Escape, a New Life Read Free

remembered that she had been going to the gym for the past few weeks; maybe it was finally starting to pay off. 
    She felt very awkward just sitting there naked on a rock on the beach.  She had briefly considered lying down behind the rock, but the thought of covering her backside with sand was not appealing.  Someone could come along any second, or maybe this man would finally wake up and wander out there.  That would be her luck.  She had only been sitting there for a few minutes and was completely dry, and expected that it would not take that long for her clothes to dry.  She felt them. They were warm, but still pretty damp.
    The water looked inviting, and she had not been skinny dipping since high school graduation night a few years ago.  Why not?   At least if anyone came along, she would be underwater from the neck down.  She eased into the water and went out just over her head.  She swam lazily along the length of the beach and back.  She admired the beautiful color of the water, and the colors of the fish that occasionally swam by. 
    Treading water for a few minutes, she faced the beach and the trees behind it.  It was beautiful.  She thought that she would have to take notes on the drive home so that she could remember how to get back here.
    Thinking about the man she had left back in the cave, she wondered what his story was and how they had met up.  Unfortunately, this was not the first time she had woken up in an unfamiliar place in the last couple of months.  She knew she had to get her life back in order, and being in this place seemed to be a wake-up call to all the beauty in the world she could experience.
    She would not say that she was a drug user per se, but she had been hanging around with people who were.  To be specific, a man who was, and he did not have her best interests in mind.  She had always been a great student, at least until her last semester, when she started spending time with Rick.  He was on the West Coast for business. Well that was what he had told her anyway.  He claimed to have ties to organized crime back in Chicago.  She knew it was stupid, but something about him was charismatic and dangerous, and she was drawn to him instantly. 
    She was fortunate to have done well enough that last semester that she could graduate after taking a summer course to make up for one class that she had failed.  Had she met him a couple years ago, she was sure she never would have made it through school.  Shaking her head at the disappointment she had in herself, she felt like this was the first time she had been thinking clearly in months.
    Now is the time , she thought.  Whatever this is, however I wound up here, it’s time to move on. That life is over. She felt like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders during the twenty minutes she had spent swimming around in the water.  It was time to get her life back on track.  Looking back at her clothes on the rocks, she figured putting her clothes back on would be a good place to start.
    First checking to make sure that no one had come along, she walked out of the water and felt her clothes.  They were completely dry, unlike her.  She stood there, facing the sun over the trees, and was really impressed with how she looked and felt.  She felt confident.  This place was so desolate she had given up on the idea that someone would come along, but she felt so good she almost didn’t care if someone did.  The gym is really paying off .  She turned her back to the sun and after five minutes was completely dry.  She was just buttoning her shorts when she heard a voice behind her, “Hey!” 
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    It was damp and dimly lit, but at least the air smelled amazing.  Judging by the sound of waves crashing close by and the soft ground underneath, he figured he was lying on wet sand.  He had more than once woken up in a random place after a long night of partying, but the throbbing at the back of his head did not