A Hidden Secret

Unbridled Fear

The driver’s face was horrifically mangled. 

Both eyes swollen with obvious cuts to his brow line. His lips split in multiple places, a head laceration that was bleeding profusely. She could smell the blood still pooling somewhere so likely he had another large wound somewhere on his body that would need medical attention immediately. 

That was all she needed to see to rush into action. Kallie removed her phone and called 9-1-1. 

She rushed to explain and walked a few brief steps away. When she turned back to the car, the man was gone.

But how? She’d walked a total of three steps and could hear if he tried to leave the car. Wouldn’t she? 

Approaching the car once again, the only clues she could see from the driver that was there just minutes before were a few drops of blood on the window and the inside of the car, but nothing else.

This perked her curiosity and with no witnesses Kallie quickly rummaged through the front of the crashed car with her long sleeves covering her fingers. It wouldn't be a good thing if the police found her fingerprints all over the inside of this strangers car after he magically disappeared. 

Opening the glove box she found no registration or ownership of the car. Not surprising considering the car is most likely stolen due to the fact that there was no license plate when she approached the car before. 

A few cigarette burns on the seat. Disgusting how humans were. Why would they put such nasty, foul chemicals in their bodies? What kind of pleasure does that give them to destroy the bodies that they only get to live one life with?

Pausing and looking around to check for witnesses once again, she took a deep breath and let the smells of the car overwhelm her. 

Her eyes glowed and she sorted through the scents. 

One from yesterday afternoon, a spicy, hot scent. Jalapenos? Secret sauce? Someone, dripping with nicotine and sweat, was eating a taco or nachos or some other processed food of the sort. 

Kallie shook her head and grunted. This particular part of her abilities could get frustrating. Smelling all the repulsive things on a person is obviously not a wonderful thing to do. 

She sniffed again. 

The stranger in the car was different. He smelled woodsy, musky, clean. Another deep breath in and Kallie sighed. What it must be like to smell that wonderful scent all the time. She focused and couldn't recognize it. But she would if she ever was able to find him. 

She felt a need to talk to this strange man.

She already had a barge full of questions to ask him. 

How did he leave without her sensing it? Why did he smell like that? Why were you beaten to a pulp and nearly killed? What was the need to steal that car? It obviously didn't belong to you. It belonged to the sweaty taco man. 

Looking around and realizing she was wasting time, she moved the driver side seat forward. She could have sworn there were more papers behind here. That just made her more suspicious. This mysterious stranger was able to grab most of the papers, open the car door and close it, and disappear into the night without alerting her. All of this happening within a minute or two. 

Maybe there really were more like her in the world and she’s just never tried hard enough to actually find them. 

Nonsense, Kallie thought to herself, she tried to find her biological parents. Her adoptive parents basically had no information on them though. She had one speeding ticket on a similar car of what they had been driving the night when they dropped her off and never looked back. When looking further into the ticket she found nothing but a dead end. 

It was never paid and it was found that the car had been stolen two days before so more than likely they ditched the car and left town. It was a bummer but she was happy. At least for a moment.

When her father died, she decided that finding others that hadn't wanted her in the first place wasn't worth her time. Her mother needed her. 

But then she hit her sixteenth birthday and that changed. After that night her mother shut her out. Barely speaking and doing only the minimal amount as a mother. 

Kallie couldn't really complain. 

How do you deal with your daughter, that you loved, changing into a monster right in front of your face? 

In the years that followed that night, Kallie has learned to forgive her mother. Who wouldnt? There were no normal circumstances or similar instances that could be compared to it all and help resolve the abnormalities she faced. 

Kallie shook her head. Stop dredging up the past, Kallie, she whispered to herself. 

Focus, Kallie, focus, she thought. This could be a lead to others of my nature. 

Half crawling into the backseat she found a few papers with some written notes on them but nothing that was a solid lead to anything. 

Letting out a huge sigh and falling back into the seat, she took one more breath and absorbed that special scent into her nostrils. It was addicting. It was like smelling fresh raspberries dangling in front of your face while you're wading through hot trash everyday. 

Opening her eyes she noticed the time on the clock, 3:23am. 

Her mother would be worried, if she was even conscious. 

The cancer ravaging her body was violent and aggressive and her mother slept most days and nights now. She probably hadn't even noticed she was gone. 

That’s when she heard them, the sirens on police cars wailing and farther behind she could hear the faint blips of an ambulance on its way too. She had probably two minutes before they turned the corner onto Blair St. and then be able to spot the car that had run into the bland yellow mailbox labeled as 1659. 

Kallie leaned forward, getting ready to push herself out of the car and put everything back into its place before bolting. She didn't feel in the mood to explain how the stranger disappeared while she was on the phone with the dispatcher. 

As Kallie was pushing out of the car she noticed something by the wheel. What's that? 

She picked up an old, tattered picture and gasped.