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Catching Smoke: Ch. 16

Emmalee wakes to something cold and wet splashing onto her face. She opens her eyes, and sits up with a startled gasp to realize she’s half-naked on the beach. The tide is higher than it was when she fell asleep and the entire left side of her body is covered in muddy water. The rest of her is covered in a thick layer of sand.

How did this happen?

It takes her a moment to remember her delirious, sleep-deprived walk on the beach after escaping from the hotel. How far did she walk before collapsing?

She looks around and doesn’t recognize any of her surroundings. She’s on a beach in Brazil. How could she be lost?

She picks herself up and dusts as much sand off of herself as she can. Then, she begins to walk again. She isn’t sure where she’s going, but she’s in a much better state now to come up with a plan than she was last night.

She doesn’t walk for very long before she hears the sound of footsteps thundering behind her. She quickly turns around, and sees Colin running after her. Her eyes widen as she quickly turns back around and begins running away from him. There was nobody on the beach for miles when she looked around. How did this happen? Where did he come from? How could he have possibly found her?

“Emmalee!” Colin shouts, but she doesn’t stop. “I’m not the bad guy!”

She doesn’t listen. She just keeps running.

Until her foot gets caught in a pothole on the beach and she face-plants directly onto the wet sand of the beach.

Colin has her pinned before the pain registers in her ankle. She won’t be running again any time soon, and the realization hits her with an overwhelming sense of dread. She’s never been this careless. What’s wrong with her? How could this happen?

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it already. I know whoever hired you wants to do it himself, but please just…” She gasps and then starts coughing.

“I wasn’t sent to kill you. I told you I’m not the bad guy.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

Colin grins.

“I’d like to offer you a job.”

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Music Monday: Next In Line by Walk the Moon

A poetic interpretation of a song by WALK THE MOON.

Red light; stop.

Green light; go.

They hit a lot of red lights before there was a green.

She was scared, but he still cared.

Red light: stop.

Green light: go.

With every slow-coming green light,

he was ready to explode.

Little by little she let him in.

“I want to wait for someone special.”

He waited.

Red light: stop.

Green light: go.

She looks out the passenger side window,

then at him with a smile.

She takes his hand as it rests on the stick shift,

diamond ring sparkling in the stereo light.

“I’m ready to go.”

Monday, October 13, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Catching Smoke: Ch. 15

“This is your fault.” Colin says to Lydia when she walks into the room.

Lydia, noticing the empty room, crosses her arms over her chest, and smirks.

“My fault?” She says. “I don’t think so. This one’s all you. Why would you leave a recruit alone before the introductory process? That’s career suicide.”

“You would know.”

“I would actually.”

Colin doesn’t say anything. Why did he leave Emmalee alone? He was expecting her to jump out of a plane barely an hour ago. Why did he think she would stay put in a hotel room?

Furious with himself, he storms out of the room and marches up to the concierge desk where the clerk is reading a magazine. Colin slams his hand down on the counter, and the clerk immediately jumps to his feet.

“Did you see anyone leave here?” Colin asks.

The clerk looks at the door and then back at Colin, and shakes his head.

“I”m sorry, sir. I did not see no one leave. I’m sorry.” The clerk says.

Colin fights the urge to strangle the clerk to death, and instead runs out the door. When did Emmalee leave? How much time has she had to escape? Where would she go? He doesn’t know.

But he knows he has to find her.

And he will.

Wednesday, October 08, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Music Monday: Lifetime by Emeli Sande

A fictional interpretation of a song by Emeli Sande

Everything is temporary.

That’s what she reminded herself when her stomach had swelled so much she felt like a balloon with too much air, one pinprick away from popping. And again when she was lying on the hospital bed, legs spread, sweat dripping from her skin, screaming out in pain as life was pushed out of her.

Everything is temporary.

Nothing lasts forever.

This too shall pass.

Except she was wrong.

***

Dreams fade away as soon as we wake. Silence only lasts until someone speaks. Time flies by, and we grow older every second. So much can change in a single day, but entire lives can change within a single year.

But somehow we still manage to hold on to what’s most important. And for her, that was her baby girl.

