by Jeff O'Brien
If Hollows Point even had an online police log, her Google searches were unable to find it. After a few differently worded search attempts, she did, however, find exactly what she was looking for.
A local news site had an article posted which showed a picture of the girl that had first crossed Candy’s path in the motel office. Her name was Sarah Merchant, and was already listed as a missing person. Kind of odd to be legally considered among the missing so soon, thought Candy. But even more odd was her picture - Sarah was wearing the same jeans and the same pink shirt that she had on when she’d burst into the motel earlier that night. Coincidence, probably, thought Candy. Her puzzlement soon turned to discomfort bordering on fright, however, as she noticed the date the article had been posted. The article as well as the picture of the girl, a picture that looked identical to the girl she’d just seen, right down to the clothing, was published over a year ago.
Reading over the article, Candy discovered that the girl had gone missing after running from an abusive boyfriend.
Candy’s hands clenched into fists, wishing she could have been somehow more helpful to the girl.
Further reading told of the girl’s boyfriend having a brother on the Hollows Point police force, and being released from jail the same night of his arrest.
“No wonder there’s no police record of this,” groaned Candy. “Assholes.”
A gentle knock sounded against Candy’s door, startling her at first. She calmed once it registered with her that obviously it was Kendall, all clean and showered and probably looking even cuter. She scurried over to the door to let him in.
“Feeling better?” she asked as she opened the door.
“Much,” said Kendall. “And now that I’ve gorged on vending machine peanuts and crackers, I’d say it’s time for an after dinner drink.”
“Well, come on in and get cozy. One top shelf Jim Beam nip coming your way.”
Kendall took a seat by the window and pulled out a cigarette.
Candy grimaced momentarily, wishing in the strangest of ways that Kendall wasn’t such a goddamn gentleman. Couldn’t he at least try to hint at the possibility he’d like to put the moves on her?
“So,” began Candy, “while you were away I did a little research on this place.”
“Find anything spooky?”
“I didn’t think so at first, but I guess you could say that what I did find left me a little spooked.”
“Do tell.”
Candy brought Kendall’s drink over and put it on the table next to him, then sat on the bed. “I found out who that girl is. Her name is Sarah Merchant. We’ve got a lot in common. Abusive boyfriend. On the run.”
“How’d you find that out?”
Candy lit herself a cigarette and breathed out a long, cloudy exhale. “She’s legally a missing person.” Candy passed her phone over to Kendall, with the article open on the screen. “Take a look.”
“What’s so spooky about this?”
“Look at when the article was published.”
“This was over a year ago.” Kendall gasped. “And that’s exactly how she looked tonight, minus the bruises and what not.”
“Exactly. Do you feel safe here?”
Kendall paused before answering. “Strangely, yes I do. Do you?”
“I don’t think I’d feel safe anywhere, really. But also strangely, I feel that despite all that’s happened tonight, I don’t think I’d feel safer anywhere in the world but here.” Candy hoped that Kendall would figure out where she was going with that statement.
“That definitely is odd,” laughed Kendall. “Why here of all places, though? Especially after what we just witnessed?”
“Because of you, dummy.” Candy grimaced again but gave in to a smile. “I mean, listen, I’ve never ever in my life been a believer in fate or destiny or any of that shit, but like, doesn’t it seem kind of too much to be a coincidence that given all the many circumstances that brought us together here on this night, that it actually happened? That we, of all the people in the world, found each other tonight in this random-ass place so far removed from our homes?”
“I think I know where you’re going with this, Candy. And I must say I’d have to agree, as funny as it all sounds to me.”
“I kind of feel like we were looking for each other and we didn’t even know it.”
“Yeah.” Kendall struggled to say more. Candy was saying everything he wanted her to. Needed her to. “It definitely does seem that way to me.”
