Samantha Moon

Waking up with a headache and the enormous urge to ralph was not something new for Sam. Arizona was a party school and she tried to attend as many as she could. But as she struggled to open her eyes--each eyelid felt like it was glued shut--she started to remember. She hadn't been at a party. She'd been...where?

It came back to her in bits and pieces, like the images between flashes of a strobe light, each one progressing, but a stillframe all the same. An art exhibition. Most of it not to her taste. Bronze sculptures of nudes. Mostly old men. Paper-machete icons of toilets and dishwashers. The kind of art that was trying so hard to be edgy that it was stupid. Meaningless. She'd decided to leave early, to head back to campus. The bus stop was deserted. And then suddenly...suddenly there was an arm around her chest. And a hand clutching a wet cloth over her mouth and nose.

Chloroform!

Sam's eyes popped open, which was a mistake immediately. Dazzling overhead lights glared down at her, momentarily blinding her and sending a shooting pain to the base of her skull and her temples. She felt sick all over again and wanted to throw up, but there was nothing but bile churning in her stomach. A few dry heaves and the pain began to lessen to an aching throb. Greedily, she sucked in the air-conditioned air. It felt good. Soothing. And it helped clear her senses.

( She started to become... )

She missed airplanes. Not for the flying part, because Sam had always been a little bit of a white-knuckle traveler, but the convenience part. Just another item on the list. Airplanes and Face Time and food that could be bought and paid for. It was a three-night road trip with Karen for her, complete with awkward silence and even more awkward pit stops that left more than one gas station attendant feeling anemic and confused. Until very recently, Karen had spared Sam the discomfort of having to cover up her own tracks with Dominate. But things had to start changing. That was the rule. If Sam wanted to be emancipated, she had to fend for herself.

This last week together? It was Karen's parting gift.

They arrived in Lake Forest somewhere close to one in the morning. Sam hadn't been allowed to tell her parents that they were coming. Something to do with Karen only being able to manipulate fifteen minutes of memory. She cringed a little bit at the idea of showing up unannounced. But then she thought about how excited her parents would be to see her.

Then she cringed more.

( As Karen turned onto Sam's old street... )