Free Dead Time Series by Jason Wilcox

hangers were strewn on the floor and the
closet doors were wide open. All of his gear was gone. She ran her fingers
through her silky hair and wrapped her arms around her stomach as a sick
feeling ran through her. Did he just come by to leave his dog so he wouldn’t
have to face me to say goodbye?  
    “Okay,
I’m not going to over react, there has to be a logical explanation for this. He
doesn’t leave until tomorrow,” she said under her breath. She pulled the
cellphone from her purse and hurried outside into the parking lot. After a
couple of tries of only reaching his voice mail, she hung up and dialed Matt’s
number, while pacing on the sidewalk.
    “Hey
Matt, it’s Bridget. I was wondering if you know where Caden is?”
    “Nope. I
actually don’t for once,” Matt responded with a chuckle.
    “Huh, I
came home early and found Mags here and no Caden.” She pushed dirt off the
cement curb with her foot.
    “Well,”
Matt started saying, “he might’ve left already.”
    “Why
would he leave a day early?” Bridget asked. Her heart raced, pounding under her
ribs.
    “Didn’t he
tell you? The company changed their mind. We have to report in tonight.”
    “So I was
right.”
    “What was
that? I couldn’t hear you,” Matt asked.  
    Bridget
heard another voice on the phone in the background. “Matt, if you’re going to
run this thing, then run it. If not, I’m going to take
over. We need to go since they’re pushing things up.” The voice was gruff and
unfamiliar. She headed back in the house as she listened.
    Bridget
was just about to ask who that was but before she could get a word out he cut
her off. “Sorry, Bridget. Gotta go.” A click followed Matt’s abrupt and sharp
goodbye.
    Bridget
hung up her cell phone. The room seemed to be spinning so she sat down on the
couch. Feeling overwhelmed, she slammed her phone down on the end table without
looking and felt a sharp prick. Pain shot through her finger as she pulled her
hand back and saw blood building on the tip of it. Looking over, she saw the
broken picture.
    Tears
built at the corners of her eyes as a drip of blood fell to the floor. “Why,
Caden? What have I done? I love you so much,” she said to herself reaching for
the broken picture. “Not only do you ditch your dog, but now you leave me a
message like this? That’s it. It’s over.” She pulled the picture from the
frame, tightened her eyes, and clenched her teeth. After a few deep breaths,
she grabbed the bag of food and took it to the outside garbage can.
    Whistling
for Mags, Bridget picked her cell phone up and the photo. As she got into the
front seat of her car, she dialed Caden’s cell again and pulled out of the
driveway.  
    Caden’s
voicemail blared in her ear. Hearing his voice was hard. She felt like all of
her dreams had been torn away. Warm tears rolled down her cheek. The pain had
become too much, she couldn’t control her emotions. You weren’t even man
enough to tell me to my face. His cowardly and aggressive ways hurt and it
was too much. Her dreams were crushed.
    “Caden…”
She sniffled. “I can’t do this anymore. It’s over. I’m going to go live with my
mom for a while, and I don’t want to see you. I grabbed Mags, because I know
you need someone to watch her while you’re away, but I’m not going to be here
when you come to get her. I’m turning my phone off so don’t bother calling.”
She paused for a moment. “Goodbye, Caden.”
    As she
hung the phone up, she let out a deep sigh. “What have I done?” She lifted her
phone up and started dialing Caden’s number, but stopped on the fourth digit.
“No, Bridget, stay strong.” Looking away from the phone, Bridget pushed the
power button, turning it off, struggling with her conflicted emotions.   
     
     
     

CHAPTER 8
     
     
    The night
was dark and the only noise was an owl in the distance singing a sad one-note
song. Tagen walked up to the cabin where he had first found Mauldrin. He