SEDUCING LAURA
by Brianna McKenzie
Prologue
Laura dozed off during math class, bored out of her mind. She already knew everything that was being taught. She knew the teacher would be angry when he found her sleeping, but at least that would be something to interrupt this tedium. She looked at the clock. “Five hours left,” she thought. Why did they have to put her in algebra when she could easily do calculus? She felt as if she were in kindergarten with such easy classes. Her mind began to wander as she tried to fend off the onset of sleep.
Laura was in the belly of a ship. Two men were tied up, both as sexy as sin itself with russet skin and long black hair and perfect bodies. Laura could not help but walk over, trying not to wake them because they were both deeply asleep. She gently untied the ropes which bound them. She wished she had antiseptic to treat the wounds left by the rope on their wrists, but her hands were empty. She jumped as one of the men woke up. He saw he was untied and smiled at her. He kissed her cheek and said, “Kutapatush!” As he kissed her, she felt herself being pulled away and back to the classroom. She did not want to go but knew she could do nothing about it so she kissed the man’s cheek before she was pulled completely back to reality.
She woke up to the teacher glaring at her, his arms crossed. “Miss Dulcina, if you continue to fall asleep in class, you’ll have to go to the nurse’s office again.” Laura nodded. The nurse surely had antiseptic. If she ever saw those men again, she could use the antiseptic to help them. “I don’t feel so well.” she said, acting like she could barely keep her head off the desk. The teacher sighed and said, “You do look flushed. Maybe you have a fever.” Laura stood up slowly, feigning dizziness. Her teacher frowned in concern, worry replacing the anger he had been filled with a moment ago. “Annie, please escort Laura to the nurse’s office.” Annie, the princess of the school, faked a smile and took Laura’s arm. The teacher smiled approvingly at Annie as she escorted Laura out of the classroom and down the hall. Teachers always fell for Annie’s smiles. Annie was tall and blonde with green-grey eyes and a perfect little rosebud mouth. Most students knew she was a spoilt brat, but the teachers were seemingly clueless to anything but her charms. It was rumored she was sleeping with several of the male teachers which explained why they let her do anything she wanted. Laura suspected she was also getting test answers from her teacher lovers since she got A’s on tests but never studied or paid attention in class. Surprisingly she wasn’t a cheerleader, but then again she probably didn’t have time for anything else because of her multiple boyfriends. Laura pulled he arm out of Annie’s grasp as soon as they were out of earshot of the teacher. “I’m fine. You don’t need to escort me.” She said, standing up straight and beginning to walk down the hall. Annie followed her. “You were faking! Why?” Laura sighed and replied, “Well, Miss Point Out The Obvious, I need to go to the nurse’s office so I can steal antiseptic.” Annie was shocked at Laura’s honesty. “Why do you need that, Faker?” Laura smiled at Annie’s feeble attempt at an insult. “I need antiseptic to help two hot Native Americans trapped in the belly of a ship. Besides, Daddy gave me a new injury on my arm that needs attention.” Laura pulled up the sleeve of her dress which was surprisingly expensive despite the fact she was abused. A huge second-degree burn was on her forearm. Her father had burned her arm with a lighter because she had woken up late that morning. “It’s not bad. He only used a lighter this time; usually he uses a hot piece of metal or the stove burner.” said Laura, instinctively becoming a little defensive. Annie said, “What’d you do, faker? You must have done something awful to deserve that!” Laura nearly began to laugh at the ridiculousness of Annie’s statement. She managed not to as she walked to the nurse’s office. The nurse sighed when she saw the burn on Laura’s arm. Laura walked in and sat down as usual. Annie followed her and sat in a far corner to watch what happened. The nurse took out antiseptic and gauze bandages and began to treat Laura’s burn. Laura waited patiently for her to go into another room to get a package of crackers. Then Laura quickly got up and grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and the package of cotton balls and ran as fast as she could out towards the door. Annie got up too and before Laura could reach the door, the nurse came out and dropped the crackers in shock at seeing Laura stealing. Laura stopped dead in her tracks, knowing she was caught and would only get worse punishment if she continued running. So she turned around, her face a mask of disappointment and fear, and put the things back. “I’m sorry.” she said, knowing that wouldn’t do any good. She instinctively ducked when the nurse came near, expecting for a