Sara's Unexpected Detour: A Short Story

By Reba Rymers

Sara Hill is excited to start the weekend which
promises a wonderful time with Matt Sames, the man
of her dreams, at her best friend Jennys wedding.
Although the trip is only three hours long, Sara takes
an unexpected detour to another dimension and
never arrives at her parents home in Houston, as
expected. Will she make it to the wedding? Will
she ever be able to get back? As search parties look
for her, she is nowhere anyone can find her. Shes
sheltered by a group of rebels who insist shes there to
save them from being totally annihilated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 23, 2010
• ISBN: 9781453573488

Reba Rymers

Reba Rymers and her husband John live in the San Antonio, Texas area. As a child she made up stories and gave roles to the neighborhood kids to put on summer plays. Later, as a mother, she made up fairy tale bedtime stories for her fi ve children. Reba is a United States Air Force Civil Service retiree. Her association with the military gave her the opportunity to travel and live in many places where she learned about different cultures and people. She writes about personal as well as paranormal experiences, adding a touch of fantasy and magic.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

SURPRISE!

Monday was a beautiful, cool December day. Scattered wispy clouds decorating a baby blue sky and multi-colored leaves covering the ground resembled a lovely work of art. But to Sara Hill it may as well have been a blank wall. For the past thirty minutes she has been unexplainably antsy; her thoughts jumbled. She just can’t sit still no matter what she does. She paces back and forth, back and forth . . . this is the third time from her desk six feet away at the back of the office to the tall window facing the campus in the last five minutes, that’s not counting all the trips before that. She looks out anxiously waiting, as if that would hurry the students to come out shouting and laughing at noon, her daily cue it’s lunchtime. She pays no attention to the large clock on the wall, it’s never right anyway, and she can’t wear watches, they overwind because of her body chemistry. She’s jinxed when it comes to timepieces-her computer clock stopped working her first day at the office and the time on her cell phone always runs fast. It may or may not help to get out of the office, but there’ll be more space to share the anxiety within her.

A year ago Sara moved from Houston, her hometown, to Palisades, Texas, leaving behind her loving parents, Gloria and Rand Hill, and her best friend, Jenny Wynters. In Palisades Sara doesn’t have to put up with the hustle and bustle of the big city or drive thirty miles a day from home to school in bumper to bumper traffic. The main benefit is she doesn’t have to put up with the students at Houston University who were hounding her for psychic readings she doesn’t do. In Palisades she finds friendly people, a peaceful atmosphere, and slow traffic—it suits her just fine. The studio apartment she rents is within walking distance to Wyndham University where she takes classes at night and works as the administrative assistant in the Parapsychology Department by day. Since she’s always been unusual, she fits right in with the paranormal group. She loves her job and is planning to change her major from Business to Parapsychology next semester.

Sara’s many strange experiences and psychic premonitions have been part of her life since she was a little girl. Jenny always jokingly tells her, Sara, you’re weird. Like now, she knows something is about to happen, but doesn’t know exactly what; just that it’s something really good. She hates the feeling of something unknown just beyond her reach of discovery. Since she’s gotten more involved with her co-workers, she’s learned a few things, except how to grasp that missing piece. She’s been meaning to talk to Matt Sames, the resident psychic, about how she can do that or if it’s even possible.

The familiar commotion of students starts, making her excitement grow stronger. She picks up her purse from her desk, grabs the jacket from the coat rack, and heads for the door. As she turns the doorknob, someone is simultaneously turning it from the other side, she lets go. The door opens wide.

Sara!? The startled visitor puts her hand on her chest to calm herself down.

Jenny! What a surprise.

Don’t tell me you didn’t know I was coming. You always know these things.

To be perfectly honest, I knew something was going to happen . . . something good. It was driving me crazy. But I didn’t know it was something wonderful . . . you!

They hug each other as if they’ve been apart for months, when only last weekend Sara went home to visit her parents and to help Jenny choose flowers and a wedding cake for her upcoming wedding this Saturday. Even though she visits occasionally on weekends and holidays, Jenny managed to find Harry Brown while Sara wasn’t around. After a whirlwind romance the couple decided to get married. Marrying a man Jenny’s only known three months causes Sara much concern. She’s never met Jenny’s fiancée and last weekend he was out of town. Jenny comes from a rich family and Sara’s, so far, been able to weed out the insincere suitors through her innate ability. She hasn’t tried to do that from Palisades and has to trust that Jenny made a wise choice. After all no one wants her sister to get hurt, and they are like sisters, they’ve been close ever since they were in Kindergarten.

