When Darkness Falls Read Online Free Page A

thought her chest would explode, and she tried to control her breath. In through the nose and out through the mouth. In through the nose… When she opened her eyes, he was gone. She was shaking all over, and then she saw Beasty in the floorboard, hunched down like he was also scared. Tears sprang to her eyes. The door to the car was still open, and rain was pouring in. She went to close to the door, but then she caught sight of Dan going around the side of the building. She stepped out of the car, straining to see through the rain, oblivious to the fact that she was getting drenched.
    Anger took hold, replacing the fear. “Dan!” she screamed. “If you’ve got something to say to me then say it! Dan! What do you want? DAN!”
    Lightning flashed as thunder rattled the ground, and she saw him walking from the building to the nearby field. “Come back here and talk to me! You betrayed me!” A blinding anger seized her as she took off running through the rain after him. She got about fifty feet from the building when she stepped into a hole and went down hard, skinning the palms of her hands in the process. Then she realized what she was doing. She jerked around, looking at the empty space around her. There was no one there. “Dan!”
    Tears began streaming down her face, mixing with the rain. No wonder her father and mother were worried. She was losing it! She stood and began walking back to the building. Then she saw her car and realized she’d left the door wide open. “Beasty!” Her stomach dropped. She ran to the car and looked inside. He was gone. What had she done? Beasty had probably gone looking for her.
    “Beasty!” she began yelling, walking around the building. “Beasty! Kitty, kitty!” The words seemed to get swallowed up in the rain, and her panic was building to frenzy. Just when she’d lost all hope of finding him, she rounded the corner and saw one of the boys, belonging to the family that was parked beside her. He was holding Beasty in his arms.
    He stepped up to her. “I don’t think he likes the rain. He was trying to get into the door of the restroom when I came out.”
    Her knees went weak with relief as she took Beasty from him. “Oh, thank you.” She cuddled the trembling cat in her arms. “I thought I’d lost him. Thank you,” she repeated.
    He smiled. “You’re welcome.” He gave her a tentative look. “What’s his name?”
    “Beasty.”
    He reached out and rubbed Beasty’s head. “Beasty. It fits him.”
    His mother called for him from the car. “Charlie, let’s go!”
    “See ya!” He gave her a curt wave as he trotted off.
    Not wanting to be left alone at the rest area, Chloe hurried to her car and deposited Beasty in the cage. Thankfully, she’d gotten the cage mostly cleaned before the commotion began, but the bag of poop was still in the car. She tied it up and sprinted to the garbage can in front of the building where she threw it away and then ran back to the car as fast as she could. Her heart hammering, she started the engine and blasted the heat. It was still raining, so she turned on the windshield wipers.
    As she drove out of the parking lot, she stole a glance at the building through the rearview mirror. She let out a cry as a tremor ran through her, for there—standing by the garbage can where she’d just been—was Dan.
    She punched the accelerator, not daring to look back.

3
    Chapter 3
    T he next morning dawned clear and sunny, making the incident from the night before seem far removed—a distant memory rather than something that happened the night before. The open road ahead was encouraging, and she felt her mood lifting as she concentrated on the landscape that was growing more rugged by the mile. The sky felt large and open above her, whispering of limitless possibilities. A little while later, she realized that she was singing her and Dan’s favorite song, I’ll Be Right Here Waiting For You , along with the radio. The song had once been a