A Haunting We Will Go. (Finale.)

 

It was cold, dark and damp. Three things that were somewhat less than appealing to a ten year old boy, and after they had realized exactly what it was that they had done, surprisingly it was Marvin who held it together. 

"Guys?" He whispered to Petey and Jimmy. “We have to be quiet, or they’ll come in here after us, I know this place is supposed to be haunted but-” 

Then it was Jimmy who cut in.

“Hey, that’s right, it is supposed to be haunted, and EVERYBODY knows it! Maybe we can use that!” 

And it was then that the three boys had begun to formulate a plan. They had decided to split up and hide in three different rooms when the three bullies came in, and they would try to scare them out of the house. 

“Geez Jimmy! How are WE gonna scare THEM?” Petey asked.“Guys, look in your bags for some hard candy. Like jawbreakers or something, if they get close to where you are, throw it in another direction away from you, they’ll think the noise is one of us, and they’ll follow it, when they leave the main room we can all run out of the house!”

So each of them chose a different room and waited to see if the older boys would follow them into the Miller house. Within minutes, the three bullies hesitantly walked in the front door. 

“You little brats are gonna pay for making us come in here after you!” 

They immediately split up and began to head into different rooms, the biggest of the three went into the room where Marvin was hiding behind a chair. Slowly the larger boy stumbled through the dark room, Marvin had been in the room for several minutes, so his eyes were more adjusted to the dark, and when the boy turned his back, Marvin threw the piece of candy into the next room, making an echoing noise as it hit the floor. The bully took the bait and yelled to his buddies.

“They’re in here! Get em!” 

And he ran quickly into the next room, what happened next Marvin could not believe his eyes or ears. When the boy went into the next room, a shadowy figure seemed to have followed him, making a scraping noise along the walls. The same exact scene played out in each of the other rooms where Jimmy and Petey had been hiding, and it was all three boys that met back at the front door. They all looked at each other and then back at the dark and strangely quiet house. Marvin swung the front door open.

“Let's get out of here, guys.” He whispered to Jimmy and Petey.

Slowly they all walked out the door and ran to the sidewalk. They stopped near where the front gate had been broken on the Miller home, and as they turned to look back, here came the three bullies on a dead run, without the sacks of candy that they had plundered from the local Trick or Treater’s. Each boy ran past them without giving them so much as a second look, clearly they were scared out of their wits, as they were screaming at the tops of their lungs. The door slammed shut behind them and immediately everything drew silent. The boys all looked at each other in disbelief, and slowly Marvin moved towards the house, with a hesitant Jimmy and Petey in tow.

“Geez Marvin! What are you doing? Are you crazy, man? You can’t go back in there!” Petey yelled at him. Marvin turned around to face them.

“Ok look guys. We were in there and nothing happened to us. Now I wanna see the ghost!”

Slowly, Jimmy and Petey followed Marvin back up to the front porch, the closer they got, the colder the air seemed to get. Marvin climbed the front porch and approached the door. Slowly, with trembling fingers, he reached for the door knob, from behind him, he could hear Jimmy and Petey whispering instructions. His fingers never even touched the knob when the front door to the old Miller house swung open all by itself. Jimmy and Petey both ran back to the sidewalk, as Marvin stood alone in the doorway trying to look inside. Jimmy and Petey couldn't believe what they were seeing as Marvin slowly entered the front door.

“Marvin, no!!” they both yelled at him. 

Silence. They both headed back to the front door, which was still open. Carefully, they looked inside as Marvin came walking towards them, holding three extra bags of candy.

“They were just sitting in the middle of the floor, all three bags were. it’s the candy that those bullies stole from those kids.”

They looked at the names that were written on the top of each bag and discovered that they knew who each kid was, and they would return them as they found them. They each picked up a bag and headed back for the sidewalk, when Marvin stopped and turned around to face the house once more, the door slowly closed shut, and in the window he could see a softly glowing figure watching him, at which ten-year-old Marvin Tallmadge smiled to himself, raised his hand and slowly waved to it. It raised a hand to the window and as if a whisper disappeared from view. 

~FIN~

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright © 2008~

A Haunting We Will Go. (Part Two.)

He thought that the tail was a bit too long for his taste, but a T Rex costume was the coolest thing that he’d ever pulled off on Halloween. When he walked up to the front porch of the faded white house that the Higgins family lived in, he rang the doorbell and when Mrs. Higgins answered the door she tried half-heartedly to look afraid.

