One Last Step by Sarah Sutton (free e books to read TXT) 📗

Tara stepped out of the closet and walked down the hall—following her father’s cries—but her feet stopped short as she felt a warm liquid between her toes. She looked down and her mind suddenly swirled into a haze. Blood covered her feet, and as she looked toward the living room, she was met with her mother’s blank stare, and a pool of blood.

Her father stood over her mother, and for a moment, he didn’t even realize Tara stood in front of him. He just looked down at her mother, a blank stare in his eyes, until he slowly picked up his head.

His eyes moved to the corner of the room—an area Tara couldn’t see from the hallway she stood in—and he stared at it longingly until he spoke to it.

“Why?” he asked, with disbelief reflecting in his eyes.

There was no answer and then her father’s eyes suddenly moved toward Tara, realizing she stood there for the first time, and his face abruptly morphed into something else—a look Tara hated. It was the look he had given her mother many times before when she angered him.

“I had to do it,” he said. “You understand, right?”

Tara stood terrified, feeling her mother’s blood begin to dry on her bare feet.

“You’re not going to tell anyone about this, right?”

Tara’s small body stood frozen. She looked at her mom, hoping she would wake up and help her, but all she could see was the blank stare in her eyes, and she knew she was all alone.

“Right?” he repeated. “You’re not going to tell anyone.”

A smile began to creep on his face, an attempt to calm her as he crept forward.

But Tara knew what she had to do next. She turned on her heels and ran. She ran down the hall, toward the front entrance. She ran past her bedroom and past her parents’ room. She could see the front door as she approached the dining room, as she heard his footsteps behind her begin to pick up into a run.

She could see through the storm door and that her neighbor was in her driveway, pulling groceries from her car. Tara screamed and cried uncontrollably as she flung the door open. The startled neighbor looked over at her.

Suddenly, Tara jumped up in bed, and was relieved to find herself in her hotel room. It was just a dream, she told herself as she reached for the lamp next to her bed. Light filled the room, and Tara focused on her breathing, slowing the rhythm of her heart. It was her most vivid dream yet and Tara rubbed her hand, wiping away the coolness of the doorknob she could still feel.

Afraid to close her eyes, she stared at the TV as she wondered again if maybe she wasn’t strong enough for this case.

Chapter Eleven

Maya Green let out a laugh as her boyfriend kissed her neck.

“Why you always gotta laugh?” he asked with a smile of amusement on his face.

He shifted closer to her on the ground as he reached his arms further around her and pulled her in close.

“I’m so glad we did this,” he said in between kisses.

Maya agreed. It was their first solo adventure as a couple and it had brought them closer than ever before. They were both twenty-four and had been together for only a year now. But there was now no doubt in Maya’s mind—he was the one.

This adventure was something Maya had wanted to do for a long time, ever since she was a teenager, when she would hike and camp with her family. She knew the Appalachian Trail would be an experience like no other. To her, it was the ultimate freedom to step away from the pressures of city life and trek through the woods with only oneself to depend on.

But after meeting Phil, they decided to take on the trail together with Maya’s aunt’s house in Maine as their final destination.

It had been almost a week since they started their hike in New York, and it had been a trying and exhausting one. But they had each other to depend on—and Phil had not let her down.

Maya let out another laugh.

“Phil, we need to get to sleep,” she said as she playfully pushed him off her.

Today was probably their longest hiking day yet and Maya was exhausted. And tomorrow was going to be an exhausting day as well.

Phil reluctantly agreed. He knew she was right, and he lay back down in his sleeping bag while Maya reached for the lantern and turned it off, leaving them in total darkness.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too,” he said.

She felt his arm reach around her sleeping bag and pull her in closer. He kissed her forehead and then finally settled down.

Maya closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the crickets in the night before finally drifting off into sleep.

***

Maya woke up suddenly to a sound in the distance. She lifted her head up sleepily as she listened carefully, and she could just make out the hum of a motor echoing off the trees. Why would anyone be on the trail this late? she wondered as she reached for her phone to check the time—2 AM.

The sound got closer and Maya reached for a flap on the tent and unzipped it. She couldn’t see anything in the darkness except for headlights. They were moving closer, filtering through the tent and causing the fabric to illuminate in a way that suddenly made her feel exposed.

“Phil,” she said as she turned toward him and gently nudged him awake. “Phil, someone is in the woods.”

He shifted closer to her, half asleep, his eyes barely open, and assured her that it was nothing. But Maya knew what she heard and saw, and she peered out of the tent again to confirm it. The headlights were now even closer, almost near the short pathway they walked earlier that day to