second to be hit. The nurse said, “I have no choice to give you detention, Laura. Report to study hall after school.” Laura looked up at the nurse with a horrified expression. She never expected the woman who seemed to be so kind to her to suddenly give her such harsh punishment. She knew if Laura came home late her father would severely punish her for it. “No! I’ll pay for the things! I’ll work to pay for them. During lunch I can come in and help you. But please don’t give me detention!” The nurse shook her head, “I’m sorry, Laura, but I cannot condone stealing. If you miss detention, your father will be called.” Laura screamed in horror, knowing that her father would beat her senseless if that happened. She fell to her knees, in a panic. “But if I come home late, my father will beat me!” she screamed in terror. The nurse said, “I’ll make it double detention it you keep bothering me!” Laura immediately got up and ran from the room. Annie followed her. “It’s your fault, you know. Don’t act like you’re such a victim. If you hadn’t stolen, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Laura simply ignored her and went to her hiding place in the basement where she sat on the wood floor that had been the floor of the original school. Nobody but her had ever gone down there since the rest of the school had been built on top of the original part over half a century ago. The original school was built in the early 1800‘s and had a huge picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall, dated 1863. Laura hugged her knees and cried. Usually she never cried. But now she did not know what to do. She did not know which was worse, getting punished as soon as she got home, or getting punished later. Either way she was not likely to be allowed to eat for a few days. She was so hungry, she almost ate despite her father’s orders not to, but she knew he would somehow know she had eaten and punish her for it. She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she did not notice Annie had followed her down and then gone back up. Soon Laura had made her decision and she got up, dusted herself off, and walked back upstairs with a confident look on her face. She then went to biology class, pretending nothing was wrong.
Laura got home that day on time, having skipped detention. But she knew when she entered the house something was terribly wrong and she would be punished far worse than she could have ever feared or imagined tonight. Her father was waiting in the living room, a scowl on his face. He was so angry; his whole face was purplish red, a shade Laura had never seen except once before when she had dared to go to the hospital and they had called CPS. He had beaten her nearly to death then, and Laura dreaded that she was in for a similar punishment tonight. She wondered what she had done wrong. Surely the nurse hadn’t called him about the missed detention yet especially since Laura noticed that the phones were missing. She knew he had put them out of reach so that if she managed to escape the beating, she couldn’t call for help. Laura tried not to pale at the implications of that. “Hello, Daddy.” she said, trying to keep her voice calm so that maybe he would calm too, knowing he wouldn’t. Instead he seemed even angrier at her cheery tone. “How dare you be so happy after what you’ve done to me, bitch?” he yelled at her, aiming a punch at her face. Laura ducked and said instinctively, “I’m sorry, daddy.” Her father said, “You think sorry will fix this, bitch?” He shoved a paper into her face. With dread she recognized it as her report card that had come in the mail that day. She knew it was full of F’s. She was failing every class. It wasn’t because she was stupid, it was because the classes were so easy she was bored and didn’t pay attention. She slept through most of them. But she knew it would be pointless and dangerous to try to explain this to her father when he was this angry, or at any time at all. He didn’t care. All he cared about was that he might have to sign a piece of paper, interrupting his daily routine of drinking and getting high, only stopping to eat what Laura had made him for dinner or breakfast and hitting her when she slipped up. Laura winced as he backhanded her then stood up and punched her in the face, not missing this time. Laura knew her nose was broken as she fell backwards. She caught herself on the table just in time for him to kick her feet out from under her, making her fall. She didn’t try to catch herself, knowing by now that it would only result in a broken arm, but she tried not to hit her head on the floor. He then kicked her in the abdomen, again and again until she blacked out from pain for a few seconds. Then he got the lead pipe and began to beat her with that. Suddenly, as he hit her abdomen, she felt a sharp pain like something ripping inside of her. She feared an organ had ruptured and her fears were confirmed when she blacked out without warning.
