Emerge Page 3

  How does one come to grips with a life of memories that seem like they were someone else’s? Everything in her mind that seemed real, was all from her time in Hades' world. Every memory coming back only made her understand why she was so meek, and sweet.

  She didn’t feel sweet inside. Colbie felt used and dirty. When she would open her mouth to speak to others though, she was kind, and smiled, grateful even.

  Colbie had been watching others interact with one another over the six weeks she had been free. They laughed, and argued on occasion. They told inside jokes and ate meals talking about their days at work. It was what they called normal.

  What was normal?

  Staring out at the vastness of the forest she was grateful to be before; she breathed in a peace she felt as if she had never known. The descendants have given her a gift they may not even realize.

  Colbie had been staying with Aella, Deacon and Mark since her rescue. It had been Mark who had found her, but they all took her into their hearts. The descendants had helped her join them in a bond through a kiss, which still befuddled her mind.

  The one kiss, that maybe…maybe meant the most inside of her was to the man they called Ben. She had not been able to say much to him, but what she felt was confusing. He had been on her mind since the moment she saw him at the wedding of the very people that she was staying with. The smile on his face when he laughed was so happy, and genuine.

  Colbie had been told that Camdyn and his band had set the music as a surprise for Mark, and his now husband and wife. Ben was a part of the music and the surprise; when he saw that the surprise had worked, he had thrown his fist in the air and yelled and hollered his happiness. It was the first time she felt something stir inside of her when she thought of him.

  Now, six weeks later, and everything still seemed cloudy in her mind…except Ben. What did that mean, and why? Her memories of her time B.H. (before Hades) were not exactly all pleasant. Colbie knew she had been adopted by an older couple that claimed to be her Aunt and Uncle. She found out in her late teens they were not and ran away, but not far. Maybe she should think of it, as not far enough.

  She had wanted to finish high school, so she talked a friend into letting her use a cabin no one in her family would know about. It had taken her over three weeks to get these memories, and even as she stood thinking on them, more came back.

  On her hands and knees, head to the floor bowing before her uncle. Her dress ripped open as a heavy leather belt cleaved the flesh of her back into nothing but a raw, bleeding mess. Her punishment for smiling at the pastor in kind at church that particular morning.

  On another occasion she could see a visual of herself standing at the kitchen sink, doing her best to clean a cast iron pan of the mess her aunt had burned in it. She knew it had happened because her aunt hadn’t seasoned the pan properly. When her uncle saw her using a potato and salt to clean it, he started screaming at her. She had been blamed it wasn’t seasoned, not her aunt. Her uncle told her to get on her hands and knees and bow. Her hands were always to be placed flat in front of her. Her screams were so loud they brought neighbors to check on the family. Screams caused, because her uncle heated the same cast iron she had been scrubbing on the stove, and then smashed the tops of her hands with it. Not only did he break both of her hands, but he also gave her second degree burns.

  Colbie had been rushed to the hospital, her uncles excuse was she was not paying attention. He was well respected amongst the church people in that town, so they believed him. Colbie had left the braces and bandages on her hands far longer than she needed. She had healed completely within days. She was smart enough not to let on that she was not in pain.

  If she had, it would have been more hell for her.

  The list went on so much she was surprised that even the slow come back of memories wasn’t making her sick. Colbie wasn’t sure what was worse, her time with Hades or her time with her so-called aunt and uncle.

  At least since she had been rescued, she had begun learning what it was like to have kindness towards her. She did have a little back of what happened when she had run away, but she felt like there was a lot missing.

  The breeze was light across her face, a refreshing feeling making it easier for her to think back. The little cabin nothing more than a hunter's shack. Scarce in furnishings, but it had a comfy bed and an old beat-up padded rocking chair that might have come from decades before she was there. Most of all it had running water, albeit it was cold only and from a well, but she was ingenious and resourceful and had learned to survive.

  She heated the water for baths; there was an old iron tub she used as often as she wanted. That was nice! With her aunt and uncle she had been only allowed once a week baths and was limited to the amount of time.

  The cabin had a pot belly stove she used for heat and to cook on. She caught fish and picked berries and fruit from local farms. Yes, she knew it was stealing, but she had to eat, and no one could know she was around. The school never called her aunt and uncle’s house because they didn’t have phones. It’s how she managed school after running away; and her one friend that helped her with the use of the cabin. Having friends at school was out of the question.

  Colbie had wondered about him often since she had remembered him. Downfall on that particular memory was she hadn’t remembered his name yet. His face, his body, his voice…all were there. No name, nothing but a black hole that she hated. Nothing she did brought back how she met him, or how they became friends. What she did remember was using a payphone to call him. It was the old gas station two miles up the road from her family’s place that made her think of every scary movie ever, with creepy grease covered men in overalls; the ones wielding chainsaws. She had snuck out to see scary movies as often as she could as a kid. Another memory, YES!

  Her friend had answered her call on the first ring, and then picked her up in a truck less than ten minutes after her call. No memory of what the truck looked like either, damn it! She only knew it was a truck. He always said she was special, that was why he stuck around. He needed to protect her if he could. That was something Colbie hoped would come back to her. Did he know about her, or had she shown him something she could do? Colbie had been extra careful to hide the things she had figured out. Even now she was finding more out, like the whole levitating thing she did in the caves.

