Dark Places of the Soul: Dark Soul Trilogy - Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

maybe she had become used to her own filth.
    Across the foot of the bed she saw a shirt.
It was one of his, James Lansing. She wouldn’t forget that name or
face, his actions had left a mark on her life. She reached for the
shirt and found it had long sleeves with buttons up the front. The
garment seemed familiar, like something she’d once worn in a
similar situation. She sniffed it, burying her nose in the fabric,
it smelled clean.
    What do you owe someone for saving your
life, and then gives you a place to sleep, in his bed, without
questions asked? The question danced through her head while she
threw his shirt over her shoulders. It had a checked pattern of
blues and grays. Maybe he had the funds available to allow her to
purchase new clothing, if nothing else fresh panties were becoming
a necessity. A little change and a couple singles still lined the
pockets of her jeans. It was all she had to her name. This
morning’s breakfast had drained most of her cash.
    She left her jeans on the floor, deciding
the oversized shirt hid enough, and stepped out of the bedroom. Her
senses were immediately greeted by the aroma of morning coffee.
Some pleasures bring joy to your senses despite poverty. Caffeine
hadn’t found its way into her system in three days, having decided
on the cold glass of Orange Juice instead of the eye opener
yesterday morning. The muffin, she tried to eat slowly, as if that
would have made it last in her digestive tract, had been her only
solid food in the past day and a half. Her stomach seemed beyond
hunger pains.
    He stood at the tiny excuse for a kitchen
counter fixing a cup of coffee. He met her eyes which she figured
had lost all their vitality.
    “ Coffee?” He
asked.
    She nodded, as if words weren’t awake in her
brain yet.
    “ Shirt looks nice on you,”
he commented as he walked back to the front of the camper. His
vehicle sat on the side of the road. A sign she could read through
the front window said something about a KOA campground. The front
gate was closed.
    “ Got here a few hours
ago,” he said, when he noticed where her attention focused. “This
place wasn’t open yet. We still have a three and a half hour drive
to Richfield Springs. It’s not worth pullin’ into a
site.”
    “ Did you get any sleep?”
She asked.
    “ Few hours,” he responded
as he sat in the driver’s side Captain’s Chair.
    Keri poured a cup of hot black liquid and
took a satisfying gulp. She sat in the passenger’s seat, folding
her bare legs up beneath her. “It’s a scar from a childhood
accident,” she said when she caught him looking at the ugly
reminder running from the inside of her knee cap halfway down her
calf. “Right down to the bone,” she added in case he needed a more
detailed description.
    In silence he sampled his coffee while she
cradled her warm mug between the palms of her hands.
    “ We goin’ to Richfield
Springs t’ chase another dream?” She asked into a moment becoming
too quiet for comfort.
    He nodded his head. “There’s a small
restaurant on the main strip. I expect the meeting to take place
there.”
    “ I guess you got somethin’
for dreaming about restaurants.” She smiled with the comment. “I
should hope this one doesn’t involve another damsel in
distress.”
    “ Quite the little wise
ass… aren’t you?”
    The comeback might have shocked her if it
wasn’t accompanied by a rather attractive smile on his part. She
took no offence and quickly kidded back, “Been checkin’ out my
butt?”
    His sly expression told her he had. She
hoped he’d found the view enjoyable.
    “ How many times did you
have the dream about me?” She asked.
    “ Often, kinda like a
re-run of Gilligan’s Island.”
    Her eyes might have doubled in size, if it
were possible. She heard his response in her head as if it were an
old recording. “I knew… you were going to say that,” she spurted
out. “Actually,” she paused momentarily as she tried to decide how
crazy her