Casualty

By Vanessa McDowell

What if you were wrongly accused, sent to jail only to find you were on a path to a violent death within the walls that claimed your freedom? Would you try to escape? Logon Daniels does just that in this unpredictable jaw-dropping journey that forces her to struggle through devastating obstacles that will have you rooting for her to the very end.
Casualty tells the story of a young woman wrongly accused and sent to prison by a system that was supposed to protect her rights but failed to do so. The protagonists, Logon Denise Daniels, is befriended by three inmates at Gatesville Women Correctional Facilities in Gatesville, TX near Austin. When a gang called Butchers threatens to kill Logon she decides to escape to save her life. The author skillfully plots an escape plan for her wrongfully accused protagonist that leads her on a path of unpredictable destruction and near-death experiences including a deranged murdering lunatic on the loose.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387311255

Book preview

Casualty

CASUALTY

VANESSA MCDOWELL

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AVAILABLE NOW

The Star Gold trilogy

Genesis

Nirvana

Kemet

~

Filmography

Cameo (Watch it for free at www.blackbooc.com)

Cameo, The Aftermath (Coming 2019)

~

Chat to Vanessa McDowell and find out about her upcoming projects:

Facebook.com/blackboocmedia

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www.blackbooc.coM

©2010 Vanessa McDowell. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Second Edition published by Lulu

First Edit by Mary Macbeth, www.UrbanFictionEditor.com

Final Edit by Terina Chapin Brooms, www.broomsediting.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010917768

ISBN: 978-1-387-31125-5

Printed in the United States of America

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or any means, or stored in a database or a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. And similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CHAPTERS

PROLOGUE

FADE IN

IMPRISONED

PLAN B

THE EYE OF THE STORM

THE CHASE

THE CROSS

RENEWAL

UNEXPECTEDLY EVER AFTER

FOOTPRINTS

KNOCK ON WOOD

IN THE END

FADE OUT

EPILOGUE

THE LOCKLESS DOOR

It went many years,

But at last came a knock,

And I thought of the door

With no lock to lock.

~

I blew out the light,

I tiptoed the floor,

And raised both hands

In prayer to the door.

~

But the knock came again.

My window was wide;

I climbed on the sill

And descended outside.

~

Back over the sill

I bade a Come in

To whatever the knock

At the door may have been.

~

So at a knock

I emptied my cage

To hide in the world

And alter with age.

~~

- Robert Frost

FOREWORD

~

Ca·su·al·ty n.

One that is harmed or eliminated as a result of an action or a circumstance

~

Um, that’s some definition. Harmed or eliminated as a result of an action seems to be exactly what happened to me, Logon Denise Daniels.

There were clearly circumstances to my actions. Some would argue I got what I deserved. Others would say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Like Forest Gump’s momma said, Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get. The truth is, I was a casualty of another phrase Forest’s momma taught him, Shit happens, sometimes.

PROLOGUE

Houses kept with a sense of pride line a ghetto street in Austin, TX.

Ambulances with their lights flashing are speeding, ignoring stop signs and dashing through red lights.

The sounds of sirens from emergency vehicles echo throughout the neighborhood, eliminating all other sounds' chances of penetrating their deafening blare.

The first ambulance, responding to the 911-distress call, is already on the scene with emergency lights off.

The street is flooded with emergency crews and neighborhood onlookers whose curiosity is spinning out of control, creating stories about what could have happened to their neighbors.

A six-year-old girl, confused and afraid, stands next to a police officer. She screams and yells with intolerable force. Tears stream down her cheeks, each chasing the last.

The officer, mirroring a defenseless man, console the girl, knowing the worse part of his job is about to be exposed by acquainting her to a new fate.

A woman’s body, covered with a blood-saturated sheet, is being rolled to the back of the ambulance.

There is another limp body, lying on a gurney, being rolled towards the ambulance’s open doors. It is a man, covered to the chest, with a similarly stained sheet. His gushing blood soaks through the fabric, revealing an inescapable death.

The man reaches out for the girl with the resolute determination of a protective father. His weakened body shows enduring strength. The pain he carries for her erupts from his eyes, causing him to appear extremely dazed and distorted.

The girl cries out to the man in an inconsolable wail, filled with awareness of her newly found destiny.

FADE IN

LOGON

Oh God, what’s wrong with me? I felt trapped inside   my mind.

Let me go! I heard myself scream. I continued to struggle against my will to release me from what seemed an entrapment in my worst nightmare: my mother’s death. I made a desperate attempt to pinch my arm in hopes of waking.

Isn't that what they say to do if you lose touch with reality? Pinch yourself, and you will wake up. I think that’s the saying.