“Oh My God!” she giggled.

The muffled voice beneath the rubber dinosaur's head was unmistakably Marvin Tallmadge’s.

“It's only me, Mrs. Higgins. Marvin Tallmadge!”

Jimmy Higgins appeared at the door, smiling from ear to ear, as his mother disappeared back inside the house after giving him some last minute instructions.

“And just you remember Jimmy! You’d better bring some candy back for your little sister! She’s heartbroken that she can’t go out tonight with you!”

Jimmy slowly walked down the steps towards Marvin, trying to look saddened by the news that his little sister took sick and couldn’t go.

Marvin and Jimmy both slowly walked to the corner of Maple street, Marvin tried to lift the face of the rubber T Rex to speak with Jimmy.

"Geez Jimmy, what happened to your little sis?"

He looked back over his shoulder towards the Higgins house to make sure that his mother wasn’t within ear shot.

“She’s got a cold or something, she had a fever this morning and the doctor told mom that she shouldn’t go outside or anything.

”Soon a redheaded Frankenstein’s monster rounded the corner and was making a beeline for the Higgins porch. When Petey Fontz arrived, they all headed for March street, promising each other that they would stick together. They began walking slowly at first, nightfall was just one half of an hour away, and they had to walk three blocks to get to Maple and March.

They arrived as the sun slowly sank behind the buildings, and they found themselves amongst the first kids to reach the home of Mrs. Woods. She was always especially generous to those first children that would brave her path of spooky decorations to get the candy, and Jimmy Higgins, Petey Fontz and Marvin Tallmadge got there first. Marvin turned to Jimmy Higgins.

“What do you think that she will be dressed up as this year, Jimmy?” He thought for a moment.

“Awww. I dunno, probably a witch or something.”

When she got to the door they all stepped back a bit just to impress her, but Jimmy called it, she was all dressed up like a nasty old witch. And true to form she was indeed generous with the candy and each boy would score the object of their desire, score one for the chocolate, peanut butter nutty buddy bar gang. It was still early as the boys slipped and weaved their way back and forth across March street drawing ever nearer to Mrs. Larson’s house, and of course, at the very end of March street the old Miller place. Three quarters of the way there, the three boys had just left Mrs. Conner’s house when they began to see kids running the other way crying. Most of the kids that came out for tricks or treats were usually old enough to come out alone on Halloween night, the littler ones were usually brought by overprotective parents, and they would watch over all the kids as they went up and down the streets, but tonight Jimmy noticed there were no adults. A concerned Petey Fontz pulled one of the scared kids aside.

“Hey kid? What’s going on up there? Why is everybody running?”

“There are some older guys up there, three I think. They’re threatening to beat kids up if they don’t give them all of their candy!”

The scared boy ran down the street, leaving Marvin, Jimmy and Petey to consider their options. The three boys turned towards each other and sat down on the street curb. Marvin Tallmadge spoke up first.

“Man, Jimmy, there are still six houses on the other side of the street that we haven’t even got to yet, and then there are all the ones on the way back to Maple.”

He turned to face Petey Fontz before looking back at Jimmy.

“How about we just keep an eye out for bigger kids, and when we see them coming, we’ll just cross the street and get away from them?”

And so they decided that they would continue on with their travels along March street. Near the end, the three boys would be forced to make a decision, three dark hulking figures were making their way towards them.

“Hey, you three kids! Come here right now!” One of them said.

It was then that they made a drastic decision. Rather than surrender their sacks of precious candy to the three bullies they decided that they would rather face whatever lived inside the old Miller house, and without a second thought the three boys ran up the front porch threw open the unlocked front door and ran inside.

~Editor's Note.~This story was just too long for one or two posts, so I had to stretch it out into three parts. I’ve been experimenting with a lot of different kinds of Halloween Type of ghost stories, and for this one I was just trying to go for something with a little bit of a lighter feeling to it, with just a dash of humor. Thanks for reading, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!~

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~

A Haunting We Will Go. (Part One)

 

He squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, all the while eying the clock on the wall as the big hand crept slowly closer to the six, 3:30 Pm. Just twenty more minutes, and he could go to meet Jimmy Higgins and Petey Fontz. This was the day that they were to plot their route out for Halloween night. A kid's route would determine the size of the bounty they would haul in treats. And this time it was Jimmy Higgins who would decide the route that they would take. Almost a quarter after now, “soon Marvin, very soon” he thought.

