Broken Anchors Sneak Peek
Chapter One: August 2021
“How are you feeling today?” A tall, lean woman donning yoga pants and a cropped exercise top asked as she examined Annie’s petite appearance: clad in her own exercise ensemble, blue athletic sneakers, and an oversized University of Pennsylvania pullover sweatshirt that did not belong to Annie. The woman took a large swallow of water from the bottle in her hand and shook her hands through her ponytail. She had cornered Annie on her way out of the locker room and it was clear to Annie that there was no easy way to avoid such an encounter.
“I’m fine, Kiera,” Annie replied absently. Her voice was hollow; neither sad nor happy as if she had no opinion of her current state. Kiera looked at her, trying to examine her expression once more and Annie gave a weak smile.
“The last time I saw you, you hadn’t slept properly in weeks. Has your insomnia improved?” Though the fitness center was moderately busy this morning, a silence fell between the two women for perhaps a little too long and the tall woman began to look ever more concerned while posing her next question. “Have you been seeing a psychologist or something?”
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business,” Annie was indignant. As soon as someone can’t sleep, everyone around them wants to know what their problem is, as if it could be something they might catch if they dare to stand too close.
“Yes, I know... I’m sorry... but after traumatic experiences, some people say therapy really helps. You’re out though; that’s good, Annie! Have you been out anywhere else lately or has anyone visited you at home?”
“Well, I do have to eat; groceries don’t buy themselves. I took that kickboxing class that’s offered here. I think that was last Thursday.”
“Oh really? How did you like it?” Kiera was cautiously optimistic. Annie knew she was not satisfying Kiera’s desire to have a ‘normal’ conversation with a ‘normal’ friend. Not that they had been all too good of friends to begin with. Perhaps it was the normal part that was most important to Kiera.
“I liked it, but I think I might have been a bit too enthusiastic for the instructor,” Annie conceded.
“My God! You didn’t punch a classmate, did you Annie?” Kiera looked at her terrified and Annie felt a slight sense of satisfaction herself as she watched the woman take a step back.
“No... look, Kiera, I appreciate you checking in with me and you know, sending those cleaners over to my house because you said it smelled like ‘despair and poverty’ last time you came by; but I really just have to go now. I just -,” Annie paused for a moment and racked her brain for some sort of excuse, but the only thing she could think of was, “I just... really don’t want to be here anymore.”
Before Kiera could ask another question or compel Annie to stay, Annie had side-stepped around her and hastily walked out of the locker room where Kiera had cornered her just a few moments before, and into the fitness center lobby. She could hear the woman a few paces behind her, pleading with her to slow down; but she simply walked faster, her blue sneakers squeaking against the vinyl floors, and she waved goodbye to the women at the front desk with a promise that she would call to sign up for yet another exercise class in the coming days.
Annie dashed past the mailman through the open door, exiting the building onto the busy sidewalk of the downtown strip and made her way to the nearby parking garage where she had left her car. She fumbled in her purse for her keys before pulling the door of a truly unremarkable red sedan open and climbing inside. Her phone vibrated against her compact in her bag and she rolled her eyes as she reached for it; only to find that it was Kiera on the other end. She threw the phone onto the passenger’s seat as she pulled out of her parking spot to exit the garage. She sniffed once, twice, three times and then huffed in anguish as tears rolled from her eyes and fell silently onto the steering wheel.
“For goodness sake!” She yelled at nothing or no one in particular. She wiped her face on the back of her hand and stubbornly turned the volume knob on the radio. She carried on down the road for a few more minutes and then took a sharp right that led to the boat docks. She parked her car and got out; plunging the keys into her bag and stomping off down the wooden rows lined with sailboats, small yachts, and fishing crews coming back with the morning’s catch.
“Nice to see you again, Annie,” she heard as she walked by the boats and she flashed a polite smile in the direction of the invisible voices.
About halfway down the dock, she reached an impressive custom-job sailboat and climbed aboard. She walked below deck and re-emerged after a few moments with an open bottle of wine, but no glass to be found. She dropped her bag and laid down on the deck, her back against the warm, brown, sun-baked wood. She lifted the bottle to her lips, closed her eyes, and took a drink.
“What are you doing, Annie?” She heard from somewhere above her on the boat.
“Drinking here. Dying here, I suppose. What do you care?” She took another drink and placed her free arm across her face to shield the sun.
“You aren’t dying,” the voice said, a little amused.
“You’re so cruel. You won’t let me die in peace...”
“You aren’t dying, Annie. Kiera’s right, you’re a little bit pathetic at the moment.”
“She said I was pathetic?!”
There was a chuckle but no other word on the matter.
“Are you just going to lay there and get drunk? Or are we going to go out for a nice cruise around the bay?”
Annie sighed and set the bottle down hard on the wood next to her. She pulled herself up to a seated position and then slowly to her feet. She moved across the deck to untie the boat from the dock as if she were angry that she had not been allowed to pity herself in the sun all day. As she steered the boat from its resting place and into the bay, she grabbed her bottle of wine and lifted it to her lips before scoffing in annoyance and setting it at her feet once again. She set her eyes dead ahead as if aiming for something just beyond her reach.