So much would change. The little girl would grow up, would learn to speak instead of cry, would learn how to hate, and love, and live. She would not stay this little bundle in a pink blanket. She would grow out of her crib, and one day her mother would stop peering over it to watch her sleep. One day, her mother would not be able to hold her as close or as often.

Everything would change.

Except for the love.

The love would last a lifetime.

Monday, October 06, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Catching Smoke: Ch. 14

Emmalee has no idea where she’s going.

She saw a chance for escape, and she took it. The windows had bars on them, but thankfully, she managed to escape by simply walking out the front door. The concierge hadn’t even looked up when she walked past.

Which worries her. It shouldn’t be so easy for her to escape. Did she really escape? Or is this part of their plan? They seemed to be a step ahead of her. She wouldn’t put it past them if they were only pretending to let her escape.

But maybe they weren’t. Maybe they are distracted now. Maybe this is her only chance.

Her only chance at what, though? What is she escaping from? She has no idea. She’s confused and lost as much mentally as physically.

And this isn’t good.

Navigating foreign countries isn’t the problem, though. She does that in her sleep, and often. It’s just…she usually has a plan first. She can count on one hand the times she has infiltrated a foreign world unprepared and none of those times worked out very well for her. She suspects it was only luck that managed to keep her alive. Luck and very quick thinking.

But her mind isn’t working very quickly tonight. She’s exhausted, and hungry. She can’t remember the last time she ate, and she doesn’t even want to think about the last time she had a good night’s sleep. All she wants is to collapse somewhere safe and wake up fully rested to a glorious feast without any effort.

But instead she’s stuck walking on the beach, avoiding the lights on the shoreline, occasionally swerving to dodge an oncoming wave. There aren’t any people on the beach at this hour, which baffles Emmalee. The moonlight on the water is so beautiful, and the stars have never looked brighter…

Exhaustion tends to bring out the idealism in Emmalee. It’s the only time her brain isn’t wrapped in a layer of fear. She’s finally able to let go and notice the beauty in the world, though not by choice. If she had a choice, she’d been making a plan right now.

Eventually, she stops walking and takes a seat on the sand, mesmerized by the openness of the water, the sound of the waves, the glitter of stars in the sky. What’s so dangerous about this? Why don’t I just stay here? She thinks.

She’s too tired to think of anything rational.

So she lays her head back on the sand and falls asleep.

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Music Monday: Change Your Mind by Trey Songz

A fictional interpretation of a song by Trey Songz

She doesn’t go out much at night.

At least not to the places one would expect of a nightlife. She prefers the quiet comfort of the local coffee shop to the thumping, throbbing headache-inducing atmosphere of a club or bar.

But tonight she doesn’t have much of a choice. It’s her older sister, Bridget’s, bachelorette party, and she had the family responsibility of not only being one of the bridesmaids, but of also being the only one trusted to be responsible enough to make sure Bridget arrived at her hotel safely, preferably with all precautions taken to prevent a hangover.

“Make sure she drinks two full glasses of water before bed.” Her mother had told her. “And in the morning, give her another glass of water and two aspirin. Oh, and have some coffee ready as well! We’ll meet for breakfast so you don’t have to worry about that…”

Bridget’s wedding had become a babysitting job.

***

It wasn’t the loudness that bothered her the most about the club she found herself in.

It was the shameless pointlessness of it all. There was the dancefloor with it’s strobe lights and gyrating mass of people which seemed to serve no other purpose than to perpetuate sexual harassment between strangers. And then there was the bar with the long line of people ordering overpriced drinks, perhaps for the purpose of liquid courage. The bathroom had such a large gathering of girls wearing short dresses, high heels, and bright lipstick, all trying to squeeze themselves into the frame of the mirror, it might as well not have been a bathroom at all, but a room full of mirrors.

She took a seat on one of the stiff leather couches, strategically placed in front of the dancefloor so that anyone who dared to sit would be in the direct view of the laughing, drunk, dancing mess a few feet and one step away. She spotted Bridget with the rest of the bridal party standing in line at the bar, laughing about something. She’d join them, but as the designated driver, she wasn’t supposed to drink. Nor did she think she would have anything to contribute to their conversations.

