by Rose Pressey
Okay, I had to make my decision… I would follow Abigail. It seemed as if the doppelgänger would follow me anyway so there really was no point. Now I had to go back to my car and hurry after Abigail before she got away. I kept glancing over my shoulder as I rushed for my car. Abigail was pulling out of the parking lot now. She still hadn’t noticed me though. At least she wasn’t going fast. If she had seen me she would’ve surely come after me and maybe even tried to run over me.
Now that Abigail had pulled her car away, silence surrounded me. Only the slightest sway of the tree branches and the insects made noise. It really was isolated and creepy out here. But at the same time, it was beautiful. I wouldn’t mind living somewhere that was this isolated as long as I knew it was safe from creepy stalker women.
The closer I got to the car, the more I sensed that someone was around. I paused for a moment. I looked all around but saw no one. I glanced back to see if Abigail had returned, but her car was still gone. The doppelgänger was nowhere around. Surely that wasn’t what I was sensing though. No one else was out here. Unless they were hiding behind a tree. I hoped that wasn’t the case.
Nevertheless, my apprehension grew with every passing second. I just needed to get to the car and get out of here. I pulled the keys from my pocket and reached for the door handle. I was even more anxious right now. The feeling of being watched grew more by the second. I slipped into the car and immediately locked the doors. Whew. I felt so much better now that the car was locked and I was safe inside.
I released a deep breath, but my relief was short-lived. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the big guy with red hair. A mean scowl was on his face as he ran toward my car. He looked as if he wanted to murder me right then. Of course, fear spiked through me when I saw him. One thing was for certain he wanted to harm me. It really scared me that I had been walking around out there and that he could have grabbed me at any second. Thank goodness I was in the car now. But with my window cracked slightly, I wondered if he could somehow grab me.
No way. It was only open just a crack. Nevertheless, I wanted away from him. I had to get out of there. My hand was shaking so badly that I was having a hard time holding onto the key fob. I fumbled to get the key in the ignition. Ultimately, I dropped it. The guy had reached my car now. He jumped onto the trunk with a loud thud.
I screamed as I looked in the rearview mirror at his glaring face. He looked like he was out of control. I recognized him. It was the one who had been driving up and down the street. The one who’d asked me for directions. The one who had hit me and ultimately the one who had been behind the antique shop at the time of the murder.
This couldn’t be a coincidence. He had followed me here, no doubt. He was yelling something, but I couldn’t understand. Finally, I grabbed the key fob again. This was the most terrifying experience that I’d ever had. And I’d been through some pretty scary things with ghosts and demons. This guy looked like he could be possessed. That might explain the crazed look in his eyes.
My car roared to life and I shoved it into drive. Clutching the steering wheel, I punched my foot against the gas pedal. I looked forward at the road and maneuvered around the parking lot, headed out onto the smaller road that would take me out of here. The guy was still hanging onto the back of the trunk. I had no idea how he was managing to stay on with me driving. I didn’t know what to do. Should I keep driving?
I couldn’t stop. He wanted to kill me. This was life or death. It was either him or me. I didn’t want to be in this situation. I just wanted to be back at the library working around the books that I loved or giving a tour to nice normal people who just wanted to enjoy a little bit of the paranormal. Not some crazed psycho who wanted to kill me.
How was he still hanging on? This was like something straight out of the movies. I had to get him off the car. He couldn’t actually get in with the car doors locked, but if I had to stop maybe then he would be able to find his way into the car. He could break the back window and get in that way. He was insane.
It was almost as if he had some kind of superhuman strength. Naturally, in my panicked state, I wasn’t thinking clearly on what the best option was to get away from the situation. I had to remember that if he got a hold of me it was likely he would cause great harm to me or even worse kill me. I couldn’t let that happen. My heart was beating fast and my hands were shaking as I clutched the steering wheel. What made it even worse was the fact that it was so isolated out here.
I had to make a right turn to get out of here. This was my shot to get rid of this guy. He had to be losing energy. He wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer. I punched the gas and with all my might whipped the wheel to the right, turning down the next narrow road. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the guy as he slid right off of the trunk and tumbled onto the ground. Instantly I felt bad, but then I realized that if I hadn’t done that he was going to kill me. Therefore, I had to shake off that feeling. He obviously didn’t have the same emotions, so I shouldn’t worry about it.
He’d already jumped up and was standing there looking at me. I couldn’t believe that he had enough energy to even get up that fast. If I’d rolled off the trunk like that I’d probably still be rolling, much less already standing up.
As I drove down the paved road the realization that I’d gotten away from him hit me. Now I was excited.
I pumped my fist. “Yes! Don’t mess with me, dirtbag.”