That morning, Laura was barely able to move from pain. She forced herself to stand up despite the agony ripping through her abdomen. She then walked to the bathroom and sat down. When she was done, she stood up and stopped in horror. The toilet bowl was full of blood. “Crap!” she cursed, knowing this meant her liver was at least failing if not completely dead. She flushed the toilet and walked out of the house, knowing somehow she wasn’t coming back. She walked to school and towards the basement stairs, not noticing the other students’ stares at her bloody and bedraggled appearance. She began to go down the stairs when suddenly she got pushed from behind. She fell head over heels down several stairs until she hit the wood floor, her head smacking the old wood with a sickening crack. “Shit!” Laura cursed as she floated in and out of consciousness. Blood flowed from a deep fissure in her forehead, making a pool on the floor around her. Annie began to panic as soon as she saw the blood, but Laura was unaware of it. All Laura could hear were indistinct voices surrounding her. They were pleasant and sounded male, but that’s all Laura could make out. Her head hurt when she tried to hear what they were saying. Her head hurt anyway. She felt a dull throbbing on her forehead. She was then faintly aware of being lifted up and placed in a bed and being rolled backwards. When she managed to open her eyes, she realized she was in an ambulance. Fear filled her. She knew her father would kill her for sure if he knew she had gone to a hospital again. “No! I can’t go to the hospital!” she tried to say, but all that came out of her mouth was a low moan. The EMT’s stuck an IV in her arm, trying as hard as they could to save her life. The ambulance set off as Laura lapsed into a coma. All was fine until the ambulance hit a bump in the road and Laura’s head slammed against the side of the stretcher, her brain like Jell-O thrown against a wall. Her heart stopped as the signal from the brain ceased. The EMT’s tried to bring her back to life but it was too late. Time of death was called at 8:45 AM.
Chapter One
Laura was floating in darkness, and then she woke up. She looked around to see she was in some sort of harbor. She stood up, expecting pain but surprisingly enough she felt none. She grinned as she walked around without any trace of pain. She hadn’t been this comfortable in years. She decided to find out where the hell she was. So she walked into what looked like town.
As soon as she was able to see more people, she began to feel like she was in a Shakespeare play or the Renaissance Fair. She also started to wonder whether she was really dead or in a coma and dreaming. Surely this couldn’t be the afterlife, right? She looked at herself in a window and saw she was in fitting clothes for the time period. She wore a sage green gown and green slippers. Her red hair was up in a bun that showed off her graceful neck which was wrapped in an emerald necklace. She liked the girl she saw in the window. That girl was prettier than Laura had ever thought herself to be or even dreamed she could be. Laura twirled happily, delighted at this new reality. Suddenly a man shoved past her quite rudely. “Hey watch it you jerk!” said Laura angrily. The man turned to face her, an apologetic look on his face. “My apologies, ma’am! I wasn’t looking where I was goin’.” Laura saw that the man was a gypsy, a very poor one by the way he was dressed. She took off her earrings and gave them to the man. “Here, I cannot allow you to continue hungry. I have no food on me, but these should suffice.” said Laura, trying her best to talk in medieval English. The man’s eyes widened in shocked delight. “Thank thee, madam! I shall always remember thy kindness to a stranger!” With that he ran off. “You’re welcome!” said Laura, hoping he heard her response. Everyone was staring at her; in awe she had helped a gypsy. Laura knew they probably thought she was either insane or in league with the gypsies, but she didn’t care at this point what they thought of her, so long as they didn’t think of her as a witch. Suddenly she saw a little girl in rags that looked like she hadn’t eaten in days. The girl was covered in dirt. Laura walked over to her and knelt down to her level and took off her emerald ring. “Here, little girl.” she said, putting the ring on the girl’s finger. The girl looked at Laura in shock. “This is for me, Miss? Verily?” she asked. Laura nodded. “Verily, this is for thee. Thou canst buy food with it.” said Laura, catching on to the dialect. The child did not seem to know what to do with such unexpected good fortune. Suddenly she saw out of the corner of her eye the man who had kissed her in the ship. “Hey!” she said, running over. She wanted to help him. If he was here in England than he probably wasn’t in a good situation. Maybe if she helped him again, he’d kiss more than her cheek next time. She blushed at the wicked thoughts that assailed her mind. She then chided herself for thinking so selfishly. She ought to help him because he needed help, not because of the possible reward. She