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Chapter 14
Violet, still beaming from the inside out from her transforming, deeply intimate night with Tate continued to drive towards town pushing away troubling thoughts of Daniel's car abandoned alongside the twisted drive leading to the little cottage.
Her rational mind took over recalling how the classic muscle car would often stall during inclement weather, something about moisture cumulating in the engine or something.
She never did pay much attention when he would go off about 'his baby' as he often referred to what Violet thought of as an embarrassing attempt at clinging to his high school days, which he thought of as the best years of his life.
Damp cold fall Maine chills rushed through her body at that point causing her to turn the heat on and turn off her suspicions wanting much more to concentrate on the way Tate made her feel the night before.
She had never felt so empowered, in such exquisite complete control as she did riding him, hovering over his tone hard body, watching as he reacted with immense enthusiasm to her every move.
Violet had never felt so beautiful, so wanted, so utterly embraced by the feeling of all consuming love in her life.
It was that moment she knew, it was like the stories Tate told her about the dragonflies only living for a few weeks.
How they spend their entire lives suffocating trapped unable to move in a cocoon until one day they break loose from their confines.
Beautiful and wild they live fearlessly and fiercely, like there is no tomorrow.
They are free, which is exactly how Violet felt for the first time in her life.
In love and free to be exactly who she was always meant to be.
It was only when she turned onto the main road that she felt a painful pull tug at her heart.
Moody Beach
Her hazel eyes focused on the weather beaten sign that stood at their lonely stretch of sand as she drove further away into town, it was almost as if she were leaving home, separating from Tate for some strange reason.
She couldn't explain the sick lonely feeling it gave her but she was determined to let nothing ruin this night with him, she did her best to concentrate on what she needed to buy in town for their special date.
As she entered the one road running through the sleepy town of Cobblestone Cove she immediately noticed all the passersby's giving her long hard stares.
She experienced this treatment every time she made her way into town but for some reason this trip seemed more intense, as if the towns' people were scared or even nervously shocked that she was still here.
Paying little mind she parallel parked her old truck as she peered excitedly into the dress shop.
The rusted truck rocked back and forth sputtering kicking off black smoke from the exhaust pipe as she threw it park and shut of the engine.
If there was a soul that wasn't staring at her before, that wasn't a problem now.
Violet smiled wearily at the two grey wrinkled eyes burning a hole into her from behind one of the displays next to the cash register.
The bell that hit the door over head as she opened it seemed like someone had struck the liberty bell as it echoed throughout the empty dress shop.
It was all very eerie to say the least but Violet was focused on the task at hand as she quickly passed by racks of clothes knowing exactly what she was looking for.
She had been picturing it all night, what she would wear, the style she would do her hair, her makeup, it was as if she had seen herself in a dream.
Lifting the sixties style peasant cotton white dress from the rack in the back of the store she sighed happily.
It was definitely a retro look, with transparent soft material, it had long oversized sleeves that hung off the shoulders, it was extremely sexy in a very subtle feminine way.
She definitely felt as if she could have fit right in at Woodstock as she held it underneath her chin gazing into the full length mirror against the back wall.
Feeling a cold set of fingers along her shoulders Violet jumped as the owner who seemed not a day under a hundred years old placed a vintage flowered shawl around her.
"It goes with the dress beautifully; in fact my daughter never left the house without one. One never knows when a cold chill will hit. You know what they say, if you don't like the weather in New England wait five minutes."
Violet held the embroidered multicolored shawl around her shoulders and fell in love.
"All I need is a daisy in my hair and I'd look like a flower child from the sixties."
The old woman's eyes filled with tears as she parted Violet's pin straight hair with her thin fingers twisting it to the sides like two long braids.
Seeing the elderly woman's distress Violet touched her hands meeting her eyes in the mirror.
"Are you alright?"
Nodding slowly she solemnly averted her gaze. "You'll have to excuse me dear; it's just that you remind me of my daughter. It's been so long you'd think it would get easier... but it never does."
Removing the shawl folding it over her arm along with the dress Violet followed the slow moving women over to the store room.
"She was a good girl, sweet as strawberry pie my late husband used to say, never gave us a moment of trouble."
An ominous feeling over took Violet as she stood inside the dark store room hearing the rattled raspy voice of the old woman.
"The police said that it was just the times, girls were often running off to places west like California, joining cults or communes, even going up north to Canada with their boyfriends who were desperate to avoid the draft, but our little girl would have never left without telling us. She never would've left period, she loved her family and we loved her. Unfortunately there wasn't much of an investigation but we knew what happened to her..."
Just then Violet heard a click as the woman pulled a long chain connected to a light bulb engulfing the room in a flickering shadowy glow as the blub swung back and forth giving life to the lost faces in front of her.