“Marvin Tallmadge!!”

He sat up abruptly in his seat at the sound of Mrs. Myrtle’s stern voice bellowing throughout the room.

"Young man! Are you daydreaming again?"

Shaking his head back and forth repeatedly, he struggled inside his ten-year-old mind for a viable answer.

“Umm. N.N. No Mrs. Myrtle. Umm. I was just wondering if the clock was broken, ma’am. I don’t think it's moved in like an hour or sumpthin.”

The classroom erupted into a sea of laughter just as the bell rang, saving young Marvin Tallmadge from further cross-examination by the annoyed Mrs. Myrtle. 

He emerged from Coves Port elementary school and headed on a dead run right for Jimmy Higgins house, where they would meet on the back porch to hear what Jimmy had planned for their route on Halloween night. He ran through the gate and down the side walkway beside of the Higgins home, almost tripping over the garden hose that lay across the walkway. He made the turn at the back porch and slowly walked up the steps, to where Jimmy was sitting. He had both feet propped up on the porch railing. He was running his finger across his chin, tapping his forefinger against his front teeth, and seemed completely lost in thought. Over in the corner sat the redheaded, freckle faced form of ten-year-old Petey Fontz. Both looked like someone had shot their dog.

He sat his chubby frame in the chair next to Jimmy Higgins, who was now running his fingers through his thick black hair. Marvin looked at Petey and then at Jimmy.

“So what gives? did you plan out our route for tomorrow night or what?” 

Jimmy put his baseball cap on, as he turned to face Marvin.

“Yeah I did… But I can’t go out with you guys unless I take my little sister Jennifer trick or treating with us.”

Petey was shaking his head sadly.

“Yeah.” he said. “And we saw Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Conners and Miss Alrute all over at the Bag and Grab supermarket buying bags and bags of peanut butter and chocolate Nutty Buddy bars, and Mrs. Larson was there too, and together they must have bought like fifty bags or sumpthin. And all of them live on Jimmy’s Route.” 

Marvin sat down dejected in his seat. His hands limp at his sides. He was staring at the floor.

“Man, we would have cleaned up. But Jenny. She’s only 8! man, Jimmy, she’ll slow us down.”

He thought for a minute, and slowly a look of concern began to grow on his face.

“Hey.-Wait-a-minute! Mrs. Larson lives by the old Miller place over on March street. Man Jimmy! what were you thinking?? that place is haunted! And we’d have to walk right by there!” 

Jimmy stood abruptly, extending both hands while explaining.

“Yeah? And NOBODY else will go by there, and we’ll have the whole street to ourselves!”

Now it was Petey Fontz’s turn to stand.

“Hey, this could still work! What if we take turns pulling Jennifer in that old wagon of yours so she doesn’t slow us down?” 

Marvin’s eyes lit up. 

“Man. Now that’s a plan and a half!” 

“Man. Now that’s a plan and a half!” 

And so the plan was set in motion, and the following night they would take turns pulling Jimmy’s little sister in the wagon behind them. Haunted house or no haunted house, the lure of scores of peanut butter chocolate Nutty Buddy bars was too much for a ten-year-old boy to resist. 

~Scratch. A.B.T. Copyright © 2008

The Cherry Creek Prophecies.. Parts 11-12 (Unrevised)