  That had been a revelation!

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Aella stepped up next to her, making her pull away from what had been slow to come. “Just still trying to remember.” Aella’s hand pressed softly to her back, it was a kind and friendly feeling.

  Aella brought her hands to rest on the railing exactly like Colbie. Her head was tipped back just enough to raise her chin. Her inky black hair striped with red shining in the sun. She was so beautiful! Colbie had never seen anyone like her in person until Mark introduced them all. It made her realize how sheltered she had been, which in turn made her a little sad.

  “Whatever your thinking, stop!” Aella was looking at her so suddenly. Blue eyes that had some kind of green fire burning through them met her own.

  It stunned her out of her sad thoughts. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking, I didn’t mean too.” Aella shook her head, her hand moving to Colbie’s shoulder.

  “You misunderstand, Colbie. I mean stop those wayward thoughts. You’re projecting; I can hear them in my head.” Colbie could only stare at Aella. Ells, her men called her. Colbie wasn’t comfortable calling anyone nicknames, maybe someday she would though.

  A peace came over her as fast as she was thinking on the fact she had been projecting her thoughts. She had heard others talking in her head. Some of it was in practice with the descendants, and some was when she realized about this projecting stuff.

  “Are you soothing me?” Colbie asks Aella. The other woman, her new friend smiles so soft it made a piece of her inside want to cry out for more. “I am, and I will continue to do it as long as you need it.” Aella explains with no quarrel that she had not been asked for the gift she was sharing. “Thank you!” was all Colbie could voice, not knowing how badly she had needed to feel it. Her memories must have made her more tense than she had intended. She only wanted to reflect and remember more.

  One of the men had sat a couple ice cold glasses of iced tea out on the rail where they stood. She heard Aella thank him, but she hadn’t even looked to see who it was. By the scent though, she thought it to be Deacon.

  Picking up the drink which had a straw in it, she sipped. Mint, fresh and soothing and she found she loved it. “Those soaps you made in there,” Aella pointed towards the house, “are amazing. Where did you learn to do that?” She looked over her shoulder towards the house like it would give her the answers. “I don’t know, honestly. I just saw the stuff you had and it’s like my head showed me the way.”

  Colbie’s eyes moved around following the track Aella was moving in. Her friend seemed to have something working in her head. It was twenty paces one direction, then ten another over and over. Colbie was beginning to worry she would wear a place in the wood deck.

  “Why is my woman pacing like she’s on a mission in her mind?” Deacon asks from the door of the house.

  Aella was so in her head she didn’t even look to acknowledge him. “I honestly have no idea.”

  Colbie side stepped Aella’s foot path, moving to lean her back against the wall by the door. Deacon joined to watch, when Aella not losing her steam asks, “Colbie, the other night at dinner you said you just wished you could find a something you were good at. A purpose of sorts, like a job?” Colbie looked to her hand’s, she had said that. She wanted something to call her own like she had seen the others had. Camdyn had Pulse and The Dane Hunt Experience. Heath had his security business. Natalia worked and
managed Pulse but was now also half owner with her husband. Mark of course was the Sheriff. Then there was Deacon, an amazing artist who made a living creating some of the most beautiful paintings she had ever seen.

  When she looked to Aella who was still pacing, she saw one of the most incredibly business savvy woman. She rebuilt Crave, heck…the woman was still designing and already having ideas for more. The Ocean Experience, a bar on the patio of Crave, plus the diner with old fashioned soda pop and ice cream, she had added to the place.

  “You could work for me you know?” Aella had offered a position with her business already. Colbie shook her head. “I don’t think what you do is for me.” Colbie needed a job, she needed to pay her own way. Working for her friend didn’t seem like the way though.

  Deacon stepped outside just beyond the door; his feet were bare as was his upper body. He had on his normal black leather pants; he had been out running errands early that day, so she was pretty sure that was why. Deacon looked like an Adonis she thought in her head. Not in his coloring but because of his size, he was massive, and gorgeous. Rippling muscle that stacked on top of muscle. Eight pack abs., tree trunk thighs and the list of attributes went on. Her mind should not be thinking like that of her friend. It was rude.

  “I thought Adonis once,” Aella’s mouth says but her eyes were strictly on her husband. “I was wrong though; he’s way better.” Deacon smacks Aella’s ass making her giggle, while Colbie was sure she was glowing red and in need of a massive hole to swallow her up.

  “You were projecting again.” Deacon says not fazed by what he heard in her mind. “Don’t worry, we’ll help you learn to keep your thoughts to yourself. We can call it part of your training.” His eyes still holding Aella, their stance in each other’s arms much like they were slow dancing. “Thank you though…for the compliment.”

  That was it, she needed to go for a walk. Her entire body was on fire with embarrassment. She tried to look as casual as possible as she stepped away from the wall heading for the steps off the deck.