I’d showed him. Ha. I’d kind of known all along that I’d get out of that situation. I was tougher than I gave myself credit for. I bet he was still standing back there wondering how I’d gotten away. Actually, I still saw him standing in the same spot, like some kind of psycho. He probably was some kind of deranged lunatic serial killer. And to think how close I’d come to being his next victim. I needed to call Brannon and let him know so that he could come and get the guy before he took off after someone else. Had he escaped a psychiatric hospital for deranged killers? Like Michael Myers from the Halloween movie? I didn’t want to get close enough to the guy to find out. I was still giddy that I had gotten away.
Just as I was basking in my enjoyment, the car started to sputter. I looked at the gas gauge. What was wrong? What was happening? Oh, no, oh, no. This couldn’t happen now. Please don’t let the car stop, I thought. Of all times to have car problems.
“You’ve got to be kidding me right now.”
This was the last thing I needed. A killer was going to come and get me. What would I do when the car stopped?
“Come on, don’t do this to me.”
To think I’d just been talking about how great of a car this was. I’d thought that I would have no problems with it. What was the issue now? When I looked at the gauge again, I realized that there was no gas. How could I have made such a dumb mistake? I supposed I had been distracted with everything else, but this was like the number one thing to look for when setting out on a trip to track down a killer. Wait until everyone found out I’d been killed because I ran out of gas. My mother always warned me to keep at least half a tank at all times. Had I listened? No.
The car was chugging now. Chug. Chug. Chug. Seconds later it completely stopped. Okay, don’t panic, I told myself. Who was I kidding? I was already completely panicked. There was no talking myself out of panic. Because I knew this guy was going to come after me now. I couldn’t fix the car. Furthermore, I couldn’t sit here and wait forever either. I picked up my phone—still no signal.
What was the good of having a cell phone if it didn’t work? Especially when I needed it in a life-or-death situation. I placed it back on the seat and grasped the steering wheel with both hands. Maybe praying would work. It was the only thing I had. I couldn’t get out of the car at the moment, but maybe soon? I looked in the rearview mirror. The guy was nowhere in sight. The best I could hope for was that he had collapsed and wouldn’t be able to run after me.
What were the odds of that though? Just like the serial killers in the movies, when everyone tho
ught the guy was dead he always came back to life. I looked in the rearview mirror again, scanning the area behind the car. No sign of him anywhere. Though that offered little comfort at the moment. Now what would I do? My thoughts were so scattered that I couldn’t think straight and come up with a plan. Nevertheless, I had to do something.
Okay, calm down. I inhaled and let out a deep breath. Calming down would help me think clearly. How would I get out of here with no gas in the car and no other cars around? Most importantly, a psycho killer was out there. Leave it to me to get into this situation. I supposed people would start missing me soon enough and come looking for me, but I’d told no one that I was coming here. That had been a big mistake. I should leave my daily itinerary so if I didn’t come back at a suitable time people could come look for me. Considering the trouble I always got myself into, it seemed like that would probably be the wisest option. Everyone would be worried—my parents, Tammy, Brannon, Annie the ghost.
I picked up my phone again and prayed that this time it would somehow be working. But it still had no signal. It was going to take some kind of miracle to get this thing to work.
It looked as if my only option was to get out of the car and start running. Thank goodness it was morning. I didn’t want to be out there at night. Surely with many hours of sunlight ahead of me I’d be fine. Checking the time on the car’s clock, I realized it was almost six. That was plenty of time. It wasn’t that long of a walk to the main road. It just seemed much more isolated than it actually was with a killer after me.
Chapter 23
I released a deep breath and let it out. The only option was to get out of the car. I had to walk a bit and see if I could get the phone to work. I couldn’t sit in the car forever and wait for someone to find me. The guy was nowhere in sight, so maybe he was gone now. I didn’t know if I’d ever been this scared before.
Now I had to work up enough nerve to actually open the car door. Before I got out, I tried the phone one more time. Nope, it still wasn’t working. Of all the times for it not to work. At least I’d remembered to charge the thing. I looked in the rearview mirror one more time to see if he was back there. He was nowhere in sight, so I opened the car door. With my whole body shaking I got out of the car. I closed the car door and hurried around to the front.
With my hands trembling, I checked the phone again. It still wasn’t working. How far did I have to walk before I got the thing to work? I kept looking over my shoulder to see if he was behind me. Thank goodness he wasn’t there. I just hoped that I wasn’t giving myself a false sense of security. Don’t let my guard down, I reminded myself. He could pop out at any moment. That was what he’d done before.
Maybe that was some sort of weird game he liked to play. Serial killers were unpredictable. Not that I had experience with serial killers, but that was what I’d heard. I looked down at the phone, dialing repeatedly, trying to get it to work. I moved it around in the air, hoping that maybe some spot would catch a signal. I stepped to the left a little bit, but it didn’t work. I moved to the right a little bit, but it still didn’t work.
I moved even further away from the car now. Would I have to walk all the way out to the main road? Even then there was no guarantee that the phone would work. It would be a long walk to get to where someone might actually see me.
I felt someone behind me and I panicked immediately, looking over my shoulder. The man was back there now. He was some distance away, but I saw him. And I knew that he saw me too. I couldn’t get back to the car in time and I knew he would reach me in a short amount of time. My only option was to run into the wooded area to the left. I would try to hide.
