by Candy Crum
OTHER WORK by Candy Crum and A.M. Wray, her other pen name.
*** CANDY CRUM ***
THE ETERNAL SERIES (NA Urban Fantasy)
1. The Eternal Gift Vol. 1 - http://a.co/gwZPBAp
2. The Eternal Legacy Vol. 2 - http://a.co/8HvQUTT
3. The Eternal Resurrection Vol. 3 - http://a.co/6RXdqUp
4. Eternally Forsaken Vol. 4 - (4/14/17) Pre-Order coming soon!
Memoirs of an Egyptian Goddes (An Eternal Series Prequel)
1. Khanae: The Eternally Damned Vol. 1 - (4/18/17) http://a.co/96dckc2
THE FATED SERIES (YA Fantasy)
1. Rise from the Ashes
TIME OF DEATH SERIES (Adult Urban Fantasy Thriller)
1. 13:17
2. Wrath
3. Fury
Time of Death 4 – May-June ‘17
STANDALONE NOVELS (not in a series)
Lean on me (YA Dramatic Romance)
Into the Nether (Horror Short)
*** A.M. WRAY ***
BENDING THE RULES SERIES (NA Romance)
Rebound 1
Honor 2
Just… Friends 3
STANDALONE NOVELS (not in a series)
This Means War (NA Romance)
Chapter One
Stop it…
Please, for the love of God, stop the beeping!
Hello? Anyone?
Wait. Was that out loud? No… Try again.
Hello!
Gah! Nothing. I didn’t understand and the blackness was maddening.
Excuse me! To whomever it may concern, you’re a moron. Good effort trying to stop noise. Now it’s broken and just one very long, incessant beep. Scream, really.
“She’s gone,” a man said.
Huh? Who’s gone? Why can’t I move?
“I’m calling it. Time of death – 13:17,” he said then.
Death? Whose death? Hello!
“Such a shame. She’s just a twenty-two-year-old kid. A good kid at that. Her tox screen was clear and she looks healthy. The only bad decision she’s made was choosing a friend that would put her in a situation like this.”
Who are they talking about?
I heard something clanging around. It wasn’t overly loud. More like the sound of tossing a small wrench in a pile of others the same size. Metal on metal. I listened for someone to say something else, but there was nothing. Only the sound of my thoughts.
“We need towels. A lot of them,” someone said.
I heard a door close before silence filled the area. My body was numb and my eyes may as well have been glued shut. They felt so heavy that I couldn’t open them. I’d have sighed, but my body wasn’t doing anything that I was willing it to. It seemed as though I’d laid there for hours, but I had no way of knowing. I felt like I was floating. I couldn’t feel anything from bones to skin.
Oh, God.
I was wrong.
So, so very wrong.
Pain completely took hold of my body. My lungs suddenly began burning as sharp pains ripped through my chest. My head felt as though it would explode. Was I breathing? I couldn’t tell if I was moving at all. Not only was I in horrible, agonizing pain, but my muscles were somehow numb. How could a person be both?
The pain was proving to be too much for me, and then – it stopped. Blackness enveloped me and there was nothing.
~ ~ ~
My eyes open and the light in the room overwhelmed me. It was like looking directly into the sun. I fought to study my surroundings with squinted, watery vision. My lungs burned for oxygen, but I was unable to breathe. As I struggled to inhale, I felt the rattle of something against my teeth. My mouth was held open by hard plastic and it extended down my throat.
I began tossing my head back and forth as I tried to free myself. There was a sharp sting across the left side of my mouth that felt like tape ripping away. My eyes opened once more and I was again blinded by the intense light. My body began shaking, convulsing even. Was I having a seizure? No… surely not. How would I have been able to think through that? I wasn’t completely sure that someone couldn’t, of course, as I’d never had one, but I imagined not.
I tried to pull the plastic from my mouth, but I was unable to move because my arms were strapped down. I pulled and tugged with everything that I had as I tried to break free. I needed to yank that thing out of my throat. My chest felt as though it had been torn apart. What the hell was happening to me?
Finally!
The bonds snapped and my free hand immediately went to my mouth, pulling a long tube out of my throat. I could barely breathe around it, but I wanted the sweet release of breathing on my own. The tube ripped free, and “ripped” was an understatement. I coughed several times as action scraped and tore at my trachea, nearly puking as the pain of my action combined with a sudden sharp intake of air triggered my gag reflex. I fought it, having bigger issues to worry about.
I tossed the object off to the side and into the floor, straining my eyes to see. They were starting to focus, but the light was like the fucking sun burning into my retinas. Within moments I had the other hand pulled free. Some straps they were. I was able to break them rather easily. Then again, I was much more alert for the second one than I was for the first.
Instinct drove me to sit up, but that quickly turned into a bad decision.
The pain…
So much pain.
My hand wandered to my heaving chest, my breaths coming so fast and so harsh that I wondered if I’d ever calm down. What I felt shocked me. Mortified me. I wanted to scream, but I was too terrified. Something metal was embedded inside my chest. The entire cavity was splayed open as my fingertips brushed my heart.
My HEART!
