Chapter 1: Chasing Demons

The old Ford Mustang veered off to the side of the road and came to a stop. Angel slowly stepped out, stretching her limbs and inhaling the crisp fresh mid-morning air. She took out a cigarette and lit it and then closed her eyes. She could feel her tears hovering just below the surface. She couldn't remember the last time she had a good cry. Maybe now she could let her tears flow freely, even though she didn't want to.

She was close to the town of Argus Falls, she could feel it. As soon as she drove over the next ridge she knew she would be able to see the town and at the thought of that her heart began to race and butterflies filled her stomach.

She finished her cigarette and stubbed it into the ground at her feet. She leaned forward and placed her elbows on top of the car and ran her fingers nervously through her thick dark hair. She couldn't believe she was this close. It had been over fourteen years and that seemed like a lifetime.

Her father had made it clear that he never wanted to see her again. He was a stubborn, formidable man, a devout Catholic, and a hard worker. He thought everyone should work as hard as he did. No excuses. He ran his home with an iron fist. She thought briefly of the thick black leather belt that had hung near the back door of the old house where she grew up. She felt shaky and faint. Had he forgiven her?

Angel glanced around. The tears she had been fighting to hold back wouldn't be stopped. They began to roll down her face. As she looked tearfully around at the mountains, she thought they looked as beautiful as she remembered. Off in the distance she saw the lake where her father had taken her fishing as a child.

Getting here had not been easy. She had purchased the old Ford Mustang after she got off the bus in Chicago. She had planned an elaborate journey, in the hopes no one would follow her. She had gone down to Texas and then north several times in an attempt to ensure no one was after her. It had been exhausting going from west to east, by way of north and south.

She had purchased several cheap cars along her way and either ditched them or sold them. It had taken her well over a month to make a journey that would normally have taken less than a week if she had gone by direct route. Now she stood only moments away from her destination. She nervously lit another cigarette.

She closed her eyes and tried to wipe away her tears which seemed to fall anyway, no matter what she did. Her knees were shaking and her hands were trembling as she threw down the rest of her cigarette and got back into her car. She gripped the steering wheel and started the engine. It was time to finish the journey she had begun fourteen years earlier. As her car drove over the top of the ridge and began its decent into the valley below, her heart was racing.

She could see the town now and as she drew closer, she realized it was almost as if time had stood still for the past fourteen years. Nothing much had changed. There were a few new businesses here and there, but basically everything was as she remembered.

She pulled her car to a stop across the street from her father's hardware store. The store was wedged between two other buildings on Main Street. A sign reading Pirelli's Hardware, still hung above the storefront as big as life. She could tell the sign had been painted a few times over the years, but other than that, it looked the same.

The windows on the front of the store were colorfully decorated, advertising half off on some items and seventy-five percent savings on others. She strained to see inside the store from where she was parked and then she instinctively slunk down in the car, dreading the possibility of being discovered.

She was fatigued from all her traveling. Her mind drifted back in time as she sat there and almost without realizing it, she drifted off to sleep. It wasn't until there was a loud knock on her passenger side window of her car that she woke up again with a start and was jolted back to reality. When she opened her eyes she could see that it was getting dark outside and she realized she had slept in her car all afternoon.

She peered out the car window at the dark shadow of a man. As the image became clearer, she thought she knew him. He looked like her brother Frank.

"Hey can I help yah with something?" He asked attempting to see her more clearly through the car window.

Angel leaned over and rolled down the car window.

"You've been parked here all afternoon and I wondered if your car was giving you trouble," Frank had not seen a '67 Mustang in years. He marveled it was still running. It was a classic, and it might have even been worth something if the paint wasn't so badly damaged and the body so badly banged up.

Angel couldn't speak.

"I work over at the garage," Frank said and he motioned towards the garage down the street, kitty corner from where she was parked. "I could help fix your car for you if you're having trouble," He offered.

The large silver crucifix Frank had worn since his first communion was hanging around his neck and as he leaned down it fell forward out of his shirt. When Angel saw the uniquely familiar crucifix, there was no longer any doubt in her mind she was looking at her brother Frank.

Frank couldn't understand why she wasn't responding to him. He knelt down by the car to get a closer look at her and the minute Frank saw her, he appeared startled, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Is there something wrong?" Angel asked.