Unexpected Truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Somehow it was beginning to seem likely to Daniel Vickers, that he had been misinterpreting the clues that he was being left by Jennifer Watson in his dreams. He could just feel it now by the way Tyler Malloy reacted to the way Leonard Davis said something to the effect of “I cleaned up your last mess and now-” and the way Tyler seemed genuinely surprised to see him holding the pistol. Even now the two men are arguing , Tyler Malloy slowly moving the attention away from Daniel Vickers who is recording the entire exchange on his video cell phone. He can hear the two men arguing now as he struggles to piece the whole puzzle together in his mind,
“there’s no time for that” he thinks to himself as he concentrates on Tyler Malloy who is now yelling at Sheriff Leonard Davis.
“Len! For the love of God what have you done??”
He has the gun trained on Tyler Malloy.
“You had all of those girls Ty, they all loved you!! But Jennifer was different, she wanted me, this one wanted me, not you!”
“Len.. Man your sick, I never did anything with those girls! You thought I was having sex with them? For the love of God man I have two daughters that age! Len.. Put the gun down. We can get you some help. Just stop this now!”
Now it was Daniel Vickers turn to be confused. Everything was telling him that Tyler Malloy was his man. And yet now here it was Leonard Davis that was all but confessing to the act. He glanced from the corner of his eye at Daniel and then back at the gun, Tyler slowly inching forward while Leonard Davis seemed to be rambling on about how he’d actually killed Jennifer and why. His eye’s were glazed over as he seemed to be recalling some distant memory.
“This was our special place.. Where we would come to be alone. And then we came out here that last time and she told me that she had written about our entire relationship in that book. I got angry.. I pulled out the gun.. Just to scare her into giving me the book. It went off by accident.. She.. Died right there..”
Tyler Malloy steps forward, startled, Leonard Davis jerks on the hand gun and it fires into his abdomen, he falls almost instantly. Daniel Vickers seizes the opportunity to tackle Leonard Davis knocking the gun loose from his hand and as the two struggle in the dirt, sounds of sirens in the distance begin to echo through the tree’s at Cherry Creek. Daniel begins to lose his footing and slowly Leonard Davis begins to get the advantage , he has a large thick part of a tree branch and is holding it over his head, and is about to lower it onto Daniel Vickers skull, but Tyler Malloy is still fully conscious and has recovered the pistol and shoots Sheriff Leonard Davis in the chest. He stumbles backwards, a cold vacant look crosses over his face, he falls to the earth, he is dead before his body touches the ground. Daniel Vickers tries to help him to his feet but now Tyler Malloy is almost unconscious. He hears footfalls coming towards them and soon Sharon Milner’s voice calls out to him. Her and Angela Watson have brought the Freemont county Sheriff’s department with them.

Leonard's Ruse.



As Tyler Malloy lies in his hospital bed he listens intently as Daniel Vickers relates to him the entire contents of his dreams.
“I never had an affair with any of the girls.” Tyler tells him. “ Jennifer came to me one day after soccer practice, she was distraught. Troubled.. but she wouldn’t say why. I took her home and dropped her off. Angela wasn’t there but I told her about it later. I told Leonard too. And the next day Jen came up missing. I went looking for her with a few of the other deputies, we tried Mr. Vickers, we really did, Jen was a good girl , she didn’t deserve that. God if I would have even suspected Leonard.”
Daniel Vickers studies him.
“But why the white hats? Why did your truck end up in my dreams? And the Strange visits to Angela Watson’s house? And how did you end up at Cherry Creek yesterday? Do you see my problem with this deputy? There’s a lot of questions that don’t seem to fit.”
Tyler Malloy lay’s his head back down on the pillow, his eyes never leaving Daniel Vickers.
“ Tell Me something Mr. Vickers. I’m curious.”
Daniel nods.
“Did you ever see ME driving the truck in your dreams?”
“No. come to think of it I never did see the drivers face, just his hands coming out of the shadows.”
“The truck wasn’t always mine Mr. Vickers. I bought it from Leonard last year. Hell it ran good, it was supposed to be a work truck, that’s why I bought the damn thing. I never dreamed that Leonard used it for-”
He stops in mid sentence.
“I only went to Angela’s to let her know that I hadn’t forgotten about her. I’d been in Jennifer’s room several times since she disappeared, it was like walking into a shrine. Nothing had changed or moved. Ever. It was heart breaking not knowing what happened. Yesterday when I was in my wife’s car, I saw you and Len heading towards Cherry Creek. Something strange happened. Hell no one would ever believe me in a million years if I told them.”
“Trust me Deputy. I know about strange, we are very well acquainted”
“I thought that I actually heard a voice telling me to follow you. And you may think I’m crazy but it sounded like Jennifer’s voice.”
“Jennifer told you to follow us?”
“I think so, and now I’m glad that I listened. Leonard was a sick man.”
Sharon Milner appears at Daniel Vickers side and leans over to whisper something in his ear, to which he nods.
“The Freemont County Sheriffs department dug up a body twenty minutes ago at Cherry Creek, of what appears to be a young female. They haven’t made a positive Identification yet, but I’d say given the circumstances that it is more than likely Jennifer Watson. I have to go Deputy, I’ll come and see how your doing later then?”
Tyler Malloy Nods. Daniel stops at the hospital door and looks down at him.
“By the way. We never covered the white hats did we?”
The deputy sadly stares at the ceiling.
“ We all wear white hats in the department Mr. Vickers. After all. We ARE supposed to be the good guys. Aren’t we?”
Daniel Vickers steps into the hallway. Sharon Milner is waiting there with Angela Watson. He sits down beside of them, trying to straighten it all out in his head at once. Staring straight ahead at the wall Sharon Milner gives Daniel Vickers other news.
“Danny?”
“Yeah?”
“Sweetie just before Angela and I left the house..”
He turns to her.
“What happened?”
“Annie Clark the librarian showed up. She found the book hidden in the library. We skimmed through it. It isn’t anything like what we were thinking.”
Angela Watson eyes were tearing up.
“It wasn’t Tyler, Daniel. After all of these years I find out that the one man I trusted was the one who was molesting my baby. He took her from me and I never suspected him.”
Daniel rises.
“I want to see the book.”