should not even expect a reward when helping him. She needed to be the one white person who didn’t exploit him or take advantage of his situation to help herself. That was the only way she’d gain his trust enough to help him to get back to America. She was so deep in thought she did not notice he was smiling at her. Then, without warning, she hugged him. She had been without positive human contact for so long that she did not remember what it felt like anymore. He hugged her as he gently patted her back, having seen the impending tears. She was used to being tough and not letting people see her emotions, but she couldn’t do it anymore. She began to cry, silently at first and then turning into full sobs. The man seemed to know how hurt she was and made soothing noises as he moved his hand up and down her spine. She didn’t notice the white men standing around, seemingly very annoyed that she was interrupting whatever they had been doing to him. She could feel wounds on his back. They had whipped him a few minutes ago but she doubted that was the first time. She hadn’t been able to see him clearly enough before to notice wounds on his back. Suddenly her arm was grabbed and she was forcefully pulled away from the man. Immediately she her fist balled up, ready to punch the person who had forced her away, but just as she was about to do it, something in her mind screamed not to do anything that would jeopardize her life and the life of the man she was trying to help. She stopped, realizing that the voice was not hers. She also knew that it was right. If she punched someone’s lights out, she would be in big trouble and they might punish the Native American men severely for her actions. So she allowed herself to be held away from the man as she looked at him. Her eyes swept over his well-made chest again and again, lust filling her at the sight. She had never before seen a handsome man topless. She did not know how to react to it. Suddenly she saw a man raise a whip, about to strike her crush. She screamed in horror as she broke away from the man holding her and caught the man’s hand. “No! Don’t harm Squanto!” she said, the name coming to her as she said it. The man seemed like he was about to whip her instead, but he swallowed his pride and put the whip down. “Milady, I was merely teaching this savage some manners.” he said. “You need to learn some manners, jerk! This man is not the savage here, you are! You go around beating people just because it makes you feel good about yourself! Well guess what, this makes you worse than you think he is! You will not harm him again or you will face my wrath.” said Laura, forgetting in her anger to use the medieval language. Everyone stared at her, shocked at her audacity at defying authority. Squanto smiled at her. She decided to press on before she lost her nerve. She grabbed Squanto’s hand and pulled him up to stand beside her. The man with the whip was angry at her words. “Why wouldst thou protect him so?” Laura lied, “Because I love him! I love this man and will do whatever it takes to protect him!” Everyone gasped. Squanto looked at her, not understanding her words but understanding the tone and the way people were reacting. Laura could tell he was extremely intelligent. She smiled at him lovingly, and then squeezed his hand. He squeezed back with a smile, evidently happy to have someone be nice to him for a change. She hoped she would be able to help him get back home to America. She knew she was not very strong and couldn’t do much in the way of fighting. She wished she had a gun, but the probability of getting any sort of weapon was slim to none right now. But she had to at least try. Both men were counting on her to help them get home. She suddenly saw a boat in her mind. She knew somehow that it was nearby in the harbor she had woken up in. She began to run, leading Squanto. As she ran she heard footsteps behind her as the men tried to follow them. Memories flooded back to her of the one time she had tried to escape her father. She had been twelve years old and had tried to sneak out at night when she thought her father would be passed out from drinking. But that night, everything had gone wrong. That was also the night she had learned the hard way that nobody gave a damn about her. She had made it to a hospital but they called her dad behind her back and he came to the hospital and dragged her screaming from the ER. The nurses had told her there was nothing they could do. Days later a CPS worker came to the house and concluded everything was fine despite the bruises on Laura’s face.
by Brianna McKenzie
Prologue
Laura dozed off during math class, bored out of her mind. She already knew everything that was being taught. She knew the teacher would be angry when he found her sleeping, but at least that would be something to interrupt this tedium. She looked at the clock. “Five hours left,” she thought. Why did they have to put her in algebra when she could easily do calculus? She felt as if she were in kindergarten with such easy classes. Her mind began to wander as she tried to fend off the onset of sleep.
