August Secret Agent #21

TITLE: Inner Demons
GENRE: Paranormal Urban Romance

Sometimes the simplest things end up being the hardest things.

Like not turning left across Main Street into the liquor store parking lot. With both hands gripped to the steering wheel, I kept my eyes straight ahead. Cold beer on sale tempted me, flashing red and blue hypnotic lights against the lengthening shadows. Aisles and aisles of vodka, scotch, gin, rum, wine – everything I needed to replace the bottles dumped down the drain.

You can do this. Don'’t turn left.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, my Civic crawled through traffic until the neon signs blinked in my rear view mirror.

Don'’t turn the car around.

I drove up Prospect Street, up the snaky hill, releasing my breath as I parked the car in the laneway and turned off the engine. A little victory for me, but there was no one to share it with.

I banged through the door, expecting resistance from the sticky frame, but the weather had been dry for a change and the door yielded effortlessly. The old farmhouse enveloped me with its scents of old dust and firewood, the powdery fragrance of Aunt Helen’s perfume lingering as if she’d just walked by, making me miss her all over again. After dumping out the day’s worth of textbooks and notes on top of the mini-freezer, I hung up my backpack. My housemates were already home, working on dinner.

Bear glanced at me as he drained the noodles. “Hungry?”

“Not really.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I said.