Shadows of the Past: A Supernatural Suspense Mystery (Shadow Slayers Stories Book 1) by Nellie Steele (read aloud .txt) 📗

half hours behind her. Let’s see when we get there. A little after six thirty tonight. Why is she going to Timbuktu, Maine?”

Damien continued to watch the little red dot moving further north on the map. “No idea, I will be happy when we are moving in the same direction. Oh, I should call off work.”

“Me too, I’ll leave a voicemail for my secretary, tell her I won’t be in today.”

Both men left voicemails taking the day off with their respective employers then put their phones on chargers. “Okay, now with that done,” Damien said, taking his laptop out of his bag, “let’s discover what we can learn about Bucksville.” He tapped the keyboard, entering the town’s name into the Internet search bar. “Top result is a Wikipedia article, let’s find out what it says.” He began to read from the article, “Bucksville, Maine is a small seaside town on the Maine coast. Population blah blah blah, it was founded by the Buckley family in 1754. The Buckley family is still the largest landowner in the town and its surrounding areas, owning both personal property and commercial ventures including the town’s shipping fleet and cannery. Um…” He scanned through the rest of the brief article. “There’s not much else here, nothing really of note.”

“Is there a section called 'Why would anyone go to Bucksville?’” Michael joked.

“No, also no information on why Josie might go there.”

“Burning desire to visit a cannery?”

“She’s always thought Maine was pretty, but she’s never been there herself that I am aware of. Do you think this is related to what her mom told her? About being given away as a baby?”

“Could be, but why not tell us?”

“Yeah, that’s the weird part,” Damien said. “She’s always been open with me.” He watched the little red dot moving further and further away. “I’ll be happy when we’re moving, too. Where are you going, Josie?”

“It’s okay, man,” Michael said, detecting his upset, “we’ll find her, it’ll be okay.”

Damien nodded to him. The two sat in silence for a while until Damien’s phone chimed an alert. Checking it, he shifted forward onto the edge of his seat. “It’s a text from Josie!”

“What’s it say?” Michael asked, leaning toward him.

“Let me get it open, come on, phone! There we go. Okay, she says 'By now you probably noticed that I am gone. I’m fine, I hope to be back soon, I’ll explain later… too much to type’.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. I’ll answer her and see if I can get more information.”

“Okay, but don’t let her know we’re following her.”

“Okay, I won’t.” He read aloud as he typed his response. “Yeah, we noticed and have been worried. Where are you and what do you mean by soon? And… how do I know you’re really okay?”

They waited with bated breath for her response. First, they received a selfie with the message: I’m fine, see? A smiling Josie looked out of the phone at them. She did, indeed, look fine. Next came a lengthier message: It’s just something that I have to do… I’m not sure how soon… now you can stop worrying

Damien sighed in frustration reading it. “She’s being intentionally vague. I’ll ask her straight out.” He typed back: I am still worried… can you at least tell me where you are?

She responded: No… I don’t want you following me.

“Too late,” he said to Michael before typing back: Keep in touch at least? Although I wish you’d tell me what’s going on… you’ve never been this secretive with me

Josie responded: I’ll keep in touch… sorry D but it’ll all be over soon and I’ll be home and life will be normal

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Damien said. He sighed. “Only an hour left to wait for this stupid train. And then another eleven hours to Bucksville.”

“Yeah, that gives us twelve solid hours to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” Damien questioned.

“The inevitable tongue-lashing she’ll give us when we show up wherever she is,” Michael said, only half-joking. “Hey, I’m starving, I’m going to see if I can get a breakfast sandwich at the little shop that just opened. Want me to grab you something?”

“Yeah, breakfast sandwich and a coffee would be awesome, thanks.”

After having some breakfast and fueling up with coffee, the two had only about fifteen more minutes to wait, so they packed up all of their stuff and headed to the platform. Not long after, they were seated on the train, ready for the long journey to Maine.

Damien watched the countryside roll by as they journeyed up through Boston and on toward Maine. Michael used his phone to answer various emails and review some work documents. The journey seemed to take forever, and the two made little conversation along the way, both of them more focused on finding Josie once they arrived at their destination.

When the train stopped in Bucksville, it was close to 7 p.m. They disembarked, finding little to nothing near the train station.

“Looks like the town is that way,” Michael said, pointing to his right. Following his finger, Damien spotted a cluster of lights.

“Yeah, and it looks like we’re walking,” Damien said. “At least we’re traveling light.” Damien shrugged his backpack onto both shoulders.

They made their way toward the lights. They found the main street and began walking down it on the sidewalk. A short way down the road they came across the Bucksville Inn. “Should we stop in here, rent a room, and ask around about Josie?” Michael posed.

“Good idea. With any luck, we’ll get some information there. Perhaps she’s even staying here and we’ll find her.”

“Looks like it’s the only place in town to stay so there’s a good chance.”

They pushed through the door and entered the small lobby. There was a small desk to their left, a call bell sat on top. No one was standing behind the desk so Michael wandered over and rang the bell. To the right was a little café. Damien approached Michael at the desk. “Looks like there’s a café, might want to grab