Ghost Horse
As I drove through fog as thick as soup along switch-back curves that took me through the hilly northwestern corner of Illinois, I asked myself if I knew what I was doing. Every so often, when I thought about it, my skin crawled or my stomach knotted or I had trouble swallowing.
Fear was my constant companion, one I hadn't shed since setting out alone from Chicago several hours ago in my used car I'd bought on my meager teacher's salary. I told myself that I was not being foolish or reckless. That I was doing what I must.
That Dawn would do the same for me.
Only, part of me was willing to admit that maybe she wouldn't. There was a selfish part of the young woman who was my best friend and the closest thing I had to a sister that I didn't want to recognize.
I left the curves and the fog behind and eventually saw the sign to Galena, but I turned away from the old town that had once grown rich on mining. I headed south, toward Savanna, and as I traveled, I knew I was getting closer to the Mississippi River. Excitement mingled with apprehension for a moment. I'd never been this far from Chicago before.
An unexpected sense of a ... read full excerpt from Ghost Horse ebook
