Under the Aspens (The Aspen Series) (10 page)

“You did a very dangerous thing, hitting him like you did.  Where did you learn that?  Don’t answer, save your strength.  You’ll have years and years to answer that question,” He continued on with his story.

“After you hit the floor, I shot Gilliam, twice.  I couldn’t take the chance that he’d shot you again.  It’s over.  They’re both gone.  You’re safe now. And David has the pictures and the recording.  It seems William recorded the conversation between him and Gilliam.  Gilliam threatened William, and forced him to pour cement over a body, and then build his building on top of that.  The body is the guy in the picture, the one who has been missing for the past month.”

Sher closed her eyes.  It was over.  It’s finally over.  She could go back to her life, and back to her deli, and of course, start a life with the man she loved with all her heart.

“Where’s Brad?  She asked.

“Honey, there’s no word on your brother’s whereabouts yet.  But we’ll find him. I promise you, we’ll find him.”

“You need to rest now.  You need to gain your strength.  As soon as you get well, and can leave this hospital, we’ll both look for Brad.  In the mean time, I have people looking and asking questions. We’ll find him. Rest, now.”

She felt her lids get heavy.  She had no choice but to sleep.  Her last thought was of her brother. Lord, let him be safe
.

Brad woke slowly.  He saw stars.  His eyes didn’t adjust at first.  He saw double of everything.  His head hurt like nothing he had ever felt before.  When he moved his head, he almost vomited, and everything around him started going around in circles. He focused on one object.  A tree directly across from where he lay. He laid there for a long time, till everything stopped spinning.  Slowly, he rolled onto his side.  Again, things went into a spinning frenzy.  Waiting till it subsided, he then sat up slowly.

He didn’t recognize where he was.  The last thing he remembered was bending down to look at his flat tires.  He remembered hearing someone who came up behind him, and felt something hit his head and break.  That was the last thing he remembered.  But how did he get here?  He didn’t recognize this area.  Todd and he camped outside Estes Park every year for the past nine years.  They walked all over, but this area didn’t look like any place he seen before.  Todd was his best friend and partner in the construction business.  He was supposed to be here this trip, but his wife went into labor with their first child, so he didn’t join Brad.

Boy, his head hurt.  Brad reached up and touched the back of his head and felt something sticky.  Dropping his hand back down, he saw it was blood. He wondered how much blood he lost. 

He carefully stood up, and again felt nauseous, to the point of vomiting. He’d have to take it very slow.  But he needed to find help.  He took a couple of steps, and knew immediately he was going to pass out, so he sat down, before he fell down.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed out, since he hadn’t worn his watch.  He checked his pockets, but no cell phone.  He vaguely remembered talking on the phone to someone just before he was attacked.   Yes, he talked to Sher, his sister.  No, that’s not right.  He didn’t talk to her; he talked to her voice mail.

He stood up again, and this time he was able to walk a while, as long as he walked slowly. It started to get dark, and he barely made out some lights to the left.  He headed in that direction.  The lights got closer, so he walked faster.  His last conscious thought was, he’s going to black out again.

If you liked this book, check out “The Aspens Fall”, the second book in the Aspens Series

Or, get “The Aspens Collection (Box Set) by clicking here.

“Naw.  She’s okay.” I half managed to get out as my friends were teasing me about having a crush on April Powders. 

“Yeah, you do! Ohhhh, yeah, you do!  Jimmy likes April.  Jimmy likes April,” Mikey sang out loud while dancing around our lunch table.  I’m not sure how, exactly, I became friends with Mikey. 
I suppose it was because we had homeroom together since I could remember.  He was very tall for a thirteen year old and built like a lumber-jack.  And, like you’d assume from looking at his unkempt hair and dirt-stained face, he had absolutely no manners.  He didn’t even care if there were girls around when he needed to pass gas, or shoot a booger out of his nose.  And, he certainly didn’t mind embarrassing me in front of April Powders. 

I was
quickly turning beet red, and wanted to die. 

April wa
s a girl who I sat next to each day in my English literature and biology classes.  She had curly, brown hair that always smelled like roses.  She was our class president, and my lab partner in biology.  The truth was, I did have a bit of a crush on her, but I’d never tell Mikey that.  No need to give him more ammunition to use on me later.  It was always so hard to concentrate on the biology lesson when I was sitting next to April.  I was magically transported into the wishful thinking of my mind by the lovely, clean scent of April’s hair.  I would get so nervous, though, that I had to constantly wipe the palms of my hands on my pants in class.  They would sweat so much when I was around her.  I mean, they would sweat a lot…so much so, that I felt like a sweat factory in biology!  I probably left class everyday with pit stains under my arms too.  I’m sure she thought I was a complete and utter idiot. 

