by Lee Strauss
Blaine’s body shuddered at the sudden overload of adrenaline and his knees buckled, bringing him face first to the floor with a thud. I pressed a knee into his back pinning him down and reached for his wrists, jerking them behind his back.
“Hand me the duct tape,” I said to Sage.
“Where is it?”
“On the counter.”
“I don’t see it!”
I stretched to see the top of the kitchen counter, the last place I’d spotted the tape. My eyes scanned the wood floor.
“It’s over there, against the wall.” It must’ve rolled off the counter.
Sage handed me the tape, and I bound Blaine’s wrists nice and tight and then I went to work on securing his ankles.
Sage and Teagan sat together on the couch. Sage had her arm around Teagan and she stroked her hair.
“It’s over,” she said in a comforting tone. “You’re going to be okay.”
Blaine muttered thickly, “It’s not over. It’ll never be over.”
Teagan gasped. I ripped off four inches of tape, and slapped it on Blaine’s mouth. “Shut up, Tucker.”
Once I was confident that Blaine was no longer a threat, I ushered the girls outside. “Wait in Ben’s car. I’ll try to get cell service.”
Teagan looked pale and frail, and I could hardly believe she was the one who had subdued Blaine Tucker.
I patted her arm. “You were very brave in there.”
She smiled weakly. “Thank you.”
I jogged to the road through muck and fallen leaves with Sage’s cell held over my head, praying for the bars to light up. The road was empty with the exception of a family of deer. They eyed me warily and then disappeared into the forest on the other side.
A quarter mile down the road, the bars lit up and I dialed 911.
61

Marlow
Twenty minutes later, three cop cars and two ambulances overwhelmed the yard. Blaine Tucker was arrested. His father’s body was retrieved from a ravine behind the cabin. Teagan was treated and taken away by ambulance to the hospital where she was kept for observation overnight.
Sage and I were taken to the precinct and questioned further. Sage recounted once again how she and Teagan had subdued Blaine with her brother’s gun, lawfully registered and carried in the glove compartment, and two epi pens, one near expiration. She told them that Ben had a peanut allergy and was always careful to get new epi pens before the old one expired. The double shots to Blaine’s neck first stunned him and then the rapid surge of adrenaline put him in an extreme stupor. The injections weren’t life threatening, but it was enough to distract him from what he was doing at the moment and cloud his mind.
We eventually learned that the reason Blaine hadn’t killed Teagan like he had Vanessa Rothman was because he wanted to use her to bait and taunt his father. Mr. Tucker had become obsessed with Mrs. Lake a few years earlier when they met at a social event. At first Mrs. Lake, having become disillusioned with her own marriage, had been enticed and seduced by an attractive and beguiling successful businessman. His attraction soon became obsessive and aggressive. He had threatened to harm her family if she defied him. It was unfortunate that Teagan had to suffer at the hands of the man’s son before they could be free of them both.
The next day, Teagan’s parents dropped her off at Sage’s dorm to say good-bye. They waited protectively outside in their car after Teagan insisted she wanted to pack up her things alone. I sat on Sage’s desk chair as she helped Teagan remove her artwork from the wall. They’d already filled Teagan’s two suitcases with her clothes and sundry items, including all her art supplies. The police still had her laptop.
“I have mailing tubes for that,” Teagan said, nodding to the hand-painted poster that Sage had rolled up. She held it while Sage tapped the poster inside. Sage’s hand brushed against Teagan’s and she held it.
“Are you going to be okay?” Sage asked.
Teagan ran a finger under one eye, capturing a tear. “Eventually. Mom has arranged counseling. For all of us.”
“What’s next for you, Teagan?” I asked. “I mean, besides counseling.”
She stroked her brunette hair, where the blue used to be. “I’m taking the rest of the semester off to figure it out.” She sighed sadly. “I don’t think I’ll be coming back here.”
I didn’t blame her.
