Page 2 of Time to Bounce

No one was there, so I tiptoed out of the narrow corridor into the main lobby.

We were staying in some fancy hotel in Hawaii.

We were right on the beach, and Daddy said the hotel cost six months of mortgage payments to stay at. But Mom wanted to renew their vows, and the beaches of Hawaii was where she wanted to do it.

Dad said he humored her because “What else can I do?”

I hoped my future husband gave me the moon and the stars like my dad did my mom.

A flash of white-blonde hair had me hurrying toward the exit to see Mary Beth out in the hallway that would lead out to the beach.

Daddy told us we couldn’t go out at night because of the wall.

But there she went, and there I followed.

“What’s there to be done?” I heard my dad talking.

Something had happened today.

Something bad.

Dad saw a little girl get taken, and he and Mom had been talking to the police ever since.

That was why Dad told us to stay in the room.

He was scared.

Heck, I was scared.

More because I thought I would get in trouble, not because I was worried I’d be taken.

“It’s happened twice now in three days,” I heard another man say. “Something has to be done. You have hundreds of people coming here, a lot of them with families. You can’t have them coming here if it’s unsafe.”

I hesitated, wanting to hear more about what was being said, but more curious about what it was that Mary Beth was doing.

In the end, I chose Mary Beth.

I followed her out and found her standing at the wall looking over at the black ocean.

I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I joined her at the wall, saying, “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

She gasped and turned, about to yell at me for following her, but she didn’t get the chance.

“Mary Beth?”

I looked over Mary Beth’s shoulder to see a man standing there.

“Oh, Octavian.” She smiled. “What are you doing here so early?”

His eyes went from her to me, and his eyes seemed to shine.

“I…” I started to back away, but I bumped into something hard.

I turned to find another man standing behind me.

“Mary Beth,” I whispered, scared for my life now.

“Attie,” she murmured quietly. “Jump.”

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