Unfortunately, this made her a direct target for the scheming pick-up artists.

***

“What are you doing here, girl, sitting alone? You’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in the world.”

She rolled her eyes, and turned her head, hoping he would take the hint. He didn’t. Instead, he sat down beside her.

“Hey, you have a boyfriend?” He asked.

“I’m not interested.” She said.

“How do you know?”

She gave him a look that she hoped made her disinterest clear, but he only smiled. He wasn’t bad looking, but that only made it worse. She believed in the stereotype: guys who picked up girls in clubs were not the kind of guys willing to settle down. So she wasn’t interested.

“I said I’m not interested.” She repeated.

“I know what you said. But I don’t know how you can know you’re not interested when we haven’t even had a conversation.” He said. “Give me a good reason for not being interested, and I’ll leave you alone. Deal?”

“I’m not interested in having a conversation either.”

“How do you know? We haven’t had one, have we?”

“I don’t want to have one. Leave me alone.”

“How do you know you don’t want to have one if you haven’t had one? Come on. Give me a chance to change your mind. If I can’t change your mind, I’ll leave you alone, I promise. You gotta give me the chance, though.”

No, I don’t actually, she thought. But then she caught sight of Bridget and the rest of the bridal party paying for their drinks, and realized she kinda did. What else was she going to do? Where else did she have to go? She knew she wouldn’t change her mind, so what was the harm? A few minutes of conversation and he would leave her alone. That sounded fair.

So she gave him the chance.

***

“Why are you here tonight?” She asked him. “Is it just to prey on lonely intoxicated girls you want to take home with you?”

“I’m not a predator. And I prefer my girls sober.” He said with a wink.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You’re a smart girl. I like that.” Another wink.

“Still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Okay, okay. You caught me. Maybe I’m here to talk to you.”

“Right. But I’m not going home with you, so if that’s part of your plan for the night, you can forget it.”

“Who said it was part of my plan?”

She shrugged, and looked toward the dancefloor. Bridget and her friends were dancing in a circle, a drink raised above their heads. They looked ridiculous.

“Isn’t it?” She asked him.

“It could be. Maybe I just want to talk to you.”

She snorted.

“Why are you here?” He asked.

“Sister’s bachelorette party. I’m the babysitter.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s the party?”

She pointed out the bridal party on the dancefloor and he nodded.

“Looks fun.” He said.

“Not my thing.” She said.

“You know, we could get out of here…”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why not? Your sister’s a big girl, right? She doesn’t need a babysitter. She’s got all her friends with her too…”

“I’m not interested.”

“Why not?”

“Do I really have to answer that question?”

“You think I’m a bad guy because I’m trying to pick you up in a club on a Saturday night. You probably think I do this every weekend, a different girl each time because I have commitment issues. And you’re not entirely wrong. But why wouldn’t you be interested? It’s one night, one night I guarantee you won’t regret.”

She laughed. His forwardness was amusing.

“I’m not interested in one night or men with commitment issues. You’re ridiculous. I’m not interested.” She said.

“I bet if you gave me the chance I could change your mind.”

“Oh Jesus. That wasn’t part of the deal, and we’re not making it one. You can leave now.”

“I can, but I’d rather stay here and change your mind. Let me change it. You know you want to.”

“No, I really don’t. Please leave.”

Bridget waved at her from the dancefloor, and she waved back. Then, Bridget started walking toward her. She watched as Bridget and her friends pushed their way through the crowd until they were standing right in front of her. The guy next to her looked shocked, and then he grinned.

“Hello, ladies. I hear congratulations are in order.” He said.

“Do you know him? Is he bothering you?” Bridget asked her. Then she turned to the guy. “Are you bothering my baby sister? Get lost, dude. She’s not interested.”

“Next time.” He said as he stood up. “I’ll change your mind.”

“Thanks.” She told Bridget after he walked away.

“No problem, sis. Now let’s get out of here.”

There wouldn’t be a next time. Her mind didn’t need to be changed.

Monday, September 29, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Catching Smoke: Ch. 13

Colin finds Lydia at the hotel bar, and takes the seat next to her.

“Still allergic to emotions?” Colin asks.

