<a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/nKKZXI0.jpg"><span style="color: tomato">Joshua Kraven</span></a>packed his small duffle bag taking care with certain objects of an eccentric nature while the television played the newscast in the background yet again. He didn’t bother looking up as the female voice warned him for the third time. “Joshua, you need to leave this one alone hon.” Joshua stuffed the small wooden case into the duffle bag then picked up the amulet from the small scarred table next to the bed. It was a smooth red stone encased in intricately woven threads of silver and hung on a thick leather cord. The amulet didn’t look to be especially expensive and the red stone didn’t appear to be an actual ruby but it did look to be extremely old. He hung it around his neck before pulling out a few changes of clothes packed in milk crates in the corner of the room. He smelled them to make sure he had pulled them from the clean crates then shrugged and tossed them into the bag. “Your little charm isn’t going to help you with this one Joshua.”<br/><br/>Joshua stopped and turned towards the woman whose face held a look of strong concern. “It's what I do babe. You know that. I’ll be fine. Worst that can happen is they get me this time and we can be together again.” He found his tablet and checked to make sure that it was fully charged then stuffed it and the charger into an inside pocket of his heavy duty camo jacket. He folded the opening closed on the bag and secured it shut, grabbed his helmet from the bed then headed for the door. “Those people had to go somewhere. Nobody just vanishes. I might be the only person that can find out where they went. I have to try.” He opened the door to have the knob pulled from his grasp when the door was slammed shut. The air shimmered between Joshua and the door and the woman appeared in front of him. “Murphy let's not do this again. You know I have to go. I can’t not go. That’s not who I am.”<br/><br/>She hung her head as transparent tears trailed down her cheeks. “I know but you can’t blame a gal for trying. Just be careful Joshua.” He brushed a cheek that he couldn’t feel mimicking wiping her tears away. She smiled at him. “Silly boy.” He felt the chill on his lips as she leaned in and kissed him then faded away. He touched his lips where her kiss from beyond had left her love. “Yeah, I’m a silly boy.” He opened the door again and stepped out of the room. He looked down the hall through the window at the end. The rain was coming down hard and he already knew it was cold. He checked his pocket for cash and came with about half of what it would cost him for a bus ticket. He had already paid his rent for the month but he would still need to eat. “Oh well. looks like I’m getting wet.” Joshua wasn't necessarily concerned, cold and wet was just life here especially if your only transportation was a motorcycle. Luckily his jacket was lined so his tablet would stay dry. Sometime he felt as if his phone and his tablet were his only contact with the human race.<br/><br/>After descending the three flights of stairs, Joshua paused at the lobby entrance and pulled his goggles down over his eyes before putting his helmet on. he pulled the strap of his bag over his head so that the baf was crossways on his back and secured the strap tightly. he looked out the door and saw his motorcycle, a<a class="postlink" href="http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-global/dims3/GLOB/legacy_thumbnail/750x422/quality/95/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/01/1953-vincent-black-shadow.jpg"><span style="color: tomato">1955 Vincent Black Prince</span></a>, parked right where he had left it. The bike was old but he had paid next to nothing for it. He did buy it in pieces and had to rebuild it but the previous owner owned a mechanic shop and let him work on it right in the shop with access to the tools he needed. The owner just basically wanted it out of his way. He loved his bike; it was reliable and he had put his own blood and sweat into it.<br/><br/>Joshua felt for his tablet under his jacket and double checked the strap on his bag then stepped out into the cold rain that was typical weather for Plymouth. His ride to Amersham would probably take him around four hours depending on traffic and road construction. With any luck he’ll ride out of the storm and get a little sunshine but he wasn’t counting too much on the sunshine. He straddled the bike, kicked it once and the motor fired to life. He sat with the motor running a few moments letting it warm up then kicked it into gear. he checked the street behind him then started on what was going to be the most incredible and possibly terrifying journey of his life thus far.