Snow Escape

By Roberta Goodman

Allegra Maxwell is a 30-year old, single school teacher looking for love. Having chosen to use the Internet to meet the opposite sex, she encounters an articulate, prospective beau on the night the biggest blizzard in history is blanketing the Big Apple. Their pleasant conversation soon turns sinister when she discovers that "Charles" has been stalking her for weeks and claims he lives in her building. With threats of destroying her little by little are made, Allegra must stay one step ahead of the mind games. Turning to neighbors for help, tragic consequences ensue.

When her sanity is questioned, because the online evidence her stalker exists disappears, Allegra must prove he does exist and she isn’t losing her mind. When a power outage thrusts her into darkness, will she be able to overcome the helplessness she feels? Placed in a situation that’s spiraling totally out of her control, while trapped in her apartment building with no escape, will she survive until the authorities can reach her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Write Words Inc.
• Release date: Jul 2, 2013
• ISBN: 9781613861011

Book preview

Snow Escape

by

Roberta Goodman

Published by Write Words Inc. at Smashwords

copyright 2011 Roberta Goodman

Publishers Note: This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Author or Publisher, excepting brief quotes to be used in reviews.

WARNING: Making copies or distributing this file, either on disk, CD, or over the Internet is a Federal Offense under the U.S. Copyright Act, and a violation of several International Trade Agreements.

Chapter 1

As the snow continued to fall, blanketing the city, Allegra felt helpless trapped in her apartment. She watched the limited amount of activity below from her window. Occasionally, a snow plow would go by, or she’d see a brave soul who had ventured out to walk their dog. Other than that, she imagined most people were in the same position she was in. With the anticipation of upwards of two to three feet of snow predicted it seemed this weather event was the only thing being televised at the moment. Everyone reporting on it was saying the same thing; stay indoors and off the roads. She had been smart enough to go grocery shopping two days before, so her refrigerator was stocked even if she had to remain in her home for several days.

She had gone to work earlier that morning, having awoken to overcast skies. By the time she arrived at school, the snow was falling lightly and had barely covered the playground equipment in the school yard. Her fourth grade students were especially rambunctious. They wondered aloud why they had been made to attend class with the arrival of what was already being touted as the snowstorm of the century.

She knew she had her hands full trying to calm them down. Their excitement spilled onto every subject she attempted to teach. By lunchtime she was exhausted and praying there would be an announcement that school would be letting out early. Her sentiments were shared by several other colleagues she encountered in the teacher’s lounge. It seemed no one else’s students could concentrate on anything, but the blizzard that had started to rage outside.

By one o’clock, a full two hours before the official end of the school day, Principal Davidson had come over the loudspeaker to announce that everyone was to pack up for the day. School was closing early. When her last student had vacated the building, Allegra gathered her things and headed out to her car. The wind had picked up significantly and she knew the drive home wasn’t going to be a pleasant one.

Brushing off the three or so inches that had accumulated onto her windshield, she climbed into her car and started to make the trek home. Navigating through the streets of Brooklyn was treacherous enough without snow. With the near zero visibility, a trip that usually took her ten minutes turned into forty-five.

She had seen four accidents between the ride from school and her apartment building. When she got home, she was grateful to have made it there in one piece. The whole way home she thought to herself, people obviously don’t know how to drive in snow. Since she had grown up in upstate New York and had spent many winters having to endure driving through it, she was an old pro.

After she parked, Allegra picked up her tote bag with the papers she needed to grade, put up the hood on her jacket, and exited her car. The harsh winds were whipping up the newly fallen snow and the force with which the snow was falling had increased.

* * *

By the time she made it to the main door of the building, she remembered why she had left Kingston in the first place. She had chosen to move to the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn to get away from the harsh winters of her childhood and early adulthood. Having graduated from New York University some eight years earlier, she had grown to love city life the four years she had spent there. Going back to Kingston for several years after graduation, she had made the decision to move back to the city almost two years earlier and it was one she didn’t regret.

When an old friend had called her and told her of an opening for a teaching position at the Montessori school she taught at, Allegra jumped at the chance to relocate. Sure her family was still in upstate New York, but the drive home wasn’t horrible. It usually took her a little over two and a half hours without traffic.

