The Girl in the Box 01 - Alone

by Crane, Robert J.

  But then the moment passed, and she pushed through the door and disappeared.

  5

  Rupert watched Samantha go, hoping that she might maybe turn around and come back and jot down her number or email – but she slipped off her chair, said her goodbye and then slipped out onto the street with not a detectable pause. For a couple of seconds the drumbeat of raindrops joined the bass line of the music, before the door swung shut and it was drowned out.

  Two dozen seconds went by, Rupert waiting, straining his ears over the track as it, too, petered out – and then he heard, faintly, the sound of a car pulling away from the kerb and disappearing down the street. Once he was unable to detect even a hint of its noise, he raised his glass of cider, took a few long swigs and set it back down with a shrug. Oh well, at least he had tried.

  Moving across the empty bar to the jukebox, he resumed fingering through menus, adding tracks to his dwindling playlist. At one point he cast a look over his shoulder, just to see if maybe Samantha might step back inside and the night might begin again – but, of course, she did not.

  SAMANTHA’S PROMISE

  Nicholas J. Ambrose

  Available now on Kindle