Sage and Teagan both let out a long breath when they realized that everything belonging to Teagan had been packed. There were two rolling suitcases, a couple large canvas bags and a box of artwork.
“Do you need help taking that out?” I asked.
“I think we’re okay,” Sage said. She grabbed both suitcases and Teagan had the bags over her shoulder and the box in her arms. I gathered they wanted to spend their last moments together on campus alone, without me.
Teagan placed the box down to give me a hug. “Averagegeek,” she said. “You’re not so average after all. Thanks for saving my life.”
I smiled. “Any time.”
She smiled back and considered me. “You look different without your glasses.”
Teagan gathered up the box and the two of them left the room. I took the opportunity to study my face in the mirror. I did look different. Not better or worse just different.
Sage had a large variety of non-prescription lens glasses lying on her dresser. There was a pair with dark plastic rims that looked large enough to fit my face. I put them on.
It was strangely comforting. In a weird way, I missed my glasses. A part of me felt like I could hide behind them, which was ridiculous, since four inches of clear lenses could hardly conceal a man of my size.
It was a psychological hideout. Sage was right. People paid less attention to people with glasses. I’m not sure what it said about our society, but I actually didn’t mind it.
I stepped in front of the window and watched as Teagan slipped into the backseat of her parents’ car. She waved through the open window and blew kisses to Sage. Sage blew them back. She didn’t move from the curb until the Lake’s car had disappeared around the corner.
I sat in her chair waiting for her to return. My eyes landed on the empty spots on the wall on Teagan’s side of the room, ghostly shadows of where her art once hung.
Sage returned, gave me a short glance, then plopped face first on her bed, burying her nose in the pillow. Last night we were both so exhausted, emotionally and physically, we had fallen asleep within minutes of lying down, Sage on her bed and me in Teagan’s.
Tonight was different.
Sage rolled over and stared at me. “Now what?”
“You mean, what to do with me? Am I right?”
“Not that I want to get rid of you,” she said. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and hugged her pillow. “It’s just, you’re not actually a student here. There’s another one of you out there. What’s going to happen to you?”
A flash of light from outside caught my eye. “We might not have to worry about that for too long. I think my train has arrived.”
Sage stared outside at the stirring wind and the rustle of leaves. A glow of dry lightning filled the sky.
“You can keep those,” she said.
“Keep what?”
She pointed to her eyes and I remembered that I still had on a pair of her glasses. “Oh.”
“To remember me by,” she added.
I felt a grin creep up my face. “Thanks. I don’t think I could forget you if I tried.” I stood and took steps toward the door. “I should go. You take care, okay?”
Sage followed and wrapped her arms around me. She lay her head on my chest. “Thank you for helping me find my best friend.”
I patted her back. “You’re welcome.”
She kissed me gently on the cheek. A chaste kiss, but sweet. “Look me up when you get back.”
“I will,” I promised. Then I sprinted down the hall, through the lounge and out the main doors. I stood under the lamppost that ha
d just flickered on and waited.
I didn’t have to wait for long.
62

Marlow
The sky above was clear and blue. Once the electric tremors eased away, I took a moment to appreciate it. I was back in my world, warts and all. Litter traced the edges of the sidewalks, and the hedges weren’t neatly trimmed. I breathed into the bottom of my soles, so relieved to be back. I headed toward my dorm.
Zed was in the guys lounge with his head stuck in the refrigerator. He pulled out a can of 7up and tugged on the metal tab. It burped with a fizzy sound, and Zed chugged it back. Then he spotted me. “Hey, there you are. I was about to send out a search party.”
I had been gone for four days, the same amount of time most of the students had been gone for Thanksgiving. Seeing him slouching there as he let out a loud belch, I wanted to give him a big man hug, the kind with three slaps on the back. We hadn’t been apart long enough to merit that kind of friendly expression, so I just said, “I stepped out for some air. How was your weekend?”
