It was a hoodie. A man's. I kept my foot on the brake and held up the fabric.

It was Ian's black Army hoodie. The one I'd seen him wearing at the bar.

So Ian had been in my car last night.

I tried again to think as hard as I could about what had happened after we were all at the bar. But it was no use. I had no memory whatsoever of anything after that.

In the dimming light I almost didn't even see that there was something else on the seat. But when I moved the hoodie aside, there it was.

A gun. Ian's gun. I recognized it right away.

It wasn't like Ian was one of those guys who packed everywhere he went, but he must have been carrying it last night in the bar. And he must have had a reason.

But why would he have left his gun in my car? With the door unlocked?

It didn't make sense. 

Something was wrong. Something was really wrong. I had to get to Ian right away. I had to talk to him and find out what the hell was going on.

I hit the gas and drove my little car as fast as I could to toward the fairground's nearest exit.

The exit was in the back, near the stockyard. On the way there I saw that everything at the carnival was totally shut down. All the food stalls were closed, and as far as I could tell, even most of the animals had been taken out of their pens. My headlights flooded the road and all of the motionless rides, but I didn't see a single soul.

When I reached the gate, it was blocked.

A pair of wooden police barriers spanned the entire road. What was going on?

Someone knocked hard on my window. I almost screamed.

"Ma'am?" It was a male voice, but it was too dark now to see who it was. Another couple of pounding knocks. "Can't leave here, Ma'am."

It was a cop. He was knocking with his flashlight. I don't know if I was more relieved that it was a cop and not someone trying to kill me or that it was simply another human being, the very first I'd seen that day.

I rolled down the window.

My eyes adjusted to the glare of the flashlight, and now I could see that the cop was Jason.

Great. . . 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Please VOTE 🌟 before continuing! Thanks! ;) xxBailey