Secrets (A Standalone Novel) (A Suspense Romance) (17 page)

He packed up an old truck with some things that he
wanted to take with him and I stood there and watched. It didn’t seem real that
he was going to let me stay there alone. After all the work he had gone to in
bringing me to the bed and breakfast and making sure I was safe, I still didn’t
understand how he could feel I would be safe there all alone.

“I’ll be back in two days. There is nothing to worry
about,” Chris said.

“Famous last words,” I said with a smile.

“Seriously, relax. Take some time to enjoy this place.
Sleep in, moisturize your hair, or whatever else you ladies like to do when you
are alone.” Chris tried to make light of the
situation,
but I just wasn’t able to go there just yet. I was scared and I knew he could
tell. There was nothing he could say or do that would make me feel safe alone
at this place. But I knew he had to leave. The situation was intense with him
and whomever he worked with in Chicago. I knew it was getting close to being
over and I longed for the day that we could comfortably cuddle in my house
again.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. I
needed to feel his body next to mine for just a little longer. I needed to feel
like things would be alright. I felt safe next to Chris. I felt safe with him
just being in the same house. I wasn’t ready for him to leave. I wasn’t ready
for the uncertainty of being alone. He held me tight and didn’t let go. I
couldn’t tell if he was nervous about where he was going off to or if he just
wanted me to feel more comfortable. It felt nice to have his arms around me
though, I felt
safe at
that moment.

Chris kissed me and then got into his truck. He
grabbed my hand and held onto it, pulled it up to his lips and kissed it again.
His lips felt warm and soft and were still surrounded by the roughness of his
beard. I watched as his truck pulled out of the driveway and turned down the
old dirt road. It went on for miles down that road and I stood at the end of
the driveway and watched him until I couldn’t see anything more than a speck in
the distance.

I was alone.

The sun was bright and I felt the warmth of it on my
back as I stood there. For that
moment,
I
didn’t feel as afraid as I thought I would. Perhaps it was because Chris had
just left or
maybe
because it was daytime
still, but
I felt like I might be just
fine.

I went into the house and saw the gun that Chris had
left for me sitting on the table. I had the safety locked on and I smiled. That
was exactly where I would leave the gun until bedtime, and then I would bring
it up to my room and leave it on the
nightstand
next to me. It felt weird to be so concerned about being alone. I had spent the
last year utterly alone in my family’s old home. I had never worried about
something bad happening to me. Often, I didn’t even lock my doors. But since
Chris had moved next door to me everything had changed. I didn’t feel safe
anymore. The bliss of the unknown had disappeared and now I knew what could
really be out there. Now I knew that people who would kill someone really did
exist.

I wasn’t stupid; it’s not like I didn’t think that bad
peopled existed, but I just didn’t think any of them would ever bother me. I
didn’t think that the life I lived would be of any interested to people like
that. I was a simple photographer from a small town in Missouri, I hadn’t hurt
anyone ever and I didn’t participate in a lifestyle that would harm others. The
more I thought about
it,
the more it made
no sense that I felt in danger at all.

Chris was the one people were after. Why on earth
would they bother to even come after me? I didn’t know them and I didn’t know
anything about what was going on. I didn’t have information that would benefit
anyone. It would serve no purpose to anyone if I
was
hurt. My brain was overwhelmed with thoughts of the past few
weeks and all that had happened. I really didn’t want to feel afraid in this
house and the more I thought about
everything,
the better I felt. This would be a great time to concentrate on
myself
and relax. I did really wish I had my
camera though, that would have made this time perfect. Taking pictures of this
old bed and breakfast would be the perfect start to my next series of photos.

I started to think about what all I could include in
that new series. The idea to find old abandoned buildings and take pictures of
their beauty was very appealing to me. I made a mental note to look more into
that idea. For now, I would just have to learn to
relax like
the rest of the world did. I would have to actually sit
and enjoy the calmness of the environment around me. I pulled a chair from
inside the house out onto the front porch and put my feet up with an old book I
found on one of the shelves.

It had been years since I had sat in solitude and
read, which was very sad considering how much I loved to read.
But anytime I had spare time I often went to take
photos. I was consumed with the search for the next best photograph and hadn’t
taken the time to truly enjoy the other things in life that I had once found so
pleasurable.

It was a warm day and the heat of the sun seeped onto
the front porch and I drifted off to sleep as the afternoon wore on. I woke up
after the sun had set with the book across my chest and hardly any light at all
around the house. Quickly I made my way inside the house. The darkness did not
feel as safe as the light sunny afternoon had been. I locked the front door
behind me and pulled all the curtains shut throughout the lower level. It felt
much safer to have the curtains closed, at least in my head if felt safer.
Obviously, if someone wanted to come after me, curtains would not keep them
away I knew this in my mind but not my heart.

I made myself some spaghetti and ate at the counter in
the kitchen. The old house made a sound that I didn’t know at first; I froze
still and waited to see if there would be another noise. It would be a long
night of worrying about each noise, I was sure of that. I didn’t know this
house well enough to feel safe with any of the unusual noises that I heard.

