The Only Exception

Book 1 Part 1

The television is blaring across the hall again in the living room, and I can’t sleep because of it. I usually let my mind wander and fantasize about being in a band. Being the vocalist or bassist, I can do both, it wouldn’t matter. But then I would have to leave this beloved little town, leave my friends and family, I don’t know how I would handle that.

But then again, my mom and dad have always told me that I need to find something that will truly be exciting, and something that I will be happy with. I’ve always wondered what I should do with my life since I was eight and being a musician has always come up as being my number one choice for a career.

I would also like to be a mother, too. I love children and most of them love me too. In my fantasy of being a mom, I have a loving, hardworking husband who’ll kiss me before he leaves for work and after he comes home from working. We’ll have a beautiful, loving family, not dysfunctional like my family.

I shake away that fantasy yet again and get up to turn off the television and find my dad sleeping in his recliner. When I reached the living room, I searched for the remote and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, thinking it was my father, but turned out to be a kidnapper that I read about in the newspaper. I tried to scream, but his hand muffled it. He grabbed me and ran out the front door, making a large amount of noise.

I heard my dad yell, “What’s with all the ruckus?!?!” By the time he got down to the front door, he saw me being shoved into a van and being tied up, and being taken from my family.

“NO!!! Celeste! No, please, no!!!” my father wept. This was the first time I have ever seen my dad cry since my grandma died.

My eyes started to well up with tears but then the van came to an abrupt halt. I heard the driver door open and heard someone beating the other one up. I screamed to get the other person’s attention, and after he got my kidnapper unconscious, he came around to the back of the van and opened the hatch.

His beautiful green eyes penetrated my soul. His dark brown hair was soft looking and had a slight curl to it. He was tall and muscular, but not too muscular.

“Hey, are you okay? I heard your father screaming and I saw you getting kidnapped.” He then started to cut the ropes that were binding me to a pole that was placed in the van.

“I’m okay now, thanks to you. I don’t know what would have happened if you didn’t save me.”

“It’s okay now, Celeste.” He helped me out of the van, and the police were everywhere.

One of the cops came up to me and asked me all of these questions, and my beautiful savior disappeared.

After the cops left me alone, I found my savior’s wallet on the ground. I opened it up and there was a note in there saying,

Celeste,

Don’t try to find me. We’ll meet again somewhere. I promise.

N.C.

I was stunned. He didn’t want me to find him? That’s totally nuts! That makes me want to find him.

The next day at school, people were asking me questions on how it all happened, but I refused to answer. The whole thing was a little traumatizing, except that I found my true love in the process. I even had a dream about him last night. He was just sitting in a restaurant smiling at me. Then his note appeared in my dream. I keep thinking about it all the time, it’s a little unhealthy to obsess about a guy I don’t know. But he feels right.

My best friend, Natalie, doesn’t even talk to me anymore. Some friend. I walked home that day from school, and my science partner and neighbor Josh stopped me before I walked in the front door of my house.