Lydia takes a sip of her drink before looking at him. In the dimly lit glow of the bar, her expression looks eerie. Her long, black, wavy hair is messy and wild over her tattooed shoulders. Her skin is tanned from the sun, and her dark eyes are smudged with shadow. She looks like she belongs on the set of a horror movie, not the bar of a fancy hotel.

“I found the cure.” She says, sloshing her drink around in her hand.

“Right.” He says. “Is that why you were demoted?”

She slams the drink down on the bar, and glares at him.

“I wasn’t demoted. I was in an accident. I’m in recovery.”

“Sure. Whatever you say.”

“What are you doing here anyway? Chasing your past? I find it oddly coincidental that you should get a similar assignment as I did ten years ago. And wind up here.”

“You don’t believe in coincidence.”

“Exactly.”

She raises her eyebrows, waiting for Colin to answer, but he only shrugs. He doesn’t believe in coincidence either, but he definitely didn’t plan to be in this situation. He would have rather never seen Lydia or Brazil again. His memories of either weren’t the greatest.

“Goodnight, Lydia.” Colin says before getting up from the bar.

“Oh, it will be.” Lydia says.

Colin doesn’t respond. He goes back to the hotel room. He was expecting Emmalee would feel comfortable falling asleep with him gone. He had seen the exhaustion in her eyes, and knew she would fall asleep within seconds if given the chance. So he gave her the chance.

But when he enters the hotel room, he doesn’t find her asleep on the bed like he expected.

She’s gone.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Music Monday: Breakeven by The Script

A fictional interpretation of a song by The Script.

When a heart breaks, it doesn’t break even.

They say it takes two to create conflict, but he never saw it coming. Everything he did was to make sure there wasn’t anything to fight about, to make her happy.

But she left him anyway.

She didn’t cry. She just walked away. And he was the one left devastated, standing in the rubble that was once their relationship, wondering where it could have gone wrong.

But sometimes you never know. Sometimes, the breaking just happens and it never makes sense.

***

He was still alive, but barely breathing when his friends came to rescue him from his personal hell. They didn’t think she was worth it, and told him so. He thought they just didn’t understand.

“We were meant to be together. You don’t understand. We went through so much!” He said.

“You went through so much because she put you through it. That’s not how a relationship is supposed to work, man! Stop obsessing! It’s done. Good riddance!”

But how could he stop loving the girl he gave his heart to? It didn’t seem possible. She had already given away her heart to someone else, though he refused to suspect that was the reason she had left. In his head, it was always his fault, though he couldn’t figure out just what he did wrong.

“Stop thinking about it, and get dressed. We’re going out tonight.” His friend told him.

He didn’t feel like going out, but what choice did he have? None of his relationships were feeling very balanced at the moment.

He didn’t think they ever would.

***

The future he imagined with her was gone.

And that’s what hurt the most. Not that she left him without an honest explanation. Or that she was already happily smitten with someone else. Or even that he would have given her the whole world, and often tried, without asking for anything in return.

It was that the best part of him, of his entire future, had always seemed like her. And now she was gone. Poof. Just like that.

And suddenly, not only was his heart broken, but he also was having trouble remembering who he was and what he wanted in life. Without her, a big part of his life was missing.

His whole world was shattered.

But she was just fine.

***

When a heart breaks, it doesn’t break even.

One world shatters and the other suffers a tiny crack, if anything at all. It doesn’t seem fair, and it doesn’t make sense.

But the world that shatters is the one that gets rebuilt. It’s built stronger than it was before, and it shines brighter. It’s made anew. It’s made better.

So maybe the break isn’t even, but neither is the rebuilding. And maybe it takes longer to rebuild than it does to break, but that’s okay.

What matters in the end is more than the number of pieces that fell to the ground.

Monday, September 22, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Catching Smoke: Ch. 12

Emmalee is exhausted.

But how is she supposed to sleep when the two strangers basically holding her captive won’t stop bickering? Or even if they did, how is she supposed to trust that she would be safe to keep her eyes closed for longer than five seconds?

Her entire life is built around not being able to trust anyone. That isn’t going to stop now. Especially not now.

