Free Wrong Time by Mitchel Grace Page B

think that would be fine.”
    Nathan’s expression seemed to change to
one that was a little more hopeful. Sam was glad that she could at least give
him some hope of getting his normal life back someday.
    * * * * *
    Jason had just dropped Lee and Jess off
at their home, and Lee was beyond excited. He hurried inside and immediately
started to get ready to go pick up Megan. Jess, meanwhile, went to check on
Trish. She knew that Trish was upset earlier, but she didn’t know why.
    “Trish, can I come in?” Jess asked as
she knocked on Trish’s door.
    “Go away,” Trish responded while
sniffling.
    The whole time that Lee was getting
ready, Jess tried to get Trish to let her in, but it did no good.
    “Hey, Lee, come here,” Jess said as he
exited the bathroom.
    “What’s going on?” Lee asked.
    “Trish is upset about something, and
she won’t talk to me. Can you see if you can talk to her?”
      Lee was a little ticked off that he had
to talk to Trish when he should be leaving to pick up his dream girl, but he
agreed to try to talk to her anyway.
    “Trish, what’s wrong? Can I come in and
talk about it with you?” Lee asked.
    “Just go away. Why won’t you two leave
me alone?”
    “Look, I have a date with the woman of
my dreams, and I don’t want to be late, so if you don’t open the door, I’m
going to break it down.”
    “Just go on your date. It’s not like you
give a damn about me anyway.”
      Her comment hurt Lee. He had wanted to go
pick up Megan, but this was more important to him than some date with a woman he
actually didn’t even know.
    “I do care about you, and that’s why
I’m not leaving until I know that you’re okay,” Lee said as he sat down beside
the door.
    Lee heard the door unlock, and he got
up and entered the room. The first thing that Lee noticed was that Trish looked
like she had been crying all day. Her usually beautiful face was red and puffy.
He had never seen her so upset. She didn’t even look this bad back in Tampa
when they saw the stadium explode on TV.
    “What’s going on?” Lee asked.
    “You’re going to be here for a while if
you’re staying until I’m okay because I don’t ever think that I’m going to be
okay again,” Trish said.
    Lee sat down on the bed beside her and
put his arm around her.
    “I can stay forever, if that’s what it
takes.”
    Trish simply leaned on his shoulder and
sobbed.
    “What did someone do to get you this
upset?” Lee asked.
    “I really don’t want to talk about it
right now.”
    “That’s okay. When you’re ready to talk
about it, I’ll be here.”
    Lee stayed with Trish all night. She
never told him what was wrong. She simply leaned on him. Throughout the night,
Lee’s phone vibrated many times. Every time Megan called, he hit the ignore
button. In this moment, this is exactly where he belonged.
    * * * * *
    That night around eleven, Michael,
Zane, and Dan were on their way to meet their crew. Just a few blocks away from
the facility, they spotted four large trucks. Zane pulled in behind them and
walked to the front.
    “I’m Zane, and we need to get suited up
and ready to go,” Zane said to the man in the front vehicle.
    The three of them stepped into the
front truck where they were given body armor to put on.
    “Are you ready for this?” Dan asked
while looking over at Michael.
    “As ready as I’m ever going to be, I
suppose,” Michael said.
    Once they were ready, Zane and the men piled
out of the trucks. There were a larger number of people present than Michael expected
there to be.
    “I won’t lie to you. The odds are
stacked against us. We’re outnumbered, and we’re fighting on someone else’s
ground. This will be difficult, and not all of you will make it out of this
alive, but if you’ll join me in this pursuit, I promise that you’ll be able to
take pride in the fact that you were part of the beginning of what is our
retribution as a country for the travesties that were committed just a