Read Locked (The Heaven's Gate Trilogy) for Free Online Page B

school
for homework; desperate for him to believe it, even though it was so
transparent.
    “I thought I’d tricked
him, but he showed up at the movie theater and made a scene.”
    “What kind of scene?”
Michael prompted.
    I could still remember
the feeling of Danny’s fingertips bumping into mine as we burrowed into the
bucket of greasy popcorn.  The angry stir of the crowd as the crazy man started
spouting bible verses at the top of his voice from the back of the theater.  My
horror when the crazy man started calling me by name, stalking down the aisle
to claim me from my seat and pull me to his waiting car.
    My embarrassment at that
moment had paled in comparison to how I felt when I had to deal with the
ridicule I’d later faced in school.  I’d gone from tolerated misfit to
ridiculed pariah in the time it took Danny to spread the story around.  I
couldn’t blame him.  He recognized the opportunity to shoot to super-popularity
on the back of someone else’s misfortune.  It happened all the time in high
school.  It just had never happened to me.
    “It doesn’t matter,” I
said, trying to shrug off the feeling of hopelessness that engulfed me whenever
I thought about that time.  “He’s just super religious and strict and kind of
went too far.  So that’s why I wanted to come back to Atlanta.  I just needed
some space from my dad.”
    I blinked my eyes open,
and realized with a start that we were parked in front of my house.  I turned
to Michael, startled.
    “How did you…?”
    He laughed and flipped up
the name tag on my backpack, which I’d neatly placed on the seat between us. 
“Address on your tag.  Easy as pie.”  He looked down at me, sheepishly.  “I
didn’t want to interrupt you while you were talking.  It seemed like whatever
you were remembering was pretty important.”
    I flushed, scolding
myself for how suspicious I’d become.  I vowed not to let my father’s craziness
infect me.
    “Thanks for the ride,
Michael,” I said, flashing him a grateful smile.
    “My pleasure, Hope,” he
said, his own grin deepening. He reached across my lap and opened the door for
me.  Up close, his eyes seemed to dance, shifting into different shades of blue
as the sun caught them.  I felt my heart give a little thump .  “See you
tomorrow.”
    *****
    When Michael had pulled away
from my driveway, Mrs. Bibeau came scurrying out of her driveway, nearly
bursting with questions and waving at me to slow down.
    “Lots of homework!” I
yelled before closing the door on her.  I let my back fall against the door as
I clutched my bag to my chest, a silly smile stealing across my face.
    Several times that
afternoon as I worked on my homework I caught myself humming to myself and
smiling.  So silly, I thought to myself.  Are you really so giddy, just
because someone was nice to you?
    But all the trauma of my
first day at Dunwoody High seemed far behind me.  As I brushed my hair out
before bed, I had to admit to myself that I was, indeed, giddy with happiness. 
Today had turned out exactly like I’d envisioned it when I’d planned my move to
Atlanta.  No – it was even better.  This was what I had hoped for, but hadn’t dared
to acknowledge, even to myself.  Anonymity was one thing.  But to have a
friend, a real friend – someone who didn’t know my past, someone whose picture
of me wasn’t skewed by looking at me through the prism of my abduction -- that
was another.
    And he might even be able
to relate, if I shared more of my past with him.  After all, he’d said he’d
grown up in a cult.  I thought almost guiltily of my computer before giving in
to the temptation and plopping down in front of it.  I launched the search
engine and began hunting for any news coverage of a raided cult in Iowa. 
Nothing.  I changed the search terms and switched engines, but still only
managed to come up with a bunch of raids in Texas and Utah.
    How odd.  My curiosity
deepened.  I wondered