When I went to
bed,
I pushed a dresser in front of the door to ensure my safety. It made me feel
much better and I was actually able to get some sleep. I woke up to the sun
shining into the room and I felt more refreshed than I had in a very long time.
It was close to ten in the morning so I went downstairs and looked around to
make sure everything was safe. I looked through each of the windows to see if
anything unusual was going on outside, but I didn’t find anything.

Finally,
I felt safe enough to go sit on the front porch again. I picked up the book I
had been reading and continued on with the story. It was a very relaxing day, one
of the most relaxing days of my entire life. I watched as a couple cars drove
by all day long, but none of them even looked over my way. The house did not
have any vehicles parked there and I probably wasn’t very noticeable just
sitting on the porch.

After making
lunch,
I decided to explore the land around the house a little bit. Mentally I took
notes of pictures that I would like to come back and take later. If I ever got
back to this
place,
I would certainly
enjoy taking some pictures. I looked through an old shed and played with some
of the equipment that was around there. It all seemed like it was from another
world, nothing like what people used
in
the current day on their farms.

When the
sun
set, I made my way inside and locked myself into the house again. I checked all
the doors and windows to make sure they were locked tight and I made my way
back up to the room again. It was then that I realized I had left the gun next
to the bed all day long.

I smiled, I must have felt safe all day or I certainly
wouldn’t have left the gun up there. It was good to know that Chris would be
back the next day and hopefully done with all his work he was doing.

I fell asleep
with
the dresser in front of the door again. It was the second night of great sleep
and I had started to become familiar with all the sounds of the old house.
Nothing bothered me at all and I drifted off to sleep without a worry in the
world. The second morning I woke up with a feeling of excitement. Chris said he
would be gone for a day or two; so he should be by
sometime
that day.

I got into the shower and shaved my legs. I spent at
least an hour blow-drying my hair and making myself feel pretty. I was so
excited to see Chris again. I spent some time dusting the house and felt like I
owned it or something. I cleaned surfaces and put things away to
try
and make it look nice for when Chris got
home. Obviously it wasn’t home, but it was where we were staying right then and
I wanted him to feel comfortable after his two long days of working.

When I finished
cleaning,
I sat back on the porch and tried to reach
through
the ending of the book I had started. My mind couldn’t stop thinking
about Chris and I looked up in anticipation at each car that passed. I went in
quickly to grab lunch and later some dinner and then returned to the front
porch. I wanted to be there waiting for him when he arrived. But as the day
wore on and the night set in, I moved inside to the living room. I still went
through my ritual of locking all the doors and closing the curtains, but
instead of going upstairs I waited for Chris in the living room.

When I woke up to the sun the next morning, I didn’t
know what was going on. Chris had said he would be back in one to two days,
this was the third day. Worry set
in,
but
I tried not to let it
overpower
me.
Instead,
I went about my day again. Reading,
lunch, cleaning, more reading, dinner and then locking up the house.

But this pattern continued on for day after day and
Chris never came back.
Finally,
after it
had been a week since he left, I didn’t know what to do. I had plenty of food
around the house, so I wasn’t worried about that. But I didn’t want to be stuck
at this abandoned house for weeks or even months. If something had happened to
Chris and his team, then there was no one that knew where I was. I would be
stuck there forever.

I wanted to figure out what happened to Chris or I at
least wanted to go back home. One of those two things had to happen. So on the
eighth morning, I packed a backpack full of food,
water,
and the gun that Chris had left for me. I set out down the
dirt road in the direction that I thought was south. I remembered there had
been a major road a few miles down that way and I planned to walk to that road
and then hitch a ride into Chicago.

I didn’t know what I would do once I got to Chicago
and I didn’t know how I would ever get back
home
if that
was
what I decided to do. All I
did know was that I couldn’t just sit
at
this abandoned bed and breakfast and wait for someone to rescue me. I had to
figure out what happened to Chris and I couldn’t do that if I sat alone in that
house for another moment.

About two hours into walking down the dirt road, I
started to regret my decision to leave the bed and breakfast. I had air
conditioning, food, water and a bed there. I had everything I needed and could
have lived comfortably there for months. But instead, I was walking down a dirt
road in the
ninety-degree
heat, waiting
for someone to pick me up and help me get to Chicago.

My mouth was dry from the hot summer day and as much
as I tried to ration my water, my thirst kept getting the best of me. I
continued to sip on the gallon of water I had brought with me and hoped I would
run into a grocery store or gas station at some point so I could fill it up
again. Admittedly, I had no experience in packing for long hikes and probably
should have prepared a little better before I had taken off down the deserted
road that I was on.

When Chris and his team left the bed and breakfast
over a week before, they had said they would be back
in
a day or two. It was clear that something had gone wrong with
their plan and I needed to figure out what it was. Chris and I had grown very
close and I knew he wouldn’t purposely leave me at the bed and breakfast
without any word of how he was doing.

