John Steel Collection - Books 4-6

Chapter 1-2

Thank God for nine o’clock,New spring, new youShe looked at her reflection in the nearby window. A sad face stared back at her from the black background of the unlit subway line. Tara stared into her large blue eyes, noting the sadness within them. That was going to change. She had plans that would make her dreams come true. Tara took a deep sigh as she thought about her life. She had just celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday and had nothing to show for her life. She had been nowhere, nor had she done anything special. Straight after school, she had gotten that stupid job in the Diner just so she could live. Her mother had skipped out as soon as she could, leaving Tara with the two-bedroomed apartment while she disappeared to God knows where not that Tara cared.

Good riddance, Tara thought as she remembered reading the note telling her she was on her own. That was the only thing her mother had ever given her apart from the beatings. Now, she was on her own, apart from the new roommate, who was only there to help pay the rent.

Good riddanceThe screech from the train’s brakes signalled that they were approaching the station on 50th Street. Tara took her face away from the glass. She felt the tingle in her cheek as the skin began to warm up. As the train came to a stop, the doors opened with a hiss from the hydraulics. She stood up and headed out into the chill of the night. It was almost quarter to ten at night as she reached Main Street. The walk home would take her five minutes—she knew this for certain after walking it for so many years. Down West 50th, then onto Ninth Avenue until she got to 48th Street. Tara took out her cell phone and checked her messages. She had forgotten about the vibration the phone had given off on the train. But then, late at night is not the time to pull out your cell phone on the subway.

Where the hell are you, we must talk…

Where the hell are you, we must talk…She stared at the message for a moment, and her blood froze at the tone. Something was wrong. Tara put the phone back into her pocket and walked home. Her pace had quickened. Her heels tapped the concrete. The sound echoed through the streets like tiny horses’ hooves on cobbled roads. The night appeared darker than usual, even though there were plenty of street lamps and lights from the houses as families stayed up to watch television, but it was a different dark. A fearful darkness that no one could see unless you were terrified by it.

To her left, there was a dark spot, a gap in the light, Clinton Community Garden, a nice place in the day, but it was bathed in darkness. She shivered again, and her imagination began to run away with her as she began to see and hear things, she was sure weren’t there, or hoped. Tara looked at her watch. The digital display read twenty-one-forty.

She had worked overtime to help pay the rent until her new roommate moved in properly. Tara smiled as she thought about the fresh-faced girl who had answered agreed to move in. An old friend who needed digs, she had a good job so money wouldn’t be a problem. The friend was a pretty woman in her late twenties, but hey, who was Tara to judge why a woman like that was single? All Tara knew was she had been in a bad relationship but was now single…of sorts. Tara turned on to her road; the apartment wasn’t much further. A cold breeze met her as she started down the final stretch, making her shiver as though someone had just danced over her grave. She had that feeling again.

Something was wrong.

Tara walked up to the door at the front of the building. Stopping, she looked around to see if there was anyone lurking in the shadows. She shook her head as if to shake the silly idea from her mind; she was letting a simple text spook her. It was probably nothing. She smiled at her foolishness. The bad thing about texts is they don’t convey emotion unless you want to lighten the tone, and you put the standard LOL at the end. Tara took out the phone again and re-read the text.

LOLWhere the hell are you, we must talk…

Where the hell are you, we must talk…She had to admit that at first, it had looked bad, but then she looked at it again. She had pulled a double shift and not told him, plus he could get a little jealous what with her flirting for tips and all. Once, she had gotten a twenty for giving some guy a peck on the cheek because it was his birthday. A little harmless fun, she thought, plus it paid the bills. Tara smiled as she walked up the stairs to her apartment on the fourth floor, her exercise for the day as she called it. The sound of televisions filled the tight corridors, some people watching games shows, others watching police dramas. Music blared through the thin flooring above. There was a baby’s cry from number 4.

exercise for the dayShe stopped outside number 42 and slipped the key into the lock. Tara pushed the door open and stepped inside the dimly lit room. An orange glow from the streetlights outside broke up the blackness. All she wanted now was her bed after a long day. Tara listened to the couple next door: loud moans of passion came through as if there was no wall between them at all. She smiled as she shook her head and shut the door behind her. A scream filled the building—a scream like no other. Then there was only the sound of the neighbours’ televisions filling the corridors once more.