Laura was in the belly of a ship. Two men were tied up, both as sexy as sin itself with russet skin and long black hair and perfect bodies. Laura could not help but walk over, trying not to wake them because they were both deeply asleep. She gently untied the ropes which bound them. She wished she had antiseptic to treat the wounds left by the rope on their wrists, but her hands were empty. She jumped as one of the men woke up. He saw he was untied and smiled at her. He kissed her cheek and said, “Kutapatush!” As he kissed her, she felt herself being pulled away and back to the classroom. She did not want to go but knew she could do nothing about it so she kissed the man’s cheek before she was pulled completely back to reality.
She woke up to the teacher glaring at her, his arms crossed. “Miss Dulcina, if you continue to fall asleep in class, you’ll have to go to the nurse’s office again.” Laura nodded. The nurse surely had antiseptic. If she ever saw those men again, she could use the antiseptic to help them. “I don’t feel so well.” she said, acting like she could barely keep her head off the desk. The teacher sighed and said, “You do look flushed. Maybe you have a fever.” Laura stood up slowly, feigning dizziness. Her teacher frowned in concern, worry replacing the anger he had been filled with a moment ago. “Annie, please escort Laura to the nurse’s office.” Annie, the princess of the school, faked a smile and took Laura’s arm. The teacher smiled approvingly at Annie as she escorted Laura out of the classroom and down the hall. Teachers always fell for Annie’s smiles. Annie was tall and blonde with green-grey eyes and a perfect little rosebud mouth. Most students knew she was a spoilt brat, but the teachers were seemingly clueless to anything but her charms. It was rumored she was sleeping with several of the male teachers which explained why they let her do anything she wanted. Laura suspected she was also getting test answers from her teacher lovers since she got A’s on tests but never studied or paid attention in class. Surprisingly she wasn’t a cheerleader, but then again she probably didn’t have time for anything else because of her multiple boyfriends. Laura pulled he arm out of Annie’s grasp as soon as they were out of earshot of the teacher. “I’m fine. You don’t need to escort me.” She said, standing up straight and beginning to walk down the hall. Annie followed her. “You were faking! Why?” Laura sighed and replied, “Well, Miss Point Out The Obvious, I need to go to the nurse’s office so I can steal antiseptic.” Annie was shocked at Laura’s honesty. “Why do you need that, Faker?” Laura smiled at Annie’s feeble attempt at an insult. “I need antiseptic to help two hot Native Americans trapped in the belly of a ship. Besides, Daddy gave me a new injury on my arm that needs attention.” Laura pulled up the sleeve of her dress which was surprisingly expensive despite the fact she was abused. A huge second-degree burn was on her forearm. Her father had burned her arm with a lighter because she had woken up late that morning. “It’s not bad. He only used a lighter this time; usually he uses a hot piece of metal or the stove burner.” said Laura, instinctively becoming a little defensive. Annie said, “What’d you do, faker? You must have done something awful to deserve that!” Laura nearly began to laugh at the ridiculousness of Annie’s statement. She managed not to as she walked to the nurse’s office. The nurse sighed when she saw the burn on Laura’s arm. Laura walked in and sat down as usual. Annie followed her and sat in a far corner to watch what happened. The nurse took out antiseptic and gauze bandages and began to treat Laura’s burn. Laura waited patiently for her to go into another room to get a package of crackers. Then Laura quickly got up and grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol and the package of cotton balls and ran as fast as she could out towards the door. Annie got up too and before Laura could reach the door, the nurse came out and dropped the crackers in shock at seeing Laura stealing. Laura stopped dead in her tracks, knowing she was caught and would only get worse punishment if she continued running. So she turned around, her face a mask of disappointment and fear, and put the things back. “I’m sorry.” she said, knowing that wouldn’t do any good. She instinctively ducked when the nurse came near, expecting for a second to be hit. The nurse said, “I have no choice to give you detention, Laura. Report to study hall after school.” Laura looked up at the nurse with a horrified expression. She never expected the woman who seemed to be so kind to her to suddenly give her such harsh