Two months later.
"Population four thousand one hundred forty?" I asked myself out loud.
Thinking I got the number wrong, I read the number once more in shock as I passed the Fox Lake Welcome sign.
When Detective David Seiger suggested Fox lake as the perfect place to start over, I knew it would be in the middle of nowhere and safely tucked on the east side of the Cascade mountain range but I had no idea that it would be home to one hundred times fewer people than there was back home.
Irritated, I pulled over on the side of the road and called the only number I had on the new--only cell phone I've ever had.
"Four thousand one hundred forty! David, please tell me you are joking!" I shouted before he could greet me.
"Ev...calm down. You knew Fox Lake was a small town when we discussed your living arrangements." He chuckled.
"Fifty thousand is small...hell, one hundred thousand is small! This is microscopic! Wouldn't I blend in better, hiding among five hundred thousand people? Maybe I should have stayed in Boston," I sighed. "How is this safer? I'm not exactly a needle in a haystack here."
"I know you're worried, but it is the safest place for you right now. Like you said, microscopic. You may not be the needle in the haystack, but Fox Lake is. No one on the east coast has heard of it. Hell, most of Washington can't even find it on a map."
"Honestly, David, I'm terrified," I admitted, not bothering to hold my voice steady.
I anxiously pressed my fingers to the puckered scar across my left side. Embers burned through my skin and into the muscle underneath. The doctor told me that though the healed wounds may be sensitive to the touch, the intense pain I felt without laying a finger on them was psychological. What the hell does he know? Damn idiot.
"Mmm..." I bit the inside of my lip, trying to quell the pain.
"Hurting again?" He knowingly asked.
"Mmm-hmm," I bit slightly harder.
"Have you been taking the Paroxetine? He asked, referring to my prescription for my PTSD.
"Yep." I exhaled.
"Today?"
"It's not time yet, but you know I take it every day." I grunted.
"Okay. Look around, tell me what you see." He prompted.
Peering through the dirt on my windshield, I scanned the main square.
"A couple of old men sitting under a gazebo playing chess."
"What color is the gazebo?"
"White, but you already knew that." I blew out another breath.
After a few more minutes of telling David in detail what I saw, my pain subsided. Most of the episodes last a few minutes. But on rare occasions, every wound pulsated with heat simultaneously and can take hours to resolve.
"Evangeline..."
"Evan," I corrected, irritation lacing my words.
"Evan, when the judge granted your emancipation, he did so because you agreed to have a support system. Without any family, Fox Lake is the best place for you. You have the support there. Speaking of which, I wish you weren't so stubborn and would have agreed to stay with Beth."
"Your sister has a family that she needs to keep safe. I won't put them at more risk by living with her."
David's family already knew what had happened two months ago. And that was dangerous enough.
YOU ARE READING
Scarred
General FictionThe night her mother was murdered, sixteen-year-old Evangeline McAdams was left for dead. But fate had other plans. Broken and scarred, she's desperate to escape her past. With the help of Detective David Sieger, Evangeline leaves everything behin...
