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
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