The Unfortunate Survival of Peter Cunningham

By Karen Reis

Life as Lindsay Cunningham knew it died the day her baby boy did. Her marriage, her career, her joy - dead. She goes through the motions of life until the effects of another person’s choice forces her into waking up, because you can’t run for your life if you live like you're dead.
So she runs - straight into a witch trial, a cave of wonders, and a man with secrets who wants to both use her and protect her. And in the end, she will run straight into her past and have to confront the memory of her baby boy who died before he could accomplish brilliant and terrible things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Reis
• Release date: May 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370034468

Karen Reis

Karen Reis (1984-present) lives in Oregon with her husband and two children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. She loves science fiction, Jane Austen, and exposing her kids to the books and show she loved as a kid. Favorite TV show: The Closer Favorite movie: Star Trek Favorite books: Jaran by Kate Elliot, Home Mountain by Jeanne Williams, Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh, Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore, The Outsider by Penelope Williamson, Dark Horse by Michelle Diener, any sci-fi written by Julie Czerneda, and many, many more.

Book preview

The

Unfortunate

Survival

of

Peter Cunningham

Karen Reis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2017 Karen Reis

Discover Other Titles by Karen Reis

No Explanations

Smashwords License Notes 

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Cover picture of fetus from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 1

Though the pain was no longer sharp and piercing, but rather dulled by time to an ache that rested in the core of Lindsay Cunningham’s heart, it was always present. Especially today did she feel that pain all the more keenly, for it was the anniversary of her baby boy’s death. It was her custom to go to the cemetery to lay a lily across his little marker stone, an event she both anticipated and was woefully unprepared for.

But first, there was work.

Lindsay stuck her head inside of the front door of her boss’ house. Bob? Are you up top?

No reply came. Good. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with his crotchety personality. Lindsay stepped inside and quietly closed Bob’s front door. There was no sign of life in the house, just scattered food containers and opened cardboard boxes with packaging spilling out onto the old green carpet of the living room. If Bob wasn't up here, then he was most certainly down in his basement tinkering away at his latest project. Bob was a scientist who had the extreme luck of having a rich and dead mother who had left him everything, including her house. No longer having to waste time and breath teaching at a university, fighting for grants and the attention of students merely present for the credits, Bob quit and set up shop in the basement of his mother’s house, a place which he left only to receive packages and raid the refrigerator.

After dropping the mail she’d retrieved from the box outside on a table in a bin labeled IN, Lindsay went straight to the kitchen to grab a garbage bag from the cabinet under the sink. Bob was a brilliant man, an inventor, but socially inept and perpetually grouchy. Also, he was a pig.

Into the bag went Styrofoam pellets, ripped open packaging, and a week’s worth of old food containers, some licked clean, some containing molding, congealed leftovers. After the trash was picked up, there was dusting. Books, manuals, charts, and loose papers, covered every surface of Bob’s house. Lindsay did not move any of these things. She simply dusted around them. It would have been suicide to do anything more. Bob’s house was a pigsty, but it was his, and he was protective of his mess.

As she dusted, Lindsay picked up dirty laundry and towels and put them in a small, square plastic basket, slowly making her way to the laundry room. Lindsay was probably the only living organism who saw Bob on a regular basis, besides the UPS guy and the mice, who in their own way tried to clean up after Bob, but instead left a mess of their own for Lindsay to clean up. Bob paid her a pittance to come in during the week and clean his house, restock his refrigerator and freezer, weed his front yard, and sweep the porch to keep the neighborhood association off his back, and pick up after him in general. In return, she lived in the apartment above his garage rent free.

Ew! Bob! Lindsay exclaimed, using the tips of her forefinger and thumb to pick up an old fashioned and very used hankie that had been wadded up under a quantum mechanics paper. Ugh, you really are a pig.

Loud clanking noises came from behind the basement door in the kitchen, but Lindsay paid no attention as she put her basket full of laundry in the wash machine. She’d heard all sorts of strange and alarming noises coming from below her feet over the five years she'd taken care of Bob. She was extremely curious about what Bob did down there, but on her first day on the job she'd been strictly warned by him.

Never, never, never open this basement door and try to take a peek at what I’m doing. Or I’ll have you out on your ear. Understand? Bob had said, glaring at her through his thick glasses.

What about in an emergency? Am I allowed to call 9-1-1 and let EMTs down there? she had asked, half joking.

