Free April Fools by Richie Tankersley Cusick Page B

a chilly breeze, playing hide-and-seek with a pale sprinkling of early stars. She let herself through the secret opening in the fence, hoping she could make it to the bus stop while there was still enough light to see by.
    Her shoes made staccato sounds on the pavement -- sharp clicks that stabbed at her raw nerves. She hated the echo of footsteps when there were no others to join them. They made her so terribly aware of her aloneness. . . .
    She walked faster, her heart pounding.
    Silly . . . you've been this way lots of times. . . .
    Except tonight it seemed different for some reason. Tonight she had a strange feeling of dread that she'd never had before.
    Forcing back a shiver, she kept her eyes straight ahead, on the fence at the opposite end of the lot. All around her, sad heaps of junk crouched like sluggish animals, their hulking shapes ominous against the fast-darkening sky. As Belinda focused in on her destination, she could hear the whine of wind through rusted pipes, the occasional scurrying of some startled animal . . .
    The soft, steady hum of a motor.
    She stopped, suddenly alert, every nerve prickling. For just one wild moment she was sure she'd heard the sound of a car ... an engine purring beneath the hushed sounds of evening.
    She looked around, eyes straining through the dusk, probing the shapeless blobs of shadow that hemmed her in.
    Nothing moved. The lot was as still as a cemetery.
    Swallowing fear, Belinda began to run. All logic told her she was being ridiculous, that she couldn't really have heard the sound of a car -- but as she glanced back over her shoulder, a scream rose up in her throat.
    One long, low shadow was oozing out from the others . . . and gliding after her across the concrete. . . .
    "Oh, God --" As panic exploded inside her, Belinda flung herself forward, every instinct targeted
    on the fence twenty yards ahead. She could hear her footsteps pounding in her ears, her breath ragged in her throat -- as she took another look behind her, a new burst of fear shook her from head to toe.
    It really was a car.
    Only, now, curiously, frighteningly, it didn't seem to be coming after her -- only sitting there in the gloom . . . patiently . . . waiting.
    Without warning BeUnda tripped, sprawHng onto the pavement, purse and books flying in all directions. As she got painfully to her knees and grabbed at her things, a sudden glare of light bhnded her and pinned her to the ground.
    The car's headlights were on.
    Like huge spotlights they trapped her there as she threw up her hands to shield her eyes.
    Helplessly, Belinda twisted herself out of their way, scraping her arms and face as she lay flat, mind racing, wondering what to do. At any minute she expected to hear the engine start up, to see the phantom car bearing down on her --
    But instead there was only deep, endless silence . . . and that was most terrifying of all.
    "Who are you?" Behnda screamed. "What do you want?"
    Beyond the circles of light, the night stilled and deepened. Choking back a sob, Belinda pressed her face against folded arms, gathering all her strength to jump up and escape.
    And then the lights went out.
    As suddenly as the darkness had been shattered.
    it closed in around her once more . . . thick . . . secretive . . . safe.
    She only hesitated a moment, to test the air, to listen for footsteps, or an engine approaching through cover of night --
    And then, dazed, Belinda began to run.

Chapter 9
    "Cobbs!"
    Belinda staggered up to the front door and fell against the bell. The handle was locked. There were lights on inside but she couldn't hear anyone, and Sasha wasn't barking.
    "Cobbs, please let me in!"
    She stepped back dizzily and nearly fell off the porch.
    The back. Maybe the patio door isn't locked.
    It took a while to follow the sprawling layout of the house, and when she finally came up against a wall of shrubbery, it took another ten minutes to find a way to get through. She didn't even know why she'd come back to