punishment. She knew if Laura came home late her father would severely punish her for it. “No! I’ll pay for the things! I’ll work to pay for them. During lunch I can come in and help you. But please don’t give me detention!” The nurse shook her head, “I’m sorry, Laura, but I cannot condone stealing. If you miss detention, your father will be called.” Laura screamed in horror, knowing that her father would beat her senseless if that happened. She fell to her knees, in a panic. “But if I come home late, my father will beat me!” she screamed in terror. The nurse said, “I’ll make it double detention it you keep bothering me!” Laura immediately got up and ran from the room. Annie followed her. “It’s your fault, you know. Don’t act like you’re such a victim. If you hadn’t stolen, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” Laura simply ignored her and went to her hiding place in the basement where she sat on the wood floor that had been the floor of the original school. Nobody but her had ever gone down there since the rest of the school had been built on top of the original part over half a century ago. The original school was built in the early 1800‘s and had a huge picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall, dated 1863. Laura hugged her knees and cried. Usually she never cried. But now she did not know what to do. She did not know which was worse, getting punished as soon as she got home, or getting punished later. Either way she was not likely to be allowed to eat for a few days. She was so hungry, she almost ate despite her father’s orders not to, but she knew he would somehow know she had eaten and punish her for it. She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she did not notice Annie had followed her down and then gone back up. Soon Laura had made her decision and she got up, dusted herself off, and walked back upstairs with a confident look on her face. She then went to biology class, pretending nothing was wrong.
Laura got home that day on time, having skipped detention. But she knew when she entered the house something was terribly wrong and she would be punished far worse than she could have ever feared or imagined tonight. Her father was waiting in the living room, a scowl on his face. He was so angry; his whole face was purplish red, a shade Laura had never seen except once before when she had dared to go to the hospital and they had called CPS. He had beaten her nearly to death then, and Laura dreaded that she was in for a similar punishment tonight. She wondered what she had done wrong. Surely the nurse hadn’t called him about the missed detention yet especially since Laura noticed that the phones were missing. She knew he had put them out of reach so that if she managed to escape the beating, she couldn’t call for help. Laura tried not to pale at the implications of that. “Hello, Daddy.” she said, trying to keep her voice calm so that maybe he would calm too, knowing he wouldn’t. Instead he seemed even angrier at her cheery tone. “How dare you be so happy after what you’ve done to me, bitch?” he yelled at her, aiming a punch at her face. Laura ducked and said instinctively, “I’m sorry, daddy.” Her father said, “You think sorry will fix this, bitch?” He shoved a paper into her face. With dread she recognized it as her report card that had come in the mail that day. She knew it was full of F’s. She was failing every class. It wasn’t because she was stupid, it was because the classes were so easy she was bored and didn’t pay attention. She slept through most of them. But she knew it would be pointless and dangerous to try to explain this to her father when he was this angry, or at any time at all. He didn’t care. All he cared about was that he might have to sign a piece of paper, interrupting his daily routine of drinking and getting high, only stopping to eat what Laura had made him for dinner or breakfast and hitting her when she slipped up. Laura winced as he backhanded her then stood up and punched her in the face, not missing this time. Laura knew her nose was broken as she fell backwards. She caught herself on the table just in time for him to kick her feet out from under her, making her fall. She didn’t try to catch herself, knowing by now that it would only result in a broken arm, but she tried not to hit her head on the floor. He then kicked her in the abdomen, again and again until she blacked out from pain for a few seconds. Then he got the lead pipe and began to beat her with that. Suddenly, as he hit her abdomen, she felt a sharp pain like something ripping inside of her. She feared an organ had ruptured and her fears were confirmed when she blacked out without warning.