A few cars had come past
me,
but they were all going the wrong direction. I needed to go
south and make my way into Chicago. But at ten in the morning there were not
many people on the old dirt road and the ones who were out were heading to
their fields to work. The farm land around me was beautiful. It was filled with
corn and soy beans and ripe for the farmers to start harvesting. It was a
picturesque seen that I enjoyed immensely as I continued to walk at a slow, but
steady pace. I couldn’t remember the drive into the bed and breakfast, but I
knew there had to be a major road somewhere down this dirt road. I just didn’t
know how far or how long I would have to walk before I found a ride.
 

My resolve started to fade fast as the hot summer sun
got stronger throughout the day. I had only brought a gallon of water with me
and tried to ration it as best as I could. I thought for sure I would have run
into someone to take me into town by then. I couldn’t take the heat anymore and
found a spot under a tree just a few yards from the road. Sweat poured from my
body and my t-shirt was drenched. I clearly had not brought enough water on
this walk.

It felt nice to relax and cool down though. The summer
breeze
made the shade the perfect place
to hang out. I seriously contemplated just taking a nap and then heading back
to the bed and breakfast, but decided against that plan. Instead, I sat and
sipped on my water and ate one of the apples I had brought along. I felt my
heart
pounding
and realized I probably
should have spent some time working out before I decided to set off on a
ten-plus
mile walk. I really was more out of
shape than I had realized.

As I sat there I watched an old green minivan go
north, I realized that it looked surprisingly familiar but I couldn’t place
where I had seen it before. Often I felt like I had seen a person or a thing
before but just couldn’t remember when or where I had seen them; so it wasn’t
unusual that I thought I had seen it somewhere before. After about twenty
minutes, I was ready to finish my hike toward the interstate and hopefully find
a ride into Chicago before it got too late. I didn’t know where I would sleep
or what I was planning to do if I never found a ride into town. I just had to
keep a positive outlook that sooner or later I would find a ride.

My feet throbbed in pain as I stood up and started my
slow walk south. Surely there had to be someone going south on this old dirt
road at some point during the day. I know I had seen a few cars go by while
sitting on the front porch of the bed and breakfast, but I couldn’t remember
what time of day I had seen those cars.

I used one of my spare shirts to cover my head and try
to keep some of the
sun
off of me as it
beat down hard on my skin. One of the things I had forgotten to gather before I
left the bed and breakfast was sunscreen. I knew for sure I would regret that
the next day. My skin already felt burned and stung when the sun shone down on
it. I heard the vehicle coming before I saw it, the green minivan that had
passed shortly before was heading south now. The woman and man in the van
stopped beside me, most likely out of concern since the old road I was on
seemed to go for miles and miles. They probably had not seen many people
actually walking down the road before. Most people were probably smart enough
not to venture out in the hot sun of the afternoon, if they did need to walk
down that dirt road.

“Do you need a lift?” the woman said as she leaned out
the passenger window.

“Yes, thank you!”

The excitement in my response was a bit more than I
would have liked. I couldn’t control myself though; I was genuinely excited to
have a ride. Any ride to any distance was a big deal at this point.

“Where are you heading?” the man asked while the woman
hoped out of the van and opened the side door. I stepped in and sat down, put
my things onto the ground and then buckled my seatbelt. The air conditioning in
the van felt heavenly and it made it very hard to even think straight. My body
was hot, probably too hot and I felt a huge sense of relief when I felt the
cool air rush over my body.

“Ideally I’m going to Chicago, but I’ll go as far as
you can take me,” I said. I wasn’t about to turn down a ride at all. If they
could only take me to the next town, that would have to do for the night. I
could try and call Rebecca and Robert from there, or maybe get access to my
bank account so I could get some money for the rest of the trip.

“We are actually heading south of Chicago, we can drop
you off. Where at within Chicago?”

I didn’t have an exact location and really didn’t know
at all where I needed to be.

“Around Navy Pier would be great,” I said as I tried
to sound convincing. Really, I had no clue where to start looking for Chris and
his team. I didn’t even know which agency he worked for. The first place that
had come into my mind was the rides that I remembered going to at Navy Pier
when I was younger. I hoped that I would be able to get where I needed to go
from there.

“Alright, sit back and relax, we will get you there,”
the woman added. She looked back and smiled at me and I instantly felt at ease.

It was weird to be in a van with people that I didn’t
know. I had never hitchhiked before and thought that I would never have done
such a thing. But I felt surprisingly comfortable with the pair. They had a
baby car-seat in the back and the woman was reading a book in the front seat. I
couldn’t see what the title was, but it looked like a romance novel. The man,
who was in his
mid-thirties
, drove and
flipped through the radio stations until he found something that he liked. He
didn’t seem to care that I was in the van with them and I had to wonder if the
pair had ever picked up a hitchhiker before.

My favorite thing about the ride was that they didn’t
bombard me with questions. I was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to
explain every detail about why I needed to go to Chicago. I probably wouldn’t
have explained it to them even if I did have a ton of energy.