by T S Wieland
Ally quirked her eyebrows. “Go where? I’m asking you for real this time.”
Carley stared down at the bar and sighed. “Yes, Ally. I always feel like I’m meant to do more. But hey, what I do is all I was meant to do. I sell clothes and clean up puke, and that’s just fine with me.”
“Sheesh, don’t sound so grim about it.”
“You ask me the same thing every time we go out to drink. One sip and you go off on your whole rant about not following your dreams. What brings it up this time?”
Ally reached down for her bag. She placed the bag on the bar and pulled out the business card, handing it to Carley.
“This client of mine mentioned he knew someone who had an adventurous opportunity or something. I told him how I wanted to be a journalist, and he gave me this.”
“An adventure huh?”
“Yeah, that’s how he described it,” Ally replied taking the card back from her.
“He say anything else about it?”
“No, just that a friend of his had an opportunity for me.”
“Hmm… Maybe he has a traveling job to the Middle East. Or maybe you’ll get to discover a lost city! Even fight dragons and discover buried treasure!”
Ally looked at Carley feeling unamused by her friend’s lack of seriousness.
“Hey, you said an adventure. That’s what immediately popped into my head.”
“I mean a real-life adventure. Like meeting people and seeing new sights.”
“Well, whenever you're done daydreaming about your adventure, I want to go dance.”
Carley got up from the bar and walked over to the dance floor by herself, jumping up and down to the beat of the music. Ally glared at her stalker for a moment, then watched as Carley waved her over. She sighed.
“I’m going to need another one, Ben,” said Ally. Ben chuckled. She finished her drink and made her way out onto the dance floor with Carley, ready to make a fool of herself for the sake of amusing her friend. All the while keeping an eye on her stalker out of the corner of her eye.
◆◆◆
“My feet ache, but that was so worth the embarrassment. See what a little fun can do to shake off the anxiety?” said Carley as she made her way out the front door with Ally at her side.
Ally gazed around in search of her mystery man anywhere in the crowd standing outside the club. Thankfully, there was no sign of him.
“You want a ride home?” asked Carley as she walked over to her car and unlocked it.
“No, I’ll just take the bus.”
“You sure that’s wise with your man of mystery around?” Carley replied looking around.
“Yeah, I think he left a while ago. Ben said he paid his tab and left not too long after we started dancing. Your place is on the other side of town anyway. I’d hate to make you drive so far.”
“You really need to get a new car,” replied Carley, checking her makeup in the reflection in the side mirror of her car.
“I would still have one if David hadn’t wrecked mine. I’ll find something soon though. The bus works for now. You should try walking sometime.”
“Ha,” said Carley, standing back upright. “I prefer to look presentable still when I get to work. I work hard on this hair every morning, unlike you.”
“Hey! What’s wrong with my hair?” asked Ally, glancing at her hair falling over her shoulders. She pulled the hair tie off her wrist and yanked her hair back into a ponytail in an attempt to make order out of the chaos.
“That right there. You always have it in a ponytail. You should come over after you get back from visiting your parents and have a makeover day.”
“I guess that would be fun. I’m not changing my hair, though.”
Carley rolled her eyes. “Fine… Fine… I gotta go. You be careful though. And text me when you get back, or I’ll come looking for you.”
“I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
“Watch, with any luck it was David following you.”
Ally took a long deep breath. “God, I hope not. Wouldn’t surprise me, though. I’ve already caught him waiting for me outside work three times now. If he tries anything though, I’m ready.”
“Yea, that’s creepy. Have a good night,” said Carley as she climbed into her car.
“Thanks. You too. I’ll see ya later.”
Carley closed her driver side door and started her car. Watching Carley back out of the parking lot, Ally walked down the sidewalk, waving to Carley as she passed.
Striding away from the bar, Ally kept her head on a swivel, watching out for her mystery stalker. The bus stop was still a few blocks away, leaving her on alert as she scanned behind her, in front of her, and even at the balconies above her as she hurried down the poorly lit street. There was no sign of her stalker anywhere. She let out a sigh of relaxation, trying to ease her worried conscience.
The sound of a couple arguing upstairs in one of the apartments caught her attention, reminding Ally once again of the days she’d spent fighting with David. She felt as though her mind was like a broken record, endlessly jumping back to the same subject repeatedly. Everything reminded her of him, and never in a good way.
She began to wonder if maybe her mother was right. Maybe she should call David again; after all, things had been pretty good for the first year or so. That was until he started working late hours. Maybe his fatigue from overworking had caused his personality to change for the worst. Ally shook her head, unable to believe what she was thinking to herself. He was even a jerk to her one evening while visiting her folks.
Ally’s father had nearly blown a fuse and punched his lights out at the dinner table for arguing with her and saying she ‘didn’t know what she was talking about as a woman.’ Luckily, her dad knew how much of a jerk David was, but her mom loved living in denial. Even so, he’d cheated on her with Sophia, and he couldn’t change that.
Her mind wandered again to the thought of her father and how badly she missed him, feeling overwhelmed by her own worries. She hoped her dad would be in good enough spirits to work on the car with her or, if not, to at least look at it and talk about it at the dinner table until the two of them drove her mother mad.
