Page 84 of Keeping Penny

Tears filled her eyes, and Bowie felt them on her cheeks.

“I’m not scared,” she whispered with a sniff.

Finally, she turned and started walking—one slow, careful step at a time—hoping she was going in the right direction. That she was going toward where the music had been.

It was a little weird not hearing anything but the water. There were no cars, no people talking. She’d gotten very used to a loud world, so the silence was pretty freaky.

She liked that word, Abigail used it all the time. Thinking about her best friend made her feel better. She wished she was here right now. She’d know which way was left and which was right. She was the smartest person she knew.

Determination rose within Bowie. Abigail said she wanted to go to Disney World with her. Bowie didn’t really understand what Disney World was, but since Abigail loved it so much, it had to be great.

Bowie walked as straight as possible, making sure to stay in the mushy sand, which meant it was wet, and continuing to move slowly so she didn’t trip. Every now and then the ocean surprised her and washed over her feet, but Bowie made sure not to get sucked into the water.

After walking for what seemed like hours, she started to get tired. She wanted to lie down, to rest. Her legs were heavy and her belly was rumbling. She hadn’t had anything to eat since lunchtime at school, which seemed like so long ago. She worried that she’d gone in the wrong direction. She hadn’t heard anyone. And definitely no music. She had no idea how far she’d walked or how much longer she had to go until she found someone to help her.

But Kylo-Pyro had seemed sure that she’d run into someone. That someone would see her. She recited her address and Mommy’s phone number out loud, just in case she forgot it.

The longer she walked, the more tired she got. The more her feet hurt. They were wet from the water and it wasn’t easy to walk in the sand. Her legs felt as if they weighed eight hundred pounds, and the taste of salt on her lips was making her really thirsty.

She wanted to stop. To sit in the sand and cry. Tears fell from her eyes, and it took all of Bowie’s strength not to give up.

But then Kylo-Pyro’s voice sounded in her head. Telling her how proud he was of her. How strong she was. Bowie didn’t feel strong, but thinking about him being hurt kept her walking. The bad men who’d taken them had hit him. And he’d cried. The knowledge that Kylo-Pyro was in pain, her favorite person in the world after Mommy, kept her going.

He was counting on her to find help.

“I’m not scared, I’m not scared,” she repeated over and over as she walked.

Just when she thought she couldn’t go another single step, that she’d failed, that this beach was going to go on forever…she thought she heard something ahead of her.

Voices. People talking! She was sure of it!

Any thought of being tired disappeared, and she began to walk faster. People meant help. In the back of her mind, she heard Miss Blake, her teacher, telling them about “stranger danger,” but Kylo-Pyro had said to find someone and ask if they had a phone, so that’s what she was going to do.

As she continued walking, the voices got louder, and Bowie could hear them talking about fish. Then one of the men said something about sixty-nine, and how tasty some woman was. Which made no sense to Bowie. How could a lady be tasty? And what did sixty-nine have to do with it?

Her steps faltered. Were the men eating people? No, that couldn’t be right.

The two voices got louder as she continued walking, and the fear Bowie had managed to push down as she’d thought about her friend, and Disney, and Kylo-Pyro becoming her daddy for real, returned tenfold.

“I’m not scared, I’m not scare⁠—”

Her words were abruptly cut off when she slammed into something hard.

She fell back onto her butt in the sand, and a wave immediately soaked her from waist to toes as it came ashore.

Panicked, Bowie scrambled to her feet and tried to get away from the water, but she tripped, this time on some rocks. She went down hard once again, and wasn’t able to stop the alarmed cry from escaping.

The voices above her stopped as Bowie struggled to get to her feet once more. Her palms felt wet now, and she had a feeling she’d cut them.

“What the fuck?” one of the men above her exclaimed.

Bowie wanted to tell him that was a bad word, and he shouldn’t use it, but her throat had closed up. Now that she’d finally found someone, she was terrified that he’d hurt her like the bad man had hurt Kylo-Pyro.

“Are you okay?” a second man called out.

Bowie didn’t answer, she was shaking too hard, her palms hurting, her belly growling, and her heart beating so fast it almost ached.

“Shit, Bud, she’s hurt.”