Cabin 1 by Amanda McKinney

Author:Amanda McKinney [McKinney, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732463592
Publisher: HH Tisevich
Published: 2019-09-26T05:00:00+00:00

11

Niki

My eyes popped open to darkness and panic seized me. I didn’t know where I was, or what I was doing there. My gaze darted around the room, desperately trying to pull memories. I zeroed in on a red, flashing light from a phone on the end of the couch that I’d fallen asleep on. Except it wasn’t a phone, it was a security remote.

A security remote for the cabin I’d been swept away to in an attempt to save my life from the man who wanted to take it.

My stomach rolled with the memories.

I sat up, pain shooting up my back as the soft Navajo-print afghan fell to the hardwood floor below me. A cool breeze swept over my once warmed skin as I looked at the windows, inky-black with night.

I looked at the clock—2:47 a.m.

Hours away from light. Hours away from a new day to start over, begin fresh. The start of many long, difficult roads that now laid ahead of me. One road, finding the son of a bitch who tried to kill me, and dealing with the gossip that would come with it. One road navigating my job, and figuring out if, God willing, being a sexual assault victim wouldn’t affect my position. Lastly, one road, and perhaps the most difficult of all, trying to heal and forget. Although, I knew in my heart I would never fully heal, and I sure as hell would never forget. It would become a part of me—for better or worse. They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I guessed I was about to find out, but one thing I knew for certain was that my life had changed forever.

A life I’d worked so damn hard to build into a meaningful one, with the promise of a prosperous future where I didn’t have to depend on anyone or anything. Truly independent, that was always my goal. From the moment that I was born into poverty in a rusted, stained bathtub—one of the few facts that had never reached the Berry Springs gossips—I’d fought for dignity. Most people fought for respect, for honor, for a clean slate. No, I fought for dignity. Screw money, screw name-brand clothes, new athletic shoes, snacks, screw all that stuff. All I wanted was to have self-respect. Pride. I believed I was more than how I was brought into this world. And I was. Dammit, I was.

Even in the shadows behind the bleachers where the giggles followed me like an incurable plague, I had faith in myself. I studied. I read. I taught myself three different languages… what I was going to do with Gaelic, I wasn’t sure, but Spanish had proved to serve me well. I graduated valedictorian of my class, although no one remembered that. I got a full ride to college and worked my ass off to obtain a double degree. All that paled in comparison to passing the bar exam. Now my career was up in the air. My name would be all over the local news, all over the local diners, hair salons.

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