The Novella Collection: A series of short stories for the Pushing the Limits series, Thunder Road series, and Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry

Author:Katie McGarry [McGarry, Katie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-06T18:30:00+00:00

Sitting at the end of a long dining room table, I push my half-eaten plate of spaghetti and meatballs to the side and accept the packet of papers Mia’s been going over for the past hour. The lunch was good, very good. A petite girl named Charity made it, and she was very nice and very welcoming and will be my roommate if I agree to all the terms and conditions being laid out for me now.

After a grace period of finding a job and getting on my feet, I’ll be required to pay rent. The price is very reasonable, and helps with the upkeep of the house. In exchange for staying here, I will have chores, will be responsible for cooking dinner on rotation, and will have to follow all the rules listed on one of the papers—including a requirement that I participate in emotional counseling, financial counseling and career counseling.

Mia runs this house and the program, but lives next door with her husband. Despite sleeping under a different roof, she said, she remains our guide, our mentor, our house mother, a stern voice of reason and a friend—all available to us twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

“So, what do you think?” Mia says, and I stare down at the pieces of paper that are filled with printed words I’m too overwhelmed to comprehend.

Eli and Dust ate lunch with us, but disappeared outside after Mia started discussing details of the program. Ms. Whitlock has remained by my side. She’s been wonderful. Asking questions that had been in my head, but I’m too paralyzed to ask. She has encouraged me with eye contact, or a gentle touch. Like now, as she places her hand over mine and squeezes.

Mia asked me a question, and I need to answer. Problem is, I don’t know what to say. “Do you mind if I have a few minutes to myself?”

“Of course,” she answers. “Take all the time you need.”

“I’ll be right here if you need me,” Ms. Whitlock says.

I try to smile at her, but it must fall short because I don’t feel movement on my face. I stand, leave the dining room and do my best to wave at the girls in the living room who say hi to me. The heavy front door squeaks as I open it, and I step out into the warm, spring day. It’s weird for the sky to be so blue, so full of light, when my brain feels swamped by fog.

“Are you okay?” Dust asks. He leans against the railing of the porch, and he’s so incredibly handsome that he takes my breath away.

Yes, no… “I don’t know. All of this is…a lot.”

“When Mia and I left home, we were scared to death. We felt that way for a while afterwards, too. There were times I never thought I’d feel safe again. I never imagined I would find a normal. But eventually I did find a normal, and I found safe.”

Exhausted and heavy, I drop onto the top step of the porch and think of home.

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