Chapter Twelve Hanna
Chapter Twelve
Hanna
It took a few minutes for the ladies to shuffle into the night. I locked the door and ran through my usual closing up shop
ritual for the second time today. Lights. Bolt. A final check of the equipment to make sure everything that should be turned
off was. I’d left my coat upstairs, so nothing else stopped me from getting out of there.
The cool night air smacked me in the face as I stepped into the driveway that ran next to the café. Jeremy and I called the
upstairs unit above the supply room and garage home and had since I bought the building back when he entered second grade.
I lived there full-time now and Jeremy popped in and out, depending on his class schedule and need for clean clothes. Otherwise,
he shared a room on campus with a nice kid from Syracuse.
Part of me loved having a small portion of my life back while I was still young enough to enjoy it.
Not that I ever did. I worked. That was about it.
I’d go out to eat with a few friends now and then, but when the nest emptied out my evenings mostly consisted of marathoning food competition shows and watching videos of home DIY projects I’d never try.
Being alone didn’t bother me. Being lonely was a bitch.
It would have been convenient and safer in this already safe neighborhood if I could access the living space from the café
instead of by using the outside steps, but installing an internal staircase would mean restoring the building back to its
original one-household structure with an attached garage and I had better ways to use my savings. So, out the side exit and
up the stairs would continue to be my work commute.
The sensor light clicked on next to the door. The trail upstairs was well lit and easy to see from the road. The rustle of
the remaining leaves on the trees and a car horn in the distance filled the air. A creepy fog fell like a curtain, shadowing
the entrance to my home in a gloomy haze.
No need to wait around. I headed for the stairs. A quick stop at the mailbox at the base of the staircase, then up, taking
two steps at a time. Something about the sudden bite in the night air and limited visibility made me opt for speed.
I was inside the house with the door locked behind me and the bolt thrown in record time. A click of the switch and the room
flooded with light.
A rough sound hit me as soon as I stopped moving around. Heavy breathing. Mine. My chest rose and fell on harsh breaths. A
little exercise and a less active imagination might be a good call.
My stomach grumbled and the sudden craving for leftover tomato soup hit me hard.
I scanned the mail. A clothing catalog from a company that should be ashamed of its prices for a simple T-shirt.
Something from the school for Jeremy. Hopefully not a bill or some sort of disciplinary warning.
I never opened his mail but temptation pulled at me.
He’d always been a good kid, but I knew from other mothers how quickly that could change.
The only other envelope was white and formal-looking with my name in black ink. No address, which meant someone came to the
building and dropped the correspondence in there.
“Great, more drama.”
I slid my finger under the seal. The paper acted like a blade. The edge sliced into my skin.
“Shit!” I hissed and swore at the same time.
A tiny droplet of blood bubbled out of the paper cut. I took a second to suck on it, then slipped the postcard out of the
envelope. Thick paper stock and more print.
It’s started. Be ready.
I turned the postcard over. Nothing else. Just the cryptic note and no explanation. Who would send such a thing? And now I
had a new nightmare to fill my head—be ready for what?