Crymsyn Hart Read Online Free Page A

at the monitor for so long. All the data they had collected, from the weather, balloon had been stored and logged. She’d been going over some of it, but there were other things that kept distracting her. Jeremy kept nodding off and snoring. She’d poke him and he’d be useful for another five minutes before he was brain dead once again. Finally, she’d had enough and sent him home telling him to come back tomorrow afternoon when he’d had a good night’s sleep. Since his departure, she’d lost track of time and now it was dark outside. Shit. Trina’s going to be waiting for me. Her and that stupid bar she likes to hang out at. I’m not sure why she likes it. The place is filled with hicks. George had tried to get out of it, but there was no saying no to her best friend once she started using her puppy dog eyes on you.
    Checking her watch, she had enough time to get home, shower, and change.
    Throwing her things into her bag, she raced to her car and began her half an hour drive home from the college. While she did, her mind wandered back to the man on horseback that she’d seen in the field. It’s just my imagination. I didn’t see anything. I don’t need to dredge up the past. There was no man. Just like the shadows I see in the clouds. They’re easily explained away. He turned and winked at me though. Jeremy even commented on it. There has to be something to it. He took control of the storm and made it go away so it wouldn’t hit the van. No. George, get a hold of yourself. It’s bad enough half the teaching staff thinks I’m nuts because I can sense storms and know when they’re going to turn. Sometimes I think they want 20

     
    to put me in their labs and dissect me. I wouldn’t be surprised. Bert glances at me like I’m some kind of lab rat. I remember the time he tried to hook electrodes up to me to see if I had different brain waves and then he asked me out for dinner.
    She shivered just thinking about her co-worker. While she recalled buried memories, others were pried loose and brought to the surface. Her father’s laughing and smiling face. The way he smelled of fresh hay. The sound of his screams interrupting her peaceful place while she watched the twister which was coming toward her. He was running, yelling for her to get out of the way, but she couldn’t move. Fear and awe had held her to the spot. Then at the last second there was a man with a white horse who came to her right before the cyclone hit.
    She slammed down on the memory. No. I just made him up. He wasn’t real. That’s what the years of therapy were for. I’m not to blame for my father’s death. It was a force of nature. Nothing I could’ve done would’ve saved him. Even though he was trying to save me.
    She pulled up outside her house. She had inherited the old farmhouse after her mother died a couple of years ago after a long, hard fought battle with breast cancer.
    Watching her mother’s struggle with the disease, through the chemo and the hair loss was heartbreaking, it was a dark time in her life. Knowing her mother had gone to a better place and was no longer suffering was the only source of comfort she had after her mother passed. She threw herself into her work. That was when she had come up with the idea of trying to see if there was an instrument that could predict oncoming storms, but nothing had panned out so far. Just a lot of failed experiments. A light breeze blew across her face ruffling her hair. She glanced up to the clear night sky and breathed in the wonderful crisp air. Sometimes she wondered what was beyond. She wasn’t sure if something watched out for her or not, but she wanted to believe her parents were happy wherever they were.
    She grabbed the mail and headed inside. Checking her watch again, she only had half an hour to get ready and then leave. I can do this. She dashed upstairs, went into the shower, and rummaged through her closet. Inside she pulled out typical cowgirl attire.
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