Bob had frowned. Only if you see smoke coming up or smell the odor of my decaying body.

He’d been dead serious, and she’d obediently stayed away from that door.

The loud clanking sounds stopped. Lindsay turned the wash machine on and turned her attention to the pile of dishes and silverware in the sink. She opened the dishwasher door and had begun removing the clean dishes when the power went out suddenly. Every once in a while, Bob caused a blackout in the neighborhood, a habit that pissed off the neighbors and the city. But Lindsay just casually flipped the kitchen light switch on so she’d know when the power was back. The bulb flickered on, then off, then on again. She wondered again what he was doing, but still was not concerned.

Lindsay kept working, putting clean dishes away. As she turned towards the cupboard, she paused. The dishes inside it were trembling. Lindsay put her hand down on the counter and felt it -- vibrations. She frowned as the vibrations grew strong enough to start making the dishes clatter together. The Portland, Oregon Metropolitan area was not known for its earthquakes, but there were volcanoes and a major subduction zone. She’d never been through an earthquake before, so she didn’t know what they were supposed to feel like.

The power went out again. It stayed out.

The vibrating increased, and the dishes started to jiggle their way to the edge of the cabinet shelf. Lindsay quickly closed the doors and raced to an open window and looked out of it. No one was coming out of their houses or freaking out, though it seemed like every dog in the neighborhood was barking. Lindsay whirled around and looked in the direction of the basement door. Could Bob be causing the house shake and the dogs to bark?

Confused and worried, Lindsay raced to the door but didn't open it. Bob! she called out, hoping he would hear her and answer. Bob, what are you doing? Is everything okay?

She waited a few seconds, but she didn't hear Bob answer. Bob? she shouted again.

Nothing. During the seconds it took for Lindsay to call out to Bob twice, the trembling quickly grew more and more pronounced till Lindsay had to brace herself between the wall and the counter to remain upright. The cabinet doors were pushed open by the dishes which promptly fell, making Lindsay jump in real fear.

Bob! Lindsay shouted as loud as she could, fear causing her voice to wobble. Bob, if you don't answer me right now, I'm going to come down there!

Bob didn't answer, and Lindsay put her hand on the doorknob and turned it. It wasn’t locked. A staircase went straight down into the dark basement; the power was still out, but a strange green glow cast odd shadows. Lindsay braced her hands against the railing and the wall as she made her way cautiously down the nine steps to the basement floor, her heart pounding. An electric hum filled the air and made her long hair stand on end.

Bob! Lindsay yelled, truly frightened now as she reached the bottom step. She tried to summon up anger at Bob for what craziness he was cooking up, but as she rounded the corner to enter the large basement room, she could only gape in shock at what she saw.

Four tall posts connected to a huge generator stood in the middle of the room. In the middle of the posts spun what looked like a two-dimensional mirrored lake, the source of the strange green light. It was acting like a magnet, pulling everything from Bob’s computer to pens to even a few lose floor boards towards its center, elongating them and twisting them till they appeared to vanish at the mirror’s center. Everything in the room moved towards it, including Bob, who looked understandably distressed.

Liiindssaay! Geeet ooouuutttt! he seemed to shout at her. His words came to her as if he was in slow motion.

Oh my God! Lindsay said as the shaking grew steadily worse. BOB! she screamed, and ignored his warning by lunging towards him to try to help him. What should have been a quick dash across the room was turned into what felt like a plodding lifting of feet that suddenly felt both heavy and disconnected from her body. The house felt as if was being shaken by a giant, and Lindsay lost her footing. Falling didn’t stop her forward movement. Whatever Bob had done - whatever he had created - it was pulling her too, just as it was pulling him.

Bbbooobbb! Whaaaat haaavvee yooouuuu doonnne!

It took forever for her words to register with Bob, and she watched him blink, a closing and opening of his eyelids that seemed to take 30 seconds. Lindsay's heart beat so hard in fear that she was afraid it would burst, but even that beat was unnaturally slow. Bob was so close to the vortex now, and his face was twisted in pain and his body looked oddly elongated and flat. He opened his mouth and he spoke, but the words were so slow and stretched out that she had trouble understanding him.

LLLLiiiiinnndddddsssseeeyyy. IIII’mmmmm ssssooorrryyyyy!

And then Bob was pulled into the mirror’s