Authors: Christine Kersey
Tags: #YA dystopian, #YA, #parallel universe, #dystopian, #suspense, #Suspense & Thrillers, #alternate reality
Imprisoned (37 page)
“But what about the matches? Those were there from before.”
I wouldn’t allow him to squelch my hope. “But that was from when I came through the wormhole or whatever, into your world. They stopped halfway because when I stepped from my world into yours, it was like a new tunnel. And now, since it’s early, it’s like I never went through that first half.
That’s
why the lantern isn’t there.
That’s
why the matches stopped so suddenly. Because I hadn’t gone through that first part of the tunnel yet.
That wouldn’t have happened until November tenth
.
”
“Morgan, you need to face reality.”
I didn’t want to hear it. His reality didn’t involve parallel universes, but I knew—
I knew
—that I had come from another world. “When I found this hut,” I continued, ignoring his statement. “I marked trees with a marker so I could find my way back. So of course they won’t be there now.” I looked at him, eager for him to agree. “Because it’s too
early
. Don’t you see? I could be back after all.”
A look of sadness filled his eyes and I knew he thought I was completely insane.
“Come on, Billy. I’ll prove it to you.” I dashed towards the door and flung it open.
He reluctantly followed, the backpack in his hands. He put it on and followed me out.
The sun was beginning to go down—just like the night I’d found the hut—and I asked Billy to give me the GPS device so I could find the way back to my house. He handed it to me and I programmed in my Fox Run address. It said it would take thirty minutes to get there.
But I didn’t plan on it taking that long. No. I was going to move as fast as humanly possible to my house. I would prove to Billy that I wasn’t crazy. No. I was stone-cold sane and I really did come from a different world.
“Slow down, Morgan,” Billy called after me as I raced onward.
I ignored him and kept moving, getting frustrated when I had to go around particularly large obstacles. Finally we were mere minutes from our destination and my heart pounded as hope and fear battled for prominence.
Finally, finally, a row of houses came into sight and I imagined my family throwing their arms around me at my return. My heart filled with a bursting joy that I had only imagined before.
But then something near my house caught my eye. Something that looked fast and sleek and I felt my hopes crash down and I felt my face crumple with defeat.
“There’s the motorcycle, Morgan.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I see it.” Then I heard a sound that sent tremors through my whole body.
A siren wailing in the distance, but it sounded like it was getting closer.
“Holy crap, Morgan. We’ve gotta go.”
“I know,” I said, this time with no emotion in my voice. I had to shut off all feeling or I would implode. It was too much—the truth that I had failed, the truth that I was still here and the Enforcers were trying to find us, the truth that if I didn’t come to the tunnel
on the right date
then I would be stuck in this world. Forever.
Like a robot, I let Billy take my hand and urge me forward, running toward the motorcycle, running toward freedom. The scream of the sirens increased as the Enforcers approached, but we reached the motorcycle first.
“I knew it,” a woman screamed. “I knew it was you.”
I looked at the woman and recognized her as the woman who lived in my house and I hated her. Hated her with an unreasonableness that shocked me.
“Morgan, put on your helmet. We’ve gotta get out of here. They’ll be here soon.”
I did what he asked without thought, then climbed on behind him and held on as we roared away from my house, away from the approaching sirens and toward whatever life I would have to live for the next six weeks until I could try again to go through the tunnel.
Six weeks, I told myself over and over. Six weeks. I just had to survive here for six more weeks and then I would succeed. And when I tried again, Billy would be by my side, and Billy would see that I wasn’t crazy, and Billy would know that I was telling the truth. And when he arrived in my world—a world where it was okay if you weighed something besides what other people told you to—he would smile.
And when I saw my family—my whole family, including Dad—I would throw my arms around them and I would never let go.
But for now, I held on to Billy as we flew down the road, away, away, away from the Enforcers who wanted to catch us.
The final book in the Parallel trilogy,
Hunted
, will be available by the end of 2013.
If you would like to be notified when a new book by Christine Kersey comes out, click on this
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Also by Christine Kersey
He Loves Me Not (Lily’s Story, Book 1)
Don’t Look Back (Lily’s Story, Book 2)
Gone (Parallel Trilogy, Book 1)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Christine Kersey
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
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