"…she was one of The Moody Beach Thirty…"
Violet gasped as the women moved some boxes that were stacked against the wall revealing even more missing person posters tape side by side, and up and down covering the entire wall from the ceiling to the floor.
With a shaky voice Violet repeated the phrase the old woman spoke of bewildered still reeling from so many young faces.
"The Moody Beach Thirty?"
Wiping a single tear away she pointed to a particular older faded picture, its edges were curled and the paper was yellowed by time but the sweet smile of the girl looking back at her looked as real as if the photo had been taken yesterday.
"That's our Chelsea."
Violet stepped closer lightly skimming her fingertips over Chelsea's name along the bottom of the photograph.
The elderly woman closed her sweater holding it tight across her chest as if a cold chill had rushed through the room.
"Over the past three decades girls would go missing, these thirty were from the families that cared enough to look for them, but there are rumors that there have been more, girls that were in trouble with the law, or runaways … ones that wouldn't be missed if you know what I mean."
Violet gazed at all the different faces but her eyes kept drifting back to Chelsea, the red haired flower child who looked exactly like how Violet saw herself in her dream the night before.
"It's been a long time since a girl has gone missing, years I suppose, but small towns' don't forget. Our local newspaper heard that the police suspected a serial killer, possibly a drifter that lived near the beach. They're the ones that named the local missing girls the moody beach thirty."
Looking back at the obviously distraught woman Violet was at a loss for words, but there was one thing that kept nagging her.
"I don't understand, if they were missing from all over town why did the newspaper mention Moody Beach specifically."
Shrugging despondently the woman pulled the chain leaving them once again in darkness.
Violet followed her to the cash register engrossed in every word as she pushed her credit card across the counter.
"Two reasons I suppose, first… most of the girls were last seen on that particular stretch of beach. There isn't anything for miles except for a bus stop so it was easy to pin down the spot where the disappearances occurred…"
Watching as the she placed the dress and shawl in a bag and handed it to her gazing off in the distance as if in another time and place the woman suddenly backed away.
"That Langdon cottage, what happened there… so unholy, an abomination really. I guess people just became superstitious of the coincidence of it all."
Stepping back Violet tried to stay calm.
"What happened there?"
Just then the bell over the door rang out as a tall dark haired man in a yellow fisherman's long rain coat stepped inside.
"I'm afraid there's a nor'easter headed our way fast Betty, everyone's closing up their shops and heading home before the winds hit."
Glaring intimidatingly at Violet the man nodded, "I suggest you hurry back to that cottage before the roads get washed out Ms."
Betty's eyes widened with fear realizing that Violet was the stranger who had been staying there this entire time.
Walking towards her Violet almost pleaded with her.
"What happened there, please… you've got to tell me – "
Suddenly she felt her arm been yanked backwards out into the street.
"You best be on your way, I hate to see that truck of yours get stranded out in the middle of nowhere. Storms tend to blown in fast around here; accidents are a daily occurrence in these parts."
Looking back through the glass Betty was nowhere to be found.
Frustrated more than frightened Violet jumped in her truck and drove away staring in her rear view mirror as the man in the fisherman's raincoat stood in the middle of the road glaring at her while rolling thick black clouds swept in quickly towards the direction of the cottage.
vTv
After driving as fast as the truck would allow her, Violet ran in the house yelling for Tate going in and out of each room before charging up the stairs.
Throwing her bags on the bed she worked hard to catch her breath leaning up against the wall resting her arm on the tall dresser.
Regaining her air she yelled out his name once again before her hand fell upon a crumpled up paper that had fallen behind a model ship and a few scattered sea shells she had collected.
"Tate!"
Swallowing hard she tucked her hair behind her ear before opening the paper that turned out to be a check written out to Daniel from her father for a thousand dollars.
Her eyes immediately flashed out the window to the empty space where she had just seen Daniel's mustang just a few hours before.
"Violet, are you alright?"
Crushing the check inside her palm she turned towards Tate as he took her in his arms and held her tight.
"I was so worried you were going to get caught in this storm; it looks like it's going to be a bad one. Don't worry though; I've got you now. "
His voice was like honey sliding over her skin, warm and inviting causing her to melt against his chest as if he knew of all of the horror she had just learned about and was desperate to make it go away.
Still it was there in the back of her mind, lingering like a bad dream refusing to leave her alone.
Daniel's car, the moody beach thirty, the check in a ball still in her hand...
She wanted to wish it all away but she knew deep down she couldn't.
As all these thoughts spun her head she couldn't help but jump hearing the storm just outside causing her to rise up on her toes and clutch his mass of blonde curls behind his head for comfort.
With a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning raging across the sky Tate held her tighter soothing her softly with his deep husky seductive voice
"Shhh….Violet, you're safe now… "
"…. you're safe."