The Last Page.



October 30th 2003.

Tyler continues to treat me like a child and ignores my every attempt at getting his attention. Today Leonard waited for me behind Tanner’s drug store in his truck. we talked for two hours after I left soccer practice. He doesn’t treat me like a child, not like Tyler, Leonard looks to me as a woman. And he goes out of his way to make me feel like one, he is so gentle with me every time. Tomorrow morning when Mama leave’s for the market we are going out to Cherry Creek together, to make love like the first time in the tall grass. I can’t wait until we are together again.
Jennifer Watson. October 30th 2003.

Closure.



He closes the book slowly, pausing slightly before he hands it back to Angela Watson. They are both staring straight ahead, neither showing
emotion. Angela Watson slowly turns to face Daniel Vickers, choosing her words carefully.
“Daniel?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“When you called Sharon and I, before you and Leonard left for Cherry Creek. When did you realize that it was Leonard and not Tyler?”
He pauses.
“I didn’t know it was him. But I suspected he was involved when we were standing in his living room. There were pictures of him and Tyler everywhere and in a lot of those pictures he was standing by the black truck a lot. I just had a feeling that he at least knew what happened.”
“So when will you and Sharon be leaving?”
“Probably after the funeral.”
Angela Watson places her head on Daniel Vickers shoulder, and clutches his arm.
“I can’t ever repay you. The peace that you’ve given Jen and me. You and Sharon will come back for a Visit I hope?”
He smiles at her.
“We are going to keep in touch with you until summer, then we will both be coming back for another visit. After all, we are both Jennifer’s family aren’t we? ”
Sharon Milner appears from out of the front doorway and Daniel and Angela Watson both rise to their feet and all three head for the Chevrolet.
They drive to Silver crest cemetery, and stand in the small gathering of people to where the body of young Jennifer Watson is finally laid to rest. Daniel Vickers stares solemnly as the final words are spoken, when deputy Tyler Malloy approaches them.
“Miss Watson.. Angela. I am truly sorry for your loss. If you ever feel like talking you know I-”
She nods.
“I suppose we should Ty.”
she looks to Daniel Vickers and Sharon Milner. And the three share hugs.
“Well since we already have our things packed, you two go ahead and we’ll just leave from here.”
“You both stay in touch you hear?”
They walk back to the car leaving Angela Watson to the conversation of Tyler Malloy.
“Danny?”
He turns to face Sharon Milner.
“Dan.. I want to drive us across Crows Crossing Road. You didn’t sleep much last night, so you take a nap and I’ll drive.”
They get into the car and Sharon Milner drives them much of the way in complete silence as Daniel Vickers slowly drifts off to sleep. And when she finally reaches Crows Crossing she is not at all alarmed when the sees the smiling eyes of the beautiful young girl in her rear view mirror from the back seat. And as the sun breaks free from the clouds, she looks into the rear view mirror to find the smiling eyes gone, and now there is nothing but Peace.

~End~

~Scratch. A.B.T. Copyright © 2008~

The Cherry Creek Prophecies.. Parts 8 - 10 ( Unrevised)

Layers Of Truth.



