Absolute Darkness - A CME Survival Thriller Read online

  “Save your energy,” I muttered.

  Sam ignored me and sang the lyrics as she leaned closer. Her vacation started the second we left town. Sam almost always had her daughter with her. Dott might have been an oopsy baby, but Sam loved her with all her heart.

  The six-year-old was her mini. If she were in the car, she’d be singing random words at the top of her lungs.

  “Dott is with Jameson?” I shouted over the music.

  “Yeah,” Sam yelled back. “He’s really looking forward to bonding with her. This is the first time I’m going to be away from her. I hope she doesn’t forget who I am.”

  “You didn’t have to come,” I said with a frown.

  Sam reached over and touched my arm. “No, no! I wanted to help out. This will be good for all of us. Besides, Jameson is going to set up a video call for her every night. I’ll still get to tell her I love her.”

  My phone rattled inside the cup holder where I’d set it. “Hey, can you see who that’s from?”

  Sam took my phone and unlocked it. She’d cracked the code the second day after I’d gotten it, and I’d been too lazy to change it. It wasn’t like Sam would do anything sinister on my phone, except maybe trying to find me a new guy.

  After Elijah, though, I was pretty sure I never wanted to date ever again. Unless it was someone I could be sure wasn’t crazy, but after my experiences, I was pretty sure that didn’t exist. Everyone on some level seemed a little crazy.

  And I sure as hell wasn’t any better. I had my issues too. Who didn’t have baggage?

  “Um, it’s someone claiming to be your sister.” Sam’s nose wrinkled. “Must be spam. Wait. Now, she’s asking why you haven’t sent her any money?”

  “You can delete that,” I said, keeping my eyes focused on the road.

  “Mel?”

  “Yeah?”

  Sam cleared her throat as she set down my phone. “Do you have a sister?”

  “We’re not on speaking terms,” I said.

  “Why haven’t you ever mentioned you have a sister? You told us about your awful brother… why on earth would you keep your sister a secret?” I could feel Sam’s eyes on me.

  I released a heavy sigh. “She’s quite a bit older than me. She left when I was a kid. Drugs were more important to her than any of us were, including mom.”

  “Oh, that’s sad.”

  “I wouldn’t even know what she looked like if I hadn’t seen her on social media,” I grumbled.

  The phone buzzed again.

  “Want me to check it?” Sam asked.

  “No,” I said. “Thanks, though.”

  “She sure wants her cut pretty badly,” Sam said.

  My stomach twisted. “My mom didn’t put her in the will.”

  Sam sucked in a breath. “So, she doesn’t know she’s not getting money for her drugs?”

  “Nope. I think I should send her something when the house sells,” I said, chewing my lip.

  “You can’t do that,” Sam said. “It’s not what your mom wanted. Not to mention it sounds like she’d probably just throw it away on drugs.”

  “She one hundred percent would,” I said, turning the radio up a few notches. “Let’s talk about something else.”

  Sam leaned her chair back and put her feet up on the dash. She watched the country scenery as it zipped by.

  I was perfectly fine with not talking too. Sam and I were going to have a lot of time to talk.

  I still wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about having Sam in my mom’s house. She’d been prepared about what to expect, but I don’t think anyone really understood what a moderate hoarder’s house looked like until they stepped inside.

  Ever since I was young, I was embarrassed about the house. I never had friends over, and after I moved out, things got worse.

  I didn’t blame my mom, though. Her life hadn’t been easy. It was like she was always trying to hold on to something.

  We didn’t stop for dinner. Sam had bought more than enough food that we wouldn’t need to stop again until tomorrow. Unless, of course, I needed gas before then.

  After the sun had gone down, Sam fell asleep. Her heavy breathing was hypnotic.

  Each blink made my eyelids feel heavy. I yawned so big my eyes stayed closed for half a second too long, and the tires touched the gravel at the side of the road.

  “Whoa,” I said, swerving slightly to get back in my lane.