Ally slowly became distracted over her woes as she tried to make sense of her uncertainty. Crossing the first block, she noticed the sound of footsteps behind her.
She hesitated, hoping it was anyone but the mystery stalker. She pretended to reach down to see in to her bag, allowing her a quick glance at the person behind her.
In that one glance, Ally’s fears manifested in to reality. She made out a tall, male figure in a blue baseball cap wearing sunglasses under the streetlamp.
Her heart raced. She felt as though her feet were ready to take off in a full-on sprint without her. But no, she kept her cool, just like her dad had taught her. She continued to pretend like she didn’t notice him.
Ally approached the crosswalk. She felt the screaming urge to run, but she knew that would probably just reassure him that she was afraid, which might be exactly what he wanted. The orange sign ahead of her helped keep her fear from taking over. The words Don’t Walk reminded her not to panic, though she thought the words Don’t Run would have been more fitting.
She stood at the crosswalk, fearfully waiting for the man to approach her. As each of his footsteps drew closer, she could feel her heart skip a beat and fall in line with each of his steps. She knew how to defend herself if he tried to grab her, but the terror that was rapidly taking hold of her was urging her to run rather than to stay and fight.
Her panic rose exponentially as he approached. She stared at the orange sign feeling her mouth turn to cotton. She could smell the strong scent of brandy on his breath and feel his eyes watching her through his sunglasses despite the darkness around them.
She couldn’t let fate hold her in that one spot a moment longer. She imagined he was reaching out to grab her, ready to grasp her by the neck. She couldn’t tolerate the suspense and fear another second and glanced to her
left, then her right, deciding she could beat the approaching car if she walked fast enough.
She stepped out into the intersection and crossed the street at an eager pace, looking down at her watch as though she were late trying to cover up her sudden panic.
Reaching the other side, she heard the startling sound of brakes screeching behind her. She looked back.
The man had rushed out into the intersection after her. He continued walking into the glare of the headlights of a car at the intersection as the driver honked his horn at him.
She felt a level of terror unlike any she had known before. She took off in a full-on sprint down the street, eyes fixed towards the bus stop near the corner.
“Hey!” yelled the man from behind her in his low voice. She didn’t stop; she wouldn’t stop until she was away from him. Her lungs were out of breath. Each gasp of air felt like a struggle, yet she continued, terrified of the sound of his footsteps chasing after her.
Ally dared to glance back for a moment. She saw her stalker wave to her frantically as he continued to race after her.
“Hey! Wait! Stop!”
Ally kept running, focused on getting away.
Never stopping.
Never slowing down.
Never . . .
Oblivious to her surroundings, she turned the corner and collided shoulders with a young man arguing with an older gentleman standing in front of him. Her bag spun around at her side, dragging her to the sidewalk helplessly.
Ally’s head slammed against the pavement as her hands scrapped across the ground trying to break her fall. Her vision darkened and flashed from the impact, leaving her dazed. She rolled over and off the sidewalk out into the street.
“Watch out!” yelled her stalker as he turned the corner. A bus hurdled towards where Ally lay, stunned in the street. The man took off in a sprint towards her, trying his best to reach her before the moment would be too late.
Ally looked up to see the blinding headlights of the bus rushing towards her. Her eyes grew wide with horror. Her vision faded into blindness staring into the headlights. The bus engine roared as its brakes screamed in vain trying to stop.
The headlights grew brighter until Ally felt engulfed by them, surrounded by the burning aura of sunlight.
The engine and screeching abruptly faded to silence…
The blur of the night time city life faded.
The air around her grew cold. She tried to close her eyes, but they were already closed. Yet, she could still see the light which had overtaken her plain as day, as though she were staring directly into the sun as it pierced her eyelids.
Her stomach sank, feeling the ground fall away from beneath her.
The sudden rush of falling through the sky left her in fright. A forceful breeze swirled all around her as her hair fluttered in an encircling wind. The cold air passed across her bare skin. She felt trapped on a terrifying amusement ride that she desperately wished would end. She felt like she was falling endlessly through the eye of a hurricane that raged all around her.
Ally prayed for the storm to end. As quickly as it had begun, her long fall came to an abrupt stop. The sound of the howling wind quieted to a dull moan.
Her stomach settled.
She felt the right side of her face now laying on a rough bed of dirt, feeling too weak to open her eyes.
A drop of rain trickled down over her bare skin. The echo of thunder rolled across the ground beneath her. She could hear the wind blowing through what sounded like a vast, open canyon above her. But how, she couldn’t explain. From what she could remember, the sky above was clear with not a cloud to be seen, and the ground no longer felt like the city pavement.
In the distance, the sound of footsteps running across dirt and gathering mud caught her attention. Someone was running towards her. Ally opened her eyes with what little strength she had. She felt drained of every ounce of energy, leaving her vision a blur and her body aching. She could barely make out the sight of shifting rain clouds above her illuminated by dim daylight—not even the night sky she so clearly remembered. The rain turned to mud underneath her.
