The Chase by Amber Riel (story reading txt) 📖

along yet.

          “Still hoping  for a boy?” I asked.

          Annie nodded, keeping her smile.  “Of course.  Ron’s at work.  He’ll be home in a few hours though so that gives us time to chat.”

          I walked over and sat in a chair which was across from where Annie sat.  We talked for what seem forever when everything went black and Annie and Lainie had vanished.  I was standing in a light but all around me was pitch black.  “HELLO?!” I cried with only an echo of my voice fading in front of me.  “ANNIE?!  LAINIE?!”

          “WATCH OUT?!” Louis had tackled me out of nowhere as the sound of gun shots fired.  He hugged me as if he were shielding me from something or someone.  He looked behind him then kind of backed away pulling me up to my knees.  “We have to get out of here.”  He looked back to see if the person with the gun was behind him then quickly stood up, pulling me to my feet.  He kept a hold of my left hand as he rushed me away into what seemed to be the woods.  His breath was shallow as he had me hide in a small dark cave.  “Get down and don’t come out till I know you’re safe, Sam.”

          I didn’t know how to respond.  I just stared at the man with confusion.  Why was he trying to protect me?  Why had I heard gun shots?  Where did the gun shots come from?  Questions buzzed in my head as the confusion grew.

          “Sam…. Sam…. Wake up, Sam…. Time to go,” Louis’s voice had slowly worked its way into my dream that I hadn’t realized that I was in the process of waking from my sleep.

          I sat up and looked around, rubbing my eyes.  “Can’t I sleep a little longer?”

          “No, we can’t stay here,” Louis answered.

          I looked around and began to panic when I realized that Lainie was missing.  “Lainie?  Where is she?  Did someone---?”

          “Ssshhh,” Louis replied as placed a finger over his mouth.  “She’s okay.  She’s in the bathroom getting ready to leave.  The kid’s fine.”

          I took a deep breath and sighed with relief.  That dream kind of worried me.  It had seen so real but it hadn’t happened.  I figured that was probably because of everything that had happened the day before.

          Louis stood over the bed and looked me up and down, trying to figure something out.

          “What?” I asked, kind of grumpily.

          “You’re not a morning person, are you?”

          “No I’m not.”

          “Okay well after we leave we’ll stop and get some coffee…. We should eat something because it’s going to be a long drive.”

          Any riding with you is a long drive, I thought but decided not to say it.

Hours & Hours of Boredom

          I placed my paper coffee cup into the cup holder which was next to me and next to the cup of coffee Louis had been drinking as well.  Lainie had some juice in a bottle but most of her drink was about gone.  “Can we listen to music, Uncle Louis?” Lainie asked.

          “Yea,” Louis replied as he turned on the radio with his free hand whereas the other was steering the wheel.  He placed the station on the same station Annie had played for Lainie the day before.

          I raised an eyebrow, kind of mad that if I had asked he would have said, ‘no’ or something rude on that line.

          He looked at me and he knew what I was thinking without having to ask.  “I have a soft spot for kids.”

          “I can tell,” I replied, turning my attention outside of the car.  We were just leaving the town we had spent the night in.

 

Louis and I sat in silence while Lainie sang to the children songs which they were playing.  Some of the songs were old nursery rhymes like Hey Diddle Diddle and Mary had a Little Lamb others were songs which I didn’t recognize but it wasn’t surprising seeing that I was from the other side of the world.

“Having fun, Lainie?” I asked, looking back at her with a smile.

She nodded while she continued to sing.  At some point she had seem confused with some of the lyrics to a few songs but managed to get back on track when the lyrics she knew actually started up again.

I loved knowing that even during a scary time such as what she was going through right now she could let herself laugh and enjoy being a kid.

 

          Hours drove by and Lainie had worn herself out from singing with the radio.  The only sound from the back seat was her breathing as she slept.  Louis had turned off the radio so she could sleep for a while.

          “What do you do?  I mean working wise?” I asked to get some kind of conversation started because the silence was killing me.

          “None of your business,” he replied.

          I looked at him with a look that meant that he couldn’t be a little nicer when he spoke.

          “I didn’t mean it like that,” he replied as I way for me to know that he knew what I was thinking.  “It’s just the job I have is top secret…. Nothing that you need to know about.”

          “Top secret?  Like FBI or something?”

