Echoes of the Past

“No. Get off of me.” Alexandria screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to get a leg up enough to kick him in the groin. He had her pinned down and she knew she had to keep fighting. Maybe that would throw him off balance enough to give her a shot at getting out of this nightmare with herself. intact. His hand met my face with a harsh and loud smack. “I have waited long enough for you. I have seen the way you lead all of the men on around here. You are a w***e and a tease. It’s time for you to pay up.” He ripped my shirt from my body with his muscular hands. I was shaking beneath him. His rage was unstoppable and he was unleashing it all on me at the moment. “No, I have never encouraged your affections. I don’t want this. Get off of me.” She cried aloud. They both heard a noise, he stopped to listen for a second and that was her moment. Alex brought her hand up, hitting him under his nose and pushing her hand up hard. He wailed and for a minute lost his grip on her. She began to crawl away as he had already broken her left ankle by slamming her into a rock, she was unable to stand and run. The bones sticking out, blood was spurting out of it and the pain was excruciating, but she did not care. Her thoughts were focused on getting away from this animal before he could hurt her anymore. She had to get back to her people, her group. Then she could worry about her ankle and other injuries. This madman was on the loose, chasing her down. She knew guys like this, if she didn't stop him, he would just go on to attack another woman. The air was cold against her naked skin and she now had fresh scratches from where she had been crawling in the dirt, her back getting scraped up against a rock. Alex saw a cave and so she headed for it. That would give her shelter and a place to maybe try and fix herself up. Just ahead something shiny caught her attention, something sticking out of the dirt. As she inched closer, Alexandria saw that it was a knife. She quickly grabbed it, putting it in her pants pocket. The cave was coming into view. It was getting close, she just had to keep going. All of a sudden she was being lifted off of the ground, she heard familiar, but equally terrifying snarling noises, she was face to face with a bear. It had her like a child would carry a ragdoll and began to fling her from side to side. Katie momentarily suspended herself from reality and was thinking about which would be worse, dying from the bear or the psychopath? As she was thinking, this is not the way I wanted to die, several shots rang out, and the bear dropped her causing her to land in a position facing it. Alex looked up and her eyes met the bears. Even dead it was still horrifying. Those were the deadest, blackest eyes I had ever seen until his. He jerked me up from the ground and flipped me over on my back, now I was staring into those cold dead eyes of his. “I wasn’t going to let the bear steal my prize. I have been stalking you, hunting you, and now you are mine. Stop fighting me, evil wench. You are going to be mine. I will take you here and now. Then I will take you back to my people and take you again and again until I break you and you are ready to rule with me.” “You are diluted and deranged. You will never break me.” Alex says trying to be brave, even though she knows deep within her everyone has a breaking point. She just had to outsmart and outlast him, before he got to hers. “Okay, well my backup is that thing from Star Wars. I have always loved the scene with Princess Leia chained to Jabba the Hut. I would love to do something similar with you. You would look all kinds of hot in a gold bikini.” He said running his hands down her face. Alex shivered, both from his intentions and the plummeting temperatures. Her heart sped up with the fear that was gripping her. She knew she had to keep her head though, not give in to the terror that was trying to overtake her. He moved his hands down her neck, chest, and stomach. Soon they were on her jeans, grabbing and fiddling with the buttons. Alex breathed in deeply, exhaling her fears, taking in all of the courage she could muster, and brought the knife up from her pocket, penetrating his heart and his blackened soul. “Cut!! Great job you two, that was terrific!!! Perfect! Get medical in here for them now, treat those cuts, give them blankets and get them cleaned up.” The director was yelling and barking orders. Lincoln helped me up from the ground and we dusted each other off. The interns were bringing over blankets, and Lincoln covered me up with the first one. “Thank you so much. It is pretty chilly out here.” Medical was arriving and Lincoln looked up at me, we had worked together long enough over the last few years. Long enough for him to know, my next move and to stop me. “I know that scene was hard for you and hit too close to home. I may not know all of your secrets, Katherine Morgan, but I know enough to more than one man did hurt badly to put it kindly and I am proud of you for what you did today. You put all that aside, faced