Page 5 of Wraith
Amelia pressed the disconnect button on the steering wheel then checked her mirrors and switched lanes to speed around an SUV going way under the speed limit. When she finally hung a left onto her street, she slowed considerably. Her mood had somehow lifted with thoughts of spending some quality time with her best friend. But her happiness didn’t last long A black van parked across the street from anyone’s house would set off alarm bells.
“Now, how could anyone miss that?” She muttered. Obviously, it didn’t belong in her neighbourhood. The only thing it had were minivans and sports cars. Amelia may not believe her father’s hype but she’d seen enough movies to know windowless black vans meant trouble.
Instead of going all the way down the street to her house, she made a left turn onto Hamilton, a right on Denby, then a right onto Trafalgar. She eased to a stop at the intersection of Trafalgar and Pope and put her hazards on before climbing from the car and walking to the large tree on the corner. Using it to shield her body, she watched the black van for a moment.
Amelia wasn’t sure how long she’d been standing there. But after a while, a man in a dark hoodie, emerged from her front yard, crossed the street and hopped back into the van. She instantly pulled out her cell and turned it off. After it went black, Amelia snapped the back open and pulled out the battery then dropped the pieces into her pocket.
Back in her car, she made a U turn back the way she’d come but parked on a small street off Denby. She walked through the alley, cut across her neighbour’s backyard then pushed herself through an opening in the fence of her yard behind the house. After looking around, she let herself in the back door and closed it quietly behind her.
When Amelia turned around, her house looked like a tornado hit it. The kitchen was a mess—pots were strewn everywhere. The drawers were out and the contents dumped on the floor. The sugar container, the spices, the flour and cornmeal were all dumped on the floor and in the sink. The cupboard doors hung open—a couple hung off the hinges.
She silently went further into the house—the living room was an utter disaster for the intruder had cut open her sofa cushions, shoved over both book shelves, smashed her fifty two inch television screen. The person or persons had yanked the pictures off the wall and the frames holding her Bachelor’s degree and other certifications, were all smashed on the floor.
Frowning, Amelia made her way into the office which didn’t fare any better. Only here, they smashed her laptop, ripped the wires out of the walls, dumped water on her desk and toppled over her book cases there as well.
Amelia’s fury grew darker with each room she went through . Though she wanted to charge outside and send her fists into their faces, she knew better. Amelia could see now her father had been right. Someone was after her and the sooner she figured out why and who, the better.
Hurrying back to the kitchen, she found a jug in all the mess and filled it with water. She pulled out her dismantled cell and dropped it in then set the jug into one of her cupboards and closed the door.
Maybe it was time to rent that car.
Chapter 2
The beginning of the journey was uneventful enough. Amelia had managed to get ahead of the Toronto rush hour madness only to crash into the one going toward Barrie. Though the GPS told her to take the 407 highway, she skipped it and hit the 401 instead. The 407 was a toll road which recorded everything.
She didn’t want to be seen.
By the time she reached Barrie, though she didn’t want to stop, Amelia had to. Her bladder had been screaming at her ever since she got on the ON-11. She found a Tim Horton’s in the middle of nowhere and pulled into the parking lot. Her laziness had her ignoring her winter jacket for her cardigan and after wrapping it around herself, she bolted into the building. She must have looked like a cartoon character the way she skidded to a stop to find the washroom signs.
It was hard to find a stall she wanted to use—they were all equally cramped and sketchy. Still, she relieved herself, washed her hands then stopped at the counter and bought a few donuts and a large coffee. Usually, she wouldn’t have coffee after lunch because it made sleep hard at nights. This was a special occasion—so, damn the consequences.
Soon she was back on the road, breaking all speed limits while keeping her eyes out for cops. Amelia turned on the radio and scanned until she found a top forty station. Thankfully, it played songs she knew the lyrics to. Singing kept her mind occupied with something other than freaking out about random headlights behind her.
Most of that stretch of highway had no streetlights. The only thing illuminating her way was her truck. From time to time, a set of lights would shine behind her and her heart raced until the vehicle either overtook her or turned off on some side road.
She made short bathroom breaks in small places during the trip but made a longer pit-stop in North Bay. There, she put air in her tires, filled her tank, use the bathroom then stopped at a restaurant to eat. Her next stop was Temiskaming and six hours later, she was pulling onto Kirkland Street West in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
Finding Liam Snyder’s address was a whole other matter all-together. When she reached the side road leading toward his street, her GPS went dark. At first, she thought it had died and needed charging. After a quick investigation, she frowned even deeper. It went dark because apparently his part of the world wasn’t mapped into the technology. Amelia banged her fists into the steering wheel and groaned. The urge to cry was overwhelming.
“It’s okay,” she said, leaning forward to peer out the windshield.
All she saw was darkness.
“It’s going to be okay. Everything will work out fine.”
From time to time a sliver of moonlight would peek out from behind a cloud, reaching down like the hand of God. Otherwise, Amelia was on her own. Inhaling, she eased the truck forward slowly, keeping an eye out for a sign or an arrow, smoke signals, anything to tell her she was going the right way.
The tires crunched snow along the path of other vehicles and it seemed as if she was driving to Timbuktu when a sign finally came into view. It told her to turn left. There were no lights, not even the moon took pity on her. The way ahead of her was pitch black, no street signs, no hand of God. In her mind, Amelia was driving into the great abyss.
In the headlights up ahead, she made out what looked like a cabin. Leaning a little bit further until her breasts pressed into the steering wheel, she tried looking for smoke or a light in a window.
Nothing.
Did her father send her to God’s nowhere to be stuck there by herself?
Still, Amelia eased the vehicle as close as she could to the front porch without blocking it or crashing into the actual structure. She shoved the truck into park but didn’t climb out until she was wearing her boots and winter jacket. When she finally turned off the ignition, Amelia realized just how truly quiet it was around her. No birds. No crickets—just the moon and silence.
Stepping outside, Mother Nature slapped her across the face. The cold instantly soaked clean through to her bones, leaving her shivering, her teeth chattering. She was making her way around the back of the truck when a growl filled the air.
