“Okay. I keep getting more and more excited the closer we get. Do you really think you’re right? It just seems weird he never mentioned anything to me at all about this. I mean not one word,” he sighed.
I poked a mango in my mouth, turned toward him, and ginned, “I’m right.”
He shook his head, brushed his hair form his face, and gazed out the side window at a forest alongside the highway, “I sure hope so.”
“I miss him, Rain. It seems like a year, but it’s only been like five weeks,” he said as he shifted his eyes to the road ahead.
I studied the piece of pineapple in my hand as I thought of the last five weeks, and how difficult it was to live life in a positive state of mind. Both of our lives were in shambles, and we stumbled though each day depressed and longing for the day we were able to finally leave. The only thing fueling us to continue was the hope we’d one day be with Ethan again.
When we finally began the trip, I think we were both relieved to be on the road not only to see Ethan, but to recovery from the hell we’d been living in for the last month.
“I know. And I lost five pounds in five weeks. I didn’t have five to lose,” I sighed as I poked the pineapple in my mouth.
“Five? I lost eleven,” Cade gasped.
I shook my head as I shifted my gaze toward him. He looked pathetic. I loved him dearly, but he had black circles under his eyes, his cheeks were gaunt, and his hair hung into his eyes. He hadn’t had a haircut in almost two months, a record for him.
“You look like hammered shit,” I chuckled.
“Thanks, babe,” he said with a laugh.
The time passed slowly as I studied the GPS the entire second half of the trip. I tried not looking for as long as I could, but typically, I’d look every ten miles or so. Talking did very little good to pass time, and in fact made it worse. After three naps, getting gas a few times, and attempting to force down a meal, I’d fallen asleep again.
The girl’s hair blew in the breeze as she held tightly to the prince’s waist. The horse galloped along the trail, leaving a trail of steam behind from the breath as it came in snorts form his nose.
“We’re almost there,” the prince said over his shoulder.
The girl gripped him tighter as she pressed her face into the upper part of his back.
“I can’t wait,” she responded under her breath.
The girl looked up, peering over the right shoulder of the prince, toward the horizon. Off in the distance, at the top of the hill, the massive castle stood.
She shrieked at the sight and clutched the prince tighter...
A hand gripped her shoulder.
Startled, she turned around.
The monster!
Incapable of speaking, she gasped for breath. The monster’s hand tore at her, leaving gaping wounds in her flesh as he ripped the clothes from her back. The prince turned and glanced over his shoulder. After seeing the monster, the prince attempted to fight with one hand as he held the reigns with the other. The prince’s attempts to fight the monster were futile. He reached for his scabbard and pulled his sword.
The girl’s screaming and fighting did little to free her of the monsters grasp.
Her eyes full of tears, she glanced up. “Help me,” she screamed.
The sound of hooves in the distance caught her attention. Now craning her neck to see over the prince’s shoulder, she saw a great white horse galloping their direction. She gasped in fear as she realized the knight on the approaching horse had no armor.
The monster ripped her dress from her back and tossed it into the wind. As his hairy hands tore at her flesh, groping and gabbing, the prince swung his sword and missed. As she screamed, she peered over the shoulder of the prince as the knight approached their side. The monster tore at her neck with his leathery fists, attempting to grasp the jeweled necklace dangling between her breasts.
In forfeiting her ability to fight back, the girl clutched the jeweled necklace, for it was her only hope. As she held it tight in her hand, she held her breath as the knight’s horse galloped closer.
The knight reached out as he passed and gripped the monster’s arm, pulling him from the girl’s back.
The prince turned, pulled upward on the reigns, and stopped the horse. The knight jumped from the horse, the monster in his grasp, swung around and slammed the monster into the base of a huge apple tree. As the knight placed both his hands around the neck of the monster, the prince kicked his heels against the flank of the horse, racing in the direction of the great apple tree.
As the prince approached, he tossed his sword toward the knight, “Kill the beast!” he yelled.
Without looking, the knight caught the sword, and raised his muscular arms high above his head.
“For the kingdom!” the knight bellowed, holding the sword with both hands. .
And he thrust the sword through the heart of the monster and into the tree.
As the knight turned to face them, the monster fought to free himself from the sword. After a short struggle, the monster gasped his last dying breath. His leathery body covered in hair, he slowly dissolved before her eyes, sinking into the moss covered ground beneath the tree.