Candy got up from the bed and headed to the minibar, poured in a few coins and retrieved two vodka nips. She mixed them in a plastic cup with some ice and soda water she’d gotten from the vending machines outside on her way back to the room. She sat back down on the bed, ready to chug her drink and ask Kendall to sit on the bed with her, when she felt the building shake along with a loud thunk that sounded from outside. What little light that had came in through the window was replaced with total darkness.
“Fuck,” gasped Candy. “What the Christ was that?”
“I don’t know. I’ll go see.”
“Just peep your head out the door, Kendall. Please. Don’t go all the way out there.”
Kendall crept over to the door. Candy slowly followed, not wanting him to stray too far from her. “Don’t worry. I won’t get sucked out into the void.”
“I wish I could even laugh at that,” sighed Candy.
Kendall unlatched the lock and peered outside, looking back and forth a few times. He closed the door and turned back to Candy. Whatever he’d seen out there, he appeared pretty unimpressed.
“Well?” pouted Candy. “What’s out there.”
“A horde of goth girls in various states of undress. Seemed like they were beckoning me, calling out for me to come and satisfy their burning sexual desires.”
“Well then what the hell are you doing still in here?”
“I think I’ve seen enough action for today,” said Kendall as he latched the lock. “I’d rather settle in for a cozy, quiet night with you, anyways. Plus, hordes of horny goth girls trying to seduce me was pretty much like every night when I was a world-famous touring musician. I’m getting older now. Age really humbles a man, you know.”
“Oh really, Casanova?” Candy tried to mock disgust but broke into laughter. “You are the most adorable fucking dork I have ever met. Now really, what the hell was out there?”
“Not a goddamn thing but trees and darkness. Pretty sure what we just heard was the motel sign being shut off, hence the darkness. They probably shut it off when it gets late to save on the electric. It can’t be all too often they get lowlife drifters like us showing up at odd hours.”
“Lowlife?” laughed Candy. “Speak for yourself, boy.”
“Living in the gutter and proud,” Kendall retorted.
“Can’t argue with that.” Candy looked around at the moisture-stained ceiling and cobwebbed corners. “Especially tonight.”
As Kendall headed back to his seat, and was about to sit back down, Candy verbally halted him.
“Wait,” she said abruptly, and rather louder than she’d intended.
“What?” asked Kendall, his ass suspended in midair several inches above the seat. “Is there a landmine on the chair?”
“Yes, Kendall. There is. So maybe we could sit together, instead of you being all the way over there. You know, like, on the bed.”
At that moment, somehow Kendall finally noticed that Candy had changed into a robe – a robe that was rather sleek and fashionable. Sexy if not revealing, showing only her smooth thighs, shapely calves and just enough chest to display her cleavage, but clinging tightly to every curve and contour that before hadn’t seemed so obvious.
“Okay…” he replied, and placed his drink on the bed’s end table and slowly sat. “I guess that’s okay as long as you say so.”
“Good,” Candy replied with a coy smile. “I do say so.”
Without warning, Candy dropped her robe to the floor, revealing
a body more beautiful and breathtaking than any Kendall had ever seen up close and in person. Now clad only in a lacy black bra and thong, Candy crept toward the bed.
“I have to admit,” began Kendall with a quaver in his tone, “I was not expecting this.”
“Me neither, hun. Let’s just roll with it, okay?”
Hun? “Yeah, roll with it. Sounds good.”
Kendall’s heart was now pounding, his breath slightly labored.
Candy hopped on the bed and straddled Kendall, clutching the back of his head, kissing him warmly and deeply.
“Are you sure about this?” asked Kendall after she pulled away for breath. “You really want to do this?”
“Yes,” she replied curtly. “I need to.”
“Okay. Me too.”
10
Rhino sat behind the wheel of his car, fuming and seething. He’d parked right behind a fancy, antique black Cadillac. The thought that it must belong to the owner of the house he was about to invade, and that the owner must have money on top of a much bigger cock than his, sent a pang of jealous rage through him.
