Tuesday Tales: From the Word RUN

Welcome to February 2024. This week’s Tuesday Tales Is based on the word prompt RUN. I’m continuing with my Contemporary Paranormal Romance, Listen to the Stones.

A shrill whistle pulled Jerome back to the present, alerting him to the crewman waving at him, indicating it was his turn to move the car out. He followed the man’s directions, and within minutes, he exited the ferry to join the long queue of vehicles driving onto the pier, each one tailing the red lights of its predecessor as they left the port. The storm hadn’t let up; if anything, the rain pounded the streets and sidewalks relentlessly, creating huge puddles of water, almost as high as the curbs.

Common sense told him that he should be calling Nathan and begging for a bed for the night. Technically, he had no right to go out to Fraser Hall. His reservation wasn’t for another two days, and yet … Essentially, he would be trespassing. Would some well-meaning crofter call the police on him? He could well find himself out there alone and unwanted, especially if her flight had been grounded, or MacIsaac had the wrong date. His plan to show up and rescue her from a night without heat and lights seemed idiotic now. Given the fact that Donald MacIsaac and Brian Lennox, the only two people who might remember him, were away looking at a ram, who would believe him?

He could be taking a long ride for nothing and run into the kind of trouble he didn’t need, but a sense of urgency gripped him, the order to get to the Hall screaming through his mind. Something wasn’t right and fear clawed at his gut. Hadn’t he thought his mystery woman in danger? What if it wasn’t her but the stones themselves he had to save and protect? The stones who’d shared their stories with him as some kind of pre-payment for his help? Raping the land for wealth was nothing new as the clearcutting in the Amazon rainforests had proved.

Refusing to debate the matter a moment longer, he drove through the streets of Stornoway and headed up the highway toward Fraser Hall. There were few cars on the road, adding to the sense of danger and isolation.

The storm continued to pummel the island, the gusts of wind strong enough to move the car sideways. The sense that time was running out got stronger and stronger as he approached the Hall, and then, just like that, the wind dropped. Was he too late?

That’s it. Come back next week for more. Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.