Taken

By Julie Hart

I didn’t sleep as well as I had since I began staying at Dawn and Barry’s house. It was strange that I felt so comfortable with my fiancé’s ex-wife, but we have become good friends since John disappeared into the night following a class reunion.

My mind roamed to the events leading up to that awful night. I didn’t even see it coming. John had been so relaxed and happy during the weeks before the reunion. We spent a lot of time practicing the music we planned to play at the reunion, and John hadn’t had an episode since he began faithfully taking the new prescription his doctor had written.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ilovetoreadandwritebooks
• Release date: Jul 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463656501

Book preview

Taken

Julie Hart

Table of Contents:

Taken

Falling Apart

Taken

I didn’t sleep as well as I had since I began staying at Dawn and Barry’s house.  It was strange that I felt so comfortable with my fiance’s ex-wife, but we have become good friends since John disappeared into the night following a class reunion.

My mind roamed to the events leading up to that awful night.  I didn’t even see it coming.  John had been so relaxed and happy during the weeks before the reunion.  We spent a lot of time practicing the music we planned to play at the reunion, and John hadn’t had an episode since he began faithfully taking the new prescription his doctor had written.

It had been a little rough before then.  PTSD was not easy to live with.  John never knew when his mind would throw him back into a war zone or another traumatic time.  I never knew if I could help him when it happened; I just prayed God would help me to help him.

I was a basket case the first time he disappeared.  The police couldn’t help until he’d been missing over 24 hours.  Pastor Rob and my friends kept me focused, and with God’s help we were able to find him and get him to his doctor before anything tragic happened.

This time it had been weeks.  I spent many hours in counseling with Pastor Rob and even more time searching for John alongside my friends and other volunteers, but all the effort and prayer had gone nowhere so far.  It was so hard to stay positive but I knew I had to.  John and I had been through too much to give up on everything we had built.

I had known John for years.  We grew up in the same town and by high school we were part of the same church family.  Though I had a secret crush on him for a long time, he only had eyes for his sweetheart, Dawn.  I thought I had a lot more in common with him than she did, but I would rather have him as a friend than not have him in my life at all, so I never let anyone know how I felt.

I think Dawn wondered for awhile, so I made it a point to talk to her often, making it clear that John and I were like a brother and sister.  It wasn’t a lie; in his eyes that’s what we were.  She didn’t actually befriend me but she didn’t object to our hanging out. Maybe it helped that I made the cheerleading squad–not hers, I was a year behind her, but I was a cheerleader nonetheless.

Our squad was different than the senior one.  They were the beautiful, popular girls who sadly thought they were too good for most people.  We were a group who just liked to be active and have fun.  In spite of our differences, the seniors tolerated us.

John played drums in a band with some classmates, Kylie, Don and Debbie.  We were all in the high school band and attended the same church.  Sometimes I listened to them play but I didn’t join in although I was proficient on several instruments.  They had been playing together so long that I swear they could read each other’s minds.  I felt a little left out of the close-knit group–not that they ever did anything to make me feel like that.  It’s just that when too many inside jokes go  over your head, you start to feel like a fifth wheel.  Maybe that’s why Dawn objected to the time John spent with the band.

The band was the only thing John put his foot down and refused to give up for Dawn.  He humored most of her whims and demands, but when it came to the band, her pleas fell on deaf ears.  He only missed band practice during hunting season and when the walleye were biting.  She didn’t care that he spent a lot of time hunting and fishing; he usually did that with her father.

I love to fish, but never got into hunting.  When deer and other wild animals roam into reach, I like to do my shooting with a camera.

My cameras, like my musical instruments, are an extension of myself.  When I’m looking at God’s beautiful creations, my mind is setting up a photo shoot.  Debbie and Kylie loved my photos and I took a lot of pictures of the band, especially when they weren’t paying attention and were really getting into their music.  Candid shots, in my opinion, are way better than posed portraits.

I spent my junior year of high school leading cheers, playing with the marching band, singing in the church choir, taking pictures and hanging out with John.  I dated occasionally, but there were never any sparks.  Even though John loved Dawn, he was the only guy I felt romantic toward.  I’m glad I could hide it so well.

I think John’s decision to join the Marines affected me more than it did Dawn.  I was proud of him, but scared to death something would happen to him.  Dawn told her friends it was the perfect option for them.  He would serve his country while she attended college and when she graduated he would return and they would live happily ever after.  She had been planning their wedding for months.  It would take place a week after graduation, giving them a month of wedded bliss before he went off to boot camp.

His parents thought they were too young, but her parents figured they’d been together for nearly four years, and if they were going to break up they would have done so by now.  Besides, Dawn’s parents adored John and already looked at him as a son.

My friends’ senior year ended way too fast for me.  My last year of high school was going to feel very empty with them away.  I hoped my feelings for John would fade away when he was legally wed to someone else before God, and if they didn’t, I hoped his absence would help my attachment fade.

The wedding was beautiful.  I wanted to cry as I watched John pledge his vows to another woman, looking so happy while he was doing it.  I prayed silently that Dawn would honor her own vows and would make him as happy as he deserved, adding a prayer for peace from my own turbulent feelings.

The next few years passed fairly quickly.  I graduated from high school and went away to college.  During semester breaks, I caught up with Kylie and Debbie at church.  Kylie had also chosen an out of state university while Debbie was attending a nearby cosmetology school.  I thought classes would be easy with a lot of practice doing different hair and nail styles, Debbie admitted, but we haven’t even got to that point yet.  There’s so much science involved.

I only saw John once during a college break.  He was sitting in the front pew at church with his arm around his wife.  He looked up when I walked by and gave me a smile and a wave.  My heart leapt into my throat and I knew my feelings hadn’t faded a bit.

It was Debbie that told me about John and Dawn’s break-up.  I was in my junior year of college and John had finished his tour of duty.  When he broke the news to Dawn that he had signed up for another, she was livid.  She told him her