Healing (Banishment Series Book #2)

By J.D. Cole

What do you do when you escape an insane asylum? This is a question 19 year old Clear Smith has to face. In this sequel to Alone, Clear comes out of an insane asylum ready to find the monster who put her there in the first place. But first, she has to face the process of Healing, because only then can she truly face what is to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.D. Cole
• Release date: May 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311530134

J.D. Cole

I'm an avid reader and a SciFi/Fantasy nerd. Reading has always given me much joy, and influenced my day to day life and dreams. Because of this, my dreams started growing lives of their own and I decided to share them with others. I have an amazing family, but we all know how life can become overwhelming and books seem to be the way most of us escape the world we're in. I love escaping to other worlds and losing myself in another persons life. So I wanted to share the worlds I dream about with people like me.

Book preview

Healing

Banishment Series #2

By J.D. Cole

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 by J.D. Cole

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase another copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. This book contains mature content (language, violence, sexual situations) and is intended for adult readers.

I want to say a brief thank you to my family, without them I wouldn’t be doing any of this. They are the ones who push me every day. Without their support, I may have given up. It’s been a trying couple years for us and I have gone through my share of issues with this book. But, I’ve completed it and have an ending in sight for all of those who want to know it. I do this for the readers, without you, these would just be stories in my head, but because of you, I have an audience.

To my husband who has been supportive of me from the beginning, thank you for more than words can say. To my mom who told me I could do it, and to my brother who always asked more about these characters. Without you I would have lost my battle with this book.

A special thank you to my daughter, Kylie Ann, who let me write and understood when I needed me time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter .25

Chapter One (again)

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER ONE:

Who the fuck, are you?!? I snapped. I was holding a broken piece of glass in my hand like a lifeline. Blood was pulling around the blade and dripping from my hand to the carpet, but I didn’t care. I was in someone’s house, and I had no clue how I’d gotten there.

Relax girlie, you're safe here, a short, bald, beefy man told me. His arms were covered in tattoos that looked like ancient runes of sorts; one's that I had covering me to hide the marks of my race. At the end of those arms were raised hands with the palms out, showing me he was free of weapons, as he took a step in my direction.

If you take one more step, I'll gut you from stem, I tipped the point of my blade toward his penis, to sternum, I concluded as I slowly slid along his body, ending right below his throat, an evil glint in my eye.

Honey, please calm down. We don't want to hurt you, a woman's soft voice came from behind the beefy man. She moved out into the open and I was able to get a good look at her. She was quite a bit taller than the bald man, but she had the same honey-colored eyes.

My eyes darted from one to the other, quickly assessing whether or not they posed a threat. I concluded very quickly that they must be brother and sister. They looked nothing alike, she was tall and thin with long chestnut hair, while he was short and bald. Their eyes however, were exactly the same honey colors. Their eyes were like a soft pool of amber.

Something about this woman's voice stilled me, like a fog that settled around my brain. I was only calm for a moment though, I did not like feeling myself in a fog. Not after that damn place.

I say we give in and just get the damned piece of glass, the man in the corner said. His eyes had an unfriendly gleam and were filled with secrets. Secrets that I wanted to discover and expose. Something about this man made me feel... just feel... again.

Feeling never ended well.

If you come for me, I will kill you, I said low and dangerously, baring my teeth like an animal. I'd learned a thing or two after being with Joshua.

Maybe I should bring things back a bit.

CHAPTER .25

As I escaped the hell, known as The Sunny Side Sanitarium, I felt the weight lift off my shoulders. I wasn't sure who, or what I was, but I could finally breathe again. There was no stale smell of rotting lives. No cleaner smell to cover it up. There was just the wonderful smell of sweet, sweet freedom. That, and the smell of a cold night in February.

Shit its cold, I said to no one as I padded along the sidewalk. I had no clue what time of night it was, and was burdened by the worry that I'd be seen by a cop before finding a place to hide.

Moving with the speed of a five year old, and just as clumsy, I managed to find my way to a bridge over a small creek. I knew this place to be one area in town that housed some of the homeless. As I stumbled down the dirt path, scraping my face and hands on bushes and trees, I started feeling more and more elated to be Free.

I must have had a goofy smile on my face when I appeared around the wall of the bridge, because I got some of the most hilarious looks. I laughed, Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb anyone. Is there an area I can curl up in so I won't be in anyone's way?

Honey, why don't you go home to your family? one of the older men said.

I shrunk away from him, not trusting any man. I just need some place to sleep for the night and would be much obliged if I could be pointed in the correct direction. I threw on a small southern accent; not wanting to give any idea that I'd lived around here.

