Locket (eBook)

Brittany Bessonett (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
242 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-3856-4 (ISBN)

Infos

A tainted past. A hopeful future. An unexpected twist of fate. Katie Upton has spent nine years running from a town that terrorizes her every thought. Suffering from PTSD and unable to escape the memory of her past, she never stays in one place long. That is, until fate lands her in Victoria, Texas. With a newly forged friendship and a job that she loves, Katie finally feels like life is settling down. But when an unknown visitor stops by her work, it ignites a fear that her past has come back to haunt her. Katie begins to question everything, including her own sanity, and when her missing locket shows up in an unexpected place, she knows ... there's no one left to trust. The Locket is a gripping thriller that dives into the meat of PTSD and the daunting journey to recovery. It will leave you questioning the purpose of everyone that's ever crossed your path. Just know, when fate has a plan, it will find a way.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

Present

I’ve got you.

Those were the last three words she remembered hearing before being jerked from her sleep. The three words that resonated in her head as her feet repetitiously pounded the pavement. It wasn’t uncommon for the intensity of her nightmares to increase this time of year, and each one ended the same way … with those three eerily familiar words …

I’ve got you.

The sky boasted a kaleidoscope of colors as the sun began to peek over the horizon. The fiery shades of orange and red welcomed a new day, and the meteorologist predicted yet another record-breaking high temperature. Summer refused to let go. Only a mile into her morning run, Katie’s tank top clung to her body and sweat rained down her chest. Her ponytail bounced behind her with every stride.

She rounded the corner by the local convenience store and continued up Main Street. Her route took her through highly populated neighborhoods, and although traffic occasionally broke her stride, she was never bothered by the interruption. It was a small price to pay for peace of mind. There was a nature trail nearby, typically flooded with runners and bikers, but it was too similar to the trail she had trained on growing up in Brownsboro, a small town about three hundred miles north of Victoria. A town she would rather forget.

The Victorian homes along her route offered a therapeutic escape for Katie. She often caught herself daydreaming about what life would be like living inside one of the majestic beauties. Her favorite was a white two-story, with a large wraparound porch, over-sized windows, and ornate trim. Framing the front of the property was a black wrought-iron gate that opened to a concrete sidewalk. It purposefully led to a set of stairs, slightly crumbling on the edges, surrounded by flowerbeds full of manicured shrubs and accented with soft touches of seasonal flowers. The dark shutters matched the front door, and she imagined what was on the other side: tall ceilings framed with crown molding, arched entryways, and intricate chandeliers. An antique piano nestled in front of the windows of the great room with a view of the giant oak, whose protective limbs covered the front yard. It was apparent this home had been well taken care of and, although she could not pinpoint why, it exuded a sense of safety.

She had never seen anything like it before moving to Victoria. The only thing remotely close was a bed and breakfast her parents took her to when she was eleven. The name of the town they visited that week escaped her memory, but the details of the time they spent inside that mansion, as she often referred to it, she will never forget. That trip was the last vacation her family took before her mother passed away. Maybe that was the attraction to this particular house: it reminded Katie of her mom.

Katie stopped, flipped the cap on her water bottle, and took a drink. The cool water offered a welcome reprieve from the heat. A sweltering ninety-four degrees at sunrise was not uncommon for an August morning in Texas, and she felt every degree. The hair beneath her ponytail was soaked, and she could taste the saltiness of the sweat that dripped down her face. After a few more gulps, she refastened the cap and kneeled down to tighten the laces on her running shoes.

A black car approached and slowed to a stop only a few feet from where Katie was kneeling. She instinctively cut her eyes in the car’s direction, but did not recognize the vehicle nor did she have any idea what the driver was doing. It was an odd place for a car to stop. There were no traffic lights nearby, and the only visible road sign read No Parking Any Time. She pulled the double knot tight on her left shoe and glanced up again to take another look at the car. It was Amanda, her face finally visible as she leaned towards the windshield to wave at Katie. She stood up and exhaled, completely unaware that she had been holding her breath.

Amanda rolled down the passenger side window and Katie walked over to the car. When she leaned down and propped herself on the door with her forearms, the sweet smell of Amanda’s perfume tickled her nose. Sweat dripped from her cheeks and splashed against the car.

