Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Loneliest Road
    The Loneliest Road
    The Loneliest Road
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    The Loneliest Road

    By Kimberly A. Bettes

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Chris Peters takes an impromptu road trip to ease his woes following the death of his wife.

    Stopping at a roadside diner in a town not marked on a map, he notices the waitress looks remarkably like his beloved wife. The sight of the waitress brings comfort to Chris for the first time since his wife's death. Unable to bring himself to leave her, Chris gets a room at a nearby hotel.

    When the waitress ends up dead, Chris learns that towns not marked on maps are best left alone. His world rapidly spirals out of control. Accused of murder, Chris realizes too late that sometimes justice can be macabre.

    *This is the first short story in the Minutes to Death series.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKimberly A. Bettes
    Release dateAug 1, 2011
    ISBN9781466180208
    The Loneliest Road
    Author

    Kimberly A. Bettes

    Kimberly A. Bettes was born on Thanksgiving Day, 1977, completely ruining any chance her mother had at enjoying a delightful dinner. At the age of 12, Kimberly began writing poems, essays, and short stories. At 14, she began her first novel, a project that would take two years and many sleepless nights to complete. Since then, she has written more than ten novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of poems and essays. She currently lurks in the Ozark Mountains of southeast Missouri with her husband and son. It's there she terrorizes the residents of a small town with her twisted tales, most of which focus on the dark side of human nature. In addition to writing, Kimberly is also a freelance photographer and life-long chocolate enthusiast.

    Read more from Kimberly A. Bettes

    Related to The Loneliest Road

    Related ebooks

    Thrillers For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Marian On Her New Book

      Jun 19, 2020

      Reading Grown Ups, I had to wonder about the inspiration behind it? Was it a bad family holiday? Yeah, there’s this group of people I’ve been friends with for a long time and we go away together now and again. In recent years one of the friends has b

      3 min read

    • Article

      To Live a Little

      Oct 3, 2022

      To Live a Little
      13 min read

    • Article

      Protagonists

      Jun 18, 2021

      Was the craft of fiction around desire and obstacle taught by men and for men, for men protagonists and men readers? Was fiction part of the patriarchy? Was the craft of fiction part of the patriarchy? The answers were all yes. The post Protagonists

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Book

      Oct 30, 2019

      The Book
      20 min read

    • Article

      Mr. Bojangles

      Feb 26, 2022

      Mr. Bojangles
      4 min read

    • Article

      How I grieved THE MOTHER I NEVER HAD

      Mar 1, 2022

      The call came mid-morning, when I was sitting at my desk at work. The lady on the other end had a quiet, soothing voice. She was calling, she said, to arrange the details for my mum’s funeral. My first feeling was relief. When I’d last seen my mother

      4 min read

    • Article

      My brilliant LITTLE SISTER

      Aug 26, 2021

      My brilliant LITTLE SISTER
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mi querida Sanaë

      Jun 16, 2020

      Mi querida Sanaë
      11 min read

    • Article

      VISITOR From Hell

      Nov 26, 2019

      VISITOR From Hell
      4 min read

    • Article

      Björk

      Sep 22, 2022

      Björk
      21 min read

    • Article

      The Same Story

      Mar 29, 2021

      FROM ISSUE #53: MISTAKES SUZANNE ROBERTS is the author of Bad Tourist: Misadventures in Love and Travel (Bronze Medal Winner from the North American Travel Journalists Association for Best Travel Book) and the memoir Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Da

      13 min read

    • Article

      Together forever

      Apr 25, 2023

      Together forever
      2 min read

    • Article

      Heavy Heart

      Feb 5, 2022

      Heavy Heart
      6 min read

    • Article

      Summer Of Love

      Jun 22, 2022

      Summer Of Love
      15 min read

    • Article

      From The heart

      Oct 27, 2020

      Dear Sally My step daughter often feels spirits around her. The other day I was talking to her on Facetime and I thought her husband was standing behind her until she told me he was at work. She took a picture of some poles she was selling and later

      5 min read

    • Article

      THE greatest LOVE

      Oct 21, 2021

      THE greatest LOVE
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Ninth Step

      Aug 26, 2020

      The Ninth Step
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Season Of Giving

      Nov 25, 2020

      The Season Of Giving
      3 min read

    • Article

      Love, Lust, and More

      Feb 12, 2020

      Fleetwood Mac was singing She is dancing away from you now, and I squirmed in my seat. Kabir was rubbing my thigh as he drove, a gesture I once thought was reserved for me. Bah! I also used to think he only took naked selfies in bed with me, but then

      11 min read

    • Article

      Love Beyond Words

      Sep 24, 2022

      Love Beyond Words
      4 min read

    • Article

      Mathematics, under Which Is Love, Whose Bed Is Language

      Jun 8, 2021

      And so it goes, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and empty; and on its deep face was darkness. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God sa

