Fade: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven1

I wiped off my face and studied my own body for bruises or cuts. I took a deep breath and slowly walked nearer toward the cash site.2

The car at plowed into a large tree at just over 40mph, and even at that reduced speed, it had become totaled. The car was steaming, and before I could get any closer, it burst into flames.3

I reeled back from the burst of heat and fuel, covering my eyes from the small explosion near the front end of the car.4

The front seats and hood were consumed in fire, but I could still see the figure of the convulsing body as it flailed about in the flames. I took a deep breath held my thumping head. I couldn’t believe that any of this had happened, but it had, and I was still alive.5

Still alive.6

I patted my jean pocket, feeling the bulge from the small doll. I looked around myself for a moment, in shock really. I was on the hillside highway.7

I ran over to the other side of the empty highway and looked down over the guardrails. Silkwood Road. My house. There weren’t any lights on in either my house or the Thatcher’s house, in fact, I couldn’t really see much of any type of lights on in the immediate area.8

I turned around and glanced up. If Maggie wasn’t here on the hill, she could be up higher—or she could be in the small wooded area, near where the car had wrecked. I felt lost, both emotionally and physically. 9

It was then that I felt something beneath my foot. I bent down to find a small, black wallet.  It felt familiar in it’s own way, and I picked it up.10

Inside the leather-wallet was a card holder, displaying a driver’s license.11

Deborah Yates12

It was the very same ‘woman’ who had just attacked me. Still . . . people don’t do that . . . she looked insane, inhuman. She had to have been inhuman, I saw the woman’s convulsing body–still alive without its head. Impossible for a human . . . for any human.13

I stared at the name. It wasn’t familiar at all, but then I noticed another type of ID wedged behind the license.14

Mayborne County Police15

Detective Deborah Yates16

I sighed. Did Nathan call her? I thought. I shook my head. I couldn’t dwell on it, and I really couldn’t think about the twisted pile of flesh as a person. I took out the ID cards and stuffed them in my pocket, then I tossed the purse back on the road. 17

Where are they . . . I thought to myself, wondering where I should go next. Nathan, Maggie, and now this ‘Deborah’. The only people I had met so far had disappeared in some way or another . . . if Deborah was human for that matter . . . 18

I glanced back down at the Silkwood Road. Home was so close, and yet, farther than I could ever have imagined. I didn’t know what I did to deserve a nightmare like this, but I was willing to try and overcome it–willing to live through it. 19

A light turned on in the Thatcher’s house.20

I paused for a moment, and then my mind shifted back to moments earlier. The car wrecking into the hill, a car that admittedly looked like the one my mother used to drive–crashed into a tree. It was the same. I turned around and looked at the rumbling fire as it consumed the hunk of metal that used to be a car. It was the same.21

I turned and ran toward Saint Larken’s Street, the road that would lead me to where I needed to go, Silkwood Road, and back to the Thatcher’s. This time, I was determined to meet Maggie ‘Up passed the hill’.22

I raced down the roads, letting the cool morning air ride through my dark-dirty hair. I needed to get out of the nightmare.  I needed to get home. My feet were sore, thumping against the hard road with every gait of my run. My breathing was labored, my eyes were dry, and my body was shaking, but I had my one goal in mind and it was leading me onward regardless of my physical state.23

I ran down Saint Larken’s street, passing houses and mail boxes. I didn’t bother to even try and enter a house or knock on a door. I knew they wouldn’t open for me, and even if they did, I didn’t want to run into another 24

‘Person’ like that . . . ’Deborah’.25

The sun was a third of the way up in the sky. It sky was brightening up, but it did little to ease my racing heart and frayed nerves.26

Silkwood Road27

I collapsed against the sign and heaved in a deep breath. I was so close now, but my vision was blurring. I shook my head. I could not give in now! Not when I felt so close to finding answers, and finding Nathan and Maggie–whoever they truly were. 28

I pushed my weak body up against the sign, and took a deep breath. I patted the little doll hitching a ride in my pocket and moved on, I walked slowly down the dead-end street, less than a football field away from the hellish house. 29

The Thatchers . . . 30