitely wasn’t the worst. The people were nice, the tips were good, and it was helping me build up my meager savings. And those needed all the help they could get.
I put my head down and poured all my energy into doing my job, but the woman and her little boy never really left my mind.
It was a long day, and I made it even longer by staying late to help one of the other girls who had gotten swamped with tables right before my shift ended. When everything was finally under control, I left and went back to my rental room. Exhausted, I peeled myself out of my work clothes and took a shower before sitting down to count my tips.
Peeling off a few of the bills, I set them aside for food and other expenses. The vast majority of the money went into the small portable safe kept at the bottom of my duffle bag. It might not have been the most secure option in the world, but it was what I had.
With that finished, I pulled out my old laptop. It was time for my daily check to see if they were still looking for me. Opening up the usual sequence of pages, I saw my real name still splashed all over social media. They hadn’t let up. I didn’t know how long it would take until they finally did. Maybe they never would.
So, I would just keep moving.
Tucking the computer away, I stretched out across my mattress and closed my eyes. This wasn’t how I expected my life to be. When I was a little girl, there was a very different path set out in front of me. But I wouldn’t go back to it. Even with the struggle, the long hours, the rented room. Even with feeling like I was never really settled, I would never want to be on that path again. Freedom was far better than status.
3
DEREK
The light coming in from the curtains was a lot brighter than I was used to. That was the first thing I noticed on Tuesday morning. It was right in my eyes at an angle that it normally wasn’t first thing in the morning. For a moment, I thought I must have woken myself up early, and then I looked at my phone. The little green light indicating that it was fully charged wasn’t on. Curious, I grabbed it, pulled it to me, and swiped up.
Ten in the morning. I wasn’t early. I was extremely late.
“Fuck,” I exclaimed, swinging up to a sitting position like a zombie coming from a grave and my heart suddenly pounding. “Son of a bitch, shit, dammit!”
The stream of curses wasn’t exactly helpful, but they released some of the anger and frustration. I suddenly realized that the battery on my phone read that there was only thirty percent. I looked at it, confused, and then it dawned on me. None of the lights were on. None of the usual sounds of a house, wired and coursing with electricity, were reaching my ears.
The power was out.
“Ah, dammit.” I put in the password and then found the number for the electric company and dialed it. The line was busy, but I would wait. I lay back in the bed, trying to get my heart to calm down while I called.
I started to doze a little after forty-five minutes on hold, but eventually I got through to someone at the hour mark. Apparently, there were lines down due to some moron cutting a tree on his property and not knowing how to fell it. Silently, I cursed myself for not taking Noah up on his offer to build a generator into the place and grabbed my things to head to the gym. I needed a shower, and since my place wasn’t going to cut it until at least that evening, I needed somewhere with warm water.
On my way there, I pulled up Cam’s number and gave him a call.
“Where the hell are you?” Cam said as a way of a greeting.
“Love you too, brother,” I said. “My freaking power went out. Some dipshit cut a tree, and it fell over the wires. My alarm didn’t go off, and I have no power left on my phone battery. The power company said they need someone at the house though, so could you head over there and hang out?”