Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Claire’s POV
I feel like I can’t breathe, like the air has been sucked right out of my lungs. Being close to Clive is now making me feel unsettled. How can I have gone from wanting to be with him for helping me and showing huge acts of kindness to now wanting to get the hell out of here?
Because that woman in town told me I had to get away. What the hell has happened in this town? More to the point who is behind it? And what are the police doing about it?
My phone is on the bed; I need to open Google and do a search. You may ask why I didn’t do this earlier? Simply because I am frightened of what I might find.
Taking a deep breath, I first make sure I have locked the door from the inside. I saw Jake leaving so at least that is something and his creepiness isn’t around. For now!
Sitting with my legs stretched out on the bed and resting against the fluffy pillows behind me, I press in the pin to unlock the phone and then press on the Chrome app.
Clever phone already has me in this location, sometimes I find it wildly scary that we are tracked so closely. That is a whole thought for another day, however.
The news section grabs my attention. There is a whole feature on the young woman who has gone missing in the town. Weird, it says she was new to town with her parents and that she was out walking her dog. I don’t recall anyone saying that. My mind is all over the place. There are several pictures of her from when she was in college and some earlier ones of her in school. The resemblance to me is uncanny and makes my heart beat a rapid pace, as if I have completed a four-hundred-meter race.
I place a hand to my heart to try to still it and take some deep breaths. Useless, it is still hammering like a jack hammer in my damn chest. My sternum even aches with anxiety.
I let out a low squeal of horror when I read that she lived previously in the same town as I did with Jonathan. What the hell is that all about? And why was she even here with her parents? Maybe a holiday? It doesn’t actually say.
A thought crosses my mind that maybe this isn’t real and the town is hiding something far more sinister. Maybe this is a warning that I will be next after the woman in the woods. Okay, this is totally irrational and I have clearly watched far too many murder mystery programs and documentaries. But I can’t shake the fear inside of me, that there are too many things that correlate to my life.
When I continue to read, I see a picture of her at the age of around twelve and then read the caption under the picture.
My entire body feels as if someone has drained the blood out of my veins and I am about to collapse.
We share the same school at that age. The picture could easily be me.
There is a knock on my door which makes me drop the phone and almost levitate off the bed. My heart feels as if it is in my mouth.
“Claire, you need to eat something,” Clive says from the other side. Tears are pricing the back of my eyes. The picture of the girl at the school, I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is me. It can’t be that two people are so similar that are not biologically related or a twin.
I’m struggling to get air as I begin to gasp. Am I hyperventilating? I’ve never done that before but now it feels as if a pressure is on my neck.
“Claire, are you alright in there?” His voice is stronger, almost concerned.
“Yes, er yes, I am fine. Not hungry, Clive.”
There is silence, it’s deafening. Have you ever noticed how noisy silence really can be?
“Lass, you have to eat something. If you are worried about Jake, he has gone out for a while. He won’t be in for a few hours. Come out and have some stew that is on the stove.”
The mere thought of eating anything makes me feel physically sick. I couldn’t even get ice cream past the lump in my throat right now.
What the hell is going on? Is this some kind of wild hoax? Are the town’s people in on something that is bigger than I could possibly imagine. I mean you hear of these types of places, don’t you? Strange goings on, people going missing, fake news bulletins, the whole nine yards.
“Honestly, I am not hungry. I need to rest,” I tell him trying to keep my voice as calm as possible. There is a message that comes through on the phone as it vibrates on the bed. It’s from Nathalie. I need to read it and I need to get rid of Clive.
“I won’t take no for an answer, Claire. Now do as I ask and come out, please and eat something.”
His softer, caring tone has now taken on that sternness that I noticed it held when we were in town. And for the second time in the same day, I notice how much like Jonathan and his controlling ways, Clive sounds.
The easiest thing to do is to get up, unlock the door and go out and eat with him in the kitchen. I suppose it would work if I then feigned an awful headache, possibly a migraine to enable me to get back to my room and read some more about the woman and the woman who went missing in the woods previously, and to speak with Nathalie.
“Fine, give me a few minutes. I will meet you in the kitchen,” I tell him as I check Nathalie’s message.
Have managed to get you a bus ticket but you need to get to the next town. I did some digging and Claire nothing is as it seems to be where you are. That town has had several women go missing. You need to get out tonight.
How am I going to get out when there is a snow storm outside and threatening to turn into a blizzard? Not to mention creeping out of the cabin undetected.
I feel trapped. More trapped than I ever did under the watchful, controlling eyes of Jonathan.