your fears, and put the needs of your family ahead of yourself like you always do.” Lincoln said with care and concern in his voice. It was so odd that he played such a bad guy on the show and was such a sweetheart in real life. As they were talking he had been edging her closer to a medical truck, where three more attractive men were waiting for her. Noah and Zach, two more of her co-stars hugged her. To say that they were co-stars alone would not be the truth. There was much history between each of them and Matt, one of the doctors on the set. “I am so insanely proud of you. We knew today would be tough and since Caiden is out of town, we wanted to come over and our support. Love you, Sis.” Noah said kissing her on the top of the head. ****************** Ah, Noah, she had first met Noah in middle school. They bonded over their love of mysteries, Nelson songs, theatre, and a little civil disobedience, nothing major, just some school protesting. They had spent a lot of time together and he was her first real kiss. She had been head over heels and he only felt friendship. They parted ways, but then came back a year later to work on a mystery novel that they had envisioned would someday be turned into a series. They wrote on it for a year, then it ended up in a binder packed away in a box. In high school, they grew up and grew apart. Katherine went through some awful things in high school, dating the wrong guys, and some of the wrong men being attracted to her. Noah was not the friend he should have been. She needed help desperately and he didn’t do enough. Then one night they were at a Cast Party for their recently finished musical, which Zach had also stared in. Kids were bullying Noah, they were rent less in their taunts and when Katie show up they fully expected her to add a few of her own, given how he had treated her the last few years, but she had refused, defended him even. He always felt bad for that and afterward made a promise to himself that if he ever had the chance to make it up to her, he would. Fast forward ten years, high and college were gone and Noah was in a job he hated. Plus, he needed more to support his family. He saw an online class for novice fiction writers. It piqued his interest and the class was free so he took it. The class reminded him of the novel he had started years ago with his friend. He picked, and re-read it, and aside from it being a little youthful, the storyline and characters were solid so he started typing and finished within thirty pages. He wondered if he should social media to reach out to Katherine, but decided that he wanted to make sure it was good first, then he could give her a royalty check if it went anywhere, that would be a good way to make up for the past and if it didn’t go anywhere, so one would be hurt except him. So, he published under the pen names they had thought of back and waited. He self-published and it didn’t make any huge money. He, however, had more story to tell so he kept writing finishing a second book within two months and then a third and so. Six months later, the book was gaining a following, and then something crazy that no one could have known about happened. The world was struck by a worldwide viral epidemic. Everything shut down, people were in lockdown, and shock filled everyone. Nothing like this had ever happened and no one knew how to react or what to do. As time went on and people got more used to being in a lockdown they began to look for ways to cope and escape, if not physically, at least mentally. Many of them began to find an escape in the book. After Noah released the others quickly and decided this was the time to contact Katherine and send her the check. She had of course long since moved on from loving him, at least in that way. Now when she thought of him, it was the friend she missed or the brother she longed for. After kissing several frogs, she found her true prince in Caiden Matthews. They had been happily married for six years and were expecting their second child. She looked so happy. Expecting another baby would be the perfect time to get some extra income. Noah still didn’t know if she would except for the check because it was such a large sum, but she had earned it. He also wanted his old writing partner back. The first few books had come easily, but now he stuck with his characters in all kinds of crazy mess in book five, the readers were getting anxious and he needed help. No one besides him understood them better than her. He sent money to the Matthews checking account and a letter to the bank with proof of the income since it was a large amount. He then sent an authorized letter to their house explaining the situation. Given the current climate, a normal dinner out would not do, so they did a Zoom Call instead. Katherine had been skeptical at first, but she had just her professional world turned upside down, losing her job and income completely when the pandemic hit. She was worried about how they would make it on one income and how she would find a job with a newborn, given the state