The bitch had gotten away, but not for long. And he was going to make her pay for what she’d done to him last night. He knew she’d been getting overly friendly with some of the patrons of the strip club, but now he was sure there was more going on than he was aware of. That Frank fellow too, whom she gave the lap dance to the night before. The one with the hard-on that Rhino knew dwarfed his own. That poor bastard was going to pay too.
What that unlucky bastard did not realize was that while Rhino may have not been the brightest of bulbs, he had a near photographic memory. And every word and number of text written on his ID that Rhino had checked at the door was etched into Rhino’s memory.
Where else would Candy be? Well, she and Frank had another thing coming.
After sitting in his car outside Frank’s house for a few minutes to gather his thoughts and form a plan of attack, Rhino was ready to strike.
With crowbar in hand he stormed up to the front door, prying it open in a matter of seconds. By the time he made it to the bottom of the stairs in the front hall, he already heard the howls and moans of passion coming from the upstairs bedroom. He abandoned stealth, knowing that with what was going on up there they wouldn’t hear him coming.
Bounding up the stairs and rapidly losing his breath he hit the walls and railing repeatedly with the crowbar just to cause as much damage in this poor Frank fellow’s life as he could in the process of reclaiming his woman.
Only when he kicked the bedroom door open did the perfervid cries of rampant sex come to a halt. But, as he lifted the crowbar, he realized what was wrong with the picture. The lady still seated on top of Frank and giving Rhino a disconcerting smile was not Candy.
“What the fuck?” gasped Rhino.
“What the fuck?” echoed Frank, looking like a deer in the headlights.
“Hi there, Rhino,” said the naked, tattooed lady. “Glad you could make it.”
“What the fuck is this?” cried Frank. “Was this a setup or something. You know this guy?”
“Oh, I know of him,” laughed Autumn, looking down and smiling at Frank. “And no, don’t worry. He’s here of his own avail. No harm is coming to you. To him, though, that’s a different story.”
Autumn got up off of Frank and stood next to the bed facing Rhino.
“Who the fuck are you?” asked Rhino. “And where the fuck is Candy.”
“Candy is not here, as you can see. And she’s safe from you now.”
“Oh, is that so?” scoffed Rhino. “Don’t think I won’t fuck you up with this crowbar the same way I’m gonna fuck up little Frankie over there.”
“Little Frankie?” laughed Autumn. “I don’t think that’s a fitting nickname, Rhino. And you know it. That’s really why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Shut up, bitch!”
“Oh, I will,” said Autumn, approaching Rhino with a hand outstretched to his face. “In just a moment, actually.”
“What the…” gasped Rhino.
Reality seemed to fade into darkness around Rhino, until within a moment he saw nothing but complete black.
Dawn broke over Hollows Point, but that moment of nature’s serene and majestic beauty was missed entirely by Candy and Kendall whose eyes didn’t budge open until ten-thirty.
The bedside phone startled them both wide awake.
“Oh shit,” groaned Candy.
“What?” asked Kendall.
“You mind answering that for me? I’m just afraid… You never know…”
“I’m sure it’s just the front office telling us we’re late checking out.”
“Please, Kendall?”
“Okay, okay,” Kendall agreed, reaching over Candy to retrieve the phone. “Hello?”
Candy clenched her fists tight, knowing that even though there was no way Rhino could be calling her motel room, nothing could be considered impossible after witnessing what they’d seen last night. Judging by Kendall’s gentle tone and calm body language, there was no need to panic.
“It was just the front office,” Kendall informed her after hanging up the phone and cuddling close to her. “Check out time isn’t until eleven.”
“Was it Curtis?”
“Nope. It was a chick. Name was Laura. Sounded kinda hot, too.”
“So what are you gonna do?” asked Candy, growing nervous and feeling needy.
“What am I gonna go about what?”
“You gonna go down and invite her up for a three-way?”
