Read Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1) Online
Authors: Serena Simpson
Hope (Other World Protection Agency Book 1)
Hope
Other World
Protection Novel - One
Acknowledgements
This book is dedicated to my daughter. She is my
biggest cheerleader. I also want to acknowledge my mother who keeps telling to
keep trying I will get there. A big thank you to Lori, without her this book
would still be sitting in my computer.
Text
copyright © 2014 Serena Simpson
All
rights reserved
Editor/Beta
reader: Lori Merlotti
Book
Cover:
SelfpubBookCovers.com/Shardel
one
April got up and stretched. She
was tired of resting. She had followed her boss’s orders. ‘Take a mini vacation’
he said. It would take an Earth week before her new assignment was revealed.
Time ran so differently in the realm she was in. An Earth week ended up being
three weeks for her. There had also been times an Earth week was a day for her.
No one understood why time between the realms changed constantly.
She slowly stretched her wings to
show their impressive span. She loved her wings. She always wondered why the Earth
people did not have them. They really were missing the beauty of flying. That
was the one reason she hated working on Earth, because she could not use her
wings. At least not when she could be seen. Unfortunately the inhabitants of Earth
needed some slight course changes at times to get them ready for the big
reveal.
Smiling she heard the pop; that
small almost inaudible sound that let her know her next mission was ready.
Walking over to the small disc that she had been given, she watched as it grew
in size. There would be a video of who and what needed to be done. There would
also be a hologram of her charge, so she would recognize the next target.
April walked closer to get a good
look. There before her was the picture of a light skinned black female. She
moved to read the stats. She stood five feet eight inches with hazel eyes. She
weighed one hundred sixty pounds and had short brown hair. All in all she was
an average Earth female. She looked to see what was so special about her and
read the word “CLASSIFIED”.
She pulled her wings in tight to
her body and tried to control her rage. How dare they classify this information
when they wanted her to help the silly Earth chick? It was times like these
when she wondered if Earth was really worth the time and effort to save. No
time to pop into headquarters and her boss would not tell her anyway. Grabbing
the hologram she disappeared, aiming for the woman’s position. What was her
name? Scanning over the image she found it. Taraja. She hovered for a minute to
locate her exact position and materialized.
She found her and wished she
hadn’t. She was on the dusty floor of some long forgotten warehouse. The place
was overrun with rats and other four legged creatures. Insects had made a home
here long ago. There was even what looked like a drunk in the corner.
Taraja lay on the floor as if she
had already succumb to death. April moved a little closer, wrinkling her nose
at the stench that rose from her body. It was not the stench of death, but
rather an unwashed body and a soul that had given up. Taraja was not dead, but
she might as well be.
Looking around, April found
herself debating what she should do next. She could pick her up and get her
food, but would that make a difference? No. She would end up back here or
someplace worse. This case looked lost before it began. Letting all logical
thought leave, she did what she had always wanted to do. Taking her foot, she
kicked Taraja hard. Her body never even moved. April reared back and kicked her
again. She jerked just a little, but ignored April as if it had not happened.
Moving a little, April lifted her leg and aimed at her midsection. Rearing back
one more time, April kicked her in her stomach, watching her body dance as if a
jolt of electricity had just entered. Smiling she dissolved and waited to see
what course Taraja would take.
Taraja, had been laying on the
floor for days. She had not moved, not even to do her business. She was ready
for it to be over. It almost was. She was drifting on a cloud. Every day she
was getting further and further away from her body. Each day she asked no one
in particular to let this be the day it all ended. She couldn’t kill herself.
Not that she didn’t want to kill herself, but she physically could not do it.
She knew because she had tried. That was not normal and she knew it, but others
seemed to think it was a joke when she asked them about it. It was ok. This
time she was sure she would die. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.
She could feel something in the
room with her. Something other than the rats that had tried to eat her. They
had learned quickly that her body couldn’t be touched. If she was a believer,
she would say that God was protecting her. But she gave up on him ages ago. This
was something else. Maybe it was death coming to collect her. She could feel it
coming closer. She relaxed even more, waiting for the end.
At first she didn’t even feel it.
That small kick. Is this how your soul leaves your body? Was this the angel of
death punishing her? Then the second kick came. It was harder this time. No she
thought. Please don’t do this to me. If she could have, she would have ran
away. As it was, she was too weak to even crawl away. She was at the mercy of
the evil being standing by her side. Then there was a third fatal kick. She
could feel it as it coursed through her body. She mentally screamed, no! But
nothing helped. It felt like jolts of electricity going through her body,
waking her up. Yet it wasn’t electricity. Electricity would have been welcomed.
It was something much deadlier than that. She had been filled with hope. That
dreadful, insidious feeling that all would somehow be well.
She had worked tirelessly to kill
that in herself, in order to just give up. Now it was back. Her body had
finally stopped shaking, so she slowly made her way to her hands and knees and
started crawling towards the exit. All had been lost. She could lay here for
months, but she would not die. Hope had a price. It was not free, but no one,
except her seemed to realize it. She cried, but no tears fell. She had no more liquid
left in her body. She made it out the door just before she passed out.
Taraja opened her eyes to see a
blonde nurse looking at her.
“Welcome back, Tiger.” The nurse
greeted her with a smile. “I know that’s not your name, but we had to call you
something. So we voted. It was between Miracle and Tiger. Tiger won.”
Staring back at the nurse, she
just waited. The questions would come, she was sure. How had she gotten to a
hospital, she wondered? Why was she so weak? This had never happened to her
before.
“You know we thought we were
going to lose you. You were so dehydrated. In fact, the doctors were sure you
were dead when you came in. I heard them say it was impossible for you to be
alive.”