of the world so the timing could not have been more perfect. She and Caiden talked about it, and after concluding that she and Noah no longer had romantic feelings for each other, the Matthews agreed and were very grateful. Never thought that they would say to that any of her ex-boyfriends. The story with Noah and Zach takes an even weirder turn there. Zach and Noah had stayed in touch and Zach came by when Noah and Katie were having one of the few in-person meetings they had during that time at a local park. They all stayed part and it was weird, but great to be in touch. After that, Katherine and Caiden went out to a restaurant that she had been wanting to try that was in a town where one of their TV Shows was filmed. A few of the actors and directors had gone into business together and it was a huge success. It had just re-opened after the shutdown. Here’s where fate stepped in again. They started talking to the waiter and he seemed overly interested in their land and farm. It was getting kind of creepy and they couldn’t figure out until he brought over a few people to meet them. It was the owners. They asked if they could join them. We were so excited, getting to go was great, the food had been wonderful, and know to get to meet some of our favorite actors and directors. We had never really met anyone famous before. That was fairly out of the ordinary. Something was just odd, they just didn't know why. They asked them the last thing that we had expected. They wanted to make us a business proposal. “This is odd I know, but I think this is a rare case where we could help each other. I am guessing you know who we are and all about our show. The waiter said you all were fans, right?” We nodded yes and couldn’t imagine where this was going. The director continued. “Our show is doing well, but with all of the restrictions we having a hard time finding places to film, people to work, and how to get the things done that we want to do on the show. We have a grand vision for the show and think that we could work together to make that come to fruition. We would like to pay to use your property, keep it anonymous as to where we are filming unless you don’t want it to be, and pay handsomely to use your land, to film build sets on, and occasionally blow things that we build. We understand that you have children and we are very safe so you wouldn’t need to worry about any of that. We can work with you to work around your schedules and that of your family. We are a bit desperate and I guess it shows. We have put our heart and soul into this show and don't want to see it ruined. We can try it out on a trial basis for a month or so and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work, we will leave and part as friends. We considered it for a while, like two days, and then tried it. They did try it and it worked very well. We all became good friends and when they needed additional actors for the next season to shake things up, they went to Noah, Zach, and me and asked us to audition. All three of us were ecstatic and after a quick conversation with Caiden for me, we moved on to the next step. We all had to decide if we could work together despite our past romantic histories. Noah and I were fine, since we had now been working together for a while, we were firmly in the brother and sister category, but Zach and I that was another story. I had a history with him as well, at least it was the good kind. At least, I think it was the good king, at the very least it was the unfinished kind. When I was dating a particularly bad guy that turned out to have violent and stalking tendencies when we broke up, he was there. He walked me to classes, helped clean the blood and bruises, and was a great friend. My heart quicked whenever he walked into a room. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes. Tall, dark hair, enchanting green eyes, and solid muscle from head to toe. All this was just the beginning of the attraction, his kindness, courage, and chivalry had overwhelmed me. Then we had been cast as leads in the high school musical together as romantic love interests. I fell ill and was unable to complete the show right before the kissing scene, and it was the last show of our senior year. It was always like things were left unresolved and we would never know what might have been. I longed to know for a long time, but eventually, we both let it go. We had each gone our separate ways with only an occasional comment on social media here and then. So, it was over before it started. Now put into his position again, as a married woman made me slightly nervous. I loved my husband dearly and had always been very careful never to put myself in any type of tempting position. My heart still beats a little faster when he came near. Would this be too much? No, get over yourself woman. He probably hasn’t thought about that almost kiss since and I am sure he has been married or close to it by now. He probably thinks of you as his sister, just like Noah. Besides, you can ruin this for all of you. I knew that this was