Night Realm by Darren G. Burton Page A

bother.
    “I’m getting really, really worried now,” Stacey said to her husband.
    “Try calling that friend of hers,” Sean suggested. “What’s her name?”
    “Rebecca?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “I don’t know her number.” Stacey sighed heavily with exasperation. “I’ll check in Amanda’s room. Maybe she has it written down somewhere.”
    Stacey retreated to the rear of the house and searched her daughter’s bedroom for a book of phone numbers or something. As luck would have it she found just that in the draw of the bedside table. In it she located Rebecca’s phone number, along with the numbers of numerous guys. Stacey ignored that fact for now and punched Rebecca’s number into the phone. The call was answered quickly.
    “Hello?”
    “Rebecca,” Stacey said quickly. “This is Mrs Simms, Amanda’s mother. I was just wondering if you’d seen her lately.”
    “No, not since Saturday night. I’ve been trying to call her for two days.” Rebecca sounded extremely concerned.
    “Where did you see her last?” Stacey wanted to know, trying to keep the edge of fear out of her voice.
    “We were at a night club. I picked her up. She ended up leaving with some playboy. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
    Stacey’s heart was in her mouth now.
    “Do you think this guy was dangerous?” she quizzed.
    “I don’t know. Maybe. There was something about his eyes that I didn’t trust. They were really spooky.”
    “Can you tell me anything else? Do you know where they were going , if they were coming back here? The quilt’s missing off her bed.”
    “That’s all I know,” Rebecca replied. “I’m really sorry, Mrs Simms. I feel like it’s my fault that she’s gone missing.”
    “It’s not your fault, Rebecca. You can’t control Amanda any more than I can. Let me know right away if you hear from her. Okay?”
    “I will.”
    Stacey hung up and went back out to the kitchen. Sean looked at her expectantly and Stacey shook her head. She dialed another phone number.
    “I’m calling the police,” she said and put the phone to her ear.
     
     

Eight
     
     
    It was early Tuesday morning and Summer Croft was taking a drive with her Golden Retriever, Samson. He looked across at her from the passenger seat, eyes wide with excitement, pink tongue hanging out as he panted. The breeze blew in through the open windows and tussled his furry coat. He loved a drive, with the feel of the wind in his hair.
    Summer glanced at the number two love in her life - her husband being number one - and smiled contentedly. She loved seeing him happy.
    She didn’t know where they were going as she headed west from Nerang. Anywhere would do. Maybe they would stop somewhere and take a walk. It was her day off. Normally Matt would come with them, but he had to work. Not to worry. Samson was great company, and sometimes it was nice to have good company that didn’t talk.
    “How you doin’ there, boy?” she said to her dog.
    He responded by glancing at her, then pok ed his head out the window where he got the full brunt of the wind. His eyes squinted against the air torrent, his mouth agape, tongue dangling out and catching the breeze. He twisted his head to follow the path of a low-flying bird, then scanned the bush land for anything else of interest. Seeing nothing, Samson drew his head back inside the vehicle and looked across at Summer again. She reached over and rubbed one of his droopy ears. Samson licked her forearm as she did this, something he often did when she patted him. Some people despised being licked by a dog, but Summer didn’t mind. She loved him too much to care about things like that. Any sign of affection from him warmed her heart.
    Up ahead she spied a bit of a clearing at the edge of the road. She took her foot off the accelerator and the car instantly slowed. Summer applied the brake and pulled over to the side of the road, bringing the car to a complete stop,