Masquerade - The Complete First Novel

- 5 -

(Dakota)

I have been driving for a duration of time I could not count in my mind, and I was paranoid by the clock that shines on my dashboard. "Siri, how much longer until we get to Casper, Wyoming?" The chime acknowledged me that it was calculating.

"You have three hours until you arrive in Casper, Wyoming." I sighed, letting my head be thrown back for a second in distress. Thirteen hours. I have been driving for thirteen hours. I heard a grunt from a sleeping Anastasia in the passenger seat.

"Are we there yet?" her voice was raspy from lack of use as I could tell she was half asleep, as I was fighting to not close my eyes as my hands were on the wheel.

"Three more hours," She yawned, straightening herself in the chair.

"Want me to drive?"

"No, I'm fine" I could see out of the corner of my vision a small phone light was turned on, making Anastasia cringe at the bright light. I half smiled at the sight, until Ana opened her lips and told me the one piece of information I did not want to hear.

"It's ten pm, by the way." I let myself openly roll my eyes and grunt. "Jeez, you don't have to be such a drama queen about it." I let myself sigh again, slowly feeling myself shrink. The scenery around us has changed, as the freeways have now turned into rough roads and small marketplaces. The two hours from where we were weren't that bad, as I slept into one in the afternoon and I was wide awake. And so was Anastasia as the tires were kicking back the gravel and making movements that were hard to sleep with. "Are we there yet?"

"For the last time, no! We aren't there yet! We still have another hour,"

"So it will be one am when we get there?" I never thought of that, we couldn't just knock on their door at one in the morning.

"Will that be okay?" She shrugged.

"Eh, they'll be fine." If you say so.

Our trip finally came to an end as the sign read, 'Welcome to Casper, Wyoming!'. One warm sign, not knowing if the town reflected that. Ana had to ask some people where the Foster's lived, most didn't know. That confused me. Actually, this whole situation confused me. Why would they move right after their daughter went missing, and to the middle of nowhere? Did they do something to her? Did the mother get too violent? No, I couldn't let that thought come into my mind. The thought of meeting this woman scared me, knowing that she verbally abused her daughter, as the evidence was in her diary. I hope that she doesn't give me a piece of what her daughter had received. I have oddly grown attached to this child, to Clem. Reading her life on pink scented pages made me start to feel like I knew her, and the thought of her dead...

We finally pulled up to a log cabin in the middle of an abandoned field at three am. Ana was the first one to get out, walking up to the house tucking something into her pocket. I then touched the gravel with the bottom of my converse, walking up to the cabin. It was hard to see the features, as the night and the lack of light was reduced to a single porch light.

It was small, with a long series of steps leading up to the door as the whole house was on small stilts. I could still make out the outline, a big triangle on top, and a small roof on the left side. I walked up the steps, one at a time, as Ana was taking on two. She banged on the door, me walking slowly behind her, still in fear. I heard rustling from inside, looking behind me as my fear grew. The door opened, to see a woman. Her blond hair was down, and her eyes resembled a clear ocean. It was her. The mad mother.

"What?!" I gulped in fear, as Ana took the picture of Clem out of her pocket.

"Do you know this kid?" Her clear ocean eyes lingered on the picture, as I could see her mask start to slip. Nonetheless, she pulled it back up, letting it cover whatever feeling she was trying to hide inside.

"What are you, a cop?" Ana pulled the picture down for a second, shaking her head, then aggressively pulling the picture back up to her view.

"Don't make this hard, just answer the question." Her eyes fell on me, making my blood run cold. It seemed like she could sense my fear, that she could explode at any moment. Anastasia doesn't know this woman like I do, of what she did. Of what she might have done. I could be standing in front of Clementine's killer. I pushed that feeling into the back of my mind. Clem did say that she would never kill because of her belief in no afterlife. Was that true? Was she lying? Was it on purpose? Accident?

"What do you want me to say, kid?" She spits the word at me, crashing another wave of fear.

"I guess we're going to do this the hard way then," Ana stepped in front of me. "Listen lady, we know you're her mother. Don't make this hard," Silence weighed on the atmosphere around us. As her full lips were sealed, she looked at me again. A sudden glimpse of emotion slips through the mask, fear. She then looked back at Ana, pulling the mask to its original point.

"No, she's not."