Meddlesome Madness: A Short Story Collection by Beth Byers

Author:Beth Byers [Byers, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B08GYNGN9R
Published: 2020-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

They moved up the side of the ravine so quickly, Violet regretted whining about her side hurting before when they were strolling to the waterfall. That was nothing! Now, however, Violet had learned a new definition of a stitch in her side.

When they reached the top, the boy gasped and darted for his mother, but Jack ordered them to be quiet.

“What do you think?” Violet gasped. She needed to rest, but they couldn’t possibly stop.

The woman spoke again and Jack nodded. He asked a question, something about water, and the woman replied swiftly. His head tilted, and they let the boy’s mother lead. Violet didn’t think this was the way they’d come before, but she hoped they were moving closer to the auto. She very much wanted to throw herself onto the seat in the vehicle and catch her breath. Several times, they stopped, but it seemed they’d gotten away with their escape so far.

When they stumbled into a clearing again, Violet paused. The waterfall and pool were laid out in front of them.

The boy’s mother spoke over the sound of rushing water to Jack, who nodded and then stripped off his suit. Violet’s gaze followed him while her mind screamed at her to be watching for bad guys instead of the slope of Jack’s shoulders.

“What’s going on?” Violet demanded, forcing herself to speak.

“There’s a place to hide back there.” Jack said, gesturing to the waterfall. “The boy and his mother are going to hide in there, and we are going to pretend that we’re swimming.”

“For how long?”

“Carmen thinks they’ll see the auto and investigate. If they only find us, they’ll look elsewhere for her. At least she hopes. She seems fairly confident that they won’t hurt us since injuring tourists will cause too much attention from the police. Will you get your swimming costume?”

Violet pulled off her dress far more openly than she was comfortable with and set it to the side by the picnic basket. She’d have been shaking in her boots with concern if they weren’t worried for their lives. Even still she was shaking as she got into the water. Jack had already stripped down to his swimming suit and was carrying both the woman, who was too hurt to swim, and her son to the hiding place. After they were secured, Jack broke up their food on a rock nearby as though they’d already eaten, and then slipped into the water with her.

“That man who we tied up…” Violet started, but Jack shook his head.

“There’s no promise here, Vi, but he was pretty hurt.”

She had no idea how to reply to that idea and could only hope that he was right. It took far too long for them to hear people coming up the trail, and Violet was almost a mass of nerves by then. Jack shouted with laughter and tucked Violet into his chest. From the side of the trail, it would seem as though they were being quite intimate. She pressed her forehead against him.

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