Sunday, March 31, 2013

Sunday Snippet: Finding Calm

March 31, 2013

Happy Easter to those who celebrate. And I hope yours is warmer than mine. Can't really complain, though. At least the temp broke fifty degrees today. LOL

Had a good dinner of ham, au gratin potatoes, cheddar biscuits, and green beans. Now letting my food settle before attempting to watch the Walking Dead finale tonight. J

Today's post is from Finding Calm, a story about Sunny's journey to find some calm in her life. And not to create her own brand of chaos.

Here's the tagline:

Hank and Sunny have danced around finding happiness together so many times. Sunny botches it and learns a hard lesson at the hands of a crazed kidnapper. She finally wants to meet Hank on equal footing but the timing never seems right. Surely her cosmic bad luck has to take an upswing sooner or later.

And here's the sneaky peek…

Sunny Gage sat, her eyes darting around the last transpo off the planet, trying to take everything in. She noted the people on the flight, most of whom she hadn't seen in months. Not since she'd been taken by Connor Rathburn and lived a nightmare. They pretty much looked like she felt…on the outside. Nobody could feel what she did under the surface. And they shouldn't. She wouldn't wish it on her worst enemy.
And she had a few of those.
Reality kicked in and now that she didn't have to live in fight or flight mode against Connor, her hands shook and her body trembled. Hell of a time to start feeling wobbly. Months. She'd spent months with the man—no, thing—artificial intelligent being, her emotions running the gamut. But the last two weeks, she'd amazed herself by portraying a quiet, rational woman. One who'd accepted her fate and would play nice.
Right before she jabbed the meat fork in Connor's jugular. Or where the vein should have been, if he'd been human. Didn't matter. She'd hit key circuitry and ended his bizarre version of playing house with her.
And even though she’d had time to catch her breath…everything still seemed a little dreamlike and fuzzy and she wondered if the last few hours actually happened. Her mind ran the gamut of events leading up to the escape…
Connor dead. Again.
The nightmare of waking up to find a new model in his place…over.
Bern II…a bust.
But her little girl? Safe.
Sunny hugged the child perched on her lap closer. The poor kid had witnessed Sunny's display of quiet madness. Freaked out until she realized Connor didn't bleed. That he proved to be different. Didn't mean Celia wouldn't need buttloads of therapy to get over the sight of her mother killing the thing she called father.
Her rescue and escape had to be too good to be true.
Had to be.
She shook her head. No, all true. She couldn't be dreaming because Josh stood off to the side…staring at her like she’d disappear if he blinked. She wished she felt the same, but six months in the hands of the enemy beat her down. Made her angry.
Where the hell had Josh been? Other prisoners achieved freedom through a barter system. Information, goods, sex. All used to buy loved ones back. But not Josh. He had to know, probably on a level buried deep, her heart didn't belong to him. She'd married him to save herself…from herself. And to save Hank from her.
She held a large part back, didn't let the marriage become too real. Maybe she felt the effects of that now. It added to the surreal feeling she couldn't quite shake. Like she might still be back on that stupid planet and hadn't truly escaped the nightmare. But the full load of people in the transpo all looked real…ragged and worn…but real. Headed for home and almost afraid to believe it, Sunny closed her eyes. Home. Her real home. Could she really go back?
Celia convinced her. Soft blond curls tickled under her nose from the head lying on her shoulder. The little hand that reached for and grabbed onto her finger sold it. Celia would need stability. And time to understand they were finally free.
No more being held captive.
No more fighting to stay sane.
No more obsessive Connor models trying to convince her of a ‘special’ destiny.
Gods it felt good.
What didn't feel very good? Sunny had to face Hank…really face him…and his tone during their last conversation, when he'd blown the door to her pristine prison, indicated she shouldn’t expect a warm reception. She fought back the nervous roiling in her stomach, happy to see they were next in line to land. Everything else aside…good to be home. And…Sunny would be cool, calm and collected when she docked aboard the ship…
Right. Who the hell did she wanna kid? She’d never truly be any of those.
But she’d try hard now.
For Celia.
The poor kid already had the misfortune of having a bad mix of DNA. Sunny had to make sure Celia didn't pay the price for it. Her own childhood, full of abuse, made her that much more determined Celia never suffered for who her parents were. Anyone…anyone who tried to make her feel less than human would have to get through Sunny first.
She wished she'd had someone to do the same for her.
Except someone had…
Hank Moreno.
And she'd spit in his face for the effort.

Poor Sunny. She'll have a long road ahead of her to find the peaceful calm zen she wants.



That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flip!

ML Skye

No comments:

Post a Comment