Frank instinctively pushed himself away from the car. He wasn't about to be fooled again, "Nah, it's just that..." His voice trailed off as he backed away.

"It's just that what?" Angel probed. Her heart was racing.

"You look like someone I used to know, that's all," He said vaguely, "but you couldn't be her because I think she's dead," He said, trying to gather his wits. He turned away, determined to leave, "Hey I didn't mean to bother you," He said.

Angel quickly opened her car door and got out, "Frank?" She asked and he whirled around to face her.

Frank's eyes flew open wide as he looked at her, "Angel?" He asked.

Angel nodded, "It's me Frank, it's Angel," She choked.

Frank rounded the car in a matter of seconds and took her in his arms, "Oh my God, it can't be," He hugged her tight. Then he held her away from him in order to get a better look at her.

"It's me Frank," Angel said. She noticed that Frank looked a lot like he had at sixteen. He was still strong, lean, and handsome. The years had been kind to him.

Angel's features were unmistakable, and Frank knew it was her, especially when he saw the small pock scar on her right temple left over from when she had chicken pox as a child, "Oh my God, I thought I would never see you again," Frank said in disbelief.

"Me too," Angel choked. Her eyes were burning with tears.

They stood looking at one another, neither of them knowing what to say or do next.

"How have you been?" Frank finally asked her, "Where have you been?"

Angel knew it was best not to go into detail, "I've been here, there, and everywhere," she smiled. "What about you, how have you been and what have you been up to?"

"I've been in Argus Falls," Frank smiled, "I'm a mechanic," and he pointed once more across the street to the garage down the street.

Angel glanced across the street at the garage and then looked directly across the street at the empty hardware store. It was closed now. It was Saturday night and the store closed early on Saturdays and Sundays.

"Let's go somewhere and talk," Frank suggested.

"Ok," Angel smiled.

There was a small diner not far from where they stood. They walked side by side to the diner. Everything seemed surreal and Frank could hardly believe this was happening. Angel stopped to smoke a cigarette before they went inside the diner. She knew she couldn't survive an entire meal without a smoke.

"That's a nasty habit," Frank said and even though he tried to joke, it was obvious to her that he didn't approve.

Angel shrugged, "I know."

When all was said and done Frank didn't care whether or not Angel smoked. All that mattered to him was that she was alive and well and had found her way back to Argus Falls.

In a small town like Argus Falls, nearly everyone knew everyone else, and if they didn't know someone they at least had a vague idea who someone was and how they fit in. Martin Pirelli, owner of Pirelli's Hardware was a well known public figure. Nearly everyone in Argus Falls knew him or at least of him.

As Angel and Frank sat down at a table in the diner, they got plenty of glances and stares. Several people whispered in hushed tones. Many of them had heard about the young Pirelli girl who had run away from home at the age of fourteen and had never come back.

Frank tried his best to ignore the gawking, "I really missed you Angel."

Angel's real name was Angelica, but no one ever called her Angelica.

"Tell me more about you Frank," Angel said with enthusiasm.

Angel and Frank were two years apart in age and they had been inseparable while growing up. Frank was older than Angel and he had been angry with Angel for leaving him in the lurch after she ran away, but he had gotten over his disappointment a long time ago.

Frank began to tell her about himself. He had been the star quarterback for the local high school football team, but because of a knee injury he had not been able to play college football. He couldn't afford the college tuition on his own without a scholarship, so he had stayed in Argus Falls, eventually becoming a mechanic and marrying his high school sweetheart. After several years of marriage and heavy drinking, Frank got divorced. It turned out that Frank had a seven year old son named Colby that he got to see every other weekend. Angel could see the affection in his eyes as he spoke of Colby.

As Frank continued talk, Angel couldn't help but notice how carefully he managed to skirt around the subject of their father. Frank told her about their oldest sister Aurora who was married and had two children and was still a "bitch." They had always called her Rori, not Aurora. She was five years older than Angel and Frank was two years older.

Frank smiled, "Ma's still the same."

Angel thought of her mother, slightly plump with a warm, nurturing and bubbly demeanor. The woman was soft spoken, and Angel wondered if she had ever had an independent thought since the day she had gotten married to Martin Pirelli.