Beyond the Sky

Nineteen-year-old Rebecca Joanne Warner had always wondered what was on the other side of the mountain and beyond the sky. Surely it must be better than what she was facing in Turner Gap, Tennessee. She was about to find out, as she waited until the house was dark and quiet. She was running away, away from an arranged marriage to a dirty old man she detested. Carrying a suitcase and flashlight, she crept quietly down the stairs and out the door into the darkness. New York City wasn’t how she had pictured it as she stepped off the train into the cold rain. Tired, wet and hungry, she sat slumped on the sidewalk and leaned against a brick wall. Fear shot through her as a scruffy stranger lifted her off the sidewalk and pulled her down a dark alley, shoving her into the far end of a large wooden box and crawling in behind her….