Has she already fallen prey to the vicious stranger hunting her?
Publication Date: Jan 26, 2016
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Crime Fiction
Life turns from barely tolerable to complete hell when Maddy Eastin’s impulsive plan to win back the attention of her absentee father backfires. Word of her scheme spreads through her high school, but when mockery escalates to cyberbullying, Maddy and her failed stunt become headline news. But the worst is yet to come…
A disturbed man is fighting the overwhelming urge to surrender to his true nature—a moral code molded by a sadistic father who taught him that a girl needs proper training to become the perfect subservient woman. As he watches Maddy on the evening news, his already fractured psyche completely splinters. She’s the girl he’s been waiting for.
When Maddy disappears, she’s labeled a runaway even though her mother believes it was foul play. Will the two detectives investigating Maddy’s disappearance find her before it’s too late? Or has she already fallen prey to the vicious stranger hunting her?
This psychological thriller unfolds through the viewpoints of five deeply flawed characters. Each is on their own emotionally charged journey that ultimately intersects in a collision course of devastating consequences.
Chapter
1
The grumble of a heavy diesel engine
alerted Maddy that only two minutes separated her from either a ride to school
or another lecture from her mom about missing the bus. She slammed the front
door and stepped into the sticky heat of a dark September morning. The moisture
in the Florida air enveloped her, its thickness slowing her down. Or maybe the
lethargic pace simply matched her outlook toward this dreary school day.
The geometry book jutting
out of the small hole in the bottom of her backpack cut into her ribs with
every step. She yanked down the sleeves riding up her arms to hide the fresh
marks. From behind her, a metallic grinding of brakes cut through the darkness.
She reached the bus stop expecting to see the yellow beast that would drag her
off to school. Instead, a fat guy hopped off the back of a garbage truck and
lifted a recycling bin off the ground.
Dammit.
I forgot to put the trash out. Something else for Mom to complain about.
The bus was late again.
Maddy wondered where Sabrina was—her friend usually beat her to the bus stop,
but this morning she was a no-show. Maybe Sabrina’s cough had turned into
something more serious.
Lucky.
Now she will have an extra day to study for our geometry exam.
Maddy had thought about
playing the sick card this morning, but she knew there was no way her mom would
have believed the act. And the only thing Maddy dreaded more than geometric
theorems was cleaning the toilet.
Bending down on one knee,
Maddy swung her backpack to the ground. She squinted through the murky haze of
the nearest streetlight and fumbled with its zipper.
Why
we moved us to this dump of a neighborhood is beyond me.
Half the streetlights
were burned out, including the one directly over Maddy’s head.
The sun wouldn’t rise for
another hour, but she still found herself wiping away moisture collecting near
her hairline.
A soft squealing noise
jerked her attention away from the task of rearranging the books in her bag. A
van had pulled up to the corner—a real piece of junk from the sound of the
roughly idling engine. The feeling of being watched caused a crop of goose
bumps to pop up on her arms.
Really?
Now a van has you spooked?
Maddy blamed the paranoia
on those stupid stranger-danger videos her mom had forced her to watch as a
kid. She could still hear the nasally narrator’s voice in her head, warning her
not to get into a car with someone she didn’t know, and never to accept candy
from a stranger.
Duh.
Maddy zipped her backpack
closed and stood, still staring at the van. It’s not like work vehicles in this
neighborhood were an unusual occurrence. Most days it was like playing Mario Kart, having to dodge all the
trucks on the street. It seemed half the neighbors cut grass for a living and
parked their trailers full of lawn equipment on the road every night after
work.
The smell of burning
rubber drifted toward her. The voice in Maddy’s head morphed into her dad’s and
informed the idiot in the van that he should change the belts. Of course, the
source of the smell could’ve been coming from an oil leak in the engine. Maddy
couldn’t decide the exact cause. She’d always hated it when her dad forced her
into the garage to help him tinker with the car. Even so, she’d give anything
to have him back now, to complain one more time about the grease stuck under
her fingernails or how impossible it was to remove oil stains from her jeans.
A muted flash appeared
behind the tinted glass of the van’s passenger window. Someone still sat
inside.
Probably
getting his rocks off staring at my bare legs.
The window slid down a
crack. A new scent skirted the air, a sweeter smell that caused a craving to
wash over Maddy.
She strained her eyes,
looking for writing on the side panel of the van. Nothing visible. She wondered
if a workman had arrived early to a job site. The sound of a garage door
opening down the street tore Maddy’s attention away. She turned, hoping to see
Sabrina rushing toward the bus stop. The low light of the streetlamp
illuminated a dark figure pushing a garbage can to the curb.
Another rumble drew near.
Maddy breathed a sigh of relief when she caught a glimpse of yellow passing
between the houses and trees on the other side of the neighborhood. Her stop
would be next.
She cocked her head to
the side, realizing the smell of smoke was closer. Just as she turned her head,
an iron hand clamped around her wrist.
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