  “Hey Colbie?” Aella calls out to her, “I was working through an idea; maybe something you could be really happy with, but I need a little time to research and see if it is plausible to even try.” She began to walk away before she paused mid-step remembering her manners, “thank you,” pointing to a trail off the property. “I’m going for a walk, let you two have some time together.”

  She needed time, but was that going to change how her life had been?

  No! It was that simple.

  She had to do the training the other descendants offered. Then she needed to learn more about herself and all that she could do. Although she knew some things, she was finding more and more, especially with the bond. Most of all she needed to figure out how to live the kind of life she had only read about in books and saw in movies.

  Maybe that was a pipe dream, but at least she could dream.

  Colbie stepped out over a small thinner area of water, a tributary to a much larger creek. The same creek she had learned, ran through a lot of properties on the mountain. The area that she was now becoming a resident of was vastly different than the broken-down tiny town of two hundred, she had been raised in. She never wanted to go back; she didn’t even want to think about the place, other than to get her memories back so maybe she could understand.

  Colbie found a small log long forgotten from a logger. The bark long gone leaving a smooth surface for her to sit.

  Colbie felt confused about which gifts she had B.H. verses A.H.. The leaf litter was thick beneath her feet, the trees full and green wavering softly in the nice breeze. Small lavender and yellow flowers barely the size of a silver quarter peaked out of low-lying scattered plants at the edge of the small stream she sat near.

  B.H. she knew she was extremely fast; her eyes sight was exceptional and her hearing. Those things helped her prevent many repercussions and much abuse growing up. She would get lost in thought and forget the time. Being late was not an option, not even one second, and she had the scars to prove it. Well, she had mental scars because healing was another thing that happened, like her broken and burned hands.

  Her uncle had always said where they lived was prone to freak storms. Colbie had figured out those storms were linked to her moods when she was no more than six years old. She didn’t know why or how, she just knew. As she grew older, she figured out her thoughts of what was happening when she was young was very real. It was definitely her, whether she was angry, hurt or tense; something always happened regarding mother nature.

  Colbie picked a small pebble up to toss in the small stream of water. How had she figured out they were not actually her Aunt and Uncle? Rubbing the back of her head like it would help, she remembered thinking earlier on the deck how she found out. Then it came to her again, the library!

  Colbie had gotten permission to go to the old library in town, she had a book report due and had to research. Her uncle had given her a time limit she felt was ridiculous. She had to use the old system that she could look up old newspaper articles. Her teacher had to explain how it worked so when she asked to use it she would be prepared.

  It was neat, and she kind of had fun sliding through all the old articles. Looking for information for her report, one article she had passed by made her pause and slide back until she found it.

  A picture of her aunt and uncle holding a baby looking rather proud. The baby in their arms was her, or so she thought. It stated they were new proud parents and how the town had backed them when they had found the baby left in the middle of their field. She remembered feeling confused, they had always told her they were her aunt and uncle, who had taken her in when her parents had been killed in a car accident.

  Why would they lie?

  She had forgotten all about the report and information when she left the library that day. Her aunt was stepping out to her car from the grocery store when she was walking by on her way home. She was stupid she thought now, but at the time, she was hurt about being lied to and blurted the question. “Why would you tell me you were my aunt and uncle? You’re not!”

  Her aunt had looked stunned before she sneered at her in derision “We actually tried to get rid of you, but that damned old Pastor decided we didn’t have kids and it was our duty.”

  Colbie was so hurt she ran home. Her aunt had beat her home since she had been driving, and her uncle had been waiting outside with a switch he had ripped from the tree. That long thin branch was like a whip when it came across her face before she could even reach the porch. He yelled at her for looking places her nose didn’t belong. His eyes flashed red making her gasp, but the switch cutting across her shoulder through her thread bare cotton dress made her forget at the time. “Oh my god!”

  Closing her eyes, she tried to recall how many times she had seen that happen. Nothing was coming to her, but she knew it had.

  She stood up brushing off the back of her new dress. She looked down to see the pretty flowery maxi dress she was wearing. Aella and Natalia had taken her to Norfolk for a girls shopping day and helped her buy an all-new wardrobe, undergarments included, that made her blush. She had new shoes, hair, and body supplies, as well as everything in between they could think she could need. Aella’s fancy jeep was filled top to bottom, front to back. They had loaded it down with more things than she could have ever imagined owning in her life. Compliments of all the descendants!

  It was time to head back to the house, she needed to tell them what she remembered.

  Chapter Three

  “How did I never notice how tall he actually is?” Natalia asks Heath, as they stared at Ben in the ring with Camdyn. Pulse was packed, Ben had thought they would ask him to come another time, but luck was not on his side. He was doing his best to pay attention to Cam as he listened to Nat and Heath talk about him. He didn’t hear the answer about his height though, he was too busy picking himself up off the mat.

  “Dude, seriously stop fucking around and pay attention.” Cam, his supposed best friend yelled at him.

  “FUCK!” Ben slams his fist on the mat while pushing himself to his feet. “You know I can do this; I don’t know where my head is.” Ben berates himself more than anything, as he looks to Cam who looked ready to punch him in the face…again.