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Chapter Three

  Chapter Three

  Click

  The key turning in the car's engine turns it off, leaving it as dark as the night around me. I check my phone and see that it's almost three A.M. I’d been driving for nearly eight hours… I might be able to make it to Richard’s office by tomorrow if it’s clear sailing… not that it shouldn't be, just straight roads most of the way, it's not like Night Rock City is near anything except wastend… one of those cities that will surely turn to nothing but a dipidated giant metal storage within the next twenty years.

  I crank the chair and let it fall backwards, the seat giving way as I go with it. I take one st look outside, at the clear sky away from the lights of the city… I almost wish I could just stop and stay a few days out in the wilderness here… Maybe I can once I get all this sorted out? With the money from the house I might be able to buy a camper… just travel for a while… pick up girls on the way, or maybe I should spend some time by myself for a while.

  I close my eyes, mentally ticking off the st half of number 6 on my list. Another one down… number Seven… deal with Richard… and then… mmnn… then… I go home…

  …

  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

  AH! I throw myself upwards, the light instantly blinding to my reality, to what I could even think about, or feel.

  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

  “MAMM! This is the highway patrol, please roll down your window!” I look at the owner of the voice and see someone in uniform, their face blurry as I try to put the pieces together. I’m… number Seven, I'm going to Richard, I need to sign documents, Number Six sleep outside. I'm on the way. Okay. I pull myself together within a second and throw my hand to the window button, the hot air of the road pushing through easier like a wave of steam covering me.,

  “Ugh sorry officer, uhh how can I help you?”

  “I was going to ask that myself, you seem to have parked on the side of the road, now I know this stretch is long, but sleeping outside isn't safe, for anyone, much less a pretty young person like yourself.”

  I put their face to the voice and see that they are a young one themselves, chewing on some gum as they lean over the side of the car with obvious intention. “Yeah I wasn't sure if there were any nearby motels or anything so I just thought I’d crash out here, thank you for waking me up… oh it's already Nine… damn, I’m going to be te.”

  “Now hold on already, are you sure you don't want to step outside and talk for a bit?”

  “Actually, my mother just passed away and I’m going to her wyer to deal with some unpleasantries…” Cautious of my words I try to use as much pity as possible, and I’m not lying, it will be very unpleasant, at least the after part once I have to see the house.

  “Ahh… alright… well how about you pass me your driver's license and registration and then I will get out of your hair.”

  I quickly pull them out of my glove box before passing it to the man, “Mnn Jane huh? Lovely name miss Jane… I will be right back after running these.”

  “Thank you uhh for keeping the roads safe officer!” He smirks at my words, accepting my fttery and goes back to his car, where he had parked right behind mine. I'm surprised I didn't wake up to him arriving… I'm usually a pretty light sleeper. I can't bme my sleeping habits though since I have had more than enough running through my mind to deaden any woman, full of hatred and or not.

  I check my phone and see countless messages from Denise, one from Agatha, as well as one from Richard. I quickly run through Denise’s to gain some comfort. Promises, anger, how bad a partner I was, how many people she fucked, appologies, then back to anger. I press block with satisfaction and then archive her messages in case I ever need to get legal with her ass.

  From Agatha I receive a message telling me that Denise called her and told her that we were back together and renewing the lease, together, Agatha told her in no uncertain terms to ‘pound sand’, something she must have read off the internet. I send her a thank you message and that I was on my way and staying safe.

  From Richard, it was just a message telling me he will be in the whole day. I send him my estimate on arrival, hopefully before nightfall but it's hard to tell. I look through the back window and see the officer on the phone, pacing in a panic before closing it and swearing. He looks towards me and hurriedly, holding out my papers, arrives at the window.

  “I-Im’ sorry for deying you mamm, please travel safe… d-do you need anything else?” I look at him, sweat perspiring down his face as he looks at me like he's done something wrong.

  “No… no I'm fine… are you okay?” I ask concerned, his sudden change in temperament, distressing.

  “H-huh? O-oh no mamm, I just ahh got chewed out over a mistake I made uhh earlier, travel safe and I hope you get home soon!” He seems to nearly vanish on the spot, appearing before his car and getting in, his head falling down onto the wheel dramatically and just… staying there, resting it, almost out of frustration.

  Looking back and forth a few times I feel like it's time to get out of here, putting my keys in and starting up the engine before slowly getting onto the road, of course making sure to look both ways. I sigh in relief as I pull out and get far enough away that his car becomes a pin-prick, worried that with all his frustrations that he was going to carry them out on me instead… that is what cops usually do… I would know, as much as I wish I could have worked anywhere else in the world, they were paying well and I had a skill set that they needed. A job is a job after all…

  I look into the mirror a few times and then again, feeling a feeling in the back of my head that was wrong, off, something he said? In his panic he told me… get home soon? Was that something that he always said to people or was it something more? With how he was acting it could just be a slip of the tongue.

