Chasing Kate by Kelly Byrne

Author:Kelly Byrne [Byrne, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Two Pens Press via Indie Author Project

TWELVE

“SCANNER!” I BOLTED awake at 5:19 a.m. suddenly processing what Joe had told Carolyn earlier. The sky was inky without any indication it would ever be otherwise and Sadie was still swaddled in deep sleep next to me. The boys had ultimately found their beds on the floor somewhere after we’d drifted off and they were both sprawled out on their backs, chasing bunnies in their dreams.

The dispatcher’s voice, thinned by wires and speakers and walls, had come from downstairs. I knew it hadn’t been a dream. I’d heard it. Or my subconscious had. It was sharp, like a machete, cutting through my sleep. They were looking for us. They’d found the jeep and they were heading north. That’s what my gut told me.

When my feet hit the floor I had to stuff a fist in my mouth to keep from screaming. It felt like dry ice. I was afraid when I took a step I’d leave part of my sole stuck to their hard wood forever.

I crept down the stairs two at a time. The closer I got to the hallway leading to the kitchen the louder the scanner became. Light, snowy voices seeped through a door set ajar across from the kitchen. I peeked in and saw a staircase leading down to the basement. A bright white light with no cover illuminated the concrete walls and the clean scent of sawdust floated on the cold air. I thought of my father. That was his scent. His cologne. When he wasn’t designing things, he was building them. Just like Jesus, my father the carpenter.

The scanner and Joe were at the bottom of those steps. This was the stairway to Hell, but I had to find out what he’d heard.

I began the descent with my heart tap dancing in my mouth again. The last few days had aged it about ten years. I blew on my hands to keep them from going numb when they weren’t helping me steady myself on the railing. The steps were old and creaky and covered in a thin layer of sawdust. It was soft under my feet like a thin coating of powdered sugar.

Shards of cedar and pine were scattered around on the concrete floor at the bottom. I stepped down onto it and nearly screamed. If the hardwood upstairs had been dry ice, this was the surface of Uranus, about -500 Fahrenheit.

I scurried around a corner and hid behind a hunk of freshly sanded wood. The smell was intoxicating. Upon closer inspection I saw it was a dresser and when I peeked around it, I found Joe. Fearing he’d seen me, I popped back down, but when I heard his soft, gurgly snoring I knew I was safe. For now.

I poked my head around the side again and saw him splayed diagonally across a red futon, mouth wide open like an algae sucker, with a sanding block strapped to his right hand. He hadn’t heard anything. I was beginning to wonder if I had.

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