Amy had been driving around all night long and was completely exhausted by the time she made it to the waterfront and parked her car to rest her eyes. She wanted to go back to her apartment, but she was fairly certain that she wouldn’t be safe there. Even if she went, what good would it do? She might be able to lay down in bed, but what then? Surely, the wolves would be able to track her. She had felt like there was something watching her for quite a while at this point, and now, she was beginning to understand why. She had assumed that it was just paranoia because of the former attack, but now she knew better. They were still after her. And they were calling her the golden one. Whatever the hell that meant.
She dug through her purse and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Rich’s number once again. He had apparently been keeping his phone off, or maybe he had dropped it in the toilet again. Either way, all she knew was that he wasn’t answering her messages, and she was beginning to get more and more frantic about reaching somebody, anybody, who might care enough about her to help. She didn’t want to go to the police station because she was afraid of being committed. And if Rich wasn’t around to try to vouch for her, then everybody would just be glad to put her away because she was a burden on the town and the resources. At least, that’s how she felt, and how some people seemed to act toward her.
She thought about going to her old friend’s house, but she was afraid of dragging trouble there. The woman had enough issues to worry about, having kids of her own, without needing to deal with any of the psychotic and strange incidences that had a tendency to plague Amy and her family. They were already looked down upon enough, she didn’t need to bring anybody else into it. She was afraid if she spoke about it, everybody would just think she was insane.
Part of her wondered if maybe they weren’t right about that. Maybe all of this was just something meant of her imagination, and Rich was doing his best to try and validate her so she wouldn’t feel bad about herself. After all, crazy people didn’t know they were crazy, did they?
Amy growled in frustration when the phone went back to voicemail and she heard Rich telling her, once again, to leave a message. She didn’t want to leave a message. She didn’t know how to explain to him that she had been attacked again and that she was in danger. She didn’t want to worry him when he was so far away and there was nothing at all that he could possibly do to help her.
If anything happened, then it was simply meant to happen. There was nothing she would be able to do to stop it or change the situation, so why fight it? Why bring Rich into it when all that would do was complicate matters and make him feel guilty and responsible if something did happen? He had always done his best to look out for her and take care of her.
What kind of burden was it leave upon him emotionally if something were to happen and he got a plethora of voicemails begging him to do something for her that he couldn’t possibly do? She would have to stop calling him. She would have to deal with this on her own. Illness or not, she could manage it. She knew she could.
For now, though, she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. She was grateful that she had made it until daylight, and her eyes wandered back over to the bridge where she and Carter had been intimate the last time they had seen each other. Another swirl of anxiety plagued her, and she swallowed hard. Why had she come here of all places? Was she secretly hoping to run into Carter?
She still couldn’t shake the fact that if she were to run into him again, he would be the one who could help her with this. But that was probably only because she associated him with the last time she had been in trouble. He had helped her then. At least, she thought he had. Maybe all he had done was run them off and tell them to leave her alone. Or worse, what if they had never been there at all, and Carter had simply been trying to protect her from herself and then found an opportunity to take advantage of a crazy woman.
Now she knew she was going too far. This paranoia wasn’t going to serve her at all. All it was doing was upsetting her and making her feel inferior. There was no reason at all for her to be acting this way. Carter cared about her. Or at least, he had. Until she had surrendered to her own desires. Then something had changed in him. And she couldn’t help but wish that she knew what it was. Maybe she would be able to help them if he would just open up to her about it.
She couldn’t let herself be weak like this. Especially not now. She had much bigger things to worry about than Carter’s feelings and his weird angst that had driven him to leave her high and dry at the beach. That had been one of the single most shitty things a man had ever done to her. And she was used to men acting like jerks. She wasn’t going to stand for it any longer. She wasn’t going to let herself feel the pull of Carter preventing her from moving forward.
But, for now, she was going to take a nap. Why was it that she felt safer in her car than she did in her home? For whatever reason, Amy allowed herself to relax into her seat and quickly fell into a light slumber.