the only chance for all of us. That money would help my family at the farm and help my husband to be able free to peruse a job that he was passionate about. He had always been the main breadwinner for us, his job had always provided very well for us. I had always had the startup business or the one who was perusing acting, all of which he whole hardly supported. It was my turn to let him chase his dreams. Plus, we now had multiple streams of income so we didn’t have to worry as much. Since I would be working with my other boss, I didn’t have to worry about that. We had gotten the characters unstuck and into all sorts of crazy new messes and now had a ten-book series. I didn’t want any of us to lose this chance so after talking with Zach privately. He told me he had wondered for a while about what might have been and had now moved on. He said he would enjoy finally getting to kiss me though more in jest, than seriousness. We talked as a group and decided amongst ourselves that we could work together despite any past romantic entanglements, went for it. We knew we had to reach out and go for our dreams. they had been laid to rest for so long. This was the chance of a lifetime and we all knew it. The auditions went well and we all got the parts. I was going to play the sweet, strong, survivor doctor, who had been a resident at the time of the collapse, Morgan. Surprisingly to me, the show was thrilled to write about my pregnancy as I was barely showing they were excited about it. My face fell about a bit and they asked why. “I have seen several of these shows and it usually doesn’t go well for the Mom or the baby. I was just excited about this opportunity and was hoping to stay on. “They laughed a bit, said I had a good point, but that they needed something good to get people buying back into the show and that would do it. Then assured it would be a typical crazy, scary, but survival delivery for both of us. Zach was going to play a trauma surgeon and my eventual love interest, Mike. Noah was playing the part of an engineer, and my brother, Tony. It was a gritty, end of days’ drama and we would be working closely together. Before I signed the contract, I had them add a few special clauses. I was married and completely head over heels for Caiden so I had limits on what I was willing to do with my co-stars: no nudity, no snakes (I am deathly afraid of them), no s*x scenes, open-mouth kissing. Normally a new actress would have never gotten away with those demands, but they were in a tight spot. They were desperate to start filming and wanted me for the part so they agreed. That was three years ago. Now the show was not doing as well because people were wanting more of an escape and there sadly was starting to hit a little too close to home for some of their viewers. The writers started adding some more happy flashbacks and even put in a theatre show. The delivery of the baby and theatre episodes were the highest-rated since the beginning of the show. Everyone was so thrilled. Noah wrote on daily breaks and anytime the show was off. No problems with Zach either or any of the other guys I had worked with. The sound of Matt’s voice brought me back to reality. “I need to get you to medical and get you patched up. You are bleeding quite a bit on your back, freezing, and have head lac as well. No walking home for you tonight. I am driving you home.” “You know, I am good. I can get the head lac, curl up in some blankets, and will get Caiden to put a bandage on the back. I thought I might skip medical today.” "Not if you want to come back to work you won’t. I am officially declaring you unfit to work due to injury on the job. When I took this job, they told me the guys were the ones that were too tough for the doctor, but you have by far been my most challenging patient. I know you have a hard time trusting, but I hope we have earned it. It is a good thing I love you so much and they all love you so much. C’mon, I am not taking no for an answer.” Matt said scooping her like he had done a hundred times over the last few years. "Yes, you all have earned it. I trust you all, just don't always think I need medical." "Since I have earned your trust, please trust that I am your doctor and I know what you need. I am taking care of you." “I am coming with you while Lincoln gets checked out. I think you broke his nose. He is in terrible pain, but was worried about you.” “Oh, my I broke his nose. I have to go and tell him I am so sorry.” Noah broke out into laughter, just kidding, but you did bruise him a bit. Good thing it works with the storyline. He helped Matt get her shirt off and lay her down for him to look at her back. Matt then started running warm fluids since he had to take off her blanket. Noah took her hand while he waited for the pain meds to kick in. I am putting in pain meds now, you made a mess of your back. She winced as he started cleaning the wounds before he could sew them up. He had the gentlest touch, usually, trauma surgeons were rough and abrasive, but Matt was kind. The pain meds were taking effect