Bei
ng thirteen and in high school was hard to figure out.  As a teen and high-schooler, I was supposed to hit on girls every chance I got and try to get dates or more from them…but, just last year I was made fun of if I even had a crush on a girl, or a girl had a crush on me.  I never really knew what to do, and Mikey seemed to know that and pounced on me every chance he got.  Unfortunately, for me, he got a lot of chances.  I mean A LOT!

“Aww…leave him alone, Mike,”
my best friend, Connor, interjected.  “Can’t ya see he’s embarrassed?”

Connor was
everything I wished I was.  He was taller than me…standing at five foot nine inches.  He was athletic and toned.  He had brown hair and hazel eyes like me, but also kind-of a crooked smile that seemed to make girls swoon.  He was the kind of guy who was smart, funny, witty, goofy, and outgoing.  I felt very lucky to have him as my best friend.  I could tell Connor anything and know my secrets were safe with him.  He was completely trust-worthy, and we had been friends since I was nine years old.  That’s when he stopped a bully from beating my face to a bloody stump.  I know he was just trying to protect me this time too, but Mikey was hard to reel in when he knew he was getting under a person’s skin. 

Just as Mikey was
about to start in again, and likely embarrass me to even greater depths than before, the school bell loudly rang. 

RRIIIINNNNNGGGGGG….

Saved by the bell, lunch was over. 

I exhale
d a huge sigh of relief, as I picked up my trash and partially eaten sandwich and tossed them in the fly ridden trash can.  I missed while trying to shoot the balled up wrapper into the can, as if it was a basketball.  I quickly looked around to make sure Mikey didn’t see my failure, and it seemed that I was in the clear for once.  Now, I just had to make it through the rest of the day. 

Connor and I to
ld Mikey we would see him later since he had Algebra class on the other end of campus.  As we walked away, Mikey yelled at the top of his lungs, “Jimmy!  See ya later, Loverboy!” and cracked up laughing to himself as he blew a kiss in my direction.  About thirty kids stopped and started looking at me and laughed…some hysterically.   

“Don’
t mind him, dude,” Connor offered, and playfully tussled my hair as he broke away to his locker.  He always knew how to make me feel better.  

The
next few classes went well.  I didn’t have any classes the second half of the day with either Mikey or April, so I could just focus on my schoolwork.  I was always a teacher’s pet type of guy.  I naturally got good grades, and was always polite and attentive to my teachers.  I didn’t brown-nose or anything, but I still got singled out as the example to follow in quite a few of my classes. 

Finally, the last bell of the day
rang and I couldn’t wait to get home.  Mom said that if I got my homework done early enough, we could go look at Christmas lights around town.  I’ve always loved Christmas. Living in Washington State, I was fortunate enough to get a white Christmas every year.  It just seemed to make everything so much more magical.  The lights seemed to twinkle more, as they reflected off the snow and ice…and the people became just a tiny bit happier, in spite of having to drive in a foot of snow.  The cold temperatures made me wanna get a fire going in the fireplace, and drink hot cocoa while watching my favorite Christmas television special.  I had to imagine the fire since we never had a fireplace in our house.   

Connor and I live
d right next door to each other, so we always walked home together and talked about our day.  It was actually the part of my day I normally looked forward to most. 

“Wanna have a snowball fight throw-down?” Connor
challenged as we passed the park near our houses.  A snowball fight throw-down is like the ultimate snowball fight….winner takes all.  The last three years Connor has held the championship, but I was determined to beat him one day.  It would have to wait until some other day though. 

“Can’t today, bud.  We’re going to go look at Christmas lights tonight, so I gotta get my homework for Mrs
. Schiltz’s class done ASAP!” I answered.  “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Deal.” Connor said with one of his patented
winks as we each crossed our front yards. 

As soon as I opened
the worn and squeaky door, I threw off my snow covered shoes and ran straight to the fridge.  I was fortunate enough to have a very good metabolism.  Though, sometimes, I wondered if I was too thin.  I weighed just under one hundred and thirty pounds.  I felt like that was a good weight for my age and height.  I grabbed some whole wheat bread, three or four ham slices, colby-jack cheese, and some Cheez-Its and headed to my room.  I put a sandwich together quickly, and got my books out of my hand-me-down book bag. 

“Is that you, Honey?” I hear
d Mom yell from down the hall.  My Mom was a very pretty lady, who had to raise two kids all alone.  She worked hard as a deli manager in our local super-market, and always seemed to have a smile on her face.  Sometimes, I worried that she worked too hard.  She was older than most of my friends’ moms, and shouldn’t have been doing as much manual labor as she did.  My friends used to tease me when I was little about my Mom being the same age as their grandmas, but I still thought she was the best Mom around.  When I would see laundry detergent commercials on television, I remembered my childhood being just like what was portrayed in them.  The rays of sun would be coming in the windows, with a gentle spring breeze.  Mom would always have everything smelling so great, and welcome me home from school with a perfect smile on her loving face.