Her sleep was interrupted quite abruptly by a sharp cry. Amy was startled and moved forward, honking the horn on her car’s steering wheel and waking herself up in earnest. She laughed when she realized that all it was was a child playing on the beach with his siblings. She settled back into her seat, but now, found it impossible to relax back into the same state she had been napping in.
She glanced around, noting the presence of the sun in the sky and the fluffy white clouds hat were surrounding it. It was a beautiful afternoon, and Amy decided to stretch her legs. She was tired of living in fear and being cramped up in her car. She had spent long enough already in it and was not going to let herself be bullied into living in fear any longer. If anybody wanted to mess with her, let them do it in front of all these witnesses. Out in the open, under the protection of the warm sun. She had a feeling that whatever those wolves might be, they wouldn’t dare to show their faces right in broad daylight.
Her stomach rumbled, and Amy’s blue eyes scanned the area until he settled upon a hot dog stand. She grabbed her purse and stepped outside of her car, heading toward the vendor and rummaging through for the money to pay for her breakfast. was definitely beginning to take hold, which centered on another spiral of paranoia. What if the illness was getting progressively worse and none of these things were actually happening? What if she was just being insane and thought she was in danger when she wasn’t? The doctor said he thought most of the cause behind her illness was psychological rather than physiological. They had no explanation for the way she felt. They seemed to believe it was only a matter of time before she was committed, just like everybody else in this place seems to.
But here at the waterfront, she was far enough away from the little suburb where she was raised to take a deep breath and try to put those thoughts behind her. She wouldn’t let herself be defined by the interpretations of other people. Not anymore. She was better than that now. Even if she was exhausted from being pursued by villains who called her strange names that she didn’t understand.
“Long morning, miss?” the hot dog vendor asked, looking at her from behind the grill.
“Yeah, you could say that,” Amy replied, offering the man a halfhearted smile.
“Well, here’s hoping that it gets better for you,” the vendor said, handing Amy her order. “On the house this morning, in hopes of making your day a little brighter.”
Amy smiled gratefully, a small surge of warmth coursing through her body. She was glad to be reminded there could still be some positivity in the universe, despite the hellish night she had been having.
“Thank you,” she said, as she put her toppings on her hot dog and began to turn away. “I will pay this forward one day.”
“Oh, I’m sure you will,” the man said.
Something about the way he said it made Amy’s skin prickle, but she tried to shake it off and continued on her walk down the beach. The air was warm, and the breeze lifted her hair behind her as she walked and ate, her mind circling the events over and over again. She missed Carter. She wished she had somebody to talk to about what was going on. Nobody would ever believe her. Maybe Carter would, because he had seen the attackers for himself the first time. She felt like he was the only person she could trust, and yet, she didn’t trust him at all. Not after what had happened right on this very beach. It had been humiliating, and she was angry. No matter how handsome he was, it didn’t excuse him treating her that way. And if she ever saw him again, she was going to give him a piece of her mind, that much was certain.
“Oh, I’m going to make good with the boss at long last,” the hot dog vendor’s voice said from far too close behind Amy.
Amy furrowed her brow in confusion and turned around to look over her shoulder. Sure enough, there was the hot dog vendor, his lips peeled apart to reveal a sickly smile just like the ones that her other attackers had been wearing. She was slowly beginning to realize that they were all the same in a way, but that didn’t make any sense. As she tried to wrap her head around what was happening, she froze suddenly when she felt the barrel of a gun pressed against her back.
“Now you aren’t going to make a sound, and if you do, I’m going to shoot you right here. You’re going to come with me, and you’re going to let the boss know I did my job right. Don’t talk, don’t scream, and don’t fight, because anything you do that I don’t like, you’re going to end up regretting. Do I make myself clear?”
Amy nodded frantically and the vendor laughed right into her ear, sending a shiver of disgust down her spine.
“Good,” he said, pressing the barrel harder against her. “Now walk. We have got a lot to do.”