SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL
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Authors: Kattie McKinsey
THE LOST SOUL
By Kattie McKinsey
Text copyright © 2014
Kattie McKinsey
Cover artwork by Pradeep
All Rights Reserved
Chris
stretched as he opened his eyes, freezing when he realized he wasn’t in his
bedroom. He looked around the room, frowning. As far as he could tell, he had
never seen this room before, he was certain it didn’t belong to any of his
friends. His frown deepened as he noticed that no windows or doors broke the
stone walls. Despite the lack of a window, there was a copious amount of light
in the room.
He tried to
remember the night before but his mind felt fuzzy. Had he partied a little too
much and passed out at someone’s house? He shook his head as he tried to clear
his mind. No, that couldn’t be the answer; it didn’t explain the lack of door
or window. With a sigh, he completed his stretch, jerking into a more alert
state as his hand brushed against another body.
He had a
companion in the bed with him. He hoped it was a girl; otherwise, he would have
some explaining to do, at least to himself.
He rolled
over, groaning as his head began to ache. He closed his eyes, hoping that this
would help to ease the pain. If this was a hangover, it was the worst one he’d
ever experienced. He took deep breaths, in through his nose and out through his
mouth. This technique had worked before.
After a few
minutes, he decided that the headache was easing and completed the roll,
opening his eyes as he did so.
He smiled;
the figure beside him was definitely female. Things were looking up. But why
couldn’t he remember the night before? He peered closer at the figure, trying
to ascertain whether she was pretty or not; not that it really mattered, most
likely, his interest wouldn’t extend past a nice round of bedroom gymnastics.
The breath
caught in his throat as he recognized the girl, Kelly Mc Lanter.
He rolled
back onto his back, taking deep breaths against the pain in his temples that
was returning. He searched his memory of the night before; there had to be some
explanation to shed light on why he was in bed with Kelly. A party of the type
that he enjoyed couldn’t possibly be the answer; Kelly would never attend such
an event.
Despite his
best efforts to remember, he found his thoughts turning to the first time he
had seen Kelly. It had been the first day of school last school year, third
period, Driver’s Education class. He had arrived early to the rapidly filling
class, choosing a seat in the rear, his favorite position. For reasons he had
never understood, he had looked up at the door. Kelly was standing there, a
lost and confused expression on her face.
He
remembered how the world seemed to stop as soon as he saw her. Why, he didn’t
know; she wasn’t the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, she wasn’t even the
most beautiful woman he had ever dated. Yet, there was something about her that
kept his attention.
She did have
lovely hair, pale blond worn long with bangs. He liked her wide green eyes set
in a creamy ivory complexion, her naturally red lips, and her very white teeth,
which he noticed when she caught her lower lip in her teeth as she looked at
the crowded room.
She was
small, barley five feet by his estimate but had a great figure, what he could
see of it behind the books she was clutching to her chest. He had a better view
as she made her way across the room to one of the few remaining empty chairs.
He couldn’t
seem to tear his eyes from her as she seated herself next to an Asian girl,
smiling shyly as she dropped her books on the desk.
He continued
to watch her throughout the remainder of the class, paying special attention as
the teacher called roll so that he would at least know the name of this intriguing
girl. He attention lapsed as soon as he learned her name; he never paid
attention to teacher. That day, his mind had been busy watching the girl.
When the
bell rang, ending the class, he hung back, waiting to walk behind her as she
left the room so that he could check out her behind. He watched as she
consulted the class schedule she held tightly clutched in her left hand before
looking up at the numbers on the side of the building and consulting the map
she held in her other hand. She finally located herself and set off across the
grounds at a rapid pace. He continued to watch her until she disappeared in the
crowd.
Although he
checked carefully in each class for the rest of the day, she hadn’t been in any
of them. But he couldn’t get her off his mind. That night, he had been unable
to sleep, staring up at the shadows cast on the ceiling by the large oak
outside his bedroom window as he made plans about approaching her, he had to at
least talk to her, otherwise he would never get her off his mind.
He rose
before five the next morning, having decided that he was going to make certain
that she had to sit next to him in the one class they had together. He spent
more than half an hour choosing what he should wear that might impress her. He
wasn’t happy with his selection but he didn’t have a wide variety to choose
from. He was the first one at the bus stop, as if his early arrival would make
the bus come any earlier.
But his
hopes were dashed in homeroom when he was handed a new schedule; he was no
longer in Driver’s Education. There had been too many students in the class and
they had weeded them out by age, the youngest would have to wait until next
semester to take the class. He didn’t care about the class itself, but he was
devastated that he was no longer in his only class with Kelly.
His only
option now was to find her during lunch; a daunting task in a school with more
than three thousand students. His best friend, Tyler, was shocked when Chris
informed him that he wasn’t going to join him in the smoking area. Chris
shrugged, saying that he had something important to take care of and would
hopefully join him later.
Although he
spent the entire lunch hour walking through the dining area and then the areas
adjacent to it, he didn’t find her. He frowned when the bell rang, thinking
that this campus was just too big as he headed for his locker; he didn’t want
to be late for his next class.
He occupied
himself through his afternoon classes trying to think of another way to find
her; he doubted that he would have much luck just walking around. Tyler joined
him in the back of the room for his last class of the day. When the teacher
turned around to write on the blackboard, he leaned over to comment that Chris
appeared to be even more distracted than normal.
After taking
a moment to deliberate over confessing his problem to his fiend, he decided
that another head thinking about the problem couldn’t hurt. Tyler sat back in
his chair, thoughtfully drumming his fingers on his desk when Chris finished
relating the story to him.
