Chapter Four Jolene
788 Words
I paced the floor of the store; something was seriously wrong it has been too long for them to be gone. I texted Larry the town sheriff and he was supposed to stop by and take down some information.
He wasn’t concerned about my sister’s disappearance. Sighing I decided to close up and head home tonight. I sent another text to him to tell him that I was going home and he could meet me at the ranch.
I locked up but couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes on me. I put my keys between my fingers in case I needed to gouge someone’s eyes out. We lived in a small town and except for the occasional meth head and vandalism of our store, there was no crime.
I hurried to my car and shivered in the cold air and locked my doors. I saw a coyote skulking in front of my car and frowned. That was odd, we hardly ever saw them this close to town. It was staring right at me and then disappeared toward the church.
I grabbed my phone and tried Marie again and then my mother, but neither one was answering their phone. Sighing I put the car in drive and took the road out of town and decided to focus on getting home safely.
There must have been something in the air because it seemed every woodland creature and their cousin wanted to run in front of my car and almost cause an accident. I had to pull over a mile before I came to my house because a deer almost went through my windshield.
I stood by the car inhaling the cold air and trying to calm my frazzled nerves. The forest was quiet but something felt off, I could feel the change in the air. Unless it was just my paranoia about Marie.
I thought I saw the coyote sitting in the tree line and wondered if it were the same one. Narrowing my eyes I stared into the darkness and jumped when my phone rang. It wasn’t Marie’s ringtone or my mom’s maybe their phones were dead.
“Larry it is about time you called me back.” There was a grunt on the other end, I heard a Vixen cry in the woods and shuddered. I hated the calls of a male fox it always sounded like someone was being murdered.
Snickering, because men were so dramatic no matter the species. I almost forgot that Larry was on the other end of the phone. Scowling at the tree line I saw three coyotes eyeing me. It was weird, there were a few attacks lately.
“You worry about your sister too much. Have you tried calling her?” I stared at the phone, was he truly this dense? If I were able to get a hold of her, I wouldn’t have called him in a panic. I closed my eyes and tried to reign in my temper.
“Larry, I do realize that police work is not your first priority. Could you at least pull your head out of your ass long enough to listen?” So much for keeping my temper in check. I could practically see him puffing up his chest in an indignant way.
“You will remember that I AM the sheriff of the town Miss Blackwell. You are also aware that you must wait twenty-four hours before you can report her missing. Unless you receive any information beforehand that would suggest otherwise.” The line went dead and I was left staring at my phone.
“YOU STUPID PIG! YOU WERE ONLY ELECTED BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IN TOWN WAS GOING TO RUN AGAINST THE DAMN GOLDEN BOY! YOU’RE AS USELESS AS t**s ON A MALE GORILLA.” I screamed into the night and two of the coyotes ran off.
One of them continued to stare at me as if it were amused by my outburst. I scowled at the animal and growled at it. It let out a yip and lowered its front paws and raised its butt in the air. Quirking an eyebrow at the animal I realized it was trying to play with me.
“You’re awfully spunky for a wild animal. I do hope you enjoyed this verbal outburst but I am going home. Unless you and your furry little friends know how to find my sister, I can’t play with you.” I ran a hand through my hair and the coyote took off into the woods.
Getting back in the car I was still shaking with anger and anxiety. The only blessing was that no more animals were trying to commit suicide in front of my car.
- Writer