She typed the security code on the telecom keypad, which unlocked the main door to the building. When she entered, she noticed there was a fairly large puddle of water on the floor with a trail leading up the stairs. One of her neighbors must have left it there. Since she lived on the sixth floor of the eight-story structure, she decided to take the elevator. She knew it would be healthier to use the stairs, but she was feeling lazy and could care less if she got any exercise. It was the middle of January and she had time to worry about whether or not she would look good in a bathing suit. Summer was just too far off to concern her at the moment.

Pushing the button, she waited for several minutes for the elevator to arrive. When the doors opened, Mr. MacDougal, the building’s super, exited holding several bags. He wasn’t much on personality and barely acknowledged Allegra as he brushed past her.

Nice to see you, Mr. MacDougal, she called after him.

He merely nodded and never looked back at her.

What a strange man, she thought as she hit the number six button to take her to her floor.

She had often commented to other tenants how creepy she found him to be, with other residents of the building concurring with her opinion of him. She knew it wasn’t nice to ridicule others, but he was different. She always got a knot in her stomach if she needed to call him to fix something in her apartment. She didn’t like the fact he had a key to her place and would go into it to make repairs when she wasn’t home, but it was his job. She figured it was better for her not to be home when he did what he needed to do. She could never find anything to say to him that would induce him into a conversation. Being as weird as he was, she really didn’t want to have a conversation with him anyway.

* * *

Arriving at her floor, she walked out of the elevator and almost smacked into Mrs. Miller. The older woman, who lived directly across the hallway from her, was carrying a box in front of her face. It was obviously obscuring her view.

Oh—so sorry dear she said in her thick Irish brogue as she realized that a collision almost occurred.

Do you need help carrying this? It’s got to be heavy for you, Allegra remarked, touching the box the older woman was holding.

No—I’m fine sweetie, thank you for offering.

Allegra held the elevator door open, which would have closed fairly quickly otherwise and Mrs. Miller boarded it. Curious to know how much snow had fallen and seeing that Allegra had just come indoors, she questioned her.

How bad is it outside?

There’s about four to five inches of snow on the ground already and it’s very windy out.

Then its good I’m headed to the incinerator downstairs and not outside, she remarked with a wink.

Allegra let go of the door, telling her neighbor to have a good evening. After the doors closed, she wondered what Mrs. Miller was always taking down to the incinerator. Not a week went by that she hadn’t seen her making the trip with something to get rid of.

Why couldn’t she just stick it in the trash like everyone else? What’s so important that it needs to be burned?

* * *

Walking through the door of her residence, she wondered how long she would be exiled there. She was soaked from being outside and decided what she needed to do immediately was change out of her clothes. Going into her bedroom, she removed her wet things and went into her closet. She pulled out a pair of black sweatpants and a gray sweatshirt. She stopped to look at herself in the full length mirror and grunted in disgust.

If I could only lose twenty pounds and keep it off permanently, then I’d look really good.

Allegra was most definitely not obese. Standing five feet, two inches tall and weighing 145 pounds, she was a size ten, or twelve, depending on the clothing. To her, it seemed like she had always been the heaviest girl among her female friends. Throughout her teenage years, she had lots of guy friends, but very few of those guys had been interested in more than friendship.

This had been a huge source of embarrassment for her. Consequently, she hadn’t felt comfortable in her own skin for years. She always seemed to be on a diet, losing and regaining the same fifteen to twenty pounds many times over.

Well, I have four months until I need to pull out my shorts and tank tops. I’ll just have to control what I’m eating and go back to running once the weather breaks.

Even though she had affected a facade of being a confident, independent, outgoing person, she still had insecurities. None of the men she had recently dated had ever voiced any complaints, but she still didn’t feel that she looked as good as she possibly could. Having been an overweight kid had definitely caused some damage to her psyche. It made her overly conscious about her appearance.

After she got dressed, she put her wet clothes into her stackable washer then went into her kitchen to heat water for some hot chocolate. While the kettle was on the stove, she decided to check her e-mail. She had checked it earlier, before she left for work, but to her surprise there were about fifteen messages, several of which were from the on-line dating service she had joined six months earlier. The rest was just spam.