  “Jane, you don't need to think about such things, everything is going to be fine, you are just being paranoid… he was just a young kid… must have been a few years younger than you… just… A slip of the tongue…” Fuck. I put on my music and scream it out loud, grateful for the ck of cars on the road, for them not to have to listen to me and possibly report me to the police… I sure as heck don't want to encounter him again today, I’ve got enough on my pte without adding paranoia to it.

  The drive is uneventful, as uneventful as a ten hour drive across country can be. After an hour I pull up to pick up some gas, filling the tank to full, buying the healthiest thing I could for breakfast, which turned out to be a packet of vinegar chips and a fruit drink that promised all the health in the world, along with the same amount of sugar.

  I manage to find myself a pie on the way through a small run down town, more promises, this time of the best pie this side of the state line. I would believe them, considering there was nothing else around in competition. Although it wasn't half bad, maybe the portions a little small. I made sure to get two. Another Six driven, I could get a proper dinner I promised myself. Hoping that this was one promise that was actually kept.

  I manage to find Richard and Sons as the sun is going down over the horizon, leaving a golden pink hue across everything, it could almost be beautiful if it didn't mean that I would need to find a pce to stay tonight… My list seemed to call to me harder than my need for a proper bed, desperate to have it ticked off as soon as possible.

  Getting out of my car I find the entrance of Richard and sons, a dinghy little building in a dinghy little town, as I entered the area the words on the billboard spoke out to me, ‘Riverstone, the town with a thousand faces!’ But I had yet to see more than one. I try the door and find that it's open, the building maybe has two rooms, not including a toilet… although if there is one, it's not for customers. Before the counter of the entrance is a man, younger than me, if only barely young enough to drink. His slicked back hair and overly rge jacket screams a need to look important.

  The bell of the door chimes as I stand before the desk, seeming somehow deyed, hitting only on the backswing as it closes. He looks up in surprise, then a deep confident smile crosses his face. “Welcome! Don't tell me… You must be Jane! Look at that right on time!” His customer voice brings me a small smile, probably trained by his dad and spending all his days dealing with the clients, leaving the real work aside.

  “Yes, you must be… Richard Junior?” He smiles, radiantly, as though I had just given him a bar of gold as a present. It's almost unnerving at how much he is trying to put on a show for me.

  “Yes! Got it in one haha! Now it is getting te, would you like us to get everything sorted tonight or we can wai-“

  “N-no, please let's get it down tonight… I think I have everything I need here.” I show him my hands, currently filled with all my identifying documents”

  “Oh no of course, here at Richards and sons we would do anything for a client! Please follow me and we can get everything sorted before you can say Richard and Sons!” I cordially ugh, just to be polite, trying to not show how uncomfortable he made me feel, that same smile seemingly pstered on his face like a mask.

  We move to the next room, which basically comes down to a desk with a chair on either side. He sits down before motioning for me to sit as well, I'm almost tempted to stay standing, just in case I would need to make a quick getaway. From the desk he pulls out paper after paper, as well as a sealed envelope that jingles as he puts it down.

  He starts organising it all quickly, with the grace of someone that has done this too many times to count. He motions for my details and I pass them over, with ease he travels down the pages, pen in hand, looking back and forth over everything as my details are filled in. After ten minutes he puts it all down and with another horrifyingly fake smile splits the pages down the middle and passes me one bundle.

  “Please sign at the top of all the dotted lines that say client, and then again on the second forms… and then that's it, the keys are all yours as well as all the belongings in the house!” I nod to his words before scanning down each page and signing where needed, before doing the same and comparing both side by side for any discrepancies. It seems… almost perfect. I had almost doubted him for his age, but I was wrong… which didn't make him any less creepy.

  I pass him the master copy before folding mine in half and csping them tight with my own papers, then taking hold of the envelope with keys in them, and then standing. “Thank you very much Richard, is there anything else we need to go over?”

  “No no, everything else has been taken care of, included in those details I sent previously is the location of my clients resting pce if you would like to visit, despite your retionship it may help… apart from that you're a free woman! Oh and if you want to stay the night in our quaint little to-“

  “Oh no, no thank you, I will be going straight to the house…” He nods slowly, his eyes unblinking as he stares at me. Before putting out his hand to shake.

  “Ahh well, maybe one day you will get to enjoy Riverstone and all its wonders!” I csp it hesitantly, feeling the sweat as our hands meet in the middle. Before cmping down and shaking it once, then twice and a third time, the whole time watching my expression with bnk eyes. And then letting go as if we were never shaking at all. “Travel safe Miss Monroe! You should travel straight home, you don't want to be out in the dark in this neck of the woods haha!”

  “Ha-haha… yes, umm… thank you, I will be going now…” I leave the office at a near running pace and go outside, quickly opening the car and throwing my things into the back seat before locking it with intention. Looking up I see Ricahrd staring through the door, his hand waving back and forth slowly, the same smile on his face. I quickly throw the car into reverse, before shooting off down the street, through the now dark of town following the signs, ‘two-hundred kilometres to Night Rock City’.

  I couldn't get there any faster if my life depended on it.

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