She just looked at the nurse and
tried to convey her disinterest with her eyes. The nurse was right, but there
was no way she would tell her. She had laid on that rat infested floor for
three weeks. She should be dead. They would call her a medical miracle and want
to study her. She would have to get out of here quickly. Why was she so tired?
She had always recovered quickly. Had she almost succeeded this time? Now that
was worth thinking about.
“So what is your name? I guess I
can’t keep calling you Tiger now.” The perky blonde nurse smiled at her again.
She opened her parched lips to
speak, but nothing came out.
“Oh I bet your throat is dry and
sore. Let me get you some water. She quickly left the room and came back with
some room temperature water. Using a straw she put it to Taraja’s lips.
“Personally, I was hoping your
name was Toni with an I. That way I could keep calling you Toni the Tiger.”
Taraja closed her eyes and shut
the nurse out.
“I guess it’s too soon for jokes.
Just rest. The doctors will be in shortly to see you.”
Hearing the door close, she tried
to get up to leave, but fell asleep instead.
“Wake up miracle.”
The sound of a masculine voice
intruded on her dreams of terror. The sound was beautiful, almost lyrical. For
a moment she thought she had died. Maybe she had gone to heaven instead of the
hell that she thought was waiting for her. Opening her eyes, she looked into a
beautiful pair of greens ones. Eyes that were way too close.
“How’s that for no personal
space?” He said with soft laughter as he backed off. “Sorry about that. I was
in here earlier and you were asleep, so I decided to come back later. You guessed
it. It’s now later.”
“I bet the nurse told you that
everyone was calling you Tiger. They are, everyone except for myself. Miracle
just seems to fit you. My name is Dr. Charles, Paul Charles. Do you remember
your name?”
She frowned at him. Why couldn’t
she remember her name?
“If you don’t remember, it’s ok.
You suffered from almost total dehydration. Even now it’s hard for me to
believe you’re alive.”
She wanted to keep him talking. That
was never a good sign. Maybe he would just go away if she closed her eyes.
“Miracle.” He said in a sharp
tone. “You’re allowed to say yes or no, but you’re not allowed to shut me out.”
She could feel herself swelling
up with righteous anger. Who was he to tell her what she could or could not do?
Ever since she was little, people always did what she wanted, except her mother
of course. Although she refused to think about her.
“You want to tell me to go away?
Then I guess you will have to speak. Let’s start with your name.”
Opening her mouth she tried to
make a sound, but nothing came out.
“Let’s get some more water into
that throat of yours.” He quickly got a cup and a spoon. “I am going to spoon
feed you this. It will be easier for you.”
She opened her mouth and he put
small amounts of water in, letting her take her time to swallow.
“Now I am going to use some of
this spray on your throat. It will numb it some. It will also taste nasty.”
Tilting her chin he sprayed it after she opened up. He laughed at the
expression she made. “I told you it would taste nasty.”
“Let’s try this again. What’s
your name?”
Pursing her lips to be able to
get sound; she managed to form one syllable. “Ta.”
“Ta?”
She nodded then added, “ra.”
“Tabitha? Tamera? Taylor?”
Savagely she shook her head.
Glaring at him she tried again.
“Ja.” This came out just a little easier. For that she was grateful.
“Hmmm Ta and Ra and Ja. I wonder
if that could be a name.” He smiled and winked at her as he gave her a puzzled
look. “Finally he shrugged. The best I can come up with is Taraja. Is that your
name?” She didn’t want to, she really didn’t, but before she could catch
herself she was smiling at him and nodding yes. “Well hello Taraja. I am Dr.
Paul Charles. It is nice to meet you.”
He held out his hand and she
raised hers, happy to see she had more energy than earlier. Just touching his
hand sparked something in her. Quickly she dropped it. She would not hope. She
had almost died. She was sure of it. She needed to get away so she could do it
again.
“Taraja, would you like to tell
me what happened to you?” Immediately she started to close her eyes. “Taraja,
remember we agreed no eye closing. A simple yes or no will do.”
“No.” She would have tried to
shout the word, but that would mean she felt something. She refused to feel
anything. Some water would be nice though. Her eyes flicked to the cup for just
a moment.
“How rude of me. Of course you
want more water. Let’s try the straw this time.” Opening a straw, he inserted
it in the water and held it for her to sip from.
Sipping from the straw, she
studied him from under her eyelashes. He wasn’t that remarkable. He was at
least six feet tall, black hair and clean shaven with thick eyelashes to go
with his beautiful eyes. He looked like he weighed about two hundred pounds,
and he had the face of an angel. Ok, so he was remarkable, but she shouldn’t
care. She had never cared in the past.
“I think we should try and get
some food in you. I am going to order you a soft meal. Something that will be
easy to swallow. Don’t worry if you can’t get it all down.”
Pushing herself up in the bed,
she knew she needed to get out of there soon. Already she was getting lost in
his eyes and his melodic voice.
“I need to go, maybe to a free
clinic.” She said very slowly and tentatively, as if she was unsure the words
would come out.
“You can’t leave. You’re in no
condition to go.”
“How will I pay for this?” She
could care less about the money, but she was sure they would find her soon. If
they didn’t, then her mother surely would.
“You can talk to the financial
staff when you’re better. They will help you make arrangements. Until you are
given a clean bill of health, you will be here. So lay down and let me get that
order put in for you.”
He left the room before she even
nodded her head yes. She knew it was the wrong decision. She should run, but
she was tired of it. She had been running for years. Laying back, she wondered
if death would find her this night. Would the blonde perky nurse or the doctor
with the green eyes pay for her tiredness?
Once again someone came into the
room. She expected it to be someone with a tray from the kitchen.
“Looks like I am back.” She
turned her head to see Dr. Charles holding a tray. “I don’t usually make house
calls, but for some reason I can’t seem to get too far from your side. That
sounds bad.”