How did you get here? Asks Sara excitedly.

Jenny starts ranting, as she always does when she’s excited, I flew. You know Howard, Dad’s pilot? We were talking yesterday while he waited for dad. He asked me about you . . . one thing led to another and he told me he has a girlfriend over here, so I asked him if he could bring me on his day off, which happens to be today. He’s been trying to surprise Carol and was very happy to oblige me. Carol is driving up Friday . . . she’s really going to be so surprised to see Howard. She catches her breath, Anyway, here I am.

That’s great! Sara beamed.

Noticing Sara has her purse and jacket in hand, I see it’s lunchtime, want a ride?

Sure. Let’s go to Mario’s, I’m in the mood for Italian.

They start walking to the parking lot in the back of the building.

Your wedding is only days away, surely you have lots of details to take care of . . . you didn’t dump them on your mom, did you?

No, I wouldn’t do that. Thanks to you, I already have the flowers and cake picked out and ordered; the caterers are ready to set up and do the serving; the bridesmaids will decorate the church, excluding you, of course; and Friday . . . Dad said he wanted to surprise me about where we’re having the rehearsal dinner. Everyone is supposed to know already and I’m not supposed to ask anyone. You probably already know too, do you?

Actually, no. Guess he doesn’t trust I won’t tell you.

I’m guessing it’s at . . . well, I better not say or it may not happen.

I bet you think it’s at the Legacy, right? asks Sara unthinkingly.

Yes, what was I thinking? I should know better than not to say something, you’re going to read my mind anyway.

You know I don’t mean to, it just happens.

I know. Don’t worry, I’m used to it. I wish I could do the things you do.

Hey, maybe you’ll catch some of it by osmosis.

Not! They both laugh.

CHAPTER TWO

SARA’S DESTINY

Sara’s friend and confidant, Jenny, is very intelligent and with Sara

she’s learned there’s a whole other world of wonder out there. Her role has always been to support Sara and ensure her secret, that she has unusual powers, isn’t compromised. She understands the importance of Sara’s powers needing to develop on their own time until she’s ready to share them with the world, which is her destiny. Sara’s mother, Gloria, explained it all to her and told her never to let Sara know this because it has to take place naturally. If Sara knew, she would be anxious and do whatever she could to hurry things up. There are only two secrets Jenny keeps from Sara; one, what Gloria told her; and two, that she reports Sara’s psychic experiences so Gloria can track her progress.

Gloria started cataloguing all of Sara’s paranormal activities starting with the first, when Sara was six years old.

Excitedly, Sara had run into the living room to see the lady visiting them. She asked her mom, Where is the lady in the green dress?

There’s no lady here but me. Gloria replied as she sat reading a magazine on the sofa.

No, there was a lady in a green dress sitting in the living room . . . in that chair. Sara insisted, pointing to a Queen Anne wing chair they used for special guests. In her mind’s eye the picture was so clear, she actually saw the lady sitting on the chair when she was in another room. Just then the doorbell rang. A lady in a green dress came in and sat in the living room just as Sara had pictured her. The woman was an old acquaintance of Gloria’s from her hometown, San Antonio.

At the age of seven Sara predicted two deaths in the family of people she’d never met yet she knew their names. She started speaking to invisible people, who later turned out to be ghosts visiting her.

Many such occasions proved Sara was psychic and her mother knew Sara was more powerful than she was.

Sara’s parents raised her in a warm, loving environment while molding her into a strong, independent young lady. They supported her in everything and Gloria guided her in how to handle her special ability, instructing her to keep her gift a secret. Gloria and Sara are the gifted ones, while Rand is supportive of their talents.

There is something extra special about Sara than just being psychic. At the age of six, Sara tried to visit a little girl who lived across the street. She knew she had to look for cars before she could cross, but she only looked to the left before she started across. At the same time a car was coming from the other side and the driver was looking to the right for a house address. The car must have hit her, yet Sara didn’t feel a thing. It was a miracle. Even though Sara ended up underneath the car with her head behind the right front tire, there wasn’t even one little scratch on her anywhere.

Another time, six-year-old Sara was in the backyard playing when a hornet’s nest fell and the hornets attacked her on the knees and legs. She apparently wasn’t allergic, but a nest full of hornets can do a lot of harm. Gloria immediately used vinegar and baking soda to draw out the poison and Sara was fine, no ill effects at all.

Several incidents