Lost Souls Read online

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  Lost Souls

  Copyright © 2014 by Wendy J. Shores

  Smashwords Edition

  ISBN-13:

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Smashwords Edition License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Note from the Author:

  I have in no way tried to take the words of the Bible in vain. I have the utmost respect for God, Jesus and the Word. If I have insulted any religion or reader, you have my deepest apologies and I ask of you to remember that this work is purely a work of fiction and is based solely on my interpretation of the Bible and nothing else. Thank you so much.

  Title Page

  The Beginning

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  THE LORD GOD took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

  The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

  Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

  But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.

  The man said,

  “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

  That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

  Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

  Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

  The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

  “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman, “for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

  Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man,

  “Where are you?”

  He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

  And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

  The man said, “The woman you put here with me~ she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”

  Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

  The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

  So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

  “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!

  You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

  To the woman he said,

  “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.

  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

  To Adam he said,

  “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

  “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

  By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

  Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

  The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

  ***

  AS MARISSA WATCHED the sunlight danc
e across the water like animated diamonds, she thought to herself that there was nowhere in the world she would rather be than here in Ocean City, Maryland. There was such a huge contrast between this place and Tolono, Illinois where she was from. She had been coming here for as long as she could remember, and the long hallway back home bore the proof. Lined up on the wall from before she was a year old until just last year, were the pictures her mother had insisted on having taken religiously every summer at Old Time Photos. The first being her in a bathtub wearing what looked like nothing but a smile and a boa, the feathers tickling her chubby cheeks until she sneezed and the photographer choosing that exact moment to freeze her in time. She had pictures of herself in Victorian clothes, flapper clothes, cowgirl clothes, even one where she was sitting on a bar, legs positioned just so, with her dress pushed off of her shoulders revealing her bronzed skin. In one hand she held a shot glass; in the other she held a fake bottle of Jim Beam. On her leg was a black garter and tucked inside the garter were several fake dollar bills. Out of all of the pictures that had been taken over the years, this was her second favorite, her first being the one of her in the bathtub when she was a baby. It was the first time her mother had let her choose her own costume and to show that much skin since she was almost a year old.

  The sun had started to sink and Marissa sat pondering what to do that night. Her parents were starting to give her more freedom now that she was getting older and had given her the okay to go down to the inlet by herself as long as she stayed on the boardwalk and never ever left with anyone without letting them know first. She would probably make the long trek down the boardwalk to the rides. She loved the throngs of people that made their way down there every night. She had no real curfew since her parents were going to be at a retirement party for Marissa’s aunt and had made plans to spend the night in her luxurious condo. Her Aunt Nancy had moved here long before Marissa was born and was the primary reason they came here every year for vacation. She’d hit it big on the lottery, winning enough to allow her the luxury of moving there permanently. The condo had cost her almost a half a million dollars even back then. It was a two story with a fountain in the foyer and marble floors and a balcony that wrapped around the whole place. It was the penthouse and you could see for miles. Marissa used to love to sit out on the rooftop patio as a little girl with her aunt and her mother and watch as the ocean breezes caressed her mom’s blond hair so that it floated around her face, making her look like an angel. Her mother was such a beautiful woman. Tall, with blond hair that looked bleached but was natural, brown eyes that were soft and loving and a figure like a Michelangelo sculpture. No wonder her father had fallen in love with her. Dad was just a regular guy, a few inches taller than her mother, with sparkling green eyes that bore the laugh lines he had acquired throughout the years. Her father always seemed to be smiling or laughing about something, the eternal optimist. It was an endearing quality that made anyone he met fall in love with him. He’d never had an unkind word to say about anyone and Marissa couldn’t ever remember hearing him gossip about a single soul. She loved her parents and considered herself lucky to have both of them. Her whole family was great.

  Marissa had told her parents that year, just before going on vacation that she wanted to attend University there. They were shocked at first but after she told them about the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and all it had to offer, they could hardly argue with her choice. The vast array of courses they offered quickly won them over just as it had Marissa. Not to mention it was a mere thirty four miles away from her favorite city in the world. She still had a couple of years to think about it and to work her butt off for a scholarship, so anything could happen between then and now. Aunt Nancy had graciously offered her the spare room anytime she felt the need to get away and come to the ocean for the weekend. She had always been a straight “A” student and had been on the honor roll every semester since sixth grade. Knowledge came easily to her and so far, knock on wood, she’d never had any trouble retaining what she learned. She hoped it continued to be that way.