I felt it. Warm. Wet. Beating.
I was, in fact, alive. I was alive in a hospital, to be exact. There had to have been a surgery. What was I thinking? I was split in two! Of course, there was a surgery! What had that doctor meant by pronouncing me dead?
“Time of death – 13:17.”
The words echoed in my mind. What did he mean? I could feel my actual heart and it was beating! Why did they leave me open on the table? What kind of an asshole just leaves a patient wide open on a table?
I felt around, terrified to stand up for fear that my heart would fall out. I wasn’t an anatomy major. I didn’t know how that shit worked, nor was I certain of what had been done inside my chest while I was out.
A metal object held my chest wide open. What was that called? Damn it. I’d seen a ton of medical shows and it seemed to be failing me, but that wasn’t real life. Mine was very real and that thing was keeping my vital insides completely exposed.
I managed to release it and it nearly knocked the wind out of me as my ribcage snapped back together. It didn’t close me completely, but it was far enough that I was convinced that my insides wouldn’t end up on the outside if I moved.
Testing my legs was a semi-positive experience. I found they were fine. The numbness had almost completely faded and I was only a little shaky.
Should I really be moving? I wondered to myself. Maybe I should just wait for the doctor…
No. He pronounced me dead. It was hard to say when someone would be coming back. I needed to get help.
I moved my right leg, shortly followed by my left over to the right side of the bed. I stayed as horizontal as I found possible while simultaneously using the most ungraceful movements. My body was shaky, but functional. I’d take it. Finally, I stood and slowly pulled myself upward. Something tugged at my left arm and I looked down to see a blood pressure cuff. I ripped it off before inspecting my other
arm. In the right one were the IVs and I ripped those out as well. Blood poured from my arm, but it seemed to stop quickly enough.
My chest shifted with the movements, and I ground my teeth hard as the separated sides of my chest plate scraped against one another. Not wanting that to happen repeatedly, I carefully crossed my arms, using them to pin the gaping hole closed.
As impatient as I was to find out what had happened to me, I made my way across the room to a mirror in a record-breaking snail’s pace. I wondered if it was one of those two-way mirrors and if there was anyone on the other side. I tried to speak, but my throat was incredibly scratchy.
“H-hello,” I said, the sound coming out a choked whisper.
I coughed then, my lungs and heart literally feeling like they would blow through my chest. I nearly collapsed from the agony and mentally wrote that down on the “don’t fucking do that again, you dumbass” list.
Check.
Waving? No. Couldn’t do that either.
Fuck.
As I stood there, staring into the mirror, I wondered how I was even alive. Why wasn’t I bleeding out? I stood there with my chest cavity completely split in two. Without someone to suction it out of the way, shouldn’t I have bled like crazy? How the hell did I even stand? So many questions. Absolutely no answers, save for one.
I’m alive.
I kept thinking those words over and over. I’m alive.
Stepping forward, I inspected my naked form. My legs were pale, in stark contrast to my normal tanned skin. The veins looked bright purple, as if my skin was a thin, fragile barrier. Like wet tissue paper. It was so transparent. I moved up to my stomach and saw that it was orange in spots. I wondered if it was that stuff they use to sanitize the skin before cutting in. Betadine.
Fear took hold of me then. I didn’t want to look at my chest. I didn’t want to see what had happened. I didn’t want to know. Ignorance was bliss, right? Isn’t that what they say?
Normally, I’d have taken a deep breath to ground myself before looking at or doing something rather shocking, but that was the worst idea ever in this case. Before the urge to do so even took hold, I made sure not to listen, or great pain would follow. My eyes wandered upward and the sharp intake of breath happened against my will. Actual shock seemed to be a much better drug than morphine, as I barely registered the pain.
My chest was stained with that orange glow, but it was also painted with my blood. There was blood everywhere. Pain be damned, morbid curiosity took hold. I slowly released my arms, my chest popping open just the tiniest bit. My sternum held my heart in place, but I could still see it peeping through, beating. It looked so strong. It was incredible to me that it had been weak enough not but a few moments ago that someone would have called it dead.
I inspected the incision and saw that it was clean, straight. The surgeon must have been very steady. Not good enough to realize he was pronouncing a perfectly live girl dead, however, but steady at least. Somehow seeing and studying it made the situation better. I managed to calm down then. It was horrifying seeing myself that way, but I was alive and I wasn’t bleeding out even with a cracked chest. What the hell happened to me?
My mind wandered as I tried to come up with something. There must have been something. What landed me there? What could I have done to need my chest cracked open?
I remembered back to the surgeon’s words. He’d said something about picking the wrong friends. All of my friends were good people, though. They helped when they could, they volunteered to help those in need, donated to charities. As far as I was concerned, I had the most amazing people for friends. Who could possibly have been bad? Hell, none of them even did any dru…
Oh, God.
There it was. The surprise of my life. I’d completely forgotten until that very moment. Everything came flying back all at once, along with the pain. My eyes closed tight as my body tensed up, fighting for control against the torture that it felt.
