Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Christopher Rankin
room to do our bills.” She added, “I noticed that nobody had done it while I was at work.”
“Sorry baby but you know how bad I am with numbers. I would just screw it all up. Besides, you’re so good at it!” After that, Lori’s phone rang again and she started in a new conversation with another one of her old friends. She poured herself another drink and sat back down at the kitchen table.
Ann Marie noticed one last video at the bottom of the Dr. Death Internet Archive. When she opened it up, the sound of a man screaming his lungs out was so loud that it made the speakers on the computer crack. Ann Marie nearly jumped out of her seat. Her hand dove to the volume to lower it.
The video was taken in the dark, in what looked like one of LA’s many post-industrial nearly demilitarized zones. The man screaming was also flying through the air. It looked like he had been tossed by a catapult. Below him was the vague outline of a man. It certainly could have been her new boss.
...
After Ann Marie pushed the last thumbtack into the drywall, she took a step back and admired the artwork in her new, very own, personal laboratory. Her room at The Asylum now had some personal flavor. She hoped that the thirty-six by forty-eight inch poster of a rapper yelling into a solid gold microphone wouldn’t get her into trouble with the corporation. She suspected that there had to be some rule at some level that restricted her expression on the walls. However, she remembered some sage advice from her mother, who had told her, “Honey, it is much better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
The rapper in the poster, ThugLUV, had a rather notorious reputation with the police and called openly for killing some of them. The more Anne Marie thought about it, the more the poster seemed like a bad idea. She hadn’t even met her new boss and didn’t know what to make of his reputation. She thought she was pushing her luck by just having her job at age seventeen. She started to pull one of the thumbtacks out to take down the poster.
“Why are you taking that down?” Asked Dr. Dade Harkenrider. He was standing in the frame of the door.
The first thing she noticed was the pair of black sunglasses he wore inside the building. Underneath, striking features made up a rather boyish face. He was certainly handsome but there was something vaguely threatening about it. She wondered if he was younger than her mother, who was only thirty-two. His long, black lab coat was buttoned all the way up and ran down to his feet. Ann Marie had never seen one like it.
She had forgotten that he had asked her a question. When he took a step into the room, she realized that he wasn’t built like the scientists she knew. He was tall and imposing, with shoulders and arms like the plastic toy action figures she remembered her boy cousins playing with.
“I apologize,” said her boss. He seemed to be making an effort to tone down the substantial authority in his voice. “I should have properly introduced myself before just barging in on you. I’m Dade Harkenrider and I’ve been very excited to meet you. I’m grateful that you made the long trip out her from Philadelphia. I bet that wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.”
“I didn’t leave that much behind.”
“I see,” he said as though he understood something about her. “Well,” he went on, “back to my question that I asked you earlier. Why are you taking down your poster? You should want to make your new lab your own.”
Ann Marie stumbled before saying, “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
“Appropriate for what?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding nervous. “I didn’t want to do anything wrong when I’m just starting out.”
Harkenrider suddenly took on a look as though he was about to say something of grave importance. He asked her, “Is it because ThugLUV promotes drug use, crime and general lawlessness?”
“Do you want
“Sorry baby but you know how bad I am with numbers. I would just screw it all up. Besides, you’re so good at it!” After that, Lori’s phone rang again and she started in a new conversation with another one of her old friends. She poured herself another drink and sat back down at the kitchen table.
Ann Marie noticed one last video at the bottom of the Dr. Death Internet Archive. When she opened it up, the sound of a man screaming his lungs out was so loud that it made the speakers on the computer crack. Ann Marie nearly jumped out of her seat. Her hand dove to the volume to lower it.
The video was taken in the dark, in what looked like one of LA’s many post-industrial nearly demilitarized zones. The man screaming was also flying through the air. It looked like he had been tossed by a catapult. Below him was the vague outline of a man. It certainly could have been her new boss.
...
After Ann Marie pushed the last thumbtack into the drywall, she took a step back and admired the artwork in her new, very own, personal laboratory. Her room at The Asylum now had some personal flavor. She hoped that the thirty-six by forty-eight inch poster of a rapper yelling into a solid gold microphone wouldn’t get her into trouble with the corporation. She suspected that there had to be some rule at some level that restricted her expression on the walls. However, she remembered some sage advice from her mother, who had told her, “Honey, it is much better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
The rapper in the poster, ThugLUV, had a rather notorious reputation with the police and called openly for killing some of them. The more Anne Marie thought about it, the more the poster seemed like a bad idea. She hadn’t even met her new boss and didn’t know what to make of his reputation. She thought she was pushing her luck by just having her job at age seventeen. She started to pull one of the thumbtacks out to take down the poster.
“Why are you taking that down?” Asked Dr. Dade Harkenrider. He was standing in the frame of the door.
The first thing she noticed was the pair of black sunglasses he wore inside the building. Underneath, striking features made up a rather boyish face. He was certainly handsome but there was something vaguely threatening about it. She wondered if he was younger than her mother, who was only thirty-two. His long, black lab coat was buttoned all the way up and ran down to his feet. Ann Marie had never seen one like it.
She had forgotten that he had asked her a question. When he took a step into the room, she realized that he wasn’t built like the scientists she knew. He was tall and imposing, with shoulders and arms like the plastic toy action figures she remembered her boy cousins playing with.
“I apologize,” said her boss. He seemed to be making an effort to tone down the substantial authority in his voice. “I should have properly introduced myself before just barging in on you. I’m Dade Harkenrider and I’ve been very excited to meet you. I’m grateful that you made the long trip out her from Philadelphia. I bet that wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.”
“I didn’t leave that much behind.”
“I see,” he said as though he understood something about her. “Well,” he went on, “back to my question that I asked you earlier. Why are you taking down your poster? You should want to make your new lab your own.”
Ann Marie stumbled before saying, “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think it was appropriate.”
“Appropriate for what?”
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding nervous. “I didn’t want to do anything wrong when I’m just starting out.”
Harkenrider suddenly took on a look as though he was about to say something of grave importance. He asked her, “Is it because ThugLUV promotes drug use, crime and general lawlessness?”
“Do you want
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