  The hotel they were staying at was situated on 21st street which was a good walk from the inlet. Marissa considered what she would wear that night, pensively wandering through her closet, and went back inside to contemplate what to choose. Her mother always made sure she had the latest fashion despite Marissa’s insistence on having just “regular” clothes like her friends. The vast array of colors flashed by as quickly as she could swish the hangers, watermelon pink, neon orange, turquoise blue (when had that come back in style?) then the softer hues, baby blue, soft pink, coral. Way back at the back were her favorite choices, jeans. Good old denim blue jeans. During the day, shorts were always her first choice, unless something was blowing in, people didn’t realize how cool it could get on the ocean at night. She grabbed a pair of hip huggers that showed off her midriff nicely and a thick white belt to accentuate the tan she had been working on all summer.

  Pairing it with a pair of white sandals and a white halter she was almost ready to go. Running a brush through her long brown hair which shimmered with the red and gold highlights she had picked up from being in the sun so much, she hastily tied it with a white ribbon and then twisted it up and fastened it with a clip. She dabbed on her favorite perfume, Chanel No. 5, and quickly swiped her lips with a clear gloss. She didn’t need much in the makeup department. Her cheeks had a beautiful natural glow and she seemed to define the word healthy. A bit of her trademark navy blue mascara and it was all she needed. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she decided the hip huggers and halter might end up being a little too cool later on and went back to the closet to grab a longer shirt she could pull on over top of the halter. It was a beautiful shade of robins’ egg blue, with lightning bolts of magenta zigzagging through it and would protect her from the chilly night time breezes that always seemed to blow in at night, and besides that, it highlighted her tan perfectly. At long last she was ready to go. A trip to Thrashers French fries would take care of dinner.

  Marissa once again made her way to the balcony and looked down at the swarm of people that coursed along the boardwalk, mostly all headed towards the inlet. It’s where it all happened in Ocean City, the heartbeat of the town. The smell of pizza from the shop downstairs invaded her senses and her stomach growled. Grabbing her fanny pack and clipping it on underneath her shirt, she grabbed her keys and was gone. As she came out through the doors on the main floor, the myriad of people made her smile. This was the part she loved about Ocean City. Anybody and everybody came here. A sea of people, in all colors, all shapes, all ages, shuffling, running, walking to wherever it was they were going. Marissa carefully edged through the gathering and made her way out to the boardwalk. As she strolled along, she looked at all of the different stores that populated the long walk to her destination. A shop advertising “Nothing over $5.99” is so crowded, the people are spilling out onto the boardwalk. Marissa wound her way around them and continued on her way. The pizza shops were a dime a dozen and so were the funnel cake shops. She’d noticed a dramatic drop in the Old Time Photography shops this trip and hoped they hadn’t gone belly up like a lot of places did down here. Ah, the smells were like no other place she had ever been, the ocean air, the candy apples and cotton candy, the popcorn and pizza, the sweat and suntan lotion from the sun bathers who never knew when to quit. She loved it all, the action and the never ending throngs of people. It was as if the boardwalk became a living, breathing, throbbing entity from 11 o’clock in the morning until the wee hours of the night.

  As she got closer to the inlet, the pulsing lights and vibrating music made her heart beat a little faster. The excitement down here was unreal! She loved the lower streets of Ocean City; from about 18th all the way down to the inlet was where it all happened as far as she was concerned. She stopped for a few minutes to listen to a man playing a haunting Celtic melody on his violin. Eyes closed, fingers deftly moving to the different chords, face so deeply tanned it looked like s
hoe leather. He played as if he were in a symphony and had drawn quite a crowd of onlookers which proved she was not the only one captivated by his song. Several of the people had dropped bills into the velvet hat that lay in front of him and as he finished the song, he opened his startlingly blue eyes and looked at them. The lines in the corners of his eyes became more pronounced as he smiled and thanked the financial contributors. His gaze traveled further until it fell upon her. Instantly the smile was gone to be replaced with a look of shock and he quickly made the sign of the cross. Never letting his eyes leave her face, he dug deeply into his vest until he produced a card which he handed to her with a shaky hand and in a gravelly voice heavy with the accent of a gypsy, told her, “Take this card and see my sister. She will give you a reading for free.”

  Before she could even open her mouth to ask any questions, he turned and quickly packed his violin back into its case, folded up his chair and gathered the money out of the hat. After stuffing it hurriedly into his pockets, he slung everything under his arm and raced away; shaking his head in response to her questions, until finally he was out of sight.

  ***

  That is what the card read. Intrigued, Marissa tucked the card into her fanny pack and continued her trek to the inlet. In all the years she had been coming here, not once did she remember seeing a psychic. How could she and her friends have missed something like that? They would have had a blast with a psychic!

  She picked up her pace keeping her eyes on the inlet Ferris wheel, the Pepsi sign in the middle shining like a beacon guiding her way. Curiosity was gnawing at her and her mind raced with questions she wanted to ask the psychic.