The temperature fell to a dead chill as unsteady fingers tried and tried to retrieve fire from his lighter. The single cigarette, his last for the night, sat between his lips awaiting the warmth of the fire to activate it's addictive poison.

A puff of frosty breath and then the vibrations of a cell. He sighed then shoved the lighter into the front pocket of his pants, and fished out his phone. "What Lian?" he pushed the cigarette to the side of his mouth as he spoke.

"Owen, man, where the hell are you? I'm driving around where you told me, but I don't see you."

He held the cancer stick between his fingers. "I'm at that old bus stop by Theodore lane. Hurry, it's fucking cold as balls out here."

"Shit, I took the wrong turn. I'm coming back towards you. Be there soon." Owen hung up and put his phone back as he waited for his best friend to come. He lifted his collar so that the wind that whipped at the branches and bushes didn't get to him. He hadn't planned to wander, but after being dragged out with some guys from his father's bar he figured it was time to go because the guys began to get drunk and unruly. He went for a walk to get some fresh air and went down a wrong road then realized that he couldn't remember where he turned and now he was so far away from his father's work that he didn't want to move any further, so he called his best friend to pick him up.

The wait was getting longer and his battery was red as his cheeks now. He breathed out frozen air and turned as he heard a vehicle coming round the corner, he smiled, then it fell as he saw that it wasn't Cillian's car, but a black SUV, the kind he'd seen in FBI shows.

He shook his head then went back to watching straight ahead. The SUV pulled up before him, the bright headlights blinding him. He dropped his cigarette before a door opened and two men jumped out. He readied himself to run when the figures lunged for him, he exclaimed his fear and fought against their hands but was muzzled with a force and dragged into the black vehicle which sped off in a dust of smoke.

Cillian bent the corner on Theodore lane but saw no sight of his friend. He pulled over by the bus stop and got out to check to see if he had maybe walked down lower. He pulled his phone out to call him, then looked down to see a new cigarette on the ground. "Strange." he bent to pick it up as the phone rang and rang. His ears picked up on a vibrating sound and he saw his name flashing on the broken screen of his best friends cell phone.

From that day onwards Cillian hadn't seen or heard from Owen and the town had had their pitchforks at his neck awaiting to see him guilty so they could run him out.

August 17th, 2018