He sits her down and begins to relate to her his suspicions concerning Deputy Tyler Malloy. Slowly at first he draws her close with his theory that the white hat that Jennifer had made reference to could very well have been his. He hesitates for a moment to let Angela Watson gather her thoughts. Finally as though in complete acceptance she raises her eyes to meet his.
“There’s more that you not telling me isn’t there Daniel?”
He sits on the floor in front of her, and softly folds her hand into his own.
“Miss Watson- Angela. I saw her get into that truck. His truck. I know deep down inside of me, where I live and breath. Somehow he is responsible for this. And Jennifer is leading us to the truth. Is there anything odd that you may recall about any of his visits in the months following her disappearance?”
She rises from the sofa, her eyes slowly welling with tears. She walks to the window and stares out into the cold air. The rain is falling again. It always seems to rain here.
“There. There was one time. He came by and seemed to be strangely out of sorts. Its was particularly hot that day as I recall. I wasn’t feeling well but he insisted that he come inside to get a drink of cold water, and to visit with me for awhile. I went into the kitchen to get us some fresh lemonade, it was. Hot that day. As I recall.”
He comes up from behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder, he can see from the frosty reflection on the window pane in front of her, her tears were releasing.
“Miss Watson.”
“Funny. I never thought it all that odd until now. But when I came from the kitchen with our cold drinks he was standing in Jenny’s bedroom looking around the room, her bedding was messed up as well. Funny. No- Strange that I never recalled that until now.”
He puts his arm around her and slowly walks her back to the sofa and sits her down beside of Sharon Milner. He sits once again directly in front of her never releasing her hand.
“Angela Watson. I want you to listen to me. I am going to get to the bottom of this. And I WILL find out what happened to your daughter. Cherry Creek.Tyler Malloy.. The truck. The book. all of it is related Miss Watson. And we will find out how, all we have to do is follow Jennifer’s lead. And she’ll take us right to him.”
Angela Watson forces a smile to her face, as they try to console her tears.
“How can you be so sure Daniel? How do you know that she can lead you to the man that is responsible for this terrible thing?”
Now it is his turn to smile.
“Because Miss Watson. She was smart enough to bring me to you wasn’t she?”

Can You See Me Now?



Although according to her memories of that hot afternoon when Tyler Malloy came to visit, she hadn’t recalled seeing him carrying anything out when he left the Watson house that day. But even still they discuss the very real possibility that he may have already gotten his hands on the incriminating diary of Jennifer Watson and may have even destroyed it. Daniel Vickers on the other hand is not so convinced.
“No.” he tells them. “While its true I don’t know much about her. But from what I do know about your daughter is she wasn’t stupid.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“Well lets put things into perspective. Lets say she told him that she knew something bad about him, and that she wrote about it in the book. Well . Lets say for the sake of argument, that it was something that could get the good Deputy into some seriously hot water. So now that makes the book valuable. She wouldn’t put it someplace where just anyone could get their hands on it. She would put it someplace safe, someplace that only she would know about. Where she could get to it if need be.”
Angela Watson and Sharon Milner both now look confused at the prospect of a treasure hunt.
“So where do we look?”
He stands and begins to stretch. Angela Watson and Sharon Milner return to the coffee pot, where Sharon passes him a fresh cup.
“Well.” He tells them. “Lets look at the girl. The biggest clue has to be Jennifer herself.”
The two women are shaking their heads.
“Well think about it. What were her interests? Where did she like to go? What were some of her favorite hangouts? What did she like to do there? It Has to be somewhere outside of the house, someplace. The last place that anyone would think of looking.”
He leaves them to their own imaginations once again returning to the bedroom of his sister. It seemed he thought, that he’d come to most of his conclusions since he first entered the house in that very room. He stands once again in front of the book shelf slowly running his fingers across the face of each individual book.
“C’mon Jen.. Talk to me sweetie.. Where did you hide the book?”
He pulls the first book from the shelf and opens it to find nothing out of the ordinary. He closes the cover and returns it to the shelf, and pulls down another and opens it to the very same conclusion.
“Damnit. They’re just books.. No common thread. Just books. So what am I missing? What is the link?”
It is then that he notices something similar about the first book and the last. He leave the last book open and once again pulls the first from the shelf and opens the cover to the table of contents. There in the right hand corner he sees a light blue stamp that reads: Property Of The Pleasantville. Public Library.”
“Miss Watson?”


Books.



