Sheep's Clothing by Gary Lewis (dark books to read TXT) 📗

abrupt stop. Large black rocks came into view, stacked against a tall, muddy embankment and the forest became visible behind the shoreline.

"Looks like we finally washed up," David said as he looked across at the nearby bridge and cautiously stepped onto the slick, muddy surface.

Chapter 17

As dawn crept from the other side of town, the early morning light casted across the mountain hills. The tranquility of Moss Lake was drowned by the beeping sound of a tow truck dragging Terry's car from where it had crashed near the stone restroom building.

"A bear, you say?" Officer Benning's stern voice followed a raised brow as he wrote on the small clipboard and eyed the two teenagers with suspicion.

"Yeah," Terry said, adjusting his glasses. "It just came out of nowhere, charging at David. It was the only thing I could think to do."

"Good thing you happened to be here just in time," Benning said sarcastically as he lowered the clipboard and raised his glance toward David.

"Like I said," David began, "He was here to pick me up." He motioned his arm at Terry.

"Something wrong with your car?" Benning glanced to the side of the lot before looking down to flip a page. David stood silently until Benning continued. "Insurance company is going to have a field day with you." Benning looked up at Terry. "Tell your folks I said hey." With a final nod, he turned and started walking back to his patrol car.

#Janice#

Janice's phone dinged from beneath yesterday's pile of dirty clothes strewn across her floor. She lifted her head from her cozy pillow to kick free from the tangled sheets. Looking around her room, she could see the disaster that infected her soul beginning to once again take shape. A few empty soda cans sat atop the night stand just above the small white cylindrical trash can filled to the top with crumpled tissues. Her clothes were piled in a corner near the bathroom door. No matter how neatly organized, it always began to crumble into the disorder that festered beneath the surface along with her painful thoughts.

She sat up, scooting to the foot end of her mattress as she took her first step toward the next chime that rung from her phone.

"Ouch!" she yelled, hopping on one foot. Janice carefully felt her heel for the sharp piece of whatever just jabbed into it. She saw pieces of her broken camera littered across the carpet just when she remembered busting it across the dresser the night before.

Janice limped over to the ragged pile of laundry, kicking through it with her bad foot until a pair of blue jeans rolled over, revealing her phone laying underneath. Its screen was lit with notifications.

The group chat had several new messages. Near the bottom, Janice read through a giant paragraph from Terry. With David. She huffed. Of course. She continued reading about their ferocious encounter the night before. A voice recording from Vance momentarily distracted her from the bottom as she scrolled slowly through Terry's story. Janice continued holding her breath tight as her suspense wasn't satisfied at the end of his message. There was no mention of why they were together at the lake and the questions that plagued her mind remained unanswered.

Janice let out a long overdue sigh that rushed hot across her skin as she relented to hitting the play button on Vance's message. Only Sarah had also seen it so far.

#David#

The brightly lit road did little to focus David’s exhausted mind through the heavy weight of his eyelids while he drove past the small gas station at the foot of Bluff Mountain. Terry's snoring got louder as David rolled down the window for some fresh air. But as the sound of Terry's slumber cut through the air with annoying pitch, David reached over to hit the radio, turning the knob to full blast.

Terry jolted up from where he previously slumped against the passenger door. After a few confused glances, his eyes faced David's phone where it laid on the console, hooked snugly to the car charger.

"Still works," David said. He lifted the phone in his right hand as he steered with his left, tilting his head back toward the wind as it rushed through his hair.

"Wake me up when we're there," Terry mumbled as he crossed his arms and scooted against the door side in the closest thing to a fetal position that he could probably manage while strapped into the car.

As David began to set down the phone, he felt the vibration just before it chimed with notifications. "Finally. A solid signal," he said. He took a careful gaze of the sparsely trafficked road ahead and readied himself to glance at his messages. Just then it started to ring and Terry raised again from his awkward slumber.

"Answer. It's Sarah," Terry's scratchy voice grumbled as he slouched forward to turn down David's music.

David hesitated with a forceful breath before reluctantly sliding the green icon.

"Hey. We're on our way back to town now," David said as the trees cleared, giving way to an open view of the distant courthouse on Main Street.

"David! Did you get the message?" Sarah's voice shouted through the speaker with a loud pitch that faded into choppy static.

"Calm down," he said. "What is it?"

"I don't know. It's Tony," she shouted again through the phone.

"What?!" they both shouted. Terry snatched the phone from David's stunned hand as he continued driving.

As he saw Terry switch the call to speaker, David shouted at the phone. "It's Tony or you don't know? Which is it?" David asked impatiently. "Did they find him? Is he alive? Where is he?" The questions couldn't get out fast enough as David sped toward the busy morning traffic that crowded Main Street.

"Listen to Vance's voice message," Sarah said. "I still can't figure it out."

"Play it," David told Terry as he turned onto Central Avenue.

"We'll head to your place," Terry said to Sarah. "See you in a few."

As Terry hurriedly hung up the phone and opened the group