Her Man Beast

chapter 1

Lydia

The phone rang in the small cubicle I call a living room in my small cubicle of a cabin, a noise I found very annoying and quite disturbing because no one other than my boss knew I was here or knew how to get me, and if she was the one calling, let's just say I don't want to go home yet.

By the time I got to it, the funky plastic of a thing stopped crying.

I had been cooking pasta and my grandmother's recipe for source in the kitchen and couldn't discard everything on me fast enough to receive the call.

I sighed, waiting around to see if it would ring again.

It did, a few seconds later.

"H'lo"

"LYDIA JAINE CASSIDY!" No, not her. I don't want to talk to her, definitely not her. "Where on God's planet are you?"

"Hey ma! Good to hear from you." My sarcasm was so bitter I was sure it reflected over the phone.

"Hmm." My mom grumbled.

"How did you get me?" I thought I had disappeared without leaving a trace behind. I was so wrong.

"Diana, that damned bossy bitch. No don't blame her darling, she's one loyal fuck-off, it took me making a huge scene in her office for her to tell me where you ran off to. Do you know how worried. . ." Great! I'm going to kill my boss. Only if I did, I'd not only loose my job, - the one thing that hasn't been a disappointment in my life, I'd also be spending the rest of my life in prison, thereby loose my life and my sanity altogether. Double great!

"Mom, what did you do?" She made a scene in my work place, and possibly threatened my boss? I think my brain just finally got that. I had been too preoccupied thinking of the number of ways I could murder my boss without either loosing my job or getting caught and having to spend the rest of my life in jail.

"Nothing. Never mind that dear." She released her breadth. When she talked, her voice was low, soft and gentle. "Lydia. I'm worried about you."

"Don't be. I'm fine mom."

"Then why did you run away. Again." The accusation in her voice was torrid. It almost made me feel bad. Almost.

"I did not run away." I bit off, defending my actions.

"Wyoming? Are you out of your mind?"

"No. I'm on vacation. Mom, I have to go."

"No wait - don't you dare hang up on me LYDIA JAINE CASSIDY." I sighed but waited for her to say whatever it was that was on her mind.

But then mom heaved a sigh and surprised me by saying, "I'm sorry."

"Mom!"

"No, no, it's fine. It's just I've been really worried about you. I didn't know where you were, I called all your friends, I called your line, I. . . I even went to the police to report Jason." Mom finished in a whisper.

I stiffened. The whole of me stiffened the minute his name slipped out of her mouth. My ex fiancé. My body recoiled, like it had taken on poison stronger than it could handle. I bit my tongue, forcing tears to stay at bay, I didn't need them now.

"W - why w - would you ever think to report Jason? For what?"

"Oh Jaine. It's stupid really. I thought he had kidnapped you." The last I needed was anyone's interference in this issue, that was why I left in the first place. The last thing I needed right now is my mom trying to introduce her late fifties craziness into the mess my relationship turned out to be. Dang, how many movies does she watch? It's clearly painting her reality a different picture. Like it was normal or even expected that broken up couples kidnap each other after a messy affair.