Page 69 of Born Free

Death.

“Roman!” his name erupts from me in a panic.

My head whips around, frantically searching for him in this maze of cornstalks. I set off, pushing my way through it all, the world sharp and mist all at once. “Roman!”

My ears strain, desperate for a response. But nothing but silence responds. It presses in on my eardrums with maddening finality.

I break out into a sprint. “Roman!”

Tears prick my eyes. That shadow hand around my throat tightens faster.

Orlando. Sebastian.

Roman.

“No,” I whimper. “No.”

This is wrong.

This is new.

Something isn’t right.

“Roman!” I bellow, pushing the stalks away from me, trying to clear my way. “Roman, where are you?”

The tears begin streaming down my face, an unstoppable force.

“Roman!” his name comes out in a terrified scream.

Suddenly, I burst from the field, out onto a dusty country road.

There, standing just on the other side, is a woman.

She is more solid than the rest of this place. It’s as if the rest of the world is out of focus, and she is the only bit that is real.

I freeze as I look at her.

Blonde hair.

Blue eyes.

A delicate nose.

A small frame but massive presence.

“Juliet,” she breathes, her voice filled with a familiar accent. “How are you here?”

“Mom?” I whisper, the word an earth-shaken quiver.

The look on her face is at once terrified, confused, and filled with wonder. She takes a step forward and then another, meeting me at the edge of the road. Her hands take mine. But they’re barely tangible enough to feel.

“What has happened, my love?” she asks, her tone tender and concerned.

I look around again, feeling overwhelmed and crazy and scared. “What is this place? Is this… is this hell?”

Because I recognize this place. It’s where my story began, and my mother’s ended.

It’s the country road where Archer King killed her.

---