  “What? What happened?” Sam asked, popping up in her seat.

  I yawned again. “Can you drive?”

  “I don’t think I should,” Sam said, mirroring a yawn.

  “Okay, keep your eyes peeled for a sign for a hotel.”

  Ten minutes passed before Sam yawned and pointed at a sign. “Two more miles.”

  It was a long two miles before I slowed and left the highway. At the stoplight at the end of the intersection, a blue truck approached. The bed of the truck was weighed down with so many items the vehicle sat at least six inches lower.

  “What do you think they have under that tarp?” Sam asked as the truck continued down the road away from the small town.

  I shook my head. “Their entire lives.”

  3

  The bird’s shrill chirps outside the window woke me early. We each took a quick shower and left without even bothering to turn on the TV before we got back on the road.

  Sam insisted on driving first. She stopped at the nearest drive-through and ordered us breakfast before getting back on the highway.

  “Do you always drive this fast?” I asked, clutching onto the armrests.

  “This can’t be the first time you’ve ridden with me,” Sam said, glancing over at me. “I could go faster. We need to make up for lost time.”

  My eyes were wide. I felt like I could see each tiny pebble that made up the concrete road.

  “This is plenty fast,” I said.

  The hours dragged. It was around seven in the evening when things started to look familiar. We still had another four hours before we’d reach my mom’s house.

  “I’m hungry,” Sam said, puffing out her bottom lip. “Can we make a quick stop? Fill our bellies, stretch our legs.”

  I wanted to press on, but my stomach betrayed me and rumbled loud enough to make Sam laugh. She turned to me with a big smile on her face.

  “Ha! Burgers?” she asked.

  My stomach rumbled again as though it thought Sam was talking directly to it.

  “I guess so,” I groaned.

  “How about that place,” Sam said, pointing at a blue sign with a white cursive font. “They have cheese curds!”

  “Sure,” I said.

  Sam rubbed her palms together. “I’ve never had Wisconsin cheese curds.”

  “Your whole world is about to change,” I said with a laugh. “You’re never going to want to go back to Massachusetts.”

  “Well, I have to, but if they are as great as you say, Dott and I will move here in a heartbeat,” Sam said as we climbed out of the SUV.

  The sounds of an old truck rattling down the road caught my attention. It was another truck with the bed packed to the brim.

  “That’s weird,” I said.

  “It can’t be the same one we saw yesterday, can it?” Sam asked.

  I shook my head. “It’s not. That one was a completely different color.”

  The restaurant was empty except for another older couple huddled in a booth near the soda machine. They looked up at us for a long moment before turning back to their food.

  Sam ordered us each a double cheeseburger and a side of cheese curds. I handed her cash, but she shook her head.

  “It’s on me,” she said.

  “I have money.”

  “You can pay me back when the house sells.” Sam bumped her shoulder into mine.

  There was some kind of commotion in the kitchen. I couldn’t see anyone, but I could hear them.

  “I’m leaving,” a woman’s voice said. “You can’t make me stay.”

&nbs
p; “We’re already short-staffed!” a short man said as he wobbled after the woman.

  She tore off her apron and threw it on the ground. “You’re an idiot.” She pointed at everyone, including Sam and me. “You’re all idiots.”

  The woman shoved the door opened and ran across the parking lot. She was in her car in less than thirty seconds. Her headlights popped on as she sped onto the road away from the restaurant.

  “Is everything okay?” Sam asked, placing her hands on the counter and leaning forward. Her head moved from side to side.

  The man chuckled nervously. “Everything is fine. Your food will be up shortly. I’ll throw in two free frozen custards for the wait.”

  “Oh, we weren’t here long,” I said, holding up my palm.

  “It’s quite all right,” he said, grabbing two plastic cups from under the counter. He turned to the ice cream machine, and another employee ran to the door.

  The man turned at the sound and cursed under his breath. His smile was shaky as he placed our food into a bag and put lids on the custard.

