The Chosen Ones: Red Smoke Read online

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  EXTRA CHAPTER

  PROLOGUE

  With every step I took the certainty that I was walking to my own death solidified.

  The soil full of branches and stones wasn't gentle on my bare feet. I felt the cuts, but was too numb to actually feel any pain.

  I kept walking, taking down branches and leaves from my path, not being able to avoid the scratches on my body.

  Now I couldn't cry anymore. I wanted to, but for some reason the tears didn't come.

  I didn’t wake up in the morning knowing that death was waiting for me. Still, I walked to it willingly.

  CHAPTER ONE

  I waited for this day for a long time and it finally arrived. Last day of school and I’ll finally be free. It's not that I don’t like it here, I’d just rather be home reading a book or at the diner working. I've never made many friends at school, — or anywhere, really — so I have no one to say goodbye to. Even better. I put my backpack and walked into the school for the last time.

  I came home with a light expression on my face and a sense of accomplishment. As soon as I entered, Grandma gave me a hug with a huge smile on her nice face.

  "Congratulations, my dear," she said.

  I've lived with my Grandmother ever since my parents died. I couldn’t have asked for a better person to raise me. She is the best human being I know and did everything she could to give me a good life. I've never met Grandpa, who died when I was only a few months old, so, since I can remember, it's always been just the two of us. Grandma always says she didn’t care about having to raise me, but she would much rather it wasn’t necessary, that I should have grown up with my parents. She doesn’t like to talk about their deaths and I don’t pressure her.

  "Thanks, Grandma," I said, kissing her forehead and releasing from her tight hug.

  "How was last day of school?" She asked, leading me into the kitchen.

  "Oh, you know, no big deal. Most people were happy to leave, but some people cried as if the world was ending” I said smiling and sitting on a bench in front of the counter.

  "Are you sure you don’t want to go to graduation?" She asked for the tenth time.

  “Yes, Grandma. I wouldn’t have fun without Emma. They will send my diploma by mail.”

  She nodded, but let her disapproval stamped on her face. Grandma never complained about my stay-at-home ways — or ‘antisocial’ as she called — but whenever she thought I was missing something that later I would regret, she interfered. Until this day I hear about the graduation from elementary school that I didn’t want to go and spent the day watching movies and eating crap with Emma.

  “Are you going to work today?” She asked, finishing a sandwich and placing it in front of me.

  “Of course. It's Friday, what else would I do?” I replied smiling and taking a bite.

  I went up to my room to rest for a while before going to work. Before I lay down, I looked out. The view of the forest always calmed me down. Aside from the forest, something I always liked about our house was that it was in a quiet place, with few other houses close by. I suspected someone was sneaking through the trees, but it seemed stupid since I thought the same thing when I was walking back home from school. I took a nap, ta shower, and started getting ready for work.

  I looked at myself in the mirror briefly. From the single picture I have of my parents, me in my mother's lap, newborn, I look like her. The same fire-colored hair, slim face and big green eyes. They both look happy in the picture, but my dad looks especially happy. He has one hand on my mother's shoulder and the other on me. With a look of as if I were his favorite thing in the world.

  Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if they were still alive, if I had grown up with them, what would it be like to have them with me on the first day of school, calming me down for having to stay away from home or on the last day saying they were proud of me. I blinked my eyes quickly, coming back to reality and started combing my hair. Twenty minutes later, I was dressed and ready to leave. I ate an apple quickly, got my bike, kissed Grandma, and left in a hurry.

  Joe's is not that far from my house and that was one of the reasons I wanted the job. I started working there almost a year ago. I decided it would be good to have something else to do and Grandma thought it would be good for me to have a reason to leave the house. Joe is a small, plump and friendly gentleman who is always smiling. She's one of those people who leaves no alternative but to like them. Being a friend of the family, he was more than happy when I applied for the job.

  As soon as I walked in, Joe and the other waitress, Holly, were already at the front counter. Holly, being a single mom, works as many shifts as she can. Sometimes she brings her children to the diner; to the joy of Joe, who loves children. I got used to seeing that silver blond hair every day. I went to get my apron at the back of the diner to start.

  "Hi, everyone," I said, smiling.

  "Freedom, finally," Holly teased. "Are you sure you don’t want to enroll in any colleges this year? You're too smart to work in a diner like this, honey.”

  I started cleaning the tables in an attempt to get out of the conversation. It didn’t work very well. They stopped what they were doing and followed me. I rolled my eyes at them. They've been insisting on this since I told them I wasn’t going to college this year.

  "Holly, I told you. I still don’t know what I want — which it was true, I thought, although I really just wanted this conversation to end.”

  Thinking about it always made me uneasy. I didn’t want to waste time, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do either. Grandma made sure I knew she supported me no matter what I decided.

  "And I'm going to try not to get offended by ‘you're too smart for such a diner’, though I agree. Your future may be a lot brighter than you think, Liz. “Joe said, his usual smile on his face.

