Gone After the Wind

Chapter 6: Lights

THE MAN maintained a short but cautious distance from the vehicle ahead, following every movement of the driver, who at this point is still clueless about his little venture behind. He intentionally switched off the lights inside his car as a way to keep his identification hidden until needed. He wouldn't want any petty reasons to disturb his perfect plan for tonight. He had been risking too much on this one. He had already broken some of his personal rules and went beyond the strict beliefs he had been following ever since he started this venture. Seeing himself going home without her wasn't a pleasant thought to consider.

For days that he had been stalking her, he had learned tons of information about her—from the surface details of her dull life down to the darkest secrets she ever had. The woman's name is Florence Sykes, an English advisor from a famous university where she earned an impressive reputation for being an excellent instructor and a passionate mother-like to the college students she taught. And as if she's not satisfied with teaching hundreds of students, she extended the courtesy by tutoring the homeschooled and unfortunate children by nightfall. She loves being around them, more than the fact that she loves stuffing their brains with facts and lessons.

He also knew her husband owned a famous restaurant located at the heart of Rosegold City, only a few meters away from their extraordinary bungalow. He rarely comes home to the house, though. He had been too busy checking in at a seedy motel with a young brunette to even care checking his wife's activities and the events in her life. His absence and lack of compassion caused the rattling of their marriage. And it would only take some months before it will come to an annulment hearing.

Due to her husband's absences, she had her focus on teaching children. At the same time, exploiting her s****l needs to one of her male students, ten years younger than her. The man had seen Florence perform lascivious acts with that particular student each time they had the chance. In the bedroom of her own house, her car, and even at her garden. She never wasted any opportunity to make use of that young student. And tonight was one of their chosen time to meet up after class.

His grip on the steering wheel tightened when the naked images of Florence Sykes and that blonde male flooded inside his mind, using their bodies with so much disgusting concept. He burned red with so much anger. She had succumbed too much to worldly desires. It must be stopped. She must be stopped while it's early.

Right now, Florence was busy on her cellphone, talking loudly to somebody—probably that student named Davis. She was laughing at what the other person had said. Even if her back was facing him, he could still see her bright and lovely smile reflecting on the rearview mirror of his car. The traffic light was currently on red, making the conversation with the phone longer and his waiting more painful to bear.

He felt highly frustrated because of that. His repulse to drag her out of the car is getting larger and intolerable in his stomach. If only they weren't surrounded by other vehicles, he would have taken her the first minutes she stepped out from her work.

But his patience wasn't that easy to disregard. All the years he had to endure extreme stuff in his life, he had learned that patience is the key to being successful at something. He had proved it to be true when his work rose to attention after the last woman he took, and everyone was informed about him.

Although the nature of what he did is the only matter that was discussed on several forms of media, he didn't feel bad that no one had yet understood his valid message. But they will, once his hard work pays off. They would even feel grateful that he had done it. They may not see it now, but soon, they will know that he's doing it for them and their children.

He inhaled a mouthful amount of air, and as he withdrew it, he saw the traffic light turn into green, and Florence Syke's car started to catch up on the traffic flow. His heart pounded heavily because of the anticipation gnawing his composure. Soon, he will be able to touch and smell her. Soon, she will repent for her sins and beg to stay alive. And he will do anything to make that thought happen. No matter how dangerous and significant the odds may be, he will claim her tonight. He will make sure of it.

**

After she ended the call with Davis, Florence Sykes glanced up to the rearview mirror for the second time, getting more and more disturbed by the truck still following behind her wheel. She remembered seeing that truck from the supermarket half an hour ago. At first, she thought that it was only a coincidence that they were traveling the same route. It wasn't impossible since this road was usually packed with travelers and workers at night, all seemed eager to come home as soon as possible. She wasn't different from them at all. That was the reason why she forced herself to push away the feeling of doubt the first time she saw that truck because assuming anything beforehand was useless.

But seeing it now, still tailing her after she just passed the Ramsey corner, she can't help but to feel bothered, and terrified. She couldn't think of any logical reasons that might fuel someone to follow her at this kind of hour. Her list of enemies displayed no name. Neither her husband, not that she knows of, by the way. But even he has a list, Florence wasn't convinced that it could resort to violence or uncanny stalking.

