That was why I’d taught myself how to boost cars. I sneered at the Mercedes symbol in front of me. Scouring the streets for something to do, my gloved hands flexed and released on the unfamiliar steering wheel. Mr Businessman shouldn’t have left his car parked on the street.
I cracked my neck, trying to release the tension. It wasn’t gonna do the job. I’d been hard up for some action for too long. The urge to reach out and take what I wanted was too strong. I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I wanted to give in to my animal.
“Whoa, there she is.”
It was the doe I’d picked out right there on the side of the street, wearing tight jean shorts and a baggy T-shirt. The shorts would be a problem. Skirts were better. Skirts were no barrier at all. Dealing with a button and zipper, that was a problem. And denim was hard to rip. I’d tried it before. I had to knock the girl out to get her jeans off. It wasn’t as much fun that way. I preferred them kicking, screaming, and begging for mercy.
She wore her blonde hair in a ponytail. Ponytails were the perfect handle. I could lead a girl around by her hair and she’d have no choice but to follow.
Slowing the car, I turned the corner. This street was lined with rundown shops, half of them out of business. It could not have been more fucking perfect if I’d planned it. It was like God was saying, take what you want—mi casa es su casa.
I parked on the wrong side of the street, needing the driver’s side to face the curb. If anyone was looking it’d be harder to see anything. Tugging down my cap, I took the bottle of chloroform from the glove box. I did a quick check of the side mirror. No sign of her yet. Pulling a wadded rag from the centre console, I got ready to douse it in the chemical. Another check of the mirror showed me she’d be passing the car in half a minute.
My cock swelled, my pulse thumping against the side of my throat. I upended the liquid, holding my breath. Recapping the bottle, I tossed it in the glove box before opening my door. She pulled up two steps from me, alarm peeling her lids back. I moved quickly, making it look like I was hugging her, but holding her face to my chest with the rag smothering her cries. I didn’t have to wait long for her to go limp in my arms.
Embracing her, I smoothed a palm down her ponytail. “We’re gonna have some fun, you and me.”
I opened the rear door and slid her shoes along the ground until I got her seated and belted. “Get used to being strapped in, doe.”
I got back in and drove off with my reward, the beast inside me salivating for a feast.
Andr—
Somewhere. Everywhere. There.
Swirling ... spinning ... floating ...
I couldn’t get a grasp on where I was, or what I was doing. Even who I was. I tried to recall my name, but it was like the word wasa smudge of graphite in the top corner of a blank exam paper. Whatever this test was, there wouldn’t be a score, or even a question. It just was.
I’d been shunted from what had been my existence. I had no form. No flesh. No blood. No atoms. I was less than dust scattered on the wind. All that remained was me. Me without a body. Me without a name.
I AM because I’m aware I AM.
It became clearer that there had been more. There had been flesh. There had been graphite scrawled on a page to form a name. Before the nothingness had swallowed everything but me.
What was me?
I couldn’t ponder this further as my awareness thickened, slowly becoming heavier, particle by particle. A landscape stretched out before me—rolling green hills, dotted with lakes and dissected by fences and dirt lanes. I remembered that I’d been a part of the land before. The land was a part of me. We were one. Before the parting. Before the nothingness.
Drifting by a grand manor, I found my way to a building of stone and wood, much smaller by comparison. It was larger than many of the other buildings settled in the surrounding hills. I reached for the handle to enter, but I was not yet flesh. I was still formless. There was nothing to reach with. Similarly, the material plane was no barrier for me. I could go anywhere I pleased.
Immediately, I found myself hovering over a girl as she hid inside one of the empty stalls. Her body was barely visible under the glow of red, orange, and yellow hues encompassing her. She was the reason I’d been drawn here. She and I were one.
In a flash, my awareness merged with hers.
My name is Emmeline. Emmeline is me.
_____
Emmeline
Hampshire, England
15th of September, 1858
I spread my fingers out, looking at them in wonder as they buzzed with energy. What just happened? I swallowed as footsteps crunched along the debris of dirt and straw, coming to a halt outside my hiding place.
Enraptured, I flattened myself against the side of the stall, ensuring my view of the stable master’s son as he entered the stall. Fingers pinching my nose to guard against the smell of soiled straw, I held in a lungful of air. He had been clever to don a handkerchief, tied around his neck and covering his mouth. Upon his head, he wore a brown railroad cap, dark tendrils of hair curling about the edges. I could barely gain a glimpse of his eyes from