She clicked on each one revealing a different guy who had written her. Just from appearances, she ruled out about half that she didn’t have any attraction to. The few that remained looked promising by their pictures, but she would have to check out their profiles before she decided to answer any of their messages. The kettle was whistling loudly and she went to make herself a nice hot drink then returned to concentrate on who had written her.

The first guy looked cute enough, but when she went to his profile learned he worked in the Financial District. She knew enough about his profession to know she didn’t even want to go there. The last two men she had dated who shared his profession had drinking problems. She had thankfully discovered that fact early on into her dating experiences with them and had ended those potential relationships before they could even start. That sort of baggage was something she didn’t want any parts of. She saved his e-mail just in case she changed her mind later on. After all, maybe he didn’t have daily intoxication issues and she figured he probably made good money.

Candidate number two was a tax accountant named Anthony. At thirty-three years old, he still lived at home with his parents. Allegra thought that was odd, especially the fact he would mention his living conditions. Maybe he just wanted to save his money and he was attractive, so into the maybe pile went his message.

The third guy looked familiar, but she couldn’t place him. His name was Charles. He was thirty-one, a store manager, and he had written a lovely message saying he was captivated by her photo. He loved redheads and he thought she seemed angelic and sweet when he had read her profile. Oh, and he thought teaching was a noble profession. She didn’t know whether she should believe he was being sincere, but at this point what did she have to lose. She put another e-mail into the maybe pile. She planned to write at least one of them back later on that night.

It was a shame that a blizzard had moved in. She might have been able to set up a date with one of the three for the following night, which was Saturday. Now, with the city on the verge of shutting down, she knew it was going to be a long weekend stuck in her apartment alone. She only had Boots, her nine-month old Chocolate point Siamese kitty, for company.

She felt the fact she had turned to on-line dating in the first place was a sad commentary on her life. Most of the people she had grown up with were married by now, many of whom already had children. Here she was, thirty years old, hadn’t had a somewhat serious relationship with a man for well over a year, and she couldn’t figure out why.

She was educated, attractive, with a stable career, but for the past several months her weekends had consisted of dating different guys she had met over the Internet. Most of them were complete losers just looking to get laid. Even the ones that claimed they were looking to get serious wound up having way too many issues she didn’t want to deal with.

I guess its par for the course. After all, most of the guys my age and older are more than likely to be divorced, she thought, with kids, or they were afraid of commitment, or both. The younger ones aren’t interested in anything more than having a good time.

At any rate, she hadn’t experienced any chemistry at all with any of the men she had met through this web site, but she was determined to keep trying. She had convinced herself it was better than meeting a guy in a bar.

Why can’t I meet a nice, normal guy I’m attracted to, without lots of baggage, who treats me well and isn’t just looking for sex?

Boots jumped up on her desk. The kitty meowed and Allegra said, I was wondering where you were. What new hiding spot have you discovered?

Boots usually ran right up to her whenever she entered the apartment, but on this particular afternoon he had chosen to remain wherever he was until he decided to come out. She had initially gotten a cat because of the rampant mice problem that existed in her building. She had also heard rumors from other residents that rats cohabited among them as well. She had never had the pleasure of seeing anything, but small, gray or brown field mice. Ever since getting Boots, the mice had chosen to avoid her apartment, because she hadn’t seen any since the day he came to live with her.

What time is it?

Allegra turned and looked at the clock. It said 3:30 p.m. and she turned to Boots and said, It’s too early for your dinner. You’re just used to me getting home later than this, so you think it’s time to eat.

Boots rubbed up against her arm and let out another little meow. Allegra picked him up, holding him on her lap and started rubbing his tummy, something he loved for her to do.

I guess it’s just you and me kitty for the weekend, stuck together for god knows how long.

It was nice that she had a companion to keep her company, because she hated to be stuck indoors. Lost in a state of contemplation, Allegra was suddenly started out of her daze by a loud crash emanating from outside her apartment.

What the hell was that?

