Lake Texoma's Paying Guest

By Divya Singh

Sally’s weary eyes find a vent in the basement; the only thing that could connect her to the outer world. She’s delirious and looks around if she is still being watched. She is assured that there is nobody around. She tries to get up and totters on her unsteady feet. It’s not just hunger that has weakened her rather it’s the wound that she had endured through this adventurous life. Her leg was badly injured the other day when she had accidentally tripped over something and fell down through the wooden planks in the wall of that dark room and then to this horrible basement. There is much less of daylight the left. She adjusts her eyes in the darkness around her to find a stool which she places beneath the vent on which she climbs to reach the vent. The mist in the horizon is crimson red. There are streaks of puffy clouds and the color must have been a reflection thereof from the Lake’s water.

Red is the color of love; the love her mother always had in her heart for her; the love Josh had sown in her heart forever; the redder it gets with the setting sun, the more gloom it fills in her heart. She is saddened by the absence of her loved ones. She is saddened by the fact of her loneliness and her helplessness.

Occasionally, Red is also the color of blood. The blood she barely could stand the sight of; the nauseating blood, indicating the loss of life; the color which maddens most and drives a few crazy. The color of blood she is really afraid of.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Divya Singh
• Release date: May 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533784766

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Lake Texoma’s Paying Guest by Divya Singh

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Lake Texoma’s Paying Guest by Divya Singh

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means-except in the case of brief quotations embodied in the articles or reviews-without written permission of the author.

Copyright © 2016 by Divya Singh. All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016 by Divya Singh

All rights reserved.

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Lake Texoma’s Paying Guest

Prologue

Sally’s weary eyes find a vent in the basement; the only thing that could connect her to the outer world. She’s delirious and looks around if she is still being watched. She is assured that there is nobody around. She tries to get up and totters on her unsteady feet. It’s not just hunger that has weakened her rather it’s the wound that she had endured through this adventurous life. Her leg was badly injured the other day when she had accidentally tripped over something and fell down through the wooden planks in the wall of that dark room and then to this horrible basement. There is much less of daylight the left. She adjusts her eyes in the darkness around her to find a stool which she places beneath the vent on which she climbs to reach the vent. The mist in the horizon is crimson red. There are streaks of puffy clouds and the color must have been a reflection thereof from the Lake’s water.

Red is the color of love; the love her mother always had in her heart for her; the love Josh had sown in her heart forever; the redder it gets with the setting sun, the more gloom it fills in her heart. She is saddened by the absence of her loved ones. She is saddened by the fact of her loneliness and her helplessness.

Occasionally, Red is also the color of blood. The blood she barely could stand the sight of; the nauseating blood, indicating the loss of life; the color which maddens most and drives a few crazy. The color of blood she is really afraid of.

It has been over a month and a half in this place she thought of, as being a paradise once. Does she regret coming to this place so impulsively? Is this the liberty she chose for herself or was this an excuse for getting rid of her mother and others? Nevertheless, she is now all alone on her own, cut off from the rest of the world, stuck in these filthy ‘Chambers’. She is hungry, tired and injured, yet sleep doesn’t come to her. Fear doesn’t open the doors to sleep when it knocks her eyelids.

My daughter doesn’t need to be afraid in life, mom’s words reverberated in her mind; one drop of an adamant tear broke off from her eyes. I am scared mom! I am so sorry, she sobbed with her head bent downwards. She remembers the tough grip of her single mother on her wrist the day the school teacher called her to complain about Sally’s mischief. Gertrude took her by her hand all out of the school once and forever. She remembers the teacher saying, She is undisciplined and wild. She doesn’t fear the punishment at all.

‘Wild’, ‘Adamant’ and ‘Undisciplined’, Sally stabilized herself and uttered these words as if she was telling herself about who she was and who she needed to be at the moment. Where had she lost her those brave traits? What could she have done to escape being this captive she had become? She was certain of the fact that she was never trained to face these butchers.

As the sun vanished in the horizon and the crimson turned violet like the color of the dead, she climbed down on her wound and a shriek escaped her mouth. Tears welled up in her eyes as she put the face of her palm on her mouth so that nobody heard her cries.

As her eyes began adjusting to the growing darkness, she looked around to find something, anything which would help her escape her misery. Then, she heard footsteps from the ground floor above and stood rock steady trying not to make a noise.....

Two months ago: when things were different

Sally was sitting in the assembly room, waiting for her turn. She looked at her watch, 11:35 am. Gosh, this girl is being thoroughly tested! She was a little confused as a blonde candidate was being interviewed in a marathon session for over 30 minutes now. Gregg and Gertrude who could be seen from the window gestured her ‘thumbs up’ from outside. This was their last interaction before they set out to search for a rental room for her in the vicinity.

Sally Brown! She had been called for the interview.

Sally got up with confidence and pulled down her dress to straighten the creases and hair in the reflection of a door and switched her phone off. She walked straight into the interview room.

After 20 minutes of the interview, Sally was still sitting confident and much happier than before. Miss Brown, I like your confidence. It’s the last question. Tell me why exactly you are suitable for this job? Mr. Mark asked his question.

Sir, because I am determined and iron-willed, I have always achieved the goals set ahead of me. The truth is my shield. I am stubborn..... She noticed sudden change in the expressions on faces inside the room which forced her to clarify further. I am stubborn and I achieve success after having worked hard. I improvise under pressure situations and tend to be more target-oriented. I believe in myself, but only myself. She looked back at Mr. Mark and then looked out of the window towards the sunshine which illuminated the green freshly mown grass. I am the only child of my single mother. Life has hardened me by throwing rocks at me. She looked back into Mr. Mark’s eyes. I don’t back off or break down easily. In fact I don’t need your job to prove that to myself, because I am me and I am answerable just to myself. I set my standards higher than anyone else’ so that all others’ look puny before mine. Some eyes bent and others met another in the room. Certainly, not everybody liked her.

Sally switched her phone on and made a call to her mother. Hello? Mom at the other end; I have been selected for the job, mom! Sally yelped sitting at the canteen. Oh my God, Sals! Congrats my baby! Gertrude couldn’t be happier. But, we couldn’t find a room for you yet. I am sorry for sharing this. Gertrude sighed at the other end. It’s okay guys, let’s just celebrate today! We will get this done soon.

Chapter 1: The introduction and the face of paradise

Sally was looking for a room beside Lake Texoma as the date for her joining the new office in Denison was coming closer. Within a couple of minutes of her workplace was this wonderful water body and no force on earth could stop her from living by its side.

Everything was falling perfectly into place; a reputed job for a college girl and the amazing reservoir to live by. The only thing to think about was the distance but for these minutes in between were nothing for her.

Soon enough good became better and she found a room in Dr. Albert Chambers’ incredible mansion. What an amazing place was this? A stunning marble home with seemingly endless stretches of garden and groves sprawling across some 20 majestic acres! It wasn’t close to the biggest chunk of land she had ever known of being owned by someone, but still its enormity and more significantly, its beauty was incomparable to anything she had ever seen.

Sally was the only child of her single mother, Gertrude, who never wanted her daughter to work in a place this far from their little place, to call sweet home; a flat in