Come on, this way sugar. I've got a blanket or two for ya', a nice woman said from behind me. I turned and let her lead me away to her tent.

Once there, she handed me a sleeping bag and a pillow. Thank you very much. I appreciate this more then you know.

I remember my first night on the street. I was about your age. Get some sleep dear, she smiled and headed into her tent. I opened my sleeping bag up, curled up inside it, bunny slippers and all, and fell asleep instantly. I should have been afraid that the thing would come for me, but I wasn't. Something told me I was safe there amongst the homeless people.

In the morning, I folded up the sleeping bag and placed the pillow on it. I'd managed to find a scrap of paper and a pen and wrote a note for the nice woman. I thanked her and told her I'd find a way to repay her some day.

As silently as I could, I left the homeless camp and headed on my way. To what, I had no clue.

Eventually as I wandered around, walking along the highways to get home, a car pulled up behind me. There were a few men inside, asking if I wanted a ride. I have no clue how long I argued with them before they gave up and grabbed me.

I was taken to a mansion filled to the brim with priceless artifacts and paintings. It was the perfect picture of opulence. There were marble floors, marble columns, gold plated railings along the stairways... it was crazy.

The men shuffled me in, huffing while they did it, and took me to some room upstairs where I was cleaned up by some women. I fought and told them I knew how to clean myself. They smarted off saying if I knew that I wouldn't be so hairy and messed up looking.

You will not shave me. I like the way I look. Keeps people away from me, I snapped. My legs resembled man hair, my armpits were the same, and my eyebrows had to make me look like one of the bush people. I had to be gross looking with hair everywhere, but I knew no man would want to touch me if I looked that way.

Girls, if she isn't comfortable with it, then leave her the way she is, a voice softer then silk said through the doorway.

Yes Joshua, the girls chimed together.

Something about the way that man spoke, the way the girls responded, even the way I responded, scared me. There was something about the man's voice that made you want to listen to whatever he said. It made you want to whatever was asked of you.

The calm voice that he used was perfect for disarming you. No one with a voice that nice could be bad. They couldn’t possibly be evil or cruel or a criminal. However a voice alone means next to nothing.

I decided that just following along like a lemming wouldn’t do. I needed to know what was going on around me. The mansion that Joshua lived in couldn’t be paid for by being a nice guy. There was no way he had a real job because he rarely left. People came and left, but Joshua stayed.

Joshua, it turned out, was the head of a major drug cartel. I didn't learn that until I'd been living at the mansion for seven months. He was really careful and it was hard to sneak around, even for someone who had become rather stealthy. Once I figured it out though, Joshua kept me quite close.

See, all the women there were Call Girls of sorts. They were runaways or transient girls that Joshua’s thugs found. Joshua never kept any of the women for himself, until I came along. The others girls didn't care what went on around them. I was different because I wasn't about to live in a place I knew nothing about. However I got caught.

From then on Joshua paid me a lot of attention, much to my dismay. He took me everywhere, and eventually I became his 'girlfriend'. I was dressed to his liking, my hair was styled to his liking, and I was expected to act to his liking.

It was one of those times of all or nothing. I threw myself into what I was doing in order to get out as soon as I could. I’d traded the asylum for a mad house and I wanted out.

However, pretending to be happy made him think I cared about him, and I ended up having to live with him. Joshua had a personal suite in the mansion where I was put. He doted on me, spent obscene amounts of money on me, and never asked for a single thing in return.

The more time I spent with him, the more I began to care about him. I looked past the drug cartel, the horrible things he did to people, and focused on getting better, and he was helping me with that. I never told him where I was from, and he never asked.

The only thing that put a little rift in our relationship was the day a tattoo appeared on my forearm. I hadn't noticed it until Joshua had a fit. He said it was unacceptable that I have a tattoo. I looked down at the incriminating mark and freaked, trying to come up with a reason for it.

I told him that I heard how much he loved old Celtic lore and I decided to do something to surprise him. I rambled on and on about how I noticed his tattoos that were Celtic knots and things, and all the other guys had tattoos just like it. I told him how I listened to them talking about the myths and legends of Ireland and Scotland; I listened to him talk about Faeries and other mythical things.

Joshua sighed and looked down at my arm that was clenched tightly in his hand. He slowly released his death grip on me, letting blood and color return to the area.

It is beautiful, he looked me in the eyes and smiled widely. I suppressed the urge to open my eyes wider as I saw an almost feral look in his eyes.

My breath caught in my throat as I tried to speak, making me croak, So you like it?

Yes, he said softly, tracing the mark with his fingertips. I