  “Right. Both of you, I love you and thank you so much for caring so much, but it's not necessary. I've made up my mind. You can go back to work.”

  "All right," they said in a chorus of discouragement.

  As soon as I arrived, the place was full and there was a lot of work to do. I attended countless people and wiped countless coffee stains until about an hour later things calmed down.

  The movement was still calm when a tall guy came in and sat down at a table near me. He had straight hair, a few strands falling on his forehead, and wore a leather jacket. Almost immediately he raised his hand, his index finger up and looking at me. I walked to his table quickly.

  “Hi, what can I get you?” I asked and he looked up making me notice his gray eyes staring at me. Probably more attention than I expected from a stranger.

  "Just a cup of coffee, please," he said, analyzing me with a serious expression, but with a charming smile on the corner of his mouth.

  Forty minutes passed and he was still sitting there, the cup of coffee intact in front of him. While serving other tables and cleaning something, I felt him casually looking at me; the look practically piercing the back of my neck. I was beginning to wonder what he was looking at when he got up, left the money on the table, and left. I tried not to think about it anymore, but failed. That handsome stranger appear
ed every minute in my thoughts until it was time for me to leave.

  I always leave work at 8:00 p.m., a few hours earlier than the others. And I also don’t work on the weekend; Grandma insisted. She said it would be best for my studies. I think now I have to change this routine, since I don’t have any more school to go. At 8:10 p.m., I was pushing my bike and walking home.

  Heaven Valley is not a very small town, but I'm used to seeing familiar faces whenever I walk through these even more familiar streets. I was scared to see a not-so-familiar one leaning against a wall as I rounded the corner. I thought I saw a smile on his face, but I wasn’t sure. It was the guy from the diner. He started to walk near my bike. I didn’t say anything for a while, thinking I was wrong. After a few minutes, looking over my shoulder, I realized he was really following me.

  "Are you following me or something?" I asked at last.

  "Or something," he replied with a smile that strangely showed familiarity. "Elizabeth, right?"

  “Just Liz.”

  I stared at him, realizing how handsome he was. His light brown hair was almost blond and he flashed a crooked smile that made me suddenly forget what I was doing.

  "And I don’t remember introducing myself," I finished, thinking clearly again.

  I was sure that I hadn’t told him my name, and that I didn’t remembered to wear the badge when I started working today. Joe always fights me over it. But he still seemed to know me.

  “I'm sure you did. My name is John Hunter.”

  "Why are you following me, John Hunter?" And why were you staring at me today?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face.

  "I can’t imagine it was the first time someone stared at you, Liz. After all, it's not a bad sight," he said, clearly changing the subject.

  "If they did, they were much subtler than you, because I never noticed," I said, smiling unintentionally.

  I resumed a neutral expression. I kept walking, hoping he would say something. Nothing. An instant later I looked back and he wasn’t there anymore. I wondered if I was crazy or if that had really happened. Being or not, I quicker my pace, looking back from time to time, to get home as fast as possible. That definitely went to the top of the list of weird things that happened to me. I got home and Grandma was sitting in the living room watching TV. I sat down beside her on the couch and took the remote, trying to forget what had happened. I started passing the channels.

  “Hey! I like this show, don’t you dare change channels.”

  “Grandma, really? A bunch of women arguing?”

  "Yes, can’t an old woman enjoy a little?" Give me the remote.” She took it out of my hand and we both laughed.

  “How was work? Anything interesting?” She asked with interest, as she always does.

  I wondered for a few seconds if I was going to tell her what had happened. I didn’t want to make her worry. But I didn’t want to lie, and she always knows when I'm lying, so I told her everything.

  "And he followed you home?" Did he look threatening? She said, the concern looking clear on her face.

  "No. I mean, he walked with me for a few blocks, but then he disappeared. And he knew my name, and I'm sure I didn’t say it when I waited on him earlier. But he didn’t look threatening. He looked really nice, actually. And if he wanted to hurt me, he had the chance.”

  “I'm sure that’s what his victims think before he kills them, “she said, trying to look scary”. But if you say he didn’t seem to want to hurt you, I trust you.”

  Grandma lingered for a few more minutes, uneasy, and then got up. Wished me good night, went up to the room and didn’t come down. She was worried but trying to hide. I quickly regretted having told her what had happened. I passed the channels for a few more hours, unable to concentrate enough to watch anything, ate the dinner Grandma left for me, and went up to my room. I wore a cuddly sweater and fell into bed, exhausted. I closed my eyes and that face appeared in my mind again. I continued with him in my mind until I fell asleep.

  When I woke up in the morning I had a vague memory that I’d dreamed of him, but I wasn’t sure. I went downstairs to find Grandma making breakfast, still with traces of the expression of fear the night before. If I've learned something in my eighteen years, she's one of the closed people I know, so asking what was wrong wasn’t even an option. So I just sat, smiled and started to eat.

