True Intentions by Lisa Kuehne Page A

stomach. All I want to do is lie down. I know I can't do that. I have to find a way out of here.
    I continue to scope out my surroundings for any possible escape route, weapon, or objects that might help me to cut this rope. I glare to my left, realizing the drop-down bed in the back room of the motor home has been staged. A blanket and pillows are draped on top of the thin, full-size mattress. Duct tape attached a video camera to an old, wall-mounted TV stand.
    Panic again sets in.
    Contrary to what I fear will happen, I try to stay positive.
    I can't die, I must live, I can't die, I must live.
    Yesterday was just another ordinary day. Today, I'm living my worst nightmare.
    If only I hadn't had the Jeep top down, he wouldn't have been able to hit me. I would have been able to speed off and get away. My internal dialogue is interrupted when I feel the recreational vehicle jerk. It comes to a complete stop, and the engine turns off.

    Chapter Thirteen – Too Late

    Sam races to his Audi and slides into the driver's seat. With urgency, he turns the ignition and peels out of the restaurant parking lot. He remembers where Walter lives, and knows about Walter's plan to use his 1993 F-250 as bait. He is planning to pull a Ted Bundy. What girl wouldn't help someone in need?
    There has to be enough time.
    He refuses to consider what Walter may be doing to Ava. After all, he created Walter. He set the monster in him free by teasing and tantalizing him with two things, a sexual release and power over a woman .
    Walter's desires are strong. He has been living with self-doubt for a long time.
    The assault on the waitress gave him a sense of power and self-worth he had never known.
    Walter will need another victim to fulfill his needs.
    Sam cringes.
    What if he is too late?
    Sam shakes off the thought. Panic wastes time and energy. Yet every time Ava's face enters his mind, he visualizes her being tortured by Walter.
    He remembers her look, the day outside school when her soft lips touched his.
    Goose bumps erupt over his arms as he relives the moment in his mind. She had taken him by surprise. Had his unspoken desire influenced her? Or was there a chance she kissed him because she truly wanted to?
    Would she want to kiss him—an atrocious demon—if she knew the truth?
    Surely not.
    This is exactly why this life is a living hell. He is aware of the feeling he has toward this young girl. Desire unlike any other he has experienced in his seventeen years of human life, or his two hundred plus years of immortality. Yet he recognizes he can never be with her. The only thing that could make this living hell any more unbearable would be to live for eternity knowing his careless actions resulted in her death.
    Sam turns onto Walter's dirt driveway his tires spinning. Walter's Ford is parked in front of the house.
    Sam jumps out of his car and runs through the yard, searching every square inch of accessible property. He is running so fast his feet barely touch the ground.
    To his dismay, Walter is nowhere to be found.
    Is he already disposing of the body?
    Sweat pores down Sam's face.
    He drops to his knees, hitting the cold, hard ground with enough force to leave deep indentions in the soil. He looks down at the dry dirt in shame.
    The thought of her death is unbearable.
    Instinctively, Sam starts to pray to God, but then catches himself mid-prayer. Has he lost it? Praying to God like this? Surely God would never consider answering the prayers of a monster of Satan.
    Although he knows it's hopeless, he glances up toward the sky, begging for mercy.
    Please, Not her.
    As he looks back to the ground, the emotional pain causes his eyes to feel grainy; several clues come to his attention.
    There are tire tracks embedded in the soft dirt. Tracks that don't match the Ford truck sitting in the driveway.
    He studies the marks carefully. The deep impression of the treads indicates a heavy vehicle, maybe a semi or RV.
    He rushes to the front door, a new