The knight glanced upward, holding his hand outward. The prince pulled the reigns, gracefully turning the horse toward the knight. As the horse’s shoulders came close to where the knight stood, the prince reached down and gripped the knight’s hand.
The prince pulled sharply, pulling the knight onto the horse and behind the girl. As the chest of the knight pressed against the girl’s bare back, she exhaled a breath, feeling slightly protected from being naked.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. The knight, his face covered in a short growth of hair, smiled in return.
The girl turned around and reached for her jeweled necklace. As she gripped it in her hand, she exhaled. Slowly, she opened the jeweled case and peered inside. She blinked her eyes and stared in disbelief…
“Oh my God!” I screamed as I woke up.
“What?” Cade gasped.
I shook my head and blinked my eyes as I tried to make sense of the fact everything was a dream.
“Nightmare. I had a nightmare,” I said as I wiped the sweat form my face.
“I’m lost. Well, kind of. We’re here, but I missed the turn. I’m on highway one outside of Monterrey. I need to get a hotel,” Cade shrugged.
I wiped my eyes and glanced off to the left, out Cade’s window. The ocean spread from one side of the sky to the other.
Wow.
“I’ve never seen…” I said as I pointed toward the beach.
“Me neither,” Cade responded.
“Can you help me?” he asked.
“Just grab my phone and call information. The GPS doesn’t have hotels in it, or I can’t find them. Just call information or get on Google and find one on or right off of highway one,” he said as he carefully changed lanes.
After clearing my head and logging into Google, I began to search for hotels. Using the map feature on the phone, I found several that may have been close to where we were. Confused, I glanced up from the phone and studied the road.
“Pull off here, right here,” I said as I pointed to the exit.
“Del Monte. Get off on that,” I said as I pointed to the sign.
“Okay,” Cade said as he changed lanes again.
Slowly, we circled the exit. As we rolled down Del Monte Ave, I looked for hotel signs. After seeing nothing, I was fairly certain we were at the wrong side of town and my map reading skills were for absolute shit. Frustrated, I pointed toward a side street.
“Just turn on Pacific Street. Right here. And pull over,” I said as I tossed the phone in the seat.
Cautiously, Cade changed lanes and pulled off on the side street. Now sitting alongside the road, he shoved the gear selector in park.
“Here,” I said as I flipped the phone toward him, “I’m lost. I’m a girl, you do it.”
“Just take it
easy. I’m as excited as you are. We’ve got all night, Rain,” he said as he grabbed the phone.
I fumbled in the seat as I tried to find the fruit. The empty package crumpled under my hand as I pressed my palm into it.
“You eat all the fruit, you pig?” I sighed as I glanced toward Cade.
He nodded his head, “you were asleep for three hours, I got hungry.”
Excited, frustrated, somewhat scared, and hungry, I exhaled a long breath and glanced up and out the windshield. A man in the distance carrying a surfboard walked along the sidewalk up ahead of us in the distance. The thought of surfing was so far from what I was used to, and if we stayed here, something I’d have to get used to. As I stared out the window, my eyes continued to be drawn to the surfer. He was far enough away I couldn’t see any details, but something about him…
I reached down and opened the door to the van.
“What are you doing?” Cade said over his shoulder.
I blinked my eyes and stared.
His hair seemed black, but I guessed it could have been wet from surfing. Something about his walk seemed familiar.
My almost inaudible response to Cade came in a shallow breath.
“Just wondering…” I breathed.
The surfer hoisted his surfboard and glanced to his left. He then turned and jogged across the street. His profile was almost impossible to see clearly, but for some reason, my heart stopped.
Completely.
Standing barefoot at the side of the van, I raised my hand to my chest and clenched the locket in my hand.
My heart began to beat again.
I took off in a dead run toward the surfer. Huffing and puffing for breath, I ran as fast as my little short legs would carry me. The closer I got the less certain I was of anything. He was covered in a black skin-tight suit from his neck to his feet. Now facing away from me, and roughly 100 feet ahead, the surfer sauntered up the sidewalk. I ran across the street, through the grass, and onto the sidewalk. I just needed to see his face.
My lungs afire, and my feet feeling like hamburger, I stopped, pressed my hands into my thighs, and tried to catch my breath. After gulping a few breaths, I did my best to scream.
An inaudible “Ethan,” puffed from my lips.
I inhaled again as he continued to walk away.
This was a pipedream. Ethan didn’t even surf.
“Ethan!” I screamed.
The surfer stopped.