  I spent the rest of the morning reading and when Grandma managed to convince me, we went out together to shop.

  I never liked going out very much, I always found comfort in solitude and the only person who could change that in me, mybest friend Emma,didn’t live in Heaven Valley anymore. Her father got a better job and they had to leave town. It’d been months, and her absence only made me more reclusive. But as I always preferred silence, so it wasn’t a problem. We were saving our groceries when I got one of her weekly calls.

  "Hi, stranger!” She said, but evenon the phone I could tell she sounded sad. "Emma,if you don’t come back here, I'll never leave this house again. Me and Grandma are starting to have conversations that we should not have.”

  I’ve known Emma practically all my life, so even though I knew something was wrong, I could get a laugh out of her. I knew she would only tell me what was happening if she wanted to.

  "Maybe you'll see me sooner than you think."

  "What happened?"

  "Apparently my father didn’t come here just for his job. My mother found out he was cheating on her. And with the secretary, it's so cliché. "

  "Oh, Emma,I'm so sorry. How are you guys doing?

  “My mother's been trying to make it work, you know. She found out a few weeks ago. They decided to give it another chance "for their daughter," she said derisively. "Honestly, I don’t know why parents still use that excuse."

  "Maybe they really want to try again," I said, trying to comfort her, but sure nothing I could say would help.

  “They went up to a couples retreat, "Emma said, laughing, for some reason finding the idea funny. "But enough about me. So what's going on there?

  I told her that nothing interesting happened after she'd left. Never, really. We talked for a few more minutes; Emma promising me that she would convince her parents to let her come back to Heaven Valley by herself. I told her about the last days of school and we said goodbye. When I went back to the kitchen Grandma had already put away the groceries.

  "How is she?" She asked, coming out from behind the counter.

  "Trouble with the family. At least here we don’t have any drama, right, Grandma? "She gave a nervous laugh, making it clear that she was still worried."

  “Liz, how did you say that boy looked like? " She said, pulling back the curtain and looking out the window.

  "Tall, light brown hair. Why?”

  " I'm pretty sure I saw him out there.”

  I turned to the window to see if it was him, feeling strangely excited, but no one was there. Grandma looked at me with the same expression of fear from the day before.

  "I don’t think there’s anyone, Grandma," I said, scolding myself internally for making her worry. "You're just scared."

  "Maybe."

  We stared out the window for a few more minutes until we gave up. At night I thought of taking Emma's advice to go out more and decided to go to the movies. I asked Grandma if she wanted to accompany me, but she said she preferred the comfort of the sofa to watch her tv shows. I went up to the bedroom, changed quickly and left.

  I ran into some classmates at the entrance and we talked for a few minutes before we got in together. We exchanged more words in those few minutes than all of the time we knew each other. Their conversations during the movie about who would go out with some guy annoyed me. When the movie ended they tried to convince me to go with them to a party, but I declined politely. The last thing I wanted was to know even more about their love life. I got home and had a piece of old pizza before heading up to my room. I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. That guy annoyingly wandered in my mind.<
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  I started thinking about how I couldn’t get him out of my head. How when I looked into his face that day I had the impression that he didn’t want to hurt me. I got tired of worrying and tried to sleep with the comfort that all this was probably just a mistake, that I would never see him again — although for some reason that last part didn’t please me very much. I’m sure that when he wasn’t stalking anyone, he's adorable.

  On Monday I got to work at 1 p.m. and after talking with Holly for a few minutes, I started working. Mondays are usually busy, people desperately trying to run away from their duties and ending up at the diner for a cup of coffee or a piece of pie. Holly and I had almost no rest. The day passed slowly and I was sure that the memory of that guy had practically disappeared from my head over the weekend. Until a few minutes later he entered again. He did like the last time; raised his hand for me, ordered a coffee, and sat there. He stayed there for more time this time, analyzing every step and every smile I gave. Sometimes I thought he was laughing at something I did or said, but if he really was, he knew how to disguise.

  And he continued like that for the next few days. He would come in, order the coffee, sit there and analyze me, and every day for a longer time.

  It was three weeks in, and I was almost used to this routine. At the same time, I would stare at the door and expect to see him coming in. But that’s not what happened this time. The hours passed, I looked at the door every minute, and nothing. He stayed in my mind until my shift ended, which was now midnight. I cleaned one last table before I said goodbye to Joe in his office at the back of the diner.

  "Joe, do you need anything else?" I asked, putting my head into the room. He took his serious gaze from the face that only appeared when he was taking care of business and looked at me with his usual calm and loving expression.

  "No, sweetheart. I'm finishing up here, too. I'm just placing some orders. Holly’s already finishing up. You can go home. "He opened a smile that made his eyes shrink.

  “Okay. Have a good night.”