~ ~ ~
Will looked at me, his green eyes soft and sweet. He always knew how to get me. He knew how I felt about him and he used it against me. We weren’t together and that hurt at times, but I was happy just being around him. He was my best friend. The type of guy that everyone wanted to be around.
“It’ll be fine,” he said. “I promise.”
The wind ruffled his dark blonde hair as a smile spread across his face.
“You know me,” I said. “I just get uncomfortable going to the house of someone that I don’t know. Especially when there are multiple people there.”
He laughed. “I know. You are definitely skittish sometimes, but it’ll be fine. They’re all very nice. I promise. We won’t even be here long. I just had to stop by for a minute and then we’ll be on our way to paintball.”
It was only because I could make him feel the sweet sting of one of my pink paintballs as payback that I acquiesced. I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Fine.”
We walked up to the door and he knocked. Within moments a large man opened the door.
“Hey, man! What’s up? Who’s the hottie?” he asked.
Charming. I liked him already.
“This is my friend Mia that I told you about.”
“Yeah…” the big guy trailed off a bit. “You said she’s good. You’re responsible for her. Come on in.”
He seemed hesitant, which furthered my discomfort. What the hell did that mean, anyway? Will was responsible for me? I was at a greater risk of cleaning his cabinets out of food than I was stealing a TV or shanking anyone with a shiv that I made of something random. Like a bar of soap.
“It cleans the area as it slices and dices your insides!”
I suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a kid. As I got older, my body slowed down and I didn’t move around so much, but my mind still snuck completely random things into my otherwise normal, though very sarcastic, thoughts. It could be annoying, but it kind of amused me, too. I didn’t like boring. If anyone ever got into my head… Oh, God. Heaven have mercy on their soul.
The house was pretty nice. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing really hung on the walls, though. Nothing screamed “home” to me. It just seemed like a house that people stayed in, but didn’t truly live in.
Will held my hand and took me to the living room, following the yet-to-be-formally-introduced large fella.
“Hang out here for a minute,” Will said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Wait. What?” I asked, pulling him down to me. “You’re going to leave me here alone? I don’t know anyone. I get nervous talking to people I don’t know.”
My eyes shifted around the room and I saw at least three other large men and two young girls, probably around my age, that were dressed less than classy. The bad feeling that I had outside was worse inside. I attributed it to my anxiety at first, but I was certain that was something else. One of the guys was eyeing me like a hawk and everyone else didn’t seem to be much different.
“Everything okay over here?” Big Guy asked.
Will smiled. “Yeah, man! Everything’s fine.” He looked down at me then. “I’ll be right back. If anyone talks to you, just talk back. Simple. Otherwise, you can feel free to just sit there. I’ll just be a minute. Try not to worry so much.” He winked and walked away.
“Hey, Bitch,” one of the girls said as she plopped down on the chair across from me. “What’s your name?”
What… in the actual fuck? Well, she was even more charming than Big Guy. I could tell that I was really going to like her.
“Mia,” I said.
“Mia? What the fuck kinda name is that?” she asked, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand.
Sigh.
“Algonquin,” I said, my smartass mouth getting away with me. I had no idea “what the fuck kinda name” Mia was, but her rudeness spoke deeply to my inner asshole. That sounded terrible… My inner sarcasm. There’s a winner. Much better.
“What? Is that like – in Africa?” she asked,
a deeply confused look on her face. “Did your parents not know you’re white?”
My left brow rose. I was about to lose all patience.
“You stupid ho,” one of the guys said. “That’s Native American or some shit. It’s not a place, dumbass.”
Holy Jesus. Well, he was half right.
“Oh! Okay. And Ricki, you don’t have to be so mean,” she said. She turned back to me then. Joy. “I’m Shaw-nee. Not Shawn. Not Shawna. Shaw… nee.”
That damn brow of mine again.
“So, you’re Native American, too, then?” I asked, chastising myself for my rude sense of humor. However, she brought it on herself, and it was absolutely hilarious because she had no clue. Ah, that’s when it’s the best!
“What? Why would you think that? I’m white. Whiter than you are. I’m Irish.” She laughed. “Me. Native American. This bitch,” she said as she shook her head and laughed at me.
Apparently, she didn’t know about the Shawnee Indians either. Shocker.
It was then that I heard some yelling coming from another room, the same direction Will and Big Guy went in.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, staring in the direction of the room.
Homegirl Shaw… nee rolled her eyes. “Yeah. They’re fine. Will owes Jay some money. He was supposed to pay it by now.”
“Really?” I asked. If it was that much of an issue, why didn’t he ask me? I’d have loaned it to him. “How much does he owe him?”
She laughed. “Last I heard – around twenty.”
Twenty? That’s it?
“Thousand,” she said, having seen the clear confusion on my face.
I nearly choked. “Twenty THOUSAND?” I asked. “How in the hell does he owe him that much money?”
“Will said that ‘sales have been slow.’ Around here, sales don’t get slow. He can move just about anything we give him if he tried.”
My gut tightened and I nearly puked. My best friend. The best friend I’d had my entire life, grew up with, had sleepovers with, graduated with, then fell in love with… He was a – drug dealer?
