Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Casey?”  A voice urged, awakening the young woman from her deep sleep.  “Casey, can you hear me?”

She opened her eyes at the sound of her name, though she promptly squeezed her eyelids shut once again in an attempt to shield her sight from the bright fluorescent lighting above her.  She felt so tired; her head throbbed with each passing second.  Sleep.  That’s what she needed to rid herself of this throbbing pain. Sleep…

“Hey, Casey!  Don’t you fall asleep on me!  We have to get out of here!”

Casey felt herself being shaken roughly by whoever had first called her name.  Whoever this man was, she could tell he was desperately trying to keep her awake for some strange, unknown reason.  

She tried to open her eyes once more, but could feel her strength leave her with every effort she made to fully awaken herself.  She was scared…terrified, yet she had no recollection on why she even had this fear building up within her.  

“Casey…”

She could barely hear the voice calling out to her as the drowsiness finally took its toll on her, slipping her back into another deep sleep.  A gentle pressure was felt upon her forehead as the man brushed her bangs from her eyes.

“Don’t worry Casey, I’ll keep you safe.”

  

Earlier that day…

“What do you mean he doesn’t exist?”  Casey yelled into her cell phone, impatiently removing long strands of red hair from her eyes with one swift stroke of her hand. “I mean, there is no record of him ever being alive?  Sarah that makes no sense!  Even the military is having a hard time tracking him down.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Casey.”  The girl on the other line said.  “He seemed real enough to me too…But if that’s what they told you…” there was a brief pause, “Where are you anyway?  I thought you weren’t allowed on the phone at the base you’re in?”

Casey remained silent for a moment before continuing halfheartedly.  “I’m on my way home…I have leave for a few days.”

“Oh really?”  Sarah asked surprised, a hint of irritation in her tone.  “And when were you going to tell me?  The day of your return?”  

“Hey, I’m not the one who told you to move out of state.”

“You know why I moved.”  Sarah said unhappily.  “I couldn’t stand the way things were.”

Casey fell silent again.  She knew exactly why Sarah had left.  Their father had become way too much for either of them to deal with since their mother had passed away.  Sarah was two years younger than she was, and when Casey left for the military, Sarah was left to carry the burden of her father.  So, when the opportunity came for her to move to Michigan with her boyfriend, she didn’t think twice about leaving.

“Anyway,” Sarah began, catching Casey’s attention.  “I could think of much better places to visit on your leave then home.”

“Yeah, well, I haven’t been home for a while, so I figured I’d make a quick stop to check in on dad.”

“Oh…”  Sarah fell silent for a moment.  “Well, let me know how he is then, alright?  I haven’t been able to get on the phone lately.  I’m lucky I was able answer your call.”

“Yes, and I’m glad that you were able to.”  Casey stated thankfully.  “I just wish there was at least some kind of information about him.”

“Well, just keep looking into it Casey.  Maybe it’s time you look in other countries?”

“Maybe.”  Casey hated the thought of having to do something like that.  It was hard enough for her to get enough pull to search the US database.  “Thanks for listening Sarah.”

“No problem.  What are sisters for anyway?”

Casey smiled at her remark.  She and Sarah weren’t just sisters, they were friends.  They’ve always been there for one another, and did whatever they could to help the other out when need be.

“Hey, look, I’m going to get going alright?”  Casey stated a smile in her tone.  “I’ll call to let you know how dad is doing.”

She heard a sigh on the other end.  “Alright.”

After saying their goodbyes, Casey snapped her flip phone shut, and threw it into the passenger’s seat.  She had been on the road when she decided to give Sarah a call, pulling over onto a grassy patched clearing before setting the car to park. There was nobody around, yet that didn’t stop her from keeping her windows rolled up and doors locked.  

Around her was nothing but dried out dirt with little grass, and miles of road.  That was her hometown.  Right smack dab in the middle of nowhere.  But she didn’t mind.  She liked it that way.  There was no trouble, except for the occasional spray painting by the neighborhood children.  

Casey thought about her childhood, with her family and Nick.  Nicky.  Now he was one of her true friends.  Always by her side through the good and the bad.  Until he disappeared.

At the age of eighteen, she had lost her mother due to a horrible car accident on her way back home from an out of state visit to her parents.  Casey was supposed to be with her that day, but do to a fever, wasn‘t able to make the trip.  Even now, she often wonders what would have happen if she went with her.  Would the accident have happened?  Would her mother still be alive?

At this point, she had already lost two people; one was gone from her forever, the other missing for some unknown reason.  That’s when she decided to join the military in hopes of using their intelligence to gain information on Nicky.  But so far, there was no luck.  Too much passing of time maybe…

Casey crossed her arms over the steering wheel, resting her head on her wrists.  She thought of her father.  I wonder what kind of welcome I’ll get from him?  Pushing herself back into her seat, she let out a long-winded sigh.  

The day she had left certainly wasn’t a tear jerker.  Instead, it was more like, “If you want to leave fine!  Just don’t expect me to welcome you back with open arms!”

She and her father were never that close, but it was true on what she had said to Sarah.  She did wonder how her father fared, and no matter how much he may anger her, she knows she’ll always love him, and he‘ll always love her.

Putting her seat belt on she turned the key in the ignition.  It started without a hitch, though her car, which in reality was her sister’s car, was an old 1989 dodge Aries, with a sickly green coating for its color.  Every day she fears for her safety in this car.  There are days it won’t even start, let alone get her to where she wants to go.  Nevertheless, she must deal with this car until her sister returns her cool, blue thunderbird from Chicago.  

Sarah had pleaded with her the day she had moved.  And Casey knew very well Sarah’s car wouldn’t make it all the way from Texas to Illinois.  So she allowed her sister to ‘borrow’ her car until her next visit.

Casey pulled out onto the road not bothering to look to see if anyone was coming.  Out of her seven years of driving, she had hardly ever seen anybody on this road.  She turned her radio on and opened her window all the way, as she made her way down the road to her hometown.  After being on the phone with her sister for nearly a half an hour with the windows rolled up, the car became an oven underneath the burning sun.  And just her luck, the air condition was on the frits.  She sighed as she passed a sign.  

TEN MILES TO MARKSVILLE

“Finally, just a little bit longer.”  She said aloud as she sped up the car, her back sticking to her shirt.  In a way, she was somewhat excited on coming back home.  She knew her father may be a little rotten to her upon first glance, but they’ll eventually get along.  

Yeah, everything will be just fine.