This was like something out of another one of those horror movies where the killer always found the person in the end. In a panic, I ran into the wooded area. What would I do now? I knew he’d seen me go into the area, so he knew where to find me.
Tall dense trees surrounded me, making it dark under the shade of their branches. My only option was to hide now. The pine trees trunks were tall and didn’t offer a lot of space to hide behind. I would just have to take my chances. He would come soon, and I didn’t want him to spot me. I found the biggest trunk and ran behind that. Thank goodness the shade of trees made it darker in here, otherwise I would’ve looked like a big neon sign.
I tried to hold my breath so that he wouldn’t hear my heavy breathing. I didn’t want to move an inch in fear that a branch would pop under my feet. I waited and I listened. In the distance, the popping of branches echoed. I knew that meant he was in the wooded area now.
He would find me soon, so I had to get out of there. I took off running again, looking down as I went, trying to keep from stepping on something that would cause a fall. I ran as hard as I could, but I couldn’t tell if he was back there. I glanced over my shoulder, but I would have to stop and look around if I truly wanted to see where he’d gone. I didn’t want to slow down enough to do that, so I just kept pushing forward.
A noise came from close by and it sounded like a car. When I looked to the right, I saw the road not too far away. Was that the road that led back to the church? Then a few seconds later, I saw a car drive down the road. I had to get out there to it. Since it was driving slowly, maybe I stood a chance. Strangely, it seemed almost as if the person was looking for me. I couldn’t make out for sure what kind of car this was—all I saw was that it was dark.
I darted toward the right, running for the road. I sure hoped that this was someone who could help me. I climbed the embankment, trying to get my way out to the road. My feet were slipping under the muddy earth. I wasn’t sure how much more I could go before completely collapsing from exhaustion. If I fell now, then I would definitely be a goner.
I had no idea if he was back there. Glancing over my shoulder one more time, I didn’t see him. I’d never been this afraid before. I had difficulty even breathing, but thank goodness, I finally reached at the edge of the road. I set foot on the pavement now, running all the way out into the middle of the road until I was able to see the car that just a little bit up ahead. Standing in the middle of the road, I waved my arms, trying to attract attention.
The car approached and slowly rolled to a stop. It had on bright lights but suddenly they went off. The car door opened and Abigail got out. My stomach immediately dropped. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I should run back into the woods toward the crazy serial killer or talk to Abigail. Which one was worse? I wasn’t sure that I trusted her, and I didn’t even know her real name now. Nonetheless, I stood there as she walked toward me. Finally, I decided that I would meet her halfway.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
At least she was being nice.
“Someone is after me,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Some guy. We have to get out of here right away. If he catches us I think he’s going to kill us.”
“Oh, my gosh. Well, let’s get in my car right away.” She gestured for me to follow her.
We ran for her car. I jumped into the passenger seat. Frantically looking around, I knew I had to calm down just a bit. I was still having a hard time breathing. I scanned the area for any sign of the guy. He was nowhere around.
“I think you should turn around and go back the other way. He might be down there. My car is down there. I ran out of gas.”
Abigail pulled into the parking area for the church to turn around. “And you don’t know who this guy is?”
“I have no idea.” I still hadn’t calmed down that much.
It would take me a while to be calm. I was just thankful that I’d gotten into her car. I’d never thought she would be the one to come and save the day. She pulled back out onto the road and quickly pushed the gas. Still no sign of a guy as we drove away.
“So what are you doing out here anyway?” she asked.
Should I tell her what I knew? That I had followed her? And that I knew she was using someone else’s name—a name that s
he’d likely found on a headstone. Yeah, it wasn’t a good time for that.
“Well, I don’t know why I came out here,” I said.
That was partly the truth. I just wasn’t telling her all the truth.
“Strange,” she said as she glanced over at me.
She slowed the car down now. I would have preferred if she had moved even faster. This was a life-or-death emergency. I still couldn’t get my phone to work. I wanted to call Brannon and tell him where I was and what happened.
Abigail chuckled. “I thought maybe you followed me here.”
Should I act dumb?
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Well, I was out here too,” she said.
Yes, I was fully aware that she had been out here. And I wanted to ask her why. I glanced down at the console between the seats and I noticed something that sent a shiver down my spine. It was the purse that the murdered woman had carried. Why did she have the murdered woman’s purse?
When I glanced up I realized that Abigail was looking at me. In that moment she realized that I knew. She had been the one who killed Meredith at the antique shop. And now I was in the presence of the killer. Even though I had been trying to get away from another killer. It was almost as if she had wanted me to see this item. Did she want me to know? Like she was proud of what she’d done and that she had a souvenir from the murdered woman?
She stared straight ahead now with her hands on the steering wheel. She slowed down even more.
“Is there a particular reason why you’re going so slow?” I asked. “We really need to get away from this guy.”