That morning, Laura was barely able to move from pain. She forced herself to stand up despite the agony ripping through her abdomen. She then walked to the bathroom and sat down. When she was done, she stood up and stopped in horror. The toilet bowl was full of blood. “Crap!” she cursed, knowing this meant her liver was at least failing if not completely dead. She flushed the toilet and walked out of the house, knowing somehow she wasn’t coming back. She walked to school and towards the basement stairs, not noticing the other students’ stares at her bloody and bedraggled appearance. She began to go down the stairs when suddenly she got pushed from behind. She fell head over heels down several stairs until she hit the wood floor, her head smacking the old wood with a sickening crack. “Shit!” Laura cursed as she floated in and out of consciousness. Blood flowed from a deep fissure in her forehead, making a pool on the floor around her. Annie began to panic as soon as she saw the blood, but Laura was unaware of it. All Laura could hear were indistinct voices surrounding her. They were pleasant and sounded male, but that’s all Laura could make out. Her head hurt when she tried to hear what they were saying. Her head hurt anyway. She felt a dull throbbing on her forehead. She was then faintly aware of being lifted up and placed in a bed and being rolled backwards. When she managed to open her eyes, she realized she was in an ambulance. Fear filled her. She knew her father would kill her for sure if he knew she had gone to a hospital again. “No! I can’t go to the hospital!” she tried to say, but all that came out of her mouth was a low moan. The EMT’s stuck an IV in her arm, trying as hard as they could to save her life. The ambulance set off as Laura lapsed into a coma. All was fine until the ambulance hit a bump in the road and Laura’s head slammed against the side of the stretcher, her brain like Jell-O thrown against a wall. Her heart stopped as the signal from the brain ceased. The EMT’s tried to bring her back to life but it was too late. Time of death was called at 8:45 AM.
Chapter One
Laura was floating in darkness, and then she woke up. She looked around to see she was in some sort of harbor. She stood up, expecting pain but surprisingly enough she felt none. She grinned as she walked around without any trace of pain. She hadn’t been this comfortable in years. She decided to find out where the hell she was. So she walked into what looked like town.
As soon as she was able to see more people, she began to feel like she was in a Shakespeare play or the Renaissance Fair. She also started to wonder whether she was really dead or in a coma and dreaming. Surely this couldn’t be the afterlife, right? She looked at herself in a window and saw she was in fitting clothes for the time period. She wore a sage green gown and green slippers. Her red hair was up in a bun that showed off her graceful neck which was wrapped in an emerald necklace. She liked the girl she saw in the window. That girl was prettier than Laura had ever thought herself to be or even dreamed she could be. Laura twirled happily, delighted at this new reality. Suddenly a man shoved past her quite rudely. “Hey watch it you jerk!” said Laura angrily. The man turned to face her, an apologetic look on his face. “My apologies, ma’am! I wasn’t looking where I was goin’.” Laura saw that the man was a gypsy, a very poor one by the way he was dressed. She took off her earrings and gave them to the man. “Here, I cannot allow you to continue hungry. I have no food on me, but these should suffice.” said Laura, trying her best to talk in medieval English. The man’s eyes widened in shocked delight. “Thank thee, madam! I shall always remember thy kindness to a stranger!” With that he ran off. “You’re welcome!” said Laura, hoping he heard her response. Everyone was staring at her; in awe she had helped a gypsy. Laura knew they probably thought she was either insane or in league with the gypsies, but she didn’t care at this point what they thought of her, so long as they didn’t think of her as a witch. Suddenly she saw a little girl in rags that looked like she hadn’t eaten in days. The girl was covered in dirt. Laura walked over to her and knelt down to her level and took off her emerald ring. “Here, little girl.” she said, putting the ring on the girl’s finger. The girl looked at Laura in shock. “This is for me, Miss? Verily?” she asked. Laura nodded. “Verily, this is for thee. Thou canst buy food with it.” said Laura, catching on to the dialect. The child did not seem to know what to do with such unexpected good fortune. Suddenly she saw out of the corner of her eye the man who had kissed her in the ship. “Hey!” she said, running over. She wanted to help him. If he was here in England than he probably wasn’t in a good situation. Maybe if she helped him again, he’d