“You know, I just might now that you mention it. Voices can be deceiving though.” Kendall laughed and gave Candy a kiss on the cheek. At first the kiss felt awkward, mostly because he couldn’t believe he felt so comfortable doing it. Fucking a girl in every position imaginable on the night you meet her is perfectly normal and socially acceptable. But kisses on the cheek were normally reserved for committed, long term relationships. However, Candy did not seem to mind at all.
“No, seriously,” said Candy after returning the kiss. “Are you leaving?”
“Me? Hell no. I’m gonna get dressed and go down there to renew my room for another night, and follow you around all day like a puppy dog.”
“About that…” Candy paused only for a moment, feeling surprisingly relaxed about her forthcoming proposition. Thinking quickly about what they’d done last night, she was no longer surprised at her lack of insecurity. “I dunno how much nicer your room is than mine, or if it even is at all, but… how about you check out and we go half on one room for another night. Or two. I mean, I’m assuming you wouldn’t mind the close quarters.”
“After last night you think I’d want to sleep alone with you right next door?” Kendall laughed. “You’d have to be nuts. I kinda like your idea. A lot.”
“Well then, I’d say it’s settled. Let’s get dressed, go do that, and find somewhere in this town to grab a very late breakfast.”
Thirty minutes later, minutes that mostly consisted of Kendall waiting for Candy to shower and get dressed, they made their exit from Candy’s room.
“Seems like a perfect day for it to be Halloween,” said Kendall, taking in the cool, crisp air and the dying foliage surrounding the motel.
“Staying at a creepy motel with a dark and handsome stranger in a bumfuck town…” began Candy. “Minus a crazed maniac on the loose, I’d have to say you’re damn right.”
“Are you forgetting that the crazed maniac was going down on a ghost in front of an audience in the woods last night?” A ghost that was me…
“Point taken,” said Candy as she closed and locked her door. “Say, what’s this?” Candy pointed to a bright orange piece of paper that was folded and taped to the door.
“A love letter from Curtis, probably.”
“Was this here when you looked outside last night?”
“Honestly, I couldn’t say. I just looked straight out into the darkness, hoping there wasn’t a werewolf, or even worse
, a horny tow truck driver, waiting there for me.”
“Well, I suppose I oughta see what it says.” Candy pulled the paper off the door and unfolded it. “Blood Orgy in the Woods. Hollows Point annual Halloween Bash. Eighteen plus. Adults only. No exceptions. No cover charge.”
“We don’t have much else to do tonight,” said Kendall.
“Costume or all black minimum,” added Candy, reading more of the flyer.
“I didn’t think to pack one of those when I left the house yesterday.”
“Leave that to me. You’re wearing a black t-shirt. You got black jeans in your suitcase?”
“I do.”
“I’ve got plenty of makeup. Corpse paint, dude.”
“We would make a pretty awesome black metal couple,” laughed Kendall.
“Couple?” asked Candy raising one perfectly plucked eyebrow.
“Let’s just pretend for now that I didn’t say that.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m too hungry for that kind of discussion anyways. Let’s go get the room squared away down in the office and find the nearest disgusting redneck grease diner to gorge in.”
“Yeah, let’s make haste on that.”
They headed down the stairs toward the office where they were greeted by a far more pleasant sight than Curtis the night manager.
“Good morning,” said a gorgeous, bright-eyed and blonde-haired young woman behind the counter with LAURA on her nametag. Unlike Curtis in every possible way, she was clean, pleasant, and instantly likeable. “Checking in? Out? Extending your stay? How can I help you?”
“I’d like to check out of my room,” said Kendall.
“And I’d like to renew mine for another night,” added Candy.
“No problem,” said the girl at the desk, and started typing. “Room numbers please… never mind. You’re the only two guests here. And I think I can gather which one of you is Kendall and which is Stephanie.”
Hearing the name she’d used when she’d checked in reminded Candy of all that she’d forgotten in the short time since she met Kendall. What felt like ages ago, the fear and the anxiety that had all but fully dissipated since he came along, was suddenly right behind her again.