Her forbidden relationship with Davis might throw off that kind of matter. But other than them both, no one is aware of their forbidden relationship and secret adventures. So that part could be cut off from her potential list of suspicious people.

But if none of those parts in her life could produce such behavior, who would follow her from the academy up to this road?

Maybe just a weirdo who wants to bring shitness to people, she told herself in the hopes it would neutralize the ball of fear inside. But to her disappointment, no development had happened. And instead, her unease grew large.

She glanced up in a sense to study the driver's spot and see if she could get any identification to report at the police station just in case something awful occurred. But all she could see was a pitch-black view and a silhouette of a man being illuminated by the headlights of the vehicle behind it. Due to that, she could only see the man's hands rested on both the side of the steering wheel. He wasn't moving, his silhouette just stood still as though he was a statue.

She swallowed hard, a wave of fear inevitably crashed onto her chest. Her palms getting sweaty against the steering wheel as if she had just submerged it into a pool of water.

The thought of being watched prickled her skin. Shuddering, she bit her lower lip, forcing her mind to come up with a plan. If she let him follow all throughout the way to her home, who knows what the driver could do to her once he got the chance.

Gripping the steering wheel, she stomped on the accelerator, her car screeching around the corner. She thought that if she took a seemingly pointless direction, the driver would eventually lose the will to follow her. After all, she had been on that road for so long. Surely, the lunatic driver will run out of his patience.

The direction she took was overly unfamiliar. But with the help of the GPS device attached to the dashboard, she was able to come up with two alternative routes that would serve as her escape route. With the geographical state of that place, there's no way in hell that the creep would still dare to scare her.

Fired up to make her plan succeed, Florence didn't think of the risk, and without hesitation, entered the lone dark highway, not minding its tendency to bring isolation to travelers and the narrow chance that someone might come to rescue when danger befalls. She would need to travel here for only twelve minutes—the duration of the distance before she would reach the left corner ahead. That's only when she could tell that her plan succeeded. And to be fairly certain that she would do it, no stop must be made. To act naturally is one of the keys to complete it.

As Florence drive deeper onto the paved highway surrounded by tall grass and trees, she noticed the truck getting smaller and smaller as its speed became decreased a bit. She swallowed hard and tried her best to keep an eye on the truck. She started counting in her head, looking anxiously at the beeping GPS.

Only after a few minutes, she finally reach the intersection. Heart pounding, she stared at the truck, her body shivered as she anticipated what direction it would go.

Just minutes after she passed the corner, she saw the truck turning up to the left until it disappeared from her sight. She immediately felt the rush of relief washing away some negative thoughts inside her head. Her shoulder relaxed and she slumped on her seat, feeling calmer. She looked at the GPS service and saw that she must get past another right corner in order to travel down back to her road.

Feeling exceptionally triumphant at the petty dilemma she just solved, she decided to turn on the radio to listen to some music. As she push the buttons to find some channel to listen to, she noticed something luminous from the corner of her right eye. She looked at the window, her eyes squinting at the mysterious two lights getting larger by second. She started to slow down, one thing that she immediately regret when only minutes after, the sight of the truck zoomed in and it smashed at her, sending her car out of the road and crashing at a tree nearby.

Her vision spun and she could only think of her surrounding in utter chaos. She felt her head bumped at the window and her waist was struck by something sharp and hard. She couldn't even process what was going on. She could only think of the sheer pain going all throughout her body. Despite of it, her consciousness didn't surrender and she managed to witness the silhouette of a man going out of the truck and walking towards her car.

She breathed and her chest felt heavy. On top of the pain and nauseating sensation on her mind, she felt the same and extreme fear conquering her body as she watched the man opening the door of her car. She whimpered and her survival instincts kicked in. But she could only mutter a single cry.

"Sshh... it's okay. Everything's going well soon..." the man whispered and caressed her shriveled hair. Florence eyes welled in tears and tried letting out a word but it was already too late. He already raised his arm and on a massive force, he struck her head with a steel hammer, silencing her permanently.