Harris Channing Read Online Free Page A

whiskey."
    "You best not," she said,
raising her chin defiantly.
    "Oh, I am. I need you to
sleep. You're causing me all sorts of pain."

 
    Chapter 3

 
    He had gone because she asked him
to, but she yearned for his return. The sun had long ago finished its descent
and there was no sign of him. She allowed the dingy curtain to fall back into
place, covering the dark gloom that tried to steal the lantern light.
    "Oh, dear God, what will I do
if I caused him any harm?" She lay back in the bed, needing him to come
through the door. "Please let him find my family safe and alive. Bring
them all to me."
    She rolled over onto her shoulder,
and snuggled deep beneath the covers, their warmth forcing her to let go of her
troubles, if only a little bit. She had cried much of the day and her eyes
burned from the salt, her nose ached and her lip once again had started to
bleed. She knew she looked and smelled hideous, but what did it matter? Her
only companion was a moldy mountain man with a love of the booze and a sorrow
about him she grudgingly understood. Who, she wondered, had this dreadful place
robbed him of?
    Again she rolled over, wishing for
sleep to sweep her away, but she knew it wouldn't come. Her mind was too filled
with worry, and her body trembled with her anxiety.
    Rising, she decided to busy
herself. Surely, there was something better to do than sit there and think. Ma
always cleaned the house when something troubled her. Until this very moment,
Bobbie had never even considered that an option. Of course, back home there was
plenty to entertain and occupy. This place made deep thinking a full-time
occupation.
    She slowly pulled herself to
standing. Her aching feet protested her desire to move. Well, that was too bad.
She had to do something! Anything…but what? With two useless hands and equally
useless feet, she was trapped!
    She wanted to scream, to shout, and
to punch the wall…anything! Anything to ease the bitter knot that twisted
painfully in her gut. Just yesterday morning she had been laughing with her
brother, took the simplest of joys in listening to her mother sing hymns. There
was so much promise and all they had to do was make it through the mountains by
November!
    With a growl, she ignored the sting
in her padded feet as she paced back and forth before a dying fire. Weeks, they
had three weeks before the normal snows. But what was normal? Certainly not
this hellish place.
    The growl that started low in her
throat began to grow. Yes, she was going to scream out her frustration. She was
a teapot ready to boil and Lord help her, she needed a release. Something had
to be done to ease her sorrow, her misery.
    Opening her mouth, she took a deep
breath and let out the most feral of screams, the pain, anguish and torture in
her soul coming out in a great rush. On the last bits of breath, a ragged sob
ended her terrible, inhuman cry. She crumpled to the floor and wished once
again that she could rest. Oh, to sleep the sleep of an unburdened mind.
    The front door flew open and
slammed hard against the wall. Swirling, frigid air burst relentlessly into the
room. She spun around to find David, his frost covered beard and snow-capped
hood giving him the appearance of a devil in white.
    "Jesus Christ woman, you'd
give a man heart failure. I thought for certain you were either being attacked
or had become a blasted banshee."
    She turned away, the cold air from
the open door stealing any warmth left in the chilly room.
    "Where have you been?"
she asked. "It's been dark for hours."
    She could hear him struggling to
beat the wind back. But what was the point? If the weather wanted to take them,
there was really no stopping it, was there?
    "Looking for your family, what
do you think?"
    Even though she knew better, she
couldn't prevent the hope that flooded through her defeated body.
    "And did I find them?" he
continued, his tone aggravated, his words slurred. "No. All I found was an
incredibly fat dog with the face of