“You’re not sleeping.” Colin tells her, standing at the edge of the bed she’s lying on.

They arrived at the hotel about an hour ago, and checked into a single room that had obviously been set aside for them. This scared Emma. She had thought her plan to go to Brazil had been spontaneous, a non-plan by her standards. But she had been one step behind, it seems.

She doesn’t answer, hoping he’ll take the hint and leave her alone. He doesn’t seriously expect her to sleep like this, does he? Is he insane? Considering the circumstances, he probably is.

“I guess you don’t want answers.” Colin says.

Emma’s hands curl into fists and then quickly release. She’s tired of her body language giving away more information than she would like to reveal. But Colin is too quick. He notices, and smirks.

“Really, you’re the one who is making this difficult. There’s no need to be so frustrated. Simple trust should work.” Colin says.

“Ugh. Don’t be so patronizing. Seriously. Why do you even have a job?” Lydia grumbles from the wooden desk chair she’s sitting in, filing her nails.

Colin’s jaw twitches in agitation, but he doesn’t fight back this time. He keeps his attention on Emma.

“Don’t mind her.” He says. “She’ll be leaving soon.”

“Doubtful.” Lydia says in a sing-song voice.

Colin ignores her.

“Trust is never simple.” Emma says. “I don’t even know you. Either of you. And neither one of you seems to trust each other, so why should I? I’m not making anything difficult. It just is.”

“Wise words.” Lydia says, standing up. “I’m going to get a drink. Do you two want anything?”

She leaves before getting an answer. Colin and Emma are left alone in the room, and for a moment, an awkwardly heavy silence fills the room. But then Colin speaks, moving to sit on the edge of Emma’s bed, by her feet.

“You’re right.” He says. “Trust is never simple.”

And then he gets up and leaves the room.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

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author: kayla mathys

Catching Smoke: Ch. 11

Her name is Lydia.

She was Colin’s recruiter.

She wasn’t supposed to be, of course. The same rule that female recruiters only recruit other females still applied, but an exception had been made for Colin. At the time, Lydia was on vacation in Brazil at just the precise moment Colin scammed his way into taking a trip there for his eighteenth birthday.

Colin thought it was love; Lydia knew it was only a job. They hadn’t spoken since.

Until now.

“You’re on a job?” Lydia says through her teeth as she drives them into the city.

Emmalee is sitting in the backseat staring out the window, not speaking, and Colin is in the passenger seat, smirking. Lydia has been reduced to the designation of driver. It’s a job Colin would have labeled beneath her.

“You’re not?” Colin asks, and Lydia glares at him for a moment.

“It was an accident.” She says.

“What?”

“Don’t act like you haven’t heard. Why else would you be here, gloating?”

“I’m not here to gloat. I’m here to recruit.”

“Here? Of all places? Give me a break, Colin. I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

Emmalee leans forward in her seat, and Colin turns his head to look at her.

“What are you two talking about? Or am I still not allowed to know the answers?” Emmalee asks.

“Go to sleep.” Colin says. “You haven’t slept in almost twenty four hours.”

“How do you know that?”

“I’ll answer your questions after you sleep.”

“Is that a promise? Can I have that in writing?”

“She’s sassy. I like her.” Lydia says.

“I’m not being sassy. I’m being serious.” Emmalee says. “So, Colin, is that a promise?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever.” Colin says, sighing.

He didn’t want Emmalee to know his name. Lydia was going to pay for this. He didn’t think she meant to give away his identification, but he wouldn’t put it past her. He knew better than to trust her. Why did Emmalee have to come here?

This recruit better be worth it.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

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Catching Smoke: Ch. 16

Music Monday: Next In Line by Walk the Moon

A poetic interpretation of a song by WALK THE MOON.

Catching Smoke: Ch. 15

Music Monday: Lifetime by Emeli Sande

A fictional interpretation of a song by Emeli Sande

Catching Smoke: Ch. 14

Music Monday: Change Your Mind by Trey Songz

Catching Smoke: Ch. 13

Music Monday: Breakeven by The Script

A fictional interpretation of a song by The Script.

Catching Smoke: Ch. 12

Catching Smoke: Ch. 11

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