“Pretty boring. My younger brothers drove me crazy. Mom’s turkey was great. I should’ve brought you some, though there was basically just the carcass left.” He collapsed onto the couch and booted up the video game. “How about you? Were you bored out of your skull?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
He rubbed his beard and glanced up at me. “Wanna play?”
“Sure.” I settled in on the other end of the couch and picked up the controls. “Ready to get your butt kicked?”
Paul and Steve talked us into going out for a beer that evening. I was suffering some kind of jet lag due to my alternate universe travels and tried to beg off.
“Come on, Marlow,” Paul said. “You’ve been sitting alone here all weekend. I know you’re a geek, but you got us thinking you need therapy or something.”
Maybe I did. Zed punched me in the arm. “We won’t stay out late. One of us will get beaten up by eleven.”
“I’m betting on Paul,” Steve said.
“Yeah?” Paul said. “Wanna bet? I bet it’s you.”
Steve slapped the back of his head. “It’ll be you, doofus.”
Paul retaliated with a kick to Steve’s rear end. “Who you calling a doofus?”
Zed’s eyes never left the game. “My money’s on both of them.”
I laughed. “I’ll bring first aid.”
We ordered in three large meat-lovers pizzas. Afterward I showered and changed into fresh clothes. At moments I wondered if maybe I hadn’t imagined the whole thing. But I could see the bar of soap in the shower. I could read the label on the shampoo bottle. My eyesight was proof that I hadn’t gone crazy.
Despite the fact that I could see my reflection clearly in the mirror, I slipped on the glasses I’d gotten from Sage. Thinking of her made me smile. I was glad I had them, not just because they were a sweet reminder of her, but so the guys wouldn’t ask questions. How would I explain my sudden ability to see?
Before we left, I took a moment to call my mom. “Sorry I didn’t call earlier,” I said.
My mom and I weren’t exactly close, and most of that was due to my issues. I’d blamed her for my fatherless childhood. Our near-poverty existence. After learning of Blaine Tucker’s disastrous father/son relationship, I realized maybe Mom had done me a favor.
“It’s okay, son. I know you have a lot to do, but it is good to hear your voice.”
She sounded old and lonely. “It’ll be Christmas before you know it,” I said. “You’ll be sick of me by the time the holidays are over.”
“I never get sick of you, Marlow. You know that. You’re my baby.”
“Yeah, Mom. I know.”
The pub was one of many just on the outskirts of the campus grounds. It had a jukebox playing top forty, a couple pool tables, a bar and a seating area for beer drinkers and wing eaters.
I decided I deserved a beer and time to relax. No one to save. No new world to jump to. I could just be plain old boring Marlow Henry from the blue realm who was going to fail his first term because, despite the fact that he didn’t go home for Thanksgiving, he didn’t show up for his exams and didn’t get any essays written.
A gaggle of girls entered, and of course, all of us guys were immediately enthralled. My gaze landed on a dark-haired girl with coffee-colored eyes and my heart clogged in my throat. Sage Farrell.
She talked loudly, and her voice was slurred. She was obviously drunk.
She plugged the jukebox with quarters and started dancing. “Woo-hoo!” she yelled and waved at her gang of girls to join her.
I’d be lying if I said I could take my eyes off her. She was beautiful and alluring, sensual and vulnerable. I was at once completely thankful to Paul and Steve for dragging me out. Indebted in a way I’d never acknowledge to them.
The song changed to something slower, and Sage’s moves slowed with it. Up to now she danced with other girls, but suddenly a male body was mixed in with the bunch. He nuzzled up to Sage and I was immediately alert. I could tell by her body language that she wasn’t comfortable with his company. She kept turning her back to him, stepping away. He kept pressing close. Finally, she hip-checked him.
“Back off.”
“Hey, I’m just dancing,” he said. He didn’t back off. I sat up straighter.
