Change the Locks
Chapter Four
Owen dragged the small suitcase along the path through the woods, close to the road. Ordinarily, he would feel totally vulnerable in a forest, at night; but he has Abby.
"Can you read that road sign from here?" Owen asked Abby, who was walking next to him with her arm wrapped around his.
"Yes. Ten miles to Aurora." She replied after squinting in the direction of the sign.
"Is Aurora big?" Owen asked, timidly. She simply nodded in response.
"Well, hopefully we'll be there by morning." He smiled. They continued walking in silence, Abby resting her head on Owen's shoulder.
"Damn." Owen suddenly cursed, making Abby jump.
"What?"
"You need to eat. That's why we hitchhiked in the first place! What have I done? I dragged you away from the only meal you could've possibly had…" Owen pinched the bridge of his nose due to how frustrated he was with himself.
"Hold on," Abby smiled slightly, putting her arm in front of Owen to stop him from walking any further. "Look." She pointed through the trees to a man leaning against his car in a lay-by, smoking a cigarette whilst twizzling a balisong knife in the other hand.
"Aren't those illegal..?" Owen murmured, referring to the knife. Abby's eyes were locked onto the man in the lay-by.
"Who cares? It won't make a difference by the time I've finished with him." And with that, she sprinted silently and invisibly to a tree about three metres from the man in the lay-by; Abby's body wrapped around the tree as the ultimate method of camouflage. Her fingers slowly crept into the moonlight until suddenly there was an outcry from the lay-by. But as soon as Owen turned to see what had happened, Abby was already a few metres away, soaked to the skin in blood, her skin bulging with veins and her pupils surrounded by a silver iris. She looked truly terrifying, and all Owen could do was stare.
"How long do you stay like that?" He said, passing her a tissue to wipe her mouth, petrified.
"Don't look." She said as she took a spare hoodie from the suitcase as her jeans remained relatively unstained.
Owen turned around awkwardly whilst Abby removed her sweater, and quickly replaced it with a new one.
"Done." She smiled, everything returning to normal. Owen blinked, realising Abby had turned from a bloodsucking killer back to a small-framed twelve-year-old girl in a matter of seconds.
"We keep walking, then?" He asked after a minute of bewilderment. She nodded, wrapping her arm around his and resting her head on his shoulder once again.
The couple continued walking through the dense forest, keeping close to the highway and using road signs to direct them towards Aurora. About two hours passed before Abby and Owen reached civilisation, which was in the form of a midnight-hour gas station.
"Owen," Abby pointed towards the gas station. "Need anything?"
"Yeah, do you mind?" He asked as she shook her head. The road was close to empty, so they quickly made their way across the road to the gas station. A bell on the door jingled as they walked in, Owen first. There was one cashier, a woman in her late thirties with a washed out face and a blank expression.
"Just these please." Owen said, putting a packet of his favourite sweets on the counter, followed by a dollar note. The light above the cashier flickered as she put the note into the cash register and handed the sweets back to Owen. He smiled weakly and quickly walked out of the store, dragging Abby by the hand.
"Hey! Why are we going so fast?" She asked after she'd been dragged out of the door.
"Abby, if we stay anywhere for too long then people will ask questions. And we get tracked down by the cops, then it's over. We've got so far, we can't lose it now." Owen explained as he dragged her across the road and back to the safety of the forest.
"So we keep walking?" She asked, letting him lead her.
"Yes," he confirmed whilst checking the time. "We'll reach Aurora in an hour or so.," he confirmed whilst checking the time. "We'll reach Aurora in an hour or so. You do know where we're headed, right?" Abby nodded.
"Like I said, we move around a lot. I knew that keeping a safe house on standby would turn out to be a good idea!" She giggled, kissing him on the cheek.
"We'll be safe there whilst we figure out where to turn to next." She continued.
"But Abby, why can't we just stay in Colorado?" Owen asked, his face dropping.
"It's not safe here. We need to keep moving around, otherwise people will start to link us to all these murders. That's why I moved around so much before I met you. You made me stay," Abby smiled sweetly. "I came up with a plan."
"What for?" Owen asked, confused.
"We use our place in Aurora as a safe house, yes? We gather all our money and materials together, yes? We get a silver ring to keep me safe during the day, yes?" She asked, watching Owen nod in agreement.
"We'll rest there for a while. Then we need to move west."
"Why west?"
"I know someone who can help us." Abby's expression was serious as her and Owen stood amongst the trees, in the moonlight, with only the occasional passing car.
"But, he operates in Las Vegas." She sighed.
"Las Vegas?! That's miles away!" Owen shouted, causing Abby to cover his mouth with her hand, shushing him.
"Just hear me out, okay? My victims won't need any money for where they're going – so why not take it? We can save up enough money to get two train tickets to Las Vegas." Abby felt the corners of Owen's mouth lifting into a smile as he saw glint of cunning in her eye.
"What can this guy in Vegas help us with anyway?" He asked, lowering his brow.
"He's a forger," Abby whispered. "He can forge passports, bank account details and give us money. That way, we have a lot more options at our disposal."
"Okay," Owen smiled. "But what are we supposed to do once we have that stuff?"
Abby giggled a little, handing Owen some dollar bills from her earlier victim.
"We catch a plane to New York City."
