Chapter 6 - Six Months of Snow
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The snow in Oak Creek fell in thick, unrelenting sheets, burying the small upstate town in a blanket of blinding white.
Charlotte pushed the heavy library cart down the aisle, her hand resting on her massive, swollen belly. At seven months pregnant with twins, her center of gravity was completely gone, and her back ached with a constant, dull throb.
“Let me take that, Charlotte,” Mrs. Higgins, the elderly head librarian, scolded gently, hurrying over to grab the cart. “You shouldn't be pushing heavy things in your condition. Those babies are going to pop out right here in the fiction section.”
Charlotte offered a tired, grateful smile. “I’m fine, really. Keeping busy helps.”
It was a lie. Keeping busy kept her from thinking about Damian.
Under the alias "Clara Brooks," she had built a quiet, invisible life. She lived in a small, drafty apartment above a bakery, paid for her groceries in cash, and never used the internet for anything personal. She had become a ghost.
But ghosts still had memories.
Late at night, when the babies kicked violently against her ribs, she would lie awake and cry, remembering the warmth of Damian’s chest and the sound of his deep laugh. She missed him with a fierce, agonizing pain that refused to fade.
“You have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, right?” Mrs. Higgins asked, pulling Charlotte from her thoughts.
“Yes, just a routine ultrasound to check their positioning,” Charlotte replied, rubbing her stomach.
“Well, you go home and rest,” the older woman insisted. “The roads are getting bad anyway.”
Charlotte thanked her and grabbed her heavy winter coat. She bundled up, stepping out into the freezing wind. The streets of Oak Creek were mostly empty, the streetlights flickering against the falling snow.
As she waddled toward the bakery, a chilling sensation crept up her spine.
She stopped and turned around.
May you like
Parked across the street, half-hidden in the shadows of an alley, was a sleek, black armored SUV. It had tinted windows and no license plates. It did not belong in a town like Oak Creek.
Charlotte’s blood ran completely cold.
