AllFreeNovel
Share Us
In other words, I’ve got no one else.
For a fleeting second, I even think of Tell, my crush from the party. It’s ridiculous, but he seemed so… capable. If I just had his number, maybe he could offer some advice, or…
It’s idiotic. He’s just some guy I foolishly made out with at a party. Even if I can’t get him out of my head, even while grappling with a life or death scenario.
My eyes dart to my bag in the passenger seat again.
All the fear and nerves aside, I keep feeling like I forgot something at the house. It only took me a few minutes to pack a bag. I don’t own a lot of things, and I had to train myself to be able to leave stuff behind when I left Montevista years ago.
But there are a few things I treasure. Pictures. Mementos. Not to mention the simple fact that I finally found a home, a place I considered mine. They won’t matter if I’m dead or sold into prostitution, though.
Sleep pulls at my eyelids again, trying to get me to make up for what I lost the last couple of days.
Rachelle let me take a nap after we talked while she got her things ready and packed up or threw out the food from the fridge. Just going about all of it like it was perfectly natural to lock up the house and disappear for a little while.
Like this is normal.
Maybe that’s what I feel like I left there… the tiny sense of normalcy she gave me.
Who knows, maybe everyone in Sanctum Harbor has an escape plan. It would fit the history, fit the weirdness that I’ve always noticed on the periphery of the town.
I just hope I don’t have to leave. That Rachelle doesn’t disappear on me.
Tears immediately burn my eyes at the thought of never seeing her again, and I jam them down, gritting my teeth. I can’t fall apart. I won’t.
I have to stay focused. I have to fix this, for me and for Rachelle.
One step at a time.
I check my phone again, the map guiding me up into the hills. Huge trees line the road, darkening the already dreary late afternoon. It only gets darker the farther I go, veering off the main road onto a single lane track that winds back away from the coast.
All the makings of a great horror movie.
Every ghost story and serial killer story I’ve ever heard come flickering to life as I pass an old wooden gate, a barely legible ‘Keep Out’ sign dangling from a rusted spike on the post. Thankfully, the house that comes into view around the bend in the dirt road isn’t quite as intimidating. It’s simple, an old, wooden, single-story farm-style house, fairly well kept up aside from the fading blue paint. Warm light glows from the front windows, and for a second, I don’t feel so worried. I’ve been freaking myself out for nothing. The worst thing that can happen is that he tells me he can’t help or that he won’t.
Or that he’s not even here.
After ringing the doorbell and knocking, I fidget around out front for a bit, kicking myself for not calling first. What if he’s out of town?
With the sun setting, the temperature drops dramatically and I suppress a little shiver. Should have brought a thicker jacket.
My chattering teeth make up my mind that exploring might serve me better than waiting around to freeze to death. I can always sleep in my car if I have to. Even my back seat is starting to sound pretty good, given how little I’ve slept in the last two days.
A big, two-bay garage sits up on a small rise behind the house, and I’m surprised to find one of the doors open, fluorescent light bathing the gravel drive and a beat-up, tan pickup truck that smells like it was driven recently.
“H–hello?” It comes out as a pathetic whisper, and I clear my throat a few times to try and gain the courage to announce myself louder as I cautiously step into the garage.
Inside, it’s clean. Organized. Shelves line the walls with every tool you can imagine. It’s a workroom, clearly well-used, but equally well-maintained.
Guy must be a carpenter or a mechanic or something.
I make a slow circle around the workbench and consider opening the only other door to the back room.
If he’s in there, I definitely should not barge in.
Sighing at my predicament, and my cowardice, I head back out, listening closely for footsteps, intent on making it back to my car and trying the number on the card Rachelle gave me. If I can get a signal out here…
I only get a split second to react, goosebumps on my neck shivering, when a shadow rushes me from the side. A powerful, huge hand is at my throat, and I’m slammed up against the metal siding of the garage, unable to even scream from the fear and the pressure. And the sting of something razor sharp held against my ribs.