The footsteps drew closer until the person approaching kicked up small rocks that brushed against her bare skin. Ally opened her eyes again but could only make out the silhouette of a someone wearing a blue-and-black helmet with an orange reflective visor.
“Hey! Hey, can you hear me?” asked a male voice.
A hand grabbed her by the wrist. The man wearing the helmet knelt down at her side, looking at his wristwatch, apparently checking her pulse. Ally gazed at him through the slits between her eyelids. He was dressed from head to toe in a strange, thick blue-and-black suit of protective padded armor. His foggy appearance almost resembled a knight in modern shining armor through her eyes.
Ally’s vision faded once more as her eyelids fluttered. She felt her eyelids being drawn back to see a flashlight shining back into her eyes, which cleared away the dark spots in her vision enough to catch a glimpse of her own blurred reflection in the man’s orange reflective visor. The man’s eyes stared back at her from within the helmet. Ally’s eyes closed again.
“Otto, I found her. I’m on my way back with her now. She’s fading in and out of consciousness, and is a little dehydrated, but seems to be alright,” said the man. He glanced down at the digital communicator on his wrist and tapped on the screen.
“Dressed up in my finest dress for the ball, and no party. I told you it was probably just a thunderstorm. Your losing your touch old money, but at least we made some progress in getting me closer to the target point. I’ll be back in two minutes with her.”
Ally felt the man’s cold arms lift her up from the ground and cradle her from the knees and shoulders. She could hardly move or open her eyes. But somehow, she felt safe. Curled up in the stranger’s arms, she felt comfort, as though the arms which carried her were there to protect her from the unknown world she had found herself in.
The sound of the rain beating against the sand and the man's padded armor began to quicken. Ally could hear his heavy breaths through the helmet as he carried her across the vast empty canyon. The sounds of the wind, rain, thunder all started to fade at once from existence.
A warm aura of sunlight pierced her eyelids, bathing her in its warm glow. Gazing through the narrow slits between her eyelids, she watched her protector start to fade away into the blinding aura as she slipped into a deep, deep sleep.
Chapter 5
The House from Nowhere
Tap . . . Tap . . . Tap . . .
The dense fog began to lift from Ally’s mind. She heard a gentle tapping sound fill the room. She opened her eyes slowly. The cord for the window blinds across from her was bouncing around in the breeze. The restless sounds of the city seemed far quieter than normal. A sharp pain shot through her arm as she winced.
Ally lifted herself up from the bed. She looked down at her arm to see a needle inserted into her wrist, connected to an IV hanging on a hook next to the bed. Ally examined the room around her, noticing nothing that reflected a hospital. Only an ordinary looking bedroom. The faintly colored wooden nightstand to her right seemed plain, with no medical forms or hospital tools of any kind resting on its surface. The dresser at her feet, past the foot of the bed, was much the same, decorated with fake flowers and a green and blue vase.
There was no trace of her phone, her apartment keys, or anything else familiar on the nightstand or on the dresser. She’d never seen the room before. She was surrounded by light red walls and pale wood furniture, all neatly nestled squarely around the bed in the center of the room.
Ally reached over and removed the tape that held the needle in her wrist, then gently pulled the needle out. A sharp pain surged up her arm, through her neck, and all the way to the front of her head. Her head pulsed in agony. She placed the needle on the nightstand and rubbed the sides of her head with her fingers.
Ally pulled the covers back and felt the cool breeze from the window blow across
her body. She looked down and saw she was no longer wearing any clothes.
“Where did my clothes go?” she asked herself in a panicked whisper. She frantically scoured the room, opening all the drawers, one after the other. Each drawer was empty with not a single sign of her clothes from the night before, nor any other garment she could wear. She stumbled over and caught herself on the foot of the bed. Her legs felt weak and sore. She sat down on the bed and wrapped herself in the white sheet under the comforter, trying to trace back the previous night as to what might have happened to her.
She remembered drinking with Carley, then walking home.
“Did I drink too much?” she asked herself quietly. She only recalled having two drinks the whole evening, and she remembered walking to the bus.
Ally suddenly remembered the mysterious man who had been following her home and how she ran to get away from him.
“Have I been kidnapped?”
A cold fear rose in her chest.
She got up from the bed with the sheet still wrapped around her and walked over to the bedroom door. She turned the handle to see if the door was locked. The handle turned with ease, which gave her a small sense of relief. No kidnapper would be kind enough to give her an IV and leave the door unlocked for her, unless they were a bad kidnapper.
She turned the handle and opened the door slowly. Ally peered through the door crack to see if there was anyone on the other side. All she saw was a silver chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the distance and a fine, decorative cherry-red wood railing that lined what appeared to be a long balcony. She opened the door further and noticed five other doors to her left lining the hall with the balcony railing overlooking the room below to her right.
Cautiously, Ally stepped out from the doorway and saw the grand foyer below her. The lower floor was inlaid with polished marble, with white stone columns stood on each side, facing a large, dark, wooden front door at the other end. In the middle of the foyer lay a circular wooden table with a large bouquet of dead flowers on it. A visible layer of dust coated the floors and railings—evidence that who ever lived in the home hadn’t cleaned in months, maybe even years.