4.

Heather Grace and her best friend Hazel Watts each have brought a change of clothing with them and they are off on an inter-city bus journey without having spoken a word to anyone else as to where they are going or as to what they may possibly be doing. Hazel, as it is, is unsure as to where they are going. She knows where the bus is headed and both girls have tickets to head the full distance, though after that she has no idea.

She also knows that Heather is on a mission, determined to find the fortune teller they both spoke to some months back but where exactly that will lead is one thing, again after that ... well, that's another thing. The length of time it may take to find that fortune teller may also be another thing. Are they really ready for what lays ahead?

1978 is quickly coming to a close and with current technology as it is, tracking down a carnival is not such an easy thing to do, still Heather indeed is determined, and Hazel is the dutiful friend. If she doesn't look out for Heather, then who will?

From the very beginning of the trip Hazel felt uneasy. Everything felt ... wrong. It in no way felt like two nineteen-year-old girls, both months away from turning twenty and one being pregnant, going out into the world on an adventure. Yeah, they are adults but surely it is wrong not to inform anyone of their intentions and surely worry will ensue only hours after anyone having last seen them, the uneasiness however is something more than not disclosing what is happening.

There are other passengers on the bus, but it feels as if particular attention is being paid to the girls as if they are being watched. It is not so much being watched by others, though it feels as if they are when they actually are not, but more of a presence is what has things feeling like they are, something, someone manipulating currents circumstances.

This further adds to Hazel's uneasiness. Heather on the other hand was and is rather relaxed, maybe it was the toll everything had been taking on her over the last couple of months gives her time now to relax with the knowledge she is heading off to do something about it or maybe her energy levels have just collapsed for almost as soon and the bus journey got underway, Heather went right to sleep, and Hazel couldn't understand that. At a time like this, in a moment like this, how can either friend sleep?

The six-hour bus journey with two scheduled stops would do little to bring the girls anywhere close to where they need to be. Hazel had sort of gathered that early on. Their mission was and is to find the carnival fortune teller they had visited with. The carnival left town months ago and a six-hour bus drive certainly would not cover the distance a carnival would cover over a few month period. To reach the target it will take time and that is if you knew which way the carnival was headed.

Still, Heather is only getting started and this has Hazel wondering as to if going on this journey was the right thing to do. The destination, the first town they have come to be in is after having left their hometown is the town with which the carnival had come to right after it had left their hometown and the information they can gather is of where the carnival moved to once it did move on.

This info is good enough for Heather and she is ready to move on as soon as she received the information she was after. For Hazel, she is already ready to go home.

'C'mon, let's head home. This isn't worth it. We could end up chasing this carnival for some time' Hazel says.

'No, that fortune teller knows what it is that did this to me. I want answers and I want to know what pain she sees for my daughter and granddaughter.'

'Do you hear what you are saying? This is crazy. You are talking about your daughter and your granddaughter. You aren't even twenty years old yet.'

'I am doing this Hazel.'

'... Alright, we can at least let our loved ones know what we are up to. They must know we are missing by now, the mayhem and worry that will cause.'

'We can't tell anyone. They'll try to stop us, and I can't have that. My mother already thinks I am crazy. I need to get those answers. Right, let's go eat. There must be a decent café around here.'

'We don't have the money to be spending in cafes and on buses, hell, we don't even have enough money to be staying over anywhere for a night or two.'

'Yes, we do ...'

With that Heather reveals a wad of cash, mostly twenties and tens.

'Where the hell did you get that? Did you rob some one?' Hazel asks ... stunned at the sight of what she sees.

'Shush, will you? You'll draw attention. I found it on the floor of the bus, right by my seat. Someone must have dropped it.'

'We're gonna have to find out who and give it back, just taking it is as good as stealing ...'

'No, it isn't, it's not stealing, it's blind luck. Finders' keepers and all that ...'

Hazel so much at this point wants to ask her friend what had happened to her, she is a long way now from being who she once was and if only Hazel could know what was still to come. Thing is, Hazel will remain loyal though if she could know what was to come then she'd be doing a lot more pleading and maybe a bit of informing so she could ensure that the outcome of that future won't be so bleak.

***

It is a quarter past eight in the morning on the first day of 2018 and a certain Samuel Lemmontine has come to be in a café open for those still out celebrating the arrival of a new year. Of course, Samuel has not come here by himself as he had come across an older gentleman, a homeless gentleman, a man he sought out to find, a man who had an association with his parents decades ago at a time his deceased sister was living.

Sammy had been told to keep an eye out for a certain Christopher Furlong by his mother no less, and when the two men met, Christopher soon knew he had come to be in the presence of someone who knew what he has done. What came first after the initial meet was the feed, a moment to put food in the belly of a man who hasn't fed well in a long time was only proper order, and to put heat into his bones too was how things were to begin and they did begin.

Christopher was digging into the food Sammy got for him and was clearly enjoying it until a point came where he simply wasn't there. Tiredness had Sammy in a moment of rubbing his eyes and when that moment passed it came clear that the chair across from Sammy was empty. The plate of half-eaten food was still there, as was a still hot coffee, but the man, Christopher Furlong had ... vanished.

Sammy did not see Chris get up nor did he see or hear him move away. Making inquiries of café staff and customers would throw further mystery on the situation and Sammy would be told multiple times that he came into the café alone and he had been alone the whole time. This is not right, not right at all.

Before Chris did vanish, he had offered a warning, a warning that stated that she cannot go through the gates ...