"You can handle this." My shoulder knocked into his as I pushed past him. “There’s somewhere else I need to be.”
We were in the preliminary stages here, gathering evidence and learning more about how this group operated. We hadn’t found our way inside yet.
Temple could finish this up on his own. He’d watch out for the victims here. If I was right, Lucas needed someone in his corner looking out for him too. He didn’t have anybody else. I had to be there for him.
~
Lucas
Escaping into the midday lunch rush already in progress on the streets of Ashvale, people were far too engrossed in their own lives to notice the man seemingly fleeing hounds from hell. Did hellhounds exist—no, some questions were better left unanswered.
Ducking into a cheery bakery with a pink awning, I purchased a lemon square and a drink, and the staff happily let me use their phone.
My father wasn’t answering his cell phone or his work phone. Disturbing my friend Ashley during her workday wasn’t my favorite idea when we hadn’t seen each other in a while. I didn’t want to bother Jack or Uncle Gary either… Jack had loaned me his car, no doubt at my uncle’s prodding, to get to a doctor’s appointment. I wasn’t eager to explain why I found myself downtown without transportation.
And… that was it. There was no one else to call.
I hadn’t meant to isolate myself after the accident, I just hadn’t been great company. Plus, the odd moments of paranoia. Fine one moment then sure I wasn’t alone the next. I heard people whispering even when I was alone. Always convinced of danger and on edge left me exhausted.
I stumbled upon a cab and decided to enjoy the small blessing. Only when on route towards my apartment did I remember the car left behind at the gas station. So we turned in that direction as the red meter for the fare climbed up and I feared running out of money. Having the driver change directions once more, I got as close to home as possible then told him to stop and paid.
At least the walk was much shorter now, only a few blocks from my apartment complex. As I neared the end of this phase of my strange journey, I decided the best approach was to forget all this.
Nobody believed me. I didn’t even believe myself. Sure, the fox’s face I remembered seemed real. But lots of things seemed real these days that turned out to only be my overactive imagination.
I needed to let go of the whole thing. Including Chase. I especially needed to forget Chase. Chase couldn’t really be blamed for writing me off as a nutjob, but did he really need to be so twofaced, so confusing, so… nice… and charming.
Ugh, there came the stupid feeling again. Paranoia always caught up to me eventually. I told myself not to give into the feeling of being watched yet my feet picked up the pace anyway.
I stepped into the parking lot of my apartment complex and breathed out a sigh of relief, falling back against a parked sedan. The approaching footsteps surely were headed towards a vehicle and not—right for me.
The man in a crisp suit and tie belonged behind a desk or at a ritzy lunch meeting, not approaching a stranger in a parking lot with an intensity better suited to boardrooms and trading stocks.
"Uh, can I help you?" I wondered.
"Oh, yes." Alarm bells were going off in my head at his rapt attention.
"If you need directions…"
"I need you," he vowed.
Alright then. I began backing away slowly.
"Stay," he commanded.
I did not listen to the crazy man. He grabbed my arm and held on tight as I tried to shove him off. Stronger than me, he was earning more ground even as I struggled and pulling me away from the safety of apartments and people, heading towards the street where his car or a dark tinted van surely waited.
"Let me go! I’ll scream."
"Shhhh." He brushed a lock of hair off my forehead and all the levels of wrong were what silenced me. “Shh, this is an important moment.”
"Do we know each other?" I whispered.
“We will.” His conviction and cruel smile sent a shiver down my spine. “Hello, my husband.”
Everything inside me panicked and went haywire at those words. I switched into extreme survival mode. Kicking, shoving, going crazy trying to put space between us.
The ringing in my ears and voice in my mind chanting ‘escape!’ drowned out other noise, but some words did register, none of them remotely helping.