“Are you some kind of crazy?” Amanda joked as she peered over the rim of her sunglasses. “You know it’s August in south Texas, right? Most sane people like to stay inside where we have this thing called air conditioning!”

“Yes, I should probably have my sanity questioned,” Katie scoffed. “But you know me, never one to play the ‘normal’ card. Whose car is this, anyway?”

Amanda placed her glasses on the console and fidgeted with the knobs on the stereo as if the car was smarter than she was. “Oh, it’s my stepmom’s. Dad took mine to the shop today to get that annoying noise checked out. He said it was something like my brakes or my rotors or something minor like that.”

Katie grinned and rolled her eyes. Only Amanda would think something like brakes on a car would be insignificant. “Well, I hope it turns out to be nothing major,” she laughed. “Will you still be able to meet at Joe’s later today?”

“Yes, but that is why I stopped when I saw you. Can we move it up to six? My dad is having an impromptu get together at the house tonight around eight with some work buddies to celebrate the completion of their latest project. I’m not really sure why he even wants me there, it will probably just be a bunch of dudes having a few drinks and patting each other on the back. Not particularly my idea of fun, but something about family and support blah, blah, blah,” Amanda chuckled. “Of course, you know you are welcome to come?” Her inflection turned the statement into a question.

Katie paused, staring blankly. Amanda knew that look all too well, the I’m trying to come up with a reason why I can’t make it look. She was accustomed to it, so she didn’t press the issue. She simply said, “I know, I know, maybe next time,” and flashed Katie a reassuring wink and a smile.

Katie let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“You got it, cupcake! Well, I better be off. Errands to run and nails to polish,” Amanda slid her rhinestone-rimmed sunglasses back on her face and put the car in reverse. “And I guess I will let you get back to this running thing you do. Crazy, I tell ya. You are just plain crazy.”

“You’re so kind,” Katie said sarcastically. “Have fun and I will see you at six.”

She pushed herself up from the window and stepped back from the car. Amanda rolled up the window and waved as she drove away.

Amanda didn’t have a care in the world. She was twenty-five, one year younger than Katie, and was the epitome of a ditsy blonde. It didn’t help that she came from money. Her father was the CFO of the contracting company responsible for a large portion of the industrial development around the Port of Victoria. Her skin was a beautiful olive color and her body was oddly fit. Oddly, because Katie had never seen her exercise, not once, and she always poked fun at Katie for running so much, as if she didn’t understand why she did it. The health benefit was only a bonus for Katie, it was not her real motivation, but Amanda had no idea. Katie never told her the real reason why.

Even though Amanda’s life appeared perfectly effortless and at times Katie felt a twinge of jealousy toward her, she appreciated that Amanda had patience enough to be her friend. A task only one other person had been able to accomplish over the last nine years. She wanted to come clean about her past, especially before something happened like it did in Austin, but she was always afraid that if Amanda knew the truth, she may not look at her the same way. And that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. Not yet, anyway.

Katie was a little behind schedule now, thanks to her unexpected visit with Amanda. She quickened her pace until steps became leaps and she ended up sprinting her last half mile. She had to be at work by nine and didn’t want to be late. Most of the end of her route was uphill, so by the time she reached the front door of her apartment she was spent. Unable to remember the details of the nightmare that awakened her in a panic that morning, the run was a success.

When she opened the front door to walk inside, the cool air hit her like a train. The corner of her mouth instantly pulled up in a grin, thinking of her conversation with Amanda. She took a deep breath, holding the air in her lungs for a few seconds before exhaling, and her breathing gradually returned to normal. She closed the door and latched the chain lock, locked both dead bolts, turned the lock on the doorknob, and tossed her keys on the hutch in the entryway.

She did not get permission from management to add the two extra locks, but she really didn’t care. If she knew anyone from maintenance would be coming by she left them unlocked, but that didn’t happen very often. They had only been to her apartment once in the three years she had lived there, and that was when the heating element went out in her oven. The thought of having a strange man in her apartment was enough for her to make most minor repairs on her own without bothering to call...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.6.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Krimi / Thriller / Horror
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-3856-3 / 1667838563
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-3856-4 / 9781667838564