kiss more than her cheek next time. She blushed at the wicked thoughts that assailed her mind. She then chided herself for thinking so selfishly. She ought to help him because he needed help, not because of the possible reward. She should not even expect a reward when helping him. She needed to be the one white person who didn’t exploit him or take advantage of his situation to help herself. That was the only way she’d gain his trust enough to help him to get back to America. She was so deep in thought she did not notice he was smiling at her. Then, without warning, she hugged him. She had been without positive human contact for so long that she did not remember what it felt like anymore. He hugged her as he gently patted her back, having seen the impending tears. She was used to being tough and not letting people see her emotions, but she couldn’t do it anymore. She began to cry, silently at first and then turning into full sobs. The man seemed to know how hurt she was and made soothing noises as he moved his hand up and down her spine. She didn’t notice the white men standing around, seemingly very annoyed that she was interrupting whatever they had been doing to him. She could feel wounds on his back. They had whipped him a few minutes ago but she doubted that was the first time. She hadn’t been able to see him clearly enough before to notice wounds on his back. Suddenly her arm was grabbed and she was forcefully pulled away from the man. Immediately she her fist balled up, ready to punch the person who had forced her away, but just as she was about to do it, something in her mind screamed not to do anything that would jeopardize her life and the life of the man she was trying to help. She stopped, realizing that the voice was not hers. She also knew that it was right. If she punched someone’s lights out, she would be in big trouble and they might punish the Native American men severely for her actions. So she allowed herself to be held away from the man as she looked at him. Her eyes swept over his well-made chest again and again, lust filling her at the sight. She had never before seen a handsome man topless. She did not know how to react to it. Suddenly she saw a man raise a whip, about to strike her crush. She screamed in horror as she broke away from the man holding her and caught the man’s hand. “No! Don’t harm Squanto!” she said, the name coming to her as she said it. The man seemed like he was about to whip her instead, but he swallowed his pride and put the whip down. “Milady, I was merely teaching this savage some manners.” he said. “You need to learn some manners, jerk! This man is not the savage here, you are! You go around beating people just because it makes you feel good about yourself! Well guess what, this makes you worse than you think he is! You will not harm him again or you will face my wrath.” said Laura, forgetting in her anger to use the medieval language. Everyone stared at her, shocked at her audacity at defying authority. Squanto smiled at her. She decided to press on before she lost her nerve. She grabbed Squanto’s hand and pulled him up to stand beside her. The man with the whip was angry at her words. “Why wouldst thou protect him so?” Laura lied, “Because I love him! I love this man and will do whatever it takes to protect him!” Everyone gasped. Squanto looked at her, not understanding her words but understanding the tone and the way people were reacting. Laura could tell he was extremely intelligent. She smiled at him lovingly, and then squeezed his hand. He squeezed back with a smile, evidently happy to have someone be nice to him for a change. She hoped she would be able to help him get back home to America. She knew she was not very strong and couldn’t do much in the way of fighting. She wished she had a gun, but the probability of getting any sort of weapon was slim to none right now. But she had to at least try. Both men were counting on her to help them get home. She suddenly saw a boat in her mind. She knew somehow that it was nearby in the harbor she had woken up in. She began to run, leading Squanto. As she ran she heard footsteps behind her as the men tried to follow them. Memories flooded back to her of the one time she had tried to escape her father. She had been twelve years old and had tried to sneak out at night when she thought her father would be passed out from drinking. But that night, everything had gone wrong. That was also the night she had learned the hard way that nobody gave a damn about her. She had made it to a hospital but they called her dad behind her back and he came to the hospital and dragged her screaming from the ER. The nurses had told her there was nothing they could do. Days later a CPS worker came to the house and concluded everything was fine despite the bruises on Laura’s face.
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