The chase in the night
The night was darkest just before dawn, the inky blackness of the Alaskan wilderness stretching endlessly around her. Annie gripped the steering wheel of her old car tightly, her knuckles white, as the headlights carved a narrow path through the dense forest that bordered the road. The only sound was the hum of the engine and the occasional rustle of the wind through the trees. The further she drove, the more she felt her breath begin to steady, her heartbeat slowing as the distance grew.
She had left everything behind—the small town, the café, the life she had built with Heather and Emily. She had done what she knew best: she ran.
She had no destination in mind, only a vague plan to find a motel and lay low until Heather contacted her. It was safer this way, she told herself. Safer for Ryan, safer for Heather and Emily. She couldn't let them be dragged into the danger that seemed to follow her wherever she went.