By the end
of the class, Tyler, always the more imaginative of the two, had a solution;
Chris should get a copy of her schedule and wait outside one of her classes for
her, preferably the fourth period, which was the one just prior to lunch. Not only
would he find her, he would have an entire hour to talk to her to decide if she
was worth all the effort he was putting into this.
Chris liked
the idea but had no idea how to accomplish it. When Tyler laughed, the teacher
turned around, glared at the class for a moment before informing them that they
were to be quiet. Tyler waited until the teacher returned his attention to the
blackboard before leaning back over to Chris’ chair and telling him that he had
the solution to that also. He knew a guy whose girlfriend worked in the office.
It should be no problem for her to obtain a copy of Kelly Mc Lanter’s schedule.
What had
followed had been four days of anxious waiting until Justin’s girlfriend
appeared in the smoking area with the schedule. Not only had she gotten him the
class schedule but also Kelly’s locker location; which proved to be a good
thing, she was already gone when he arrived at her classroom on each of the
next three days.
On the
fourth day, he decided that trying to reach her class before she disappeared
into the lunch crowd was futile. He hurried to her locker as soon as the bell
rang. She was already shoving her books into the locker. But, he had been
unable to approach her. Instead, he had hung back and listened as she chatted
to the Asian girl he had seen her with in the Driver’s Education class.
He was glad
that he hadn’t approached her when he learned that she was a sweet, innocent
girl whom he doubted would be interested in someone like him. He had quickly
backed off, determined to turn his attentions elsewhere.
Only it
hadn’t proved to be so easy. Now that he was no longer looking for her, she
seemed to be everywhere; and every time he saw her, he felt as if his heart
stopped beating. He tried to bury his feeling by dating lots of girls, most of
whom lasted only a week or two before he moved on.
Unfortunately
for him, this strategy didn’t work. No matter how hard he tried, all he could
think about was Kelly. Throughout the remainder of the school year, he watched
her, learning all he could about her.
He convinced
his friend Mary-Teresa, who lived next door to him all his life, to befriend
Kelly. Mary-Teresa had quickly discovered that she really like the girl but she
still continued to feed Chris all the information he wanted.
Kelly had
grown up on a farm somewhere in Kansas, but had come to California to live with
her aunt and uncle after her parents were killed in some type of farming
accident; arriving a mere three days before the start of school. There were
more students in this school than there had been in the entire town that was
closest to where her parent’s farm had been.
She had seen
this many people in one place only once before; when her high school football
team, of which her brother had been a member, had gone to the state championships.
Although the number of strangers had frightened her, her family and friends had
surrounded her, helping her through it.
She felt
lost and alone in Southern California. Her brothers were all in college, her
parents were dead and her aunt and uncle, her only other surviving relatives,
were elderly. When she wasn’t in school, Kelly spent her time in her room,
reading historical novels and attending church functions. According to
Mary-Theresa, Kelly was only comfortable around small groups.
He rolled
over again, gazing thoughtfully into her sleeping face. As far as he had been
able to tell, the summer vacation they had completed two weeks before hadn’t
changed her one bit. Mary-Teresa reported that she spent the summer at a church
summer camp, serving as a counselor.
Mary-Teresa
informed Chris that a boy from Kelly’s church had expressed an interest in
dating Kelly but her aunt and uncle had firmly refused to allow her to date
until she was eighteen; an excessive overture to Chris’ way of thinking but he
was secretly happy that she hadn’t dated anyone. He had been prepared to be
insanely jealous.
Regardless,
Kelly was not the party type; she would never have been at a party where people
ended up in bed together. He had no explanation as to how he could possible
have ended up in bed with her; not that he minded.
He reached
out and gently stroked her cheek; it was as soft as it looked. But it proved to
be a mistake; as soon as he touched her, a burning desire such as he had never
known, gripped him. He leaned over and kissed her lips, gently at first and
then with a growing passion. Part of his mind was screaming at him, telling him
that it was wrong to be kissing her in this fashion but he ignored it; he had
wanted to do this since the first day he saw her and there was nothing to stop
him from doing it now.
When he
finally pulled his head back, he continued to lean over her, eyes searching her
face. After a moment, he leaned in and kissed her again, more urgently than the
first time. Even though he knew it was wrong, he moved his hand to cup her
breast, enjoying the way it filled his hand.
Moment’s
later, he was fumbling with the buttons of her shirt, anxious to look at her.
He had no trouble with her bra and soon had her breasts exposed. He looked for only
a moment before covering one breast with his hand and the other with his mouth.
His mind was screaming but he wasn’t listening. Before he knew it, he was
working on her jeans, pulling them and her panties down and off her legs,
totally exposing her. He gazed at her as he removed his own clothes. He pushed
her legs apart, entering her without preamble.
When he
finished, he lay on top of her, breathing heavily. As his mind cleared, he
raised himself enough to look into her face, staring in horror at what he had
just done. He rolled off her and sat on the side of the bed, holding his head
in his hands
Rape! How
could he have done that? He had never done anything like this before, never
even thought about it. So why, and why with her? Was this some kind of dream?
He turned to look at her and felt the desire rising again. He couldn’t believe
that he was reacting to her again, not so soon after completing the act.
He was no
stranger to sex and he knew this was unusual. His mind began to scream again,
but he was able to shut it out, though not as completely as he had the first
time. He climbed on top of her and had sex with her again.
When he
finished, he lay still for a moment before rolling off her. As he did so, he
noticed a splash of red between her legs. Closer inspection showed that it was
blood, new blood. Was that just because she had been a virgin or had he really
hurt her? He turned away, feeling sickened by the sight.