However, nothing happened when I pinched my arm. I wasn't conscious of a thing and didn't wake.

This can’t be good.

Feeling my thin naked frame twisting and turning in my bed, I slid between mint green Egyptian cotton sheets as I struggled to grab hold of something to keep my mind from drifting into oblivion.

The presence of something soft and warm reposed next to me. It prevented me from completing a full-throttle probe of my bed. I tried to make it out, but I thought I should grab it instead, so I did.

I squeezed it as hard as my arms would allow me to, so hard it caused my eyes to roll. At this point, several things happened at once.

The sound of sirens exploded all around me.

In the distance, a little girl’s hand reached for the ambulance’s door as it drove off. She began to trail the vehicle. Unable to keep up, she attempted one last cry.

No! No! Don’t take her. Don’t take my mommy. Come back!

The sirens faded into the distance. Translucent smoke gradually replaced the ambulance. I could barely make out the flashing lights and moon rays colliding in the street.

The girl’s voice repeated one last time.

No! No! Don't take her, she cried.

I began to thrash about in the bed again.

What is this?

Something pinned my arms down. I was restrained, so I yelled.

No! No! Don’t take her. I echoed the girl.

Wait. That’s not what I wanted to say. I must be dreaming.

My body seemed to emerge from its temporary coma and given back its will to breathe, to move, and to talk. To sense you don’t have control over your body is scary, and not being able to wake yourself from your dream is alarming, to say the least. I imagine that’s what death is like. You simply lose control of your mobility and conscious awareness. You lose the ability to wake up.

I drifted.

Wait a minute.

I'm still restrained.

Damn it! I’m still asleep.

~

Logon, wake up. Baby, what, what is it?

I quickly sat up in the bed almost falling backward from the rush it gave me. I opened my eyes and was momentarily arrested by the rising sun barely casting its light through the drapery illuminating the bedroom. As always, the room was kept like military barracks with everything tucked neatly in its place.

It's nothing.

I avoided giving a reason for my embarrassing outburst.

Don't! You know I worry about you. This is the second time this week. What are you dreaming about that’s upsetting you?

David, it's nothing. Really, I reassured him.

Were you dreaming about your mother again? He gently voiced.

It's nothing, just leave it alone, I said, hating to bother him with nightmares of my childhood.

The next thing I knew I was forced backward. David rolled his perfectly formed body, with a chest worthy of bouncing quarters off of, on top of me. He almost knocked the wind out of my lungs with his potent force.

I stroked David’s face. He resembled a younger version of Denzel Washington. Every time I stared into his honey-kissed eyes, his beauty made my stomach float with butterflies.

David had the ability to reduce me to Jell-O. A light surrounded him, and I was drawn to his afterglow, like a moth to a flame, like bees to honey. I needed him to shine down on me and illuminate my soul. Without his light, I could not ignite.

In his deep sultry voice, he spoke to me.

Hey, it's you and me, baby. I'm going to take care of you. You can trust me, he said with his smooth baritone.

Me and you, I smiled and rubbed his back, dragging my nails down his milk chocolate skin.

Can I get a little of you right now? I provoked him.

You already got me, Logon.

David grabbed me underneath my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

My head lifted from the pillow a bit as he met my lips with a loving passion. I moved my head downward to his chest pressing my lips to his skin.

Aw, girl, the things you do to me.

I continued to please him as I rolled him over to his back and moved downward on his chest and then back up to his mouth.

Arching my back, I ground my hips causing my breast to be pushed high to his mouth. Reaching for my firm breast, he pulled himself upright while I straddled him. He grabbed me by my hair forcing my head to be pulled backward.

David was driving me crazy. I could smell the musk of his gentle fragrance seeping from his pores.

Caressing me on my neck with his tongue; the touch of his lips sent chills down my spine causing me to tremble in his embrace. Our bodies underneath the sheets exposed the deed at hand.

~~

A few hours later, we both rested on our backs exhausted but pleased.

I think we should try to get away for awhile. I have a weekend off coming up soon, David said.

Ok, I pushed my shoulder underneath the pit of his arm and laid my head on his chest. My hair brushed against his nipples making them harden. Where do you want to go?

One of my co-workers told me about this place near the border, Lake Casa Blanca. It’s supposed to be a nice spot for getaways. I think we should check it out.

Let’s do it. It sounds romantic, I agreed.

David rolled on top of me, and I felt that his nipples weren’t the only thing that had hardened.

Let’s do what, he crooned.  No, we can’t. I quickly sat up straight in bed, which caused me to be dizzy again.

Oh, I need to go. I forced my unwilling body from the bed.

Where are you going? David asked.

"I