          “Something along that line,” he replied.  He glanced back Lainie.  “There’s a reason Ron chose me come to protect you and Lainie…. Although your sister is probably hoping for something to happen between us which I don’t understand why…. I’m happier alone.  I don’t need a woman right now.  That would just give me someone else to worry about…. I don’t need that not with the job I have.”

          I was kind of interested in his words.  They were a good choice coming from him but I still hadn’t understood what kind of job would be so bad that he wouldn’t want an extra person to worry about.  I guess it did make some since though.

          “What about you?  What do you do as far as work goes?”

          “I’m a writer,” I answered.

          “Of course you are,” he kind of laughed as he spoke.

          “What’s so funny about that?”

          “Nothing…. Nothing,” he replied.  It was kind of surprising seeing this side of him though.  He was being honest and wasn’t being rude like usual.  I wanted to know more but I figured that the more questions that I asked he would eventually start acting like a jerk to me so I decided to leave it alone.  This was the man who Annie probably had wanted me to get to know instead of the jerk which I had met about a couple of days ago.

 

          I was bored stiff out of my mind.  Louis kept droving for what seemed like forever.  We hadn’t pulled over for gas in the past few hours because the last stop Louis had made sure that he had a full tank of gas.  I stared out of the window and guessed that it had been about four in the afternoon.  I hadn’t bothered to check the clock on the dashboard of the car but I felt that would have been pointless.

          Lainie had fallen asleep again after our last bathroom break and even though I had offered to drive Louis hadn’t agreed like the night before.  I had wished that he would have given me a little information so I would know where we were heading but he wouldn’t.

          I stared out of the window and watched as other cars drove past in blurs or watch as we drove past them in what seem like slow motion.  I looked up at the smoking light grey sky.  It looked like it was going to rain.  I wished that it was as beautiful as the last couple of days had been but it wasn’t.  I sighed and rested my head against the back of the seat.  “Do these seats recline?” I asked.

          “Yea the nob for the seat is on the bottom left kind of under the chair,” Louis answered, keeping his eyes on the road.

          I slid my left hand under the chair and searched for the nob.  It didn’t take me long to find it and as I did I kind of pressed it back which the seat moved backwards for me.  When I was comfortable, I placed my left hand over my stomach and closed my eyes.

 

          “Sam, wake up,” Louis spoke softly and almost sweetly.

          I slowly opened my eyes and realized that we were at some kind of inn.  It looked smaller than the other one but just as deceit.  I guessed that Louis had decided to stop off for some rest this time without me having to make him.  As I unbuckled, Louis was already getting out of the car, helping Lainie get out.

          “We’re going to go ahead and get the rooms so we can put our stuff up and then go get something to eat…. But dress up nicely, I want some where nice not a little dinner like last night.”

          “Okay,” I replied.

          “Oh and you can wear red if you have any skirts or dresses just not any other colors.”

          “I don’t have any skirts or dresses with me,” I replied, as I watched Lainie run up to the sidewalk, leaving us a good distance behind.  “Why?”

          “Because my wife never liked red so she never wore it,” Louis replied.

          I made a few confused and   frustrated looks.  “You’re married?” I asked, confused to why Annie would want me with a jerk who was also married.

          “Not anymore,” he replied simply.

          “What happened?  Did you leave her?  Did she leave you?  I would so understand if she left you.”

          Louis gave me a look of anger and confusion as well as if he was telling I had no clue what I was even saying.  “No one left anyone…. At least, not the way you would believe.”

          “Then what do you mean?”

          “That’s none of your damn business.”  He left me alone and moved over to Lainie, taking her hand as he opened the long wide glass door.

          I hurried after them and made that he didn’t leave me outside.  I wanted to know what was going on with him.  Why can’t he just tell me what happened?  Why can’t he just be honest with me?  All I want is for him to trust me.

          We walked over to the front desk where a kind of overweight forty something year old man stood.  The man was going bald but he had hair which kind of made a horseshoe around his head.  He wore small reading glasses and looked at us with a smile.  Something about his smile reminded me about my father and I had to return the smile as well.

          “How many I help you?” the man asked with a welcoming tone in his voice.

          “Two rooms please…. One for the lady and the child and one for me….” Louis seemed to know how to talk to people without them throwing some kind of fit unless it