Encounter Way: A Novella of Supernatural Suspense

By M.L. Roble

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. It became a battle for their lives.

When Rae and her friends Sarah and Jerrick decided to take a drive down Encounter Way, it was to enjoy a hidden spot of breathtaking beauty.

They discovered something else.

What they find will push them to the very edge of survival. It will take more than courage and luck for them to make it out alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.L. Roble
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9780988421301

Book preview

Prologue

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The year my mother died a black cloud moved in and settled over me like a suffocating fog. It colored all of my days, my hours and my minutes. I spent that time lost in a silent rage. My God I was angry! At God, at life, at everyone and everything. But most of all, I was furious as all hell get out at my mom. It was my mission to shut all memory of her out of my heart forever. For a while, I thought I succeeded. I ignored my agony. I banished all thought and feeling. Only the nights betrayed me. Nights in which I woke with a start, reaching for something, my mother, anything, only to find my hands and arms clutching empty air.

I did not know then how a mother’s love knew no boundaries. How it could find you in the quietest of rooms and wait patiently for you to peek around the door and let it in, or barge its way through hell and drag you through fire to safety, or stand up to the worst nightmare of your life and stare it down to nothing. For a whole year my mother stayed lost to me. A whole year while I spiraled out of control, a whirling dervish of empty pain.

It would be a whole year before I found my mother again.

Chapter 1

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Hey, Rae, think you can slow down a bit?

I glanced at Jerrick braced against the passenger door, his white-knuckled hand clutched on the dash, before I hit the accelerator to take the next curve. The trees whipped by in a blur of brown and green, and I heard a cry from my friend Sarah as she flew across my rearview mirror from one side of the back seat to the other.

Geez, Rae! Jerrick yelled. What the hell's wrong with you?

Sorry, I said. I just like seeing how fast I can make that curve.

Well do you think you could do it when you don't have people in the car who don't want to die?

I eased off the accelerator and let the car slow down closer to the speed limit.

Sorry, Sarah, I said over my shoulder.

A mass of red curls with Sarah’s face in the center popped into the rearview mirror. Sarah grinned. Something about that grin sent a pang through my heart. Even though I had not been myself this past year, she was still my friend, forgiving me all my trespasses, and I had had several.

You're a maniac, she said now. But Jerrick's right. I don't wanna die.

Just because you've got a death wish, doesn't mean we have to go along for the ride! Jerrick snapped.

I glanced at Jerrick. Yep, he was pretty mad. His lips were pressed into a tight line, and his jaw squared off more than usual. I doubt my lead foot was the only thing he was mad about. Whereas Sarah was patient and made allowances for me, Jerrick had grown more and more frustrated with my bad behaviors. I could tell my goodwill with him was running out. It was a feeling that sat heavily on me, but the effort required for change was more than I could muster.

Should I let you guys off then? I asked. It was a volatile question, but as usual, I could not seem to stop myself.

Oh for pete's sake grow up! Jerrick said.

Don't start with the bullshit, Rae, Sarah said.

I glanced at the rearview mirror. Sarah frowned back. I sighed. If Sarah was mad, I was headed for trouble.

I said I was sorry, I said.

No, Jerrick said, you said sorry to Sarah. You never said sorry to me.

You were inferred.

Not to me I wasn't, and it's my perception of your inference that counts.

Oh please! I snorted.

Jerrick cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged and looked away. I guess I don't merit an apology even if I'm the one who's hurt the most. His voice dripped with pretend pain, making my lips tug up on end. Jerrick turned from the window to gauge my response, and for a few seconds, it was a war of who would break into an all-out smile first.

Come on, Rae, Sarah teased. See how hurt he is? Surely you can find it in that pain-in-the ass heart of yours to apologize.

Both of them waited expectantly. Sarah had a big grin on her face. Jerrick was trying, without success, to hide his amusement

"Jerrick, I'm sorry that I made you almost