The Rough Draft

Have any of you been eagerly awaiting this? Seriously, I want to know! I'm sure most of the few people who were reading this have already forgotten about it. I can't blame you though. It has been over 2 months since I touched this. I've been focusing on my horror stories and a couple other novellas I'm working on.

And today I just stopped by to take a quick peek at this again since I hadn't in so long and I started reading part 10 and I got hooked into it. When I finished I felt like, "Hey, where's the rest? What happens next?"

So here we are. I want to know what happens next. Do you?

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David and Ky were blasted by the wave of heat pouring from inside.

"God, she must have the heat on full blast!" David exclaimed.

"If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen, right?" Ky laughed. "C'mon." She gestured to the door and they stepped through, David right behind her.

The inside was cheery. The walls were covered in flowery wallpaper, chrome or silver pictures frames glinted, highlighting people and places. The furniture was arranged artfully, centering around a majestic fireplace.

The coffee table was littered with papers and photographs. A half full coffee cup sat atop a precariously balanced pile of letters. Ky leaned down and picked the cup up, moving it aside to read the first letter.

"What's that?" David asked her. He looked around suspiciously, darting to and fro across the room like a wannabe James Bond. Placing his back against a wall, he carefully leaned around it and peeked down the hallway. "Nothing here, " he called out.

"But there's something here," Ky said. "Look at this. She's got eviction letters, disconnection notices for her water, electricity, phone. You name it, she's going to lose it."

"What? She's got money, why would she be late on her payments?"

"I'm not psychic, David." Ky tossed him a sheepish smile, "Well, not much. I don't know why."

"Then I guess we have to find her." David walked away, heading down the hallway towards the other rooms.

"She's not here, David."

"How do you know that? I thought you said you weren't psychic, much."

"I can sense body heat, David, and the only warm bodies in this room are ours." She looked thoughtful for a moment. She put her hand on her chin and sat down on the couch. He stepped back into the room and watched her think. "But somebody knew I was coming. That's why it's so hot in here. I mean, no one keeps their thermostat cranked to," she glanced at the thermostat in the hallway, "85 degrees when they can't pay their electricity."

David looked from her to the hallway and back. "You can read that from here? Holy shit, you got a pair of eyes on you, don't you?"

He did the double take a few more times and Ky watched him, laughing. "So what does the heat have to do with someone knowing you were coming here?"

"In this heat is gets very hard to read body temperature. Usually I can identify where someone, or something, is at just by entering a building. But in here, it's so hot even the walls are baking. It jambles my...umm...I don't know what you'd call it. I don't want to say sixth sense, because it's not, it's a physical ability, like bats reading the air ahead of them with sonic waves."

"You mean radar?"

"Yeah, it's like my own personal radar. But in here it's working all screwy and everything is showing up hot. But it's not so hot that I can't tell no one else is here. It'd have to be over 90 degrees for me to lose my radar.

"So someone knows enough about me to know how to screw up my senses, but not enough to do it right."

"What kind of people would know about your abilities?" David walked around the room, touching pictures, knick knacks, opening drawers and cabinets. "And how does that help us find Tab?"

"The people associated with drakon would know. Enemies, maybe. We've had problems with traitors before. I'm not going to forget Salioni the Red for a while."

"Who?"

"It's history, David. I'll tell you about it some other time. Right now let's find some information on Tab."

Together they searched through drawers and cabinets, moving their search from room to room. As they entered the last bedroom, used as an office with a desk, computer, and file cabinets, David's stomach growled.

"Oh, man, I haven't eaten all night." He grabbed his stomach and it growled again. "I'm going to go see if there's any info in the kitchen."

He staggered out the door, clutching the walls as he went, moaning about his hunger. Ky laughed as he went.