Sage made her way around the dance floor, stopping at the bar for another beer. She took it onto the dance floor. The music throbbed now with electronica. The guy kept his distance until she’d finished her drink, nearly dropping the empty glass in her effort to lay it on the bar. The guy pressed in behind her, as if he was trying to save her from spilling or something.
I tensed, moving to the edge of my seat prepared to pounce.
He moved her toward the door. She stumbled, trying to free herself from his grasp, but not quite clearheaded enough to do it.
That was it. I jumped to my feet. “Sage, there you are,” I said. I nodded to the guy. “This is my sister. She called for a ride an hour ago and I just got here.” The guy looked miffed, but concluded that it would be unwise to continue his pursuit. He huffed and disappeared.
Her gaze glazed over me. “You’re not my brother.” She sounded like she had marbles in her mouth.
“I know,” I said. “But that guy is bad news.”
“I hate bad guys,” she said. “Are you a bad guy? A bad guy killed my best friend.”
“No, I’m a good guy. Let me walk you home.”
“Alone? I don’t even know you.”
It was true. She didn’t know me. But I knew her better than she could imagine. “You’re right not to accept my offer. I’ll call you a cab.”
She danced with her friends while I waited by the door, making sure no other guys made any unwanted advances. I called her over when the cab arrived. She got into it with two of her friends.
“Thanks.” She stuck her head out the window. “I don’t even know your name.”
“Marlow.”
“Thanks Marlow!” She finger waved, then sang out my name. “Marlow, Marlow, Marlow. Maybe I’ll see you around!”
I smiled. Maybe.
I hope you enjoyed reading GINGERBREAD MAN. Please consider leaving a review as they are very helpful to indie authors and also help readers find the books they love.
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Read on for the first chapter of LIFE IS BUT A DREAM.
Dreams aren’t real
Unless they are
And when someone wants to watch you drown
You better pay attention
Sage and Marlow are reunited in this second book of A Nursery Rhyme Suspense serial series. When Sage’s dreams merge with Marlow’s they know something strange is connecting them. But when the drowning dreams start to come true, Sage wonders if she can avoid her own death.
Life is But a Dream - one
SAGE
Someone was sitting on my head. And blowing a trumpet in my ear. I groaned, stirring up a tidal wave of nausea. I sat up and the room spun, thrusting me onto my back. I wouldn’t make it to the bathroom; I leaned over the edge of my bed and threw up on my black pumps.
I wiped my mouth on the shirt sleeve of my gray satin blouse, which I’d been wearing since the night before, and pinched my eyes shut, desperate for sleep to release me from my agony. Weighted darkness cloaked me and I slipped back into my dreams.
The air is cool and crisp, like late autumn. Leaves fall from the thinning branches. The world is an overexposed purple and green. My feet slip on the damp ground, and I grab the arm of the guy beside me. I don’t see his face.
My chest tightens with fear, but I don’t know of what. In front of us is an abandoned cabin, dark and sinister. Why are we here?
We’re looking for something.
No. Someone.
We climb through a broken window and my pants snag on the jagged glass. My nose twitches at the smell of dust and mold and cigarette smoke.
Someone has been smoking here. Someone’s here. We aren’t safe! I grab the guy’s arm again, this time seeing his face. Black-framed glasses over light green eyes, shaggy brown hair. His expression is serious. Somehow I know his name. Marlow.
We run down a dark hallway into a bedroom, and my heart leaps! A girl is tied to a bed. She’s a brunette, but she has Teagan’s face. Is it Teagan? My Teagan? Her eyes open and flash with recognition when she sees me.
“Sage?”
“Teagan! You’re alive!”
Suddenly I’m in the hallway, walking toward the front door. I stare at my hand. I’m holding a cell phone, my cell phone, but it isn’t my hand. It’s large and masculine. I have a man’s hand. I reach for the door, knowing what I have to do. I have to call 911. I have to get help. I open the door and yelp. A gun is pointed at my head.
