Finding Eternal Peace
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Authors: Abby Wood
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Finding Eternal Peace
Abby Wood
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Published By:
Etopia Press
P.O. Box 66
Medford, OR 97501
Finding Eternal Peace
Copyright © 2011 by Abby Wood
ISBN: 978-1-936751-15-0
Edited by Katriena Knights
Cover by Eithne Ni Anluaine
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
First Etopia Press electronic publication: May 2011
~ Dedication ~
To the Rajneeshee man who sat with me on the plane headed to Los Angeles, June 13th, 1985. I'm the young girl you were advised not to talk with, but you listened to me...the whole trip. I hope you didn't get in trouble for laughing at my jokes. I enjoyed our one-sided conversation. I fondly look back on how nice you were, and you had a nice smile. I would like to think that you have found peace and happiness in your life. Not many guys can pull off wearing pink, but like I told you back then, you owned pink!
Chapter One
The fingernail on Meg’s thumb bent backward, and pain shot up her hand. She shook her arm to dispatch the throbbing sting deep in the nail bed and gazed down at the new mark she had carved under the bed on the wooden floor. Six marks for six days of living in this hellhole they called Eternal Peace.
The door to the barren bedroom opened, and she hurried to stand. Her arms loose at her sides, she relaxed her facial muscles and took on a dazed, happy-go-lucky expression that matched those of the other women entering the room. She hoped the tears pooling at the corners of her eyes from the pain in her thumb didn’t show enough to draw attention.
“There you are, Megan. Lord Stephen inquired about you after lunch.” Rosie smiled and rushed over to pull her into a hug that only left Megan wanting to scream,
Back off, woman, you are way too friendly.
Meg laid her hands on Rosie’s back and caressed the woman the way Lord Stephen had taught them all. She continued stroking the woman’s back. Not in the sexual, pleasing way the leader of the cult had explained to her, but because it soothed the pain in her finger.
The other two women who bunked in the same room, Lillian and Jen, joined the hug and turned it into a group event. Megan closed her eyes. It revolted her to have everyone’s hands on her all the time. Ten seconds more, and she’d call it quits and pull away.
Whoever heard of a sixty-second hug, anyway?
“Lord Stephen promised us a surprise with dinner.” Jen stepped back and sat on the edge of her bed. “I love everything he does for us, and can’t wait to find out what he’s planned this time.”
“I know. Coming with him to Eternal Peace was the wisest thing I’ve ever done.” Lillian twirled about the room. “He promised heaven, and he’s delivered.”
The long, flowing, various pastel-colored bed sheets they called robes remained an ugly reminder of how Lord Stephen stripped each person’s identity away. Meg hid her clenched hands in the folds of the material and sat on the bed. Her stomach clenched.
What if this time he makes me participate in the social activities? Oh, God…
So far, Lord Asshole had only required her to attend meals and the evening meeting. During the extracurricular activities with the others, he’d escorted her to the bedroom or the library where book upon book on the subject of sexual positions and pornographic pictures were provided to titillate and pique her curiosity. How anyone got turned on in a place like this was beyond her.
“Megan?”
She lifted her chin and found Jen smiling. “Sorry. I was dreaming about how incredibly happy I am here.” She gave a dramatic sigh of contentment. “What did you say?”
“Lord Stephen would like to see you after dinner. Alone.” Jen clasped her hands together against her chest. “We’re so proud of you. It took each one of us a full month before he invited us into his private chamber. He must think you are ready to advance to the next level ahead of time.”
“Private chamber?” She shook her head.
Hang on, what did I miss?
All three of her carefree roommates nodded in unison like well-trained seals waiting for someone to throw them a sardine. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
It’s OK. I can do this. It’s what I came here to do.
“You start out with Lord Stephen before he lets you in with the groups. He needs to train you in how to find eternal peace within yourself.” Jen smiled. “You cannot find peace without his knowledge and guidance.”
The sickly sweet way Jen spoke of the leader of the commune grated on Meg’s nerves. She forced the bile down.
Come on, get a grip. This could be the one chance I have to find Allison.
“I see.” She stood and moved over to the only window in the room, which opened to the courtyard.
All bedrooms in the compound faced inward to an outdoor area fully contained within the walls of the commune. Built in a circular pattern with a hallway that ran along the outside walls, the building might as well have been a posh prison. Lord Stephen made sure that leaving the grounds and going outside the boundaries was near impossible.
“I suppose this is a good thing.” She turned and faked a smile. “Thank you for telling me. I look forward to my time spent with him.”
Bullshit.
The dull clang of a bell from outside the room announced dinnertime, and the other three women rose together in one massive cloud of billowing bed sheets. Meg moved over to join hands with them. Another golden rule placed on her the moment she entered the union, as if she might get lost in this large fortress.
Others dressed in the same garb came out of their rooms and converged in the hallway with them. Megan plastered a stupid, dazzled smile on her face, but didn’t make eye contact with the others. Her gaze traveled over, around, and through the mix of people moving in one giant mass toward the dining hall, in search of a familiar strawberry blonde with startling green eyes.
The last time her sister came to the house, she bubbled with a new drive for life. At first, Meg had rejoiced in the way Allison was healing, but learning why she was happier brought on new concerns. They’d both suffered a difficult year after losing their parents in a terrible car crash, but Allison seemed to linger in a self-inflicted depression that worried and frustrated Megan lately.
The excited push of the crowd against Meg’s back urging her forward, and Lillian’s hand tightening her grasp on her fingers, kept Meg from stopping and searching the group further. This was the fourth time they’d allowed her to join the others in the dining hall for dinner.
Oh, please let me find Allison tonight.
Once she found her, she’d have to work up a new plan for how to make contact with her without giving their relationship away. Who knew what the asshole that ran the joint would do if he found out her real motives?
She sat at an overlarge banquet table that stretched the length of the room, thankful that she sat in the rear of the room with her back toward the wall. Meg scanned the other tables lined up in front of her. My God, how hard could it be to spot a redhead in a wave of pastels?
Steam rose from the serving bowls and platters in the middle of the table. Her stomach growled at the sweet aroma filling the room despite the nervous ball of dread in the pit of her belly over the meeting with Lord Stephen after dinner. She’d eat, if only to keep up the appearance that she belonged here 100 percent.