Write Now Prompt: April 22, 2014

He sat there, staring at the empty seat across the table from him. Sipping on his coffee and eating breakfast he was thinking that it has been a year since they took her from him. Oh what the hell was he thinking. Borrowing money from a guy named Louie “The Shark”, especially for going to the race track and betting on a sure thing. He rolled his eyes and let his head lol back – he’d gotten it wrong again. He had no idea why he kept betting on the horses, all he did was lose.

Then he owed Louie over a hundred grand. He hoped moving out of the city and into a nice quiet little town like Bridgeton would keep them safe. Little did John know about the history people like Louie “The Shark” had with this tiny little berg.

They found the apartment almost immediately and moved into it just as quickly. Life was great for them for a while, he got a good job at the factory in the next town. A short walk downtown to the bus stop then a quick ride and he was at work. The pay was modest and there wasn’t a race track within a hundred miles. He felt safe here. Mandy was enjoying the country life as well, working as a waitress in the town diner and getting to know the locals.

Then a year ago Louie found him, he had no idea how, but it did not matter. Of course John didn’t have the money he owed the loan shark and had no way of giving him his money back. Louie took him out into the woods and broke his legs and as he walked away said “this is not enough for what you owe” and left him in his pain.

When John finally got to a place where he could make a call, he tried to call Mandy but got no answer. Then he called for help. While recovering he heard nothing from his wife. Out of his mind with worry John could only think the worst of what had happened.

Finally home from recovery, his home empty, his wife no where to be found and no one in town knowing what had happened. The police had given up searching for her two weeks before. Saying that she must have gotten tired of his gambling and left. John knew that wasn’t true but could not prove anything more.

That was eight months ago, it had been a year since the last time he saw his wife.

He quietly finished his breakfast, put the dirty dishes in the sink full of dishes and left for work. Out the door, up the street and downtown to the bus. Not knowing what to do and hoping maybe some day Mandy would come home.

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CeeLee over at the Adult Pool and my self are doing blog ping pong with the characters from Bridgeton and characters from her stories as well. Enjoy the story of Hell’s Home.

The only rule is that we use the prompts from Today’s Author because that is the fun of it.