      7 min read

    • Article

      In the Beginning, In the End

      Sep 1, 2020

      In the Beginning, In the End
      10 min read

    • Article

      Finding MR WRONG

      Oct 5, 2022

      Finding MR WRONG
      2 min read

    • Article

      Perfection

      Jun 9, 2020

      For years I could barely write a page. I thought I was becoming a virtuoso of smallness while the grief, which is wordless, occupied an ever-greater volume. My friend lived in the estates on the bad side of town. Let’s go to the forest, she said when

      9 min read

    • Article

      Grieving Shirley

      Nov 26, 2020

      Grieving Shirley
      5 min read

    • Article

      James O’Brien

      May 10, 2021

      James O’Brien
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Loneliest Road

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Loneliest Road - Kimberly A. Bettes

      THE LONELIEST ROAD

      By Kimberly A. Bettes

      Copyright 2011 Kimberly A. Bettes

      All rights reserved.

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the author.

      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 Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Chapter 1

      The sound was bone chilling, sure to send a shiver down any spine. I gazed at the clear blue sky above me. The sun shone down, gently warming my face. The glare of the sun off the cold, sharp steel blade made me struggle to focus my vision. A puffy white cloud floated lazily across an otherwise cloudless sky. I couldn’t help but notice that it looked remarkably like a heart.

      As a young boy, I often spent my Sundays lying on the cool grass watching the clouds float along effortlessly. As I thought of these times now, I could almost feel the grass on my body. I could almost smell my mother, who would often lie beside me, finding shapes in the clouds. Whenever she accompanied me in the cloud watching, time stood still. Hours would pass without us even realizing it. We talked about so many things on the back lawn. I loved sharing my time with her. The only person I ever loved even remotely as much as my mother was my dear wife, Rose.

      Oh, Rose. She was everything I had ever hoped for in life. She was beautiful, smart, fun, and so loving. It took me years to realize that I had married her because she was just like my mother. There were even many physical similarities. I probably never would’ve realized it if my therapist had not revealed it to me.

      When my mother died, I was depressed. Rose and I had been married about a year. She was helpful, but it wasn’t enough. I sought a therapist, and he helped me through it. However, it took many months to get past the death of the one that I had loved more than life for twenty-seven years. My mother had been absolutely everything to me. My father having left us before my first birthday, she was both mom and dad to me. She was my best friend. She was everything. Then I lost her and the only thing I had was Rose. Sweet, kind Rose. Who, in every way, was a duplicate of my mother.

      It took a couple of years, but finally I was ready to move on with my life with Rose. All traces of depression had left me. I was now ready for children. Rose and I tried for so long to start a family, but all to no avail. The doctors assured us that we were both very able to have children, but for some reason, it just wasn’t happening. We spent many nights crying ourselves to sleep in each other’s arms with sadness and frustration. I would console her when she was at her worst, and she would return the favor when I was at mine. It just seemed so unfair that two people who loved each other so much were denied the gift of a child.

      Another year went by, and we realized that my dear, sweet, beautiful Rose was dying with cancer. It happened so suddenly. We thought she was sick from the stress of being unable to conceive. We went to the doctor, never thinking it might be terminal. We walked away knowing we were limited in our time together. That was the second saddest day of my life.

      I remember driving home, neither of us speaking. I knew I was going to lose her. My Rose. She was dying and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I remember the pain and agony I felt. I clenched the steering wheel so hard my knuckles ached for hours. I bit the inside of my jaw in anger. I wanted to scream as long and loud as I could, but I wouldn’t. Not in front of Rose. Never in front of Rose. It was rough enough on her knowing she was dying. I’d be damned if I made it any harder for her.

      From that moment on, my whole purpose in life was to make Rose as happy and comfortable as I could. The doctor told us that she had somewhere between six months and a year to live. Such a short time to part with anyone you love, especially your wife. And no matter how long the doctor would’ve predicted she live, it wouldn’t have been enough time to say goodbye.

      I’d always known that everything happened for a reason. When my mother died, I was so angry. I had looked for a reason, and found none. Now that reason shone brightly. One of the things my mother and I talked about on the lawn one Sunday afternoon was her life insurance. She told me that I would be taken of when she died. I always hated talking about death with her. I wasn’t able to imagine life without my mother, so I barely listened, then dismissed it all after the conversation was over. Nevertheless, true to her word, when she died, I received quite a sum of money. Rose and I saved it all, planning for the future. College, if we ever had a child. Retirement, if we never did.

      I planned to spend every minute of my time with Rose now. All the way to the end, I was going to be there. I planned a budget that night, and I quit my job the next day. I stayed at home with my precious Rose every minute of every day, valuing every moment and memorizing every second.

      I went through hell with her. At first, we went for walks, movies, and dinners. Then she started having days when she didn’t feel like getting out, so we stayed home. Then, she never felt like getting out of the house. Then, she never felt like getting out of bed. She spent the rest of her life in bed. I spent the rest of her life right next to her.

      I was holding her hand, caressing her thin hair when she said her final words. Her skin was pale, her eyes hollow. Her eyes held their luster, though. I looked in her eyes and knew

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1