Ellie's boyfriend kissed her goodnight and disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again... until now.
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A week before their high school graduation, Austin and Ellie parted ways with a goodnight kiss, thinking they'd be seeing each...
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"Man, what's with the suit?" Ron asked in an amused tone when I entered the small kitchen area dressed in a charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt, but no tie, in search of coffee. Preferably strong coffee.
The slow grin spread across his face as I fumbled with the machine. He'd already managed to pour himself a steaming cup and was in the process of adding cream.
"Didn't you already give your notice?" He finished with a chuckle, like he was so amusing.
The news that I was leaving had spread like wildfire even though I'd tried to keep it quiet.
"Yeah," I shrugged my shoulders in an attempt to act casual. "But it was clean..."
I got a coffee pod into the coffee machine and pressed the button.
Ron snorted out a laugh. "Got you," he said like it was normal to show up in a suit to a business casual workplace just because you hadn't done your laundry.
The truth had nothing to do with the cleanliness of my clothes. I'd been doing my own laundry since I was preteen. It had everything to do with the fact that some unknown man had been watching me, and I needed to hide in plain sight.
Even though I hadn't seen him in a few days, and his car hadn't been parked down the street, I took every precaution I could think of. My brother and I hadn't survived this long by taking stupid risks. And we'd learned the hard way that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Interestingly, my brother hadn't seen the man on the surveillance cameras in the area in the last few days either, although that didn't really mean anything. The guy appeared to be very good at whatever it was he was doing.
As for me and my brother, we had absolutely no idea who he was, or what he wanted. And somehow that was even more unsettling than knowing he could be out there watching.
So I tried my best to change my appearance along with my commute. To blend in and not be predictable. And stay far away from what had been my routine over the last few weeks. It was difficult, but necessary.
I'd worn a baseball hat to work for several days together with a short beard, which I exchanged for a clean-shaven face, a pair of aviator sunglasses and a dark blue suit. There were a lot of businessmen in the area, as well and blue-collar workers, so neither one stood out.
"Where are you going anyway?" Ron asked as he turned towards the sink to put away the spoon he'd used to stir his coffee.
"Not California like Al," I joked in an attempt to deflect the attention away from me.
"Lucky fucker," Ron agreed.
"Yeah." I nodded and pulled the coffee cup out of the machine that had finally stopped brewing. "He offered me his snowblower," I said to keep the act going because he hadn't, but it got the desired effect out of Ron.