  “You should take it to go. Seems I’m going to need to close early,” he said, wiping sweat beads away from his temples with the back of his hand. “Have a good night.”

  I grabbed the bag of food, and Sam took the cups of custard. My eyes stayed on the man as he walked over to the table where the older couple sat. His hand rubbed the back of his neck as he talked to them. The outside lights turned off before we were even outside the door.

  “Well, that was weird, right?” Sam asked over her shoulder.

  I couldn’t respond because it felt as though my throat was closing. Several parking spots away from the our SUV there was a black truck that reminded me of my ex’s truck. It wasn’t just the truck that made me nervous, it was the face looking out at us.

  “Sam?” I said as the truck’s lights popped on and the face disappeared into the shadows inside the truck. “Is that Elijah?”

  She looked over, but the truck pulled out of its spot, squealing its tires as it turned out onto the road. “Of course, it’s not. We’re miles from home. Lots of people have that same black truck.”

  “I know,” I said. “It just looked so much like him, and I swear he was watching us.”

  “I’m sure it was someone that was going to get food until the lights turned off,” Sam said, pressing her lips together. “He’s really messed with your head. Your paranoia is so much worse.”

  “That implies it wasn’t great before Elijah,” I said, walking around to the driver’s side door.

  I sat down and closed the door before handing Sam the bag of food. I was tempted to lock the doors, but Elijah’s doppelganger was long gone.

  “No comment,” Sam said, smirking. “You’ll feel better once we’re at your mom’s. Secluded. Safe. Far, far away from civilization.”

  “You make it sound kind of scary,” I mumbled.

  Sam laughed as she reached into the bag and pulled out her order of cheese curds. She popped one into her mouth and moaned as she slowly chewed.

  “Yep. That’s one delicious greasy blob of heaven,” she said.

  “Wonder why they didn’t name them that. That’s a much better name than cheese curds,” I said with a quick laugh.

  Sam handed me my food from the bag. I didn’t mind eating while driving. It took all my attention to focus on the two tasks, so I didn’t think about Elijah and what a shitty person he was. I’d never be the same because of the man I spent only six months of my life with.

  At first, he seemed normal. Everyone noticed what a creep he was before I did.

  He’d follow me around town. He’d show up at school. Elijah had texted constantly and then didn’t believe I was where I said I was. He’d become obsessed, and I’d felt trapped.

  Breaking up with him had been a nightmare. He didn’t understand and thought if he showed up everywhere with flowers and a smile, I’d take him back.

  I couldn’t ever be with someone that didn’t trust me and thought I was lying. One time I’d been out with Sam and Olivia, I’d had him on speakerphone. They both heard him say that if I was lying to him about who I was with, he’d kill me, and he’d kill the bastard that was trying to steal his girl.

  Elijah was psychotic. It took a restraining order for him to understand I was serious, and even after that, I caught him driving by on occasion.

  Truthfully, I didn’t think he gave a crap about the restraining order. I believed he just got better at hiding in the shadows.

  I’d probably never feel completely free of him. I’d always feel like he was lurking somewhere.

  Elijah had no idea I was even leaving town. I shouldn’t have to be miles away and still feel the need to look over my shoulder for him. If anything, I should finally feel safe.

  The rest of our drive was relatively quick. We were one of the few cars on the road.

  “I’m going to fill up the tank and get a few things from inside,” I said as I pulled into a gas station.

  “How much further is it?” Sam asked with a yawn.

  “Not much,” I said, rubbing my neck. “Thirty minutes, give or take.”

  Sam stepped out of the SUV and stood next to me as I filled the tank. She hugged herself, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

  “It’s cold,” Sam said.

  “Welcome to Wisconsin,” I said with wide eyes.

  After the tank was full, I reached into my pocket and touched the keys, squeezing them slightly. I pulled the handle to make sure the SUV doors were locked.

  Sam eyed me with a raised eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” I smiled. “I’m working on it.”