and she was getting drowsy. Katie laid down on the table, finally giving in to the welcoming blackness. Noah caught her head, layin' it down in his lap. He worked on her for another few hours, then Noah carried her to the car and they both tucked her into bed and slept in the living room, just to make sure she was okay and so no one would think she was having an affair. Two days later, Caiden was back in town, thrilled to see his wife, but not pleased with her fresh wounds. He drove her over to set and they went into her room in the trailer she shared with Noah and Zach. “That is one thing I will not miss when this show is over. Don’t get me wrong, they have been good to you, but I would love for you to back to writing where you are covered with fresh injuries daily. I do love you and am so glad to see you.” “You know I just got cleared by medical today.” “You did, well we should make good use of that. I couldn’t agree more. I have thirty minutes until I have to be on set. I will put the panties on the door.” “You still have those? Wow. Sure, let’s go for it.” He was already shedding his shirt to reveal his ripped abdomen. Caiden was amazing. He had played baseball in high school and still worked out. He had abs to spare, thick blond hair, and memorizing blue eyes. I was still so scared and not trusting when we met. It took a long time to even convince me to go for coffee with him. Once he did though, I was hooked. His eyes and that voice. He sang to me on our first date and it was so sweet and romantic. His amazing heart was what I loved best about him. He always wanted to help people and was a great friend to others. the exact opposite of most of the other men I had dated. That is when I fell hard and was still falling every day of my life. When breathing still sped up, and my heartbeat increased every time I saw him. He only grew hotter and more desirable. I had a deep longing for everything about him and in him. He was one of the few men I could completely trust and let everything go with. The red, lacey panties were the first thing I had gotten from that job besides the contract and now they were a long-standing joke. On my first day of the job, they directed me to my room in the trailer, only they sent me to the wrong one. They said I would know it was mine because they had a wonderful welcome gift for me in there. I walked in and found a new, beautifully wrapped Victoria's Secret Box. Inside were a pair of red, lacey panties. My first thought was at least they have good taste, my second was there is no way I wearing those in from of anyone, but my husband in private. Now they were a joke and I put them to let them know when Caiden was there and we needed private time. The correct trailer had a beautiful flower arrangement waiting for me. That made me feel better. That was the gift I was supposed to receive, but now they were a constant joke. The panties went on the door and we went at it like two newlyweds. His shirt was on the floor and he excitedly threw mine off as well. My bra soon lay beside me on the floor. “I will race you," I said and we began peeling off the rest of our clothes with anxious anticipation. The time away was hard, but it did make the reuniting that much sweeter. We didn't waste any more time. I hopped on top of him and rode him like a stallion. “Well, I guess the saying is true, if the trailer is rocking, don’t bother knocking,” Zach said. “I guess they are reuniting. We can let them have a few minutes.” The trailer was rocking. It was shaking like a rock club on a Saturday Night. Our hand traeld all over eahc other bodies, taking time to explore. We both were fulfilled at the same time, letting out some rather loud streaks of pleasure, then collapsing into each other’s arms. We looked at each other, kissing all down each other necks for a few more minutes, and then I got up, and we cleaned up. “I hate to say goodbye to you, but am looking forward to seeing you tonight at Jess’ baseball game.” He continued to kiss her passionately until they heard. Twenty minutes later, Zach was calling out, “Hey, it’s my turn to have my work wife.” I stumbled out of the trailer still putting my shirt on. “Bye, Caiden. Thank you for stopping by. You are the best part of my day. I love starting the day like that.” She turned to Zach who held out a cup of coffee for her. “Take good care of her today, guys.” To Katie, he said, “she you later, love.” “You better.” She giggled, blew him a kiss, and hoped they could always be this happy. She walked on a few feet more and was stopped dead in her tracks, but her thoughts. Katherine had this nagging feeling that something was coming, the secrets of her past were going to come back to haunt her, ruining her bright future, not around her, but her family and friends as well. For now, though, she kept trying to shake it off, focusing on the tasks at hand for the day, however by the end of the day, the feeling of terror was growing inside her. She wondered who and what was coming for them. Would they be able to overcome it or be destroyed by it?