Putting Boots down on the bed, she headed out into her living room and over to her front door. Opening it, she initially didn’t see anything. Stepping out and looking down the hallway toward the stairwell, she saw a rather large man bent over picking up a ladder. He turned and saw her and she recognized him as Mr. Shibe. He lived at the end of the hallway. She had only seen him a few times before, because he was a recluse who never left the building. He only ventured out of his apartment on rare occasions, which this was proving to be by his appearance in the hallway.

Allegra shouted, Is everything okay, Mr. Shibe?

She could tell she had just startled him. With a wave of his hand, he picked up the ladder and headed off in the direction of his apartment. Allegra wondered what he could possibly need a ladder for, when Mr. MacDougal was the one who made repairs on everything.

Maybe he just needs to change a light bulb. Turning, she went back into her apartment. She thought about the fact there were several strange people who barely spoke that resided in this building. She rarely saw most of the tenants, but she rationalized it was probably because all of them worked different hours and led busy lives.

She was friendly with a few people on her floor. In fact, Mrs. Miller had one of the biggest mouths in the building. It was she who had informed Allegra about most of the other residents, because she had lived in this particular building for twenty-five years.

She had come to this country from Ireland with her husband and children back in the late sixties. Mr. Miller died about twenty years ago of a massive heart attack. Mrs. Miller explained that he had been watching soccer, which being from Ireland he called football. His team had just let the other team score a goal and he jumped to his feet screaming bloody murder, then suddenly put a hand on his chest and collapsed onto the floor. The fact that he was inebriated at the time probably contributed to his getting so upset he brought on his demise. She had three children who visited their mother on a weekly basis. They usually brought along their children, so they could spend time with their grandmother.

At seventy-five years old, she was still healthy enough to live on her own. She refused to move in with any of her boys, because she couldn’t stand the women they had married. Allegra thought her grandchildren were cute, just very noisy running up and down the hallway and through the entire building every time they visited.

Boots began weaving in and out of Allegra’s legs.

Okay, I’ll feed you early.

* * *

She opened a can of cat food and placed it in Boot’s bowl.

Don’t come crying to me in a few hours because you ate too early and you’re hungry again, Allegra said kissing him on the head and placing his bowl on the floor.

She heard her cell phone playing her favorite Mozart ringtone and realized she had left it in her purse, which was on the table. She didn’t have a land line phone. There wasn’t any need for one, with her having her cell phone on her at all times. It would have just been a waste of money and she paid enough for the wireless service already. Looking at the phone, she discovered it was her mother, probably checking to make sure she got home from work safely.

Hello Mom, how are you?

Are you home from school yet?

Yes—have been for a few hours now.

Well, it was nice of you to call me and let me know. I’ve been sitting here worrying about you making it home in one piece.

If something ever happened to me, I’m sure someone would call and let you know, Mom, Allegra said nonchalantly.

Don’t be a smart-ass Allegra, Janine Maxwell.

Okay Mom—whatever you say. I’m not a smart-ass; I’m a grown woman who’s perfectly capable of driving through snow safely to my destination.

Ignoring her comment, her mother continued by saying they already had several inches on the ground in her area. She would imagine that Allegra’s area must have much more because the storm was coming from the south and hitting the city first. Allegra looked out the window and said the snow was falling steadily and it looked like there was quite a bit lying on the ground already, but she wasn’t going outside to find out exactly how much.

Have you got enough food for several days?

Of course, Mother; I went shopping a few days ago. I do know how to prepare for a huge snowstorm.

I have no doubt you do. I was just making sure, her mother answered, adding I guess you’d be out of luck now if you hadn’t gone shopping. All the stores are probably closing early because of the amount of snow predicted.

I’m fine ,Mom. I have to go grade some papers now.

Allegra ended the conversation by saying she’d call her tomorrow at some point in the day. After she got off the phone, she turned on the television to hear the

Reviews for Snow Escape

[bookjunkee27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Allegra has joined a online dating site soon she gets emails from potential dates. One is from Charles they begin chatting when it gets creepy Charles asks her how it feels to know no help can arrive in time due to the storm. He messes with her mind making her believe he lives in her building and is coming for her.can she make it out and who can this stalker be? Enjoyed this book Snow Escape takes you through a scary night of Mind games and makes you wonder if this is all actually happening !