CHAPTER 5
The car sped down the empty highway long after the gas station disappeared behind the curve of the road. The world outside became nothing but darkness smeared with streaks of passing trees, and no one spoke for several minutes. The only sound was the frantic roar of the engine and the uneven breathing inside the car.
Ethan sat forward in his seat, hands clenched together like he was holding onto the last sane thought in his head. Liam kept staring straight ahead, jaw locked, eyes wide. Aria and Jasmine huddled in the backseat, silent, pale, still shaking. Caleb looked between them, trying to piece together what he'd missed.
Finally Caleb spoke.
"Okay," he said quietly, "can someone tell me what the hell just happened?"
Nobody answered.
Ethan breathed out slowly. "We saw a murder," he said, voice unsteady. "He killed the store owner. Right in front of us."
Jasmine swallowed hard. "And he saw you?"
"I don't know," Ethan said. "He looked up. He looked right at us. I'm not sure if he realized we were customers or witnesses, but—" He shut his eyes, trying to steady the memory. "He knew we were there."
Liam ran a hand through his hair. "That guy… he wasn't normal. The way he stood there—like he didn't even care we'd walked in. Like it was nothing. Like he'd done it a thousand times."
Aria hugged her knees to her chest. "He didn't even try to hide…"
Caleb cursed under his breath. "Did he chase you? Did he follow?"
"I didn't look back," Liam said. "I didn't want to know."
Ethan did look back. He hadn't said it yet, because the words refused to form properly in his mind, but he had seen a shape—something stepping into the doorway as they drove away. Something watching.
He wasn't ready to explain that. Not yet.
Liam drove for several more minutes until the panic in his chest turned into exhaustion. His knuckles loosened on the wheel, and the car slowly calmed from frantic escape to a tense cruise. The headlights carved out a narrow path in the dark.
Then Jasmine noticed something.
"Guys…" she whispered. "There's a car."
Everyone turned.
Far behind them, on the horizon of the road, two distant headlights glowed. Calm. Steady. Not gaining much. Not losing ground either.
"A car," Aria repeated. "At this hour? Out here?"
"Relax," Liam said, but even he didn't sound convinced. "Could be anyone."
Ethan stared at the lights for a long moment.
He recognized that feeling in his stomach.He'd felt it earlier in the trip, long before the gas station.
The black SUV.
He remembered catching glimpses of it during the morning drive—one moment behind them, then gone, then seen again near a rest stop. He hadn't said anything back then because road trips make you paranoid. Cars overlap all the time. Highways repeat vehicles. And maybe he was imagining it.
But now, after what they'd seen, after what stepped out of the gas station…
His breath tightened.
"Liam," Ethan said softly. "Speed up. Slowly. Don't make it obvious."
Liam didn't ask why. He pressed the pedal lightly. The car climbed from 60 to 70. The hum of the engine deepened.
Behind them, the headlights stayed exactly the same distance.
Caleb frowned. "Maybe it's just going the same way."
"Maybe," Ethan said. "But I saw that car earlier today too."
Aria looked at him sharply. "When?"
"Twice. On the way to Ridgewater. I didn't think it mattered then."
Jasmine gripped the seatbelt strap, knuckles white. "Do you think it's the killer?"
"I don't know," Ethan admitted. "It could be coincidence. It could be nothing."
The SUV kept following.
Liam exhaled shakily. "We need somewhere to stop. Somewhere with people."
"They'll be closed," Aria whispered. "It's too late."
"What about a motel?" Jasmine asked. "We can hide. Lock the door. Call someone."
"Call who?" Liam snapped. "What do we even say? 'Hi, we saw a murderer in the middle of nowhere'? They'll think we're insane."
Caleb leaned forward. "We have to stop eventually. We're running low on gas."
Everyone fell quiet.
That one fact overpowered every argument, every fear:They couldn't drive forever.
The road signs rolled by, offering nothing but silence, night, and miles of emptiness. Every few seconds, Ethan checked the mirror. The SUV never gained much, but it never fell back either. It clung to the edge of visibility like it was tethered to them.
Ten minutes later, they spotted it—an old roadside motel, sitting crooked beside the road like it had been abandoned by time. A flickering neon sign spelled out "LAKEVIEW INN," though the lake was probably miles away. A few rooms showed dim yellow lights. A single vending machine hummed beside the office door.
Liam slowed down.
"This is the only option," he said.
"Looks… safe-ish," Aria said weakly.
Jasmine swallowed. "Everything looks like a murder set tonight."
Caleb tried to joke, but even he sounded nervous. "At least the beds might not be haunted."
Ethan kept watching the road behind them.
The SUV didn't turn in. It drove past slowly, headlights sweeping across their car, the motel sign, the parking lot. Not speeding. Not stopping. Just passing.
But Ethan saw it—through the tinted windshield, the shape of the driver's head turned slightly, watching them through the glass.
He held his breath until the SUV disappeared into the darkness.
"Maybe it wasn't following us," Jasmine said hopefully.
"Maybe," Ethan said. "Maybe not."
They parked near the office, all stepping out stiffly. The night air was cold, biting. Liam went inside to book two rooms—one for the boys, one for the girls. The office smelled like old paperwork and cheap air freshener. The motel owner, an older man with tired eyes, barely looked up as Liam explained they needed rooms for the night.
Caleb stood outside stretching, running a hand through his hair. "I'm taking the first shower," he announced.
"You always take the first shower," Ethan said.
"And I always look fantastic afterward," Caleb replied with a grin.
Jasmine rubbed her arms against the cold. "Can we please just get inside?"
They carried their bags to the rooms. Everything felt oddly normal again—normal enough that the fear began to crack slightly. The girls disappeared into their room first, shutting the door behind them. Liam tossed his backpack onto one of the twin beds while Ethan sat down slowly on the other.
Caleb checked the window. "We're good. No creepy cars. No creepy anything."
"Yeah," Liam said. "For now."
Ethan leaned forward, elbows on his knees.
The image replayed in his mind—the killer's silhouette standing in the doorway, the glint of the knife, the slow tilt of his head.
Liam's voice broke through the silence. "Hey. You okay?"
"Yeah," Ethan lied.
Caleb flopped onto the other bed. "Tomorrow we'll figure out what to do. Maybe go to the police in the next town. Somewhere bigger."
"Yeah," Liam said. "Yeah, that's the plan."
Just as Ethan nodded, something caught his eye.
Outside the window, far across the road, in the faintest sliver of moonlight…The silhouette of a parked vehicle.
Black.Boxy.Still.
He blinked hard.
But when he looked again, the road was empty.
Maybe it was his imagination.
Maybe.
Ethan lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling while the motel buzzed quietly around them. Liam turned off the lights. Caleb muttered something about needing sleep.
And just before Ethan drifted off, he heard it outside—
A soft engine.Slow.Passing the motel.Lingering.
Moving on.
Then nothing.
The night swallowed the sound completely.