Slowly, he turned around.
He dropped his surfboard.
And my heart jumped from my chest.
ETHAN
A beautiful woman once told me everything happens for a reason. In believing that statement, I must believe everything in my life – every event – happened for a reason. I may not know what the reasoning behind it, but I must believe it to be part of a plan from a being much greater than me. I had lived a life questioning the existence of God because of the death of my brother. And, in an odd series of decisions and events, I tested him.
And the proof stood before me in a pair of jean shorts, a tee shit, and a ponytail.
I dropped my surfboard and ran as fast as I could. Rain ran toward me screaming, her arms flapping at her sides. Beyond her, in the distance, I saw Cade running up the hill.
I swept her from her feet and twirled her in a circle as I held her tight in my arms. Although she was speaking, I heard nothing, only feeling her soft lips against mine when she finally kissed me.
As our lips parted, she slapped her hand against my chest.
“You dick!” she squealed.
I gazed into her magical blue eyes, “All we have to do is walk away. True love tugs at our heart until we return.”
“You questioned my love for you?” she sobbed as she slapped me again.
I shook my head
I widened my eyes slightly as I shook my head, “No dear. I questioned whether or not this thing, this strange relationship was meant to be.”
“And?” she shrugged as I released her onto her feet.
“I bought us a house. I closed on it last week. I don’t have much furniture, and it’s kind of empty, but it’s huge, and only a few blocks from the beach. But I bought it for us. All of us. There’s only one slight catch,” I shrugged.
Cade stepped to our side, not even out of breath from the run up the hill.
“Cade…” I said as I released Rain and grabbed Cade in my arms.
“Love you, brother,” I sighed, “Welcome home.”
“Ethan bought us a house,” Rain grinned.
Cade’s eyes widened as I released him, “Oh?”
“Bought it with the hopes you’d show up, and I knew if you did, this was meant to be. I’m ready to begin living and loving,” I said as I opened my arms and admired the two most beautiful people in the world.
“What’s the catch? With the house?” Rain asked.
I raised one eyebrow and curled the side of my mouth slightly, “It was just meant to be. I got a hell of a deal on it, but there’s only one bedroom. It’s a huge bedroom in a huge house, but there’s only one.”
“So we’re sharing a bed?” Rain asked excitedly as she clapped her hands together.
I shrugged my shoulders as I alternated glances between them.
Cade grinned and patted me on the shoulder.
And Rain responded no differently than expected her to. She raised her index finger in the air and grinned.
“I’m sleeping in the middle,” she exclaimed.
And just like that, we were united. The three of us were brought together, finally, ready to begin a journey together in a life few people may ever understand, but one I would never question. I grinned at Rain, took a step rearward, and crossed my arms.
“Describe yourself in one word,” I said.
She smiled and without thinking, responded.
“Beautiful.”
EPILOGUE
In what Wichita Police Chief Blake Evans is calling a first not only for the city, but a first for the Sedgwick County Jail, an odd sequence of events has left one local man dead, and another now facing life in prison for murder of another inmate.
Anthony Bauer, a sixty-one year old Wichita native and former resident of Wichita’s wealthy east side Vickridge neighborhood, was killed earlier today in what guards at the jail are calling a ‘jailhouse justice killing’.
A former member of an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang, who was currently being held in the jail while awaiting a federal trial, claims self-defense spawned the incident which cost Mr. Bauer his life.
According to authorities, a computer hacker found his way into both the US Department of Justice’s and the Wichita Police’s mainframe computer systems and left a very unique but extremely detailed anonymous tip, photographs, and video footage which lead both Federal authorities and local police to Bauer late last summer. After a short investigation regarding negligence and sexual abuse to minors, authorities served a search warrant on Bauer’s residence.
After finding photographs, electronic files, and video footage of Bauer in sexual acts with what appeared to be minors, Bauer was charged with crimes including interstate commerce of child pornography, sexual acts with minor children, aggravated criminal sodomy of a minor, and rape of a minor. One unnamed source indicated at least one of the alleged victims to be his then eight year old daughter.
KAKE news has learned Kansas is one of only 20 states with no statute of limitations on cases of rape or aggravated criminal sodomy.
The investigation with the alleged killer is ongoing, and as always, the person charged with the crime of murder is innocent until proven guilty.
Any announcements regarding Mr. Bauer’s funeral were not available at this time, and efforts to find or contact his daughter were unsuccessful.
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