Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I graduated with my degree in social services from Texas A&M at Galveston, and then immediately started working for the State of Texas as a social worker within weeks of graduating.
My interview!
“Mother fucking son of a cockblocker.” I yelled and then jumped out of bed, purposefully blocking out the pain that radiated through my abused limb.
I’d deal with that later. I had an interview today at eleven, and if I didn’t, I’d lose my chance. Broken bone or not, I was going to that interview. It wasn’t the first broken bone, and wouldn’t be the last. I was a clumsy person, and I’d broken five bones in my life, that is if you didn’t count the four ribs, left foot, and collarbone that Zander, my ex-boyfriend, had given me the last time I’d left him.
My sluggish brain finally started to work, and I realized I was in a spare bedroom of sorts. My foggy mind clued me in that it must be James’, but I didn’t have time to do anything. If I didn’t hurry, I’d be late.
I could tell by the sun peeking into the blinds that it must be early morning, and I still had a good two hours before I had to be there. However, I still had to get home, and then start getting ready.
Sneaking to the bedroom door, I opened it silently and peeked my head out. The hall was still and the house beyond sounded silent as well. Cautiously, I tiptoed out until I hit the bathroom, and rushed inside, closing it silently behind me.
I made quick work of the facilities, and then started searching for shoes.
I didn’t find any, but I also didn’t see James, so it was a partial win. I ascertained that he wasn’t in the house, and stopped tiptoeing around, and started to curse when I still couldn’t find any shoes.
Finally breaking down, I walked cautiously into James’ room, and froze. The area itself was pretty awesome. The bed, dresser and nightstands were made of rustic pine, and had a homey feel to it. The bedspread was dark gray, and bunched down at the bottom of the bed, as if he’d gotten up just moments ago, and planned to come back shortly.
I resisted the urge to make the bed, and walked to his closet, opening the door cautiously.
The closet itself was ordered, even if everything he owned was all black, minus the stack of dirty stained jeans that were folded neatly on the top shelf. There was another stack of cleaner jeans next to the other stack, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Organized man.” I said as I dropped down to my knees and started to poke around the piles of boots at the bottom of the closet.
Instead of leaving them in a disorganized pile, my OCD took over, and I started to straighten and align the boots in order of size against the back wall. My efforts uncovered a safe that you had to have a handprint to get into, and I was proud of James for having that with a young child in the house.
A lot of parents didn’t think about that detail, and it took an awful act of a child being curious to make them realize that just having guns laying around wasn’t safe. It also didn’t matter what income level, ethnicity, or party affiliate the gun owner was, it happened to everybody, gun safety or not.
I hit pay dirt once I reached the bottom of the shoe pile by finding a pair of Nike sandals that would tighten at the top of the foot.
“Yes,” I hissed as I sat on my butt and slipped my feet into the sandals.
Yes, it’d be a clumsy walk, but I’d make it in no time with my determination. That, and it wasn’t raining anymore.
Getting to my feet, I shuffled out the bedroom door and walked up to the living room window. Seeing no sign of movement, I used my ninja skills, and slunk out the back door and made my way around the side of the duplex, being careful to stay in the shadows that the morning sun casted.
Once I made it to the side of the garage, I looked to make sure that no one was in the lot, before walking sedately to the open front gate. I’d gotten to the road before my name was shouted.
Whom it was shouted by, I didn’t know, but I didn’t stop. In fact, I turned on the turbo blast, and took off like a shot. My adrenaline was pumping, and only pushed me faster. I so did not want to talk to anyone right now, and least of all my prick of a brother.
It’d been in my first hour on the floor of the bathroom that I decided just to say, ‘fuck it’ and ignore him from now on. I was tired of putting forth all the effort with my family and getting nothing in return. My dad. My brother. Brothers. Mother. No more, I was done. Finished.
“Fuck,” a man grunted from a good distance behind me.
I let the first smile break over my face in weeks. Did I mention that I was a sprinter, as well as a long distance runner? Yeah, I kicked ass in high school. I broke state records in the 100-meter dash and the 400 meters.
Although my distance running was lacking compared to my sprinting, I still did good when I put my mind to it. Cross-country kept me in shape during the off-season, and I made myself stick with cross-country even though I hated it with every fiber of my being. Sprinters weren’t made to go the distance.
Another curse sounded from behind me, and I let out a laugh this time. Spying my shortcut, which I rarely used lately due to the mud, I took it despite my reservations. I lost my sandals in the first mud puddle, and had to stop to go back for them, although, I didn’t put them back on. I was in the forest now, and it was very unlikely there would be anything but twigs on the ground.