  “It’s better than it used to be,” I said with a shrug.

  “Definitely,” Sam said, hugging herself tighter. “I’m surprised you haven’t called Olivia to go make sure your oven is off.”

  I shot her a look.

  “You checked it six times, didn’t you?” Sam asked.

  “I said I’m working on it,” I replied firmly. “It’s not like it’s hurting anyone.”

  “I just don’t want to see you fall back into that place,” Sam said.

  I sighed. “Okay. Thanks for your concern.”

  Sam didn’t even know the half of it. I’d always struggled with certain things, but after Elijah it had all gotten so much worse. I didn’t like to think about it or talk about it.

  I pushed open the gas station door, and a bell over my head jingled. The man behind the counter perked up and smiled.

  “Evening,” he said, muting the TV.

  I gave him a nod and turned toward the coolers. I needed caffeine.

  Sam hesitated by the bottles of booze. “Should we get some wine?”

  “It’s after nine,” the man called. “I can’t sell it.”

  “Aw, bummer,” Sam said. She walked over to me and leaned toward me. “No need to worry. I packed some.”

  “Of course, you did.” I grinned as I pulled out a cold can of iced coffee.

  We filled our arms with food and drinks and set them down on the counter. The cashier, whose name was Dorian, scanned our items.

  “This isn’t going to be anywhere near enough stuff,” he said, looking up at us.

  “I think it’ll be fine,” I said, narrowing my eyes. I didn’t appreciate it when people commented on my purchases, and I wanted to tell him to mind his own business.

  “Are you guys from around here?” he asked.

  Sam rested her arms on the counter and leaned forward. His cheeks turned red. Sam had a way with men. They were fascinated and intimidated by her, and she knew it.

  “We’re not,” Sam said, blinking several times.

  Dorian cleared his throat. “Oh, then maybe you haven’t heard the news? Although I’m not sure how that’s possible when it seems to be all they’ve been talking about for the last day.”

  “What news?” I asked, glancing at the TV. The marquee at the bottom was spitting information, and the words ‘breakin
g news’ were in big, bold letters at the top left-hand corner.

  The cashier glanced at the register. “There’s some kind of solar storm due to hit in a few hours.” He chuckled. “We’re all doomed.”

  4

  Dorian, the cashier, scratched the back of his neck and his smile faded. “Yeah, I guess they miscalculated or something.”

  “You’re not joking?” Sam asked, turning toward the TV.

  “No,” he said, grabbing the remote. He unmuted the TV, and the newscaster started speaking in an extremely serious tone.

  “… should hit Earth in the next few hours. Crews will be out all over the United States, ready to combat the after-effects of the solar storm. Authorities are highly recommending everyone stay indoors until they are able to give out the all-clear.”

  Sam slapped the table. “That’s nuts.”

  “I think we should get going,” I said, twisting my fingers together. “How much do I owe you?”

  “You got gas too?” Dorian asked.

  “Pump four.”

  Dorian tapped a few keys on his register. “Forty-six dollars and two cents, please.”

  I placed the cash on the counter, but Dorian didn’t take the money. He stared at me for a long moment.

  “You’re not from around here?” he asked.

  “No,” I replied.

  “Where you headed?”

  “My mom’s house,” I said.

  Sam slapped her hand on the money and slid it closer. “You don’t have to answer his questions. Don’t be a creep.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be a creep,” Dorian said, his voice shaking. “I… I just… she seems familiar.”

  “I lived in the area a long time ago,” I said.

  Dorian took the money and gave me a receipt. “I wasn’t trying to pry. Just curious. Jeez.”

  “It’s fine,” I mumbled as Sam pulled me out of the gas station. She muttered something as she shot him a look over her shoulder. “People are nosier around here. He didn’t mean anything.”

  “Yeah, right. You, of all people, need to be more careful,” Sam said.

  “Me of all people?” I snapped.

  She sighed. “Must I remind you of the whole Elijah situation? We don’t want a repeat of that.”