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Amy shifted restlessly in sleep, her mind in constant turmoil.
Visions of the past had come back to in full-swing to haunt her, and none of them were pretty. Well, none except for her...
The young woman... She didn't know her name or anything about her, but she had long, straight dark hair and was beautiful. She was breathtakingly beautiful and appeared to be in her early twenties, but for all the redhead knew, she might have been older. With some people, you could just never tell.
The woman... So alive and vibrant one minute, and then the next...
She shifted her head from side-to-side on the pillow upon which it lay nestled, her pulse and breathing quickening...
She had a bad feeling about being here now, a really bad feeling...
The redhead was in a nearly deserted parking lot at a mini-mall somewhere in the outskirts of Detroit. She was on her way to a hotel and was alone, as she'd had an appearance that day. It had run well into the evening, and now it was past midnight. She'd gotten lost - which was why she'd steered her rental car into this lot. At first, she'd consulted a road map, but always having been a bit retarded when it came to maps, she'd given up.
Her cell phone battery had died - and because the car charger was with Adam, who had the exact same model phone she had - she couldn't do a thing about it.
She stepped out of the car, her purse slung over her shoulder and a quarter clutched in her right hand as she inched toward a pay phone. Damn it... Why did these things always have to happen to her?
Amy further cursed her bad luck when she realized a moment later that the pay phone was dead. And then, when she tried to retrieve her quarter, she found the effort futile - the coin was gone because the phone refused to give it back.
"Oh, c'mon! Damn it!" she snapped in annoyance, giving the thing a slam with the heel of her right hand. She forcibly replaced the receiver, then turned around, her hands clenched into fists. She was relieved that at least it was May and that it was quite warm outside. Although things weren't looking good, they certainly could have been worse.
And then, all of a sudden, they were.
Amy spotted a woman a slight distance away. She was running, which must have been difficult given the fact that she was wearing a tight mini-skirt and heels. Her long, dark hair was flowing straight behind her as she moved forward, obviously trying to run as fast as she could.
The redhead squinted as she craned her neck to get a better look. The young woman looked as though she were running away from something - or someone.
"Hello?" she called, and an uncomfortable feeling clutched her.
As the girl came still nearer, she realized she was crying. She could hear sobs, the moaned protestations.
And then, she saw the man...
Oh, God... Amy's hazel eyes widened in horror as the hugely, even grotesquely muscular man moved in on the woman, grabbing her around the waist from behind. The girl screamed, kicking, one of her heels flying off her foot in the process as she struggled in his grasp.
Oh, no... What was she going to do? She had no phone with which to call 911 for help. The only thing she could do was...
"Hey, you! Leave her alone, creep!" Amy shouted.
Although she was close enough, the man barely looked her way. He paid her no heed as his attention was solely focused on the poor dark-haired woman.
The redhead stepped a bit closer to her car, nearly hiding behind its cover as she continued to watch. The woman was still struggling, but not nearly as mightily as she'd been doing. And then, with horror, she suddenly realized why that was...
The maniac was strangling her... His hands were wrapped around her throat, choking the very life out of the girl.
"No!!!" Amy screamed, slipping out from behind the car and practically jumping up and down. Holy Christ... The girl's struggles were getting to be less and fewer... Until...
The large man allowed the body to slump slowly to the ground with a sickening thump as it hit, and he seemed to gaze at it for a beat. Amy stood still, her eyes wide but unblinking as though transfixed, her breathing practically at a standstill.
He looked up, straight at her face. With horror, she realized he was staring at her. Oh, my God... She knew that, if he got his way, she would be next...
Quickly, she came back to herself, yanking open the door of the driver's side of her rental. After slamming and locking the door, she quickly, instinctively checked the passenger's side, relieved she had, as she found that door unlocked. The backseat ones were fine.
She twisted the key in the ignition in a hurry, a frightened yelp escaping her as she realized the man was directly in the path of the car.
Oh, God... She got a great look at his face - and, with horror, she realized she knew him - well, not personally, but she'd seen him before. Unfortunately, she knew that he had gotten a good glimpse of her as well - and because she was who she was, he wouldn't forget her face, either.
Oh, God... This was so...not good.
Before the man could spring himself onto the hood of her car, she yanked the steering wheel sharply to the left, her foot pressed firmly down on the accelerator.
In a flash, she was out of there...