Unbreakable by William Fredrick Cooper

Author:William Fredrick Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Strebor Books

THIRTEEN

It took seventy-two hours, but the hole in Carl’s soul grew as large as a crater on the moon.

Clinging tenaciously to a wing-and-prayer hope that Keisha would appear in his office with something resembling peace of mind, the more hours that passed, the more a tornado-like truth swept through his life, leaving a dismal disposition in its wake.

Already overwrought from this revelation, that he finally received a call from Keisha early Tuesday morning further exacerbated his turmoil. Short and succinct, the “Mr. Austin, this call is to let you know that I’m okay. I’m on my way home,” message seemed cold and distant, aloof.

There was no anger in her tone, but what he heard was much worse: indifference.

She finished her communication by asking for him to FedEx her house keys.

It’s like one minute I’m all that she needed, the next she’s saying goodbye, he thought. Soon, sullen thoughts evolved into popping pills like Skittles. Though Dr. Slattery had warned him about the dangers of mixing prescriptions—it could cause schizophrenic reactions, she said—he added the dietary supplement Tenuate to his drugs of choice.

Now wired, he began speeding through his morning assignments like a “D” express train motoring from 125th Street to Columbus Circle. Yet the loss of his lover seemed immeasurable, and once he was done, he closed his office door and tried calling Keisha’s cell five times within an hour, refusing to leave any messages when her answering machine picked up.

No answer on her home phone either.

His lips hardened and his eyes flashed the colors of anger. The veins in his neck revealed the pain stabbing his heart and the sting of this latest rejection had him on the verge of transforming into the lunatic that caused his present state.

The only thing that stopped him was a meeting with a potential client.

She better not be giving my shit away, or I’ll kill her.

• • •

All East Coast residents are familiar with the I-95.

Traveling parallel to the Atlantic Ocean, the primary highway of the region serves all the major cities in the North and the beach party areas of the South. I-95 runs like a nineteen hundred twenty-five-mile bloodstream, giving life to commuters with a vertical vein which extends from Maine to Florida. Connecting its antennas to other cities like Boston, Raleigh, and Charleston, it is the pulse of fifteen states, more than any Interstate Highway in the mainland.

Though it ranked seventh on the mileage list of national roadways, you couldn’t tell William and Keisha that I-75 North wasn’t as long. Speeding through Kentucky’s Madison County, they entered the Richmond area, passing the Eastern Bypass, on Exit 87, then the Martin Bypass three miles later.

Keisha sighed.

William asked, “You okay?”

“Carl’s blowing up my phone.”

“He’s worried because he doesn’t know where you are.”

“I left a message on his phone this morning telling him to return my house keys.”

“And now he won’t leave you alone, will he?”

“I feel like I made a mistake by calling him.”

“You skipped town on him, and sooner or later, you had to let him know that you’re okay.

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