All in all, they pull twenty or so books off of Jennifer’s book shelf and out of the twenty, ten have the public library stamp on the inside near the table of contents.
“So where did she get these books if they belonged to the public library?”
Angela Watson recalls that one afternoon her daughter did show up with a pile of books but never said where she had gotten them. Only that she had been out all afternoon. Sharon Milner now raises her own deduction.
“Well obviously she got them from the library, so maybe we should pay them a visit in the morning.”
They discuss many different possibilities, the most likely being that she checked them out and never had the chance to return them, the theory being quickly squashed by the discovery of the word obsolete on the inside back cover of each book.
“Ok.” Sharon begins. “So we know that she at least spent some time at the library, which means someone there may have known her pretty well. So lets see if they can tell us how she happened upon these books.”
They all agree in conclusion that it’s the best place to start so they tell her that they will return to the Watson residence in the morning and together the three of them would go to the library. As they enter the Chevy she seems almost sad to Sharon Milner, and as Daniel puts the car into gear Angela Watson appears at the drivers side window, he rolls it down to see what she wants.
“Please Daniel.. I know this will seem odd to you. But I don’t think that I want to be alone now. See. It’s just that. When the two of you were here with me. I can almost feel. I. I. I don’t know.. Close to her I think. Could you possibly get your things from that dirty old motel and stay here with me tonight ? I really could use the company, and it wouldn’t be any bother.”
She gets into the car and accompanies them to the motel where Sharon Milner happily returns the keys to the creepy old desk clerk. Once safely back inside of the Chevy, she relates the story of their arrival to the ‘No Tell Motel.’ and the two new friends share a lighthearted laugh that is until a slightly agitated Daniel Vickers shows up at the drivers door.
“Danny what’s wrong?”
“My room got ransacked, they didn’t take anything, they just went through everything. I dunno its weird, nothing got destroyed either.”
“Maybe we should call the police?”
He enters the drivers side door of the Chevy and looks at both women.
“No. that isn’t an option. We would have to explain too much about why we are here. And deputy Fife already saw us with Miss Watson. Cops are naturally nosey anyways. No reason to raise suspicions. Besides how do we know that deputy Fife isn‘t the one that broke in trying to figure out who I was?. No. no police. Not yet. Not until we know for certain the good guys from the bad guys.”
Minutes later they are approaching the Watson residence and Daniel is pulling the Chevy into the driveway. They all return to the living room to resume their discussion of the missing diary. And as Angela Watson closes and locks her front door none of the three even notices as the black pick up truck slowly rolls to a stop across the street from the Watson residence and turns off its headlights.

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~

Shadow Face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Although he is close enough this time to see the frost of her breath as it weaves its way through the cold damp air, he feels no immediate danger here. She stands with both arms at her side, her head slightly crooked to one side. she almost seems as if smiling at him. He smiles back.
“I now know why it was me Jen. And I think that I know who is responsible for this. But there is more that I need to know. The book Jen, why can’t you just tell me-”
Before he can get his answer, the image of his beautiful young sister begins to slowly fade into the night.
“No wait! Not yet you can’t go yet There’s so much more-”
“Daniel?”
At first it comes to him like a whisper.
“Daniel. Wake up sweetie. Your dreaming again.”
He opens his eyes to see the face of Sharon Milner staring down at him. He is lying on Angela Watson’s sofa.
“Danny. There is someone here to see you.”
Daniel Vickers rises from the sofa and moves to the front door where outside he sees the figure of a mans back, and when he turns around to face him he sees that it is not Tyler Malloy, but an older man whom he guesses to be Sheriff Leonard Davis, and when he introduces himself the suspicion becomes confirmed.
“Son. Your Name is Daniel Vickers?”
“Yes sir sheriff that’s me, what can I do for you?”
Sheriff Leonard Davis looks cautiously up and down the street before answering.
“Son.. You and I need to talk.”

Sheriff Leonard Davis.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



He tells him that earlier in the day, Angela Watson had confided in him as to who Daniel Vickers was and what he was doing in Pleasantville, and much to the delight of Miss Watson, Leonard Davis seemed genuinely relieved to learn that he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t given up on Jennifer’s disappearance. He and Daniel sit on Angela’s back porch and speak in careful tones.
“Angie tells me that your room at the motel was ransacked?”
“Yeah.” Daniel tells him. “But nothing was taken, they just rummaged through my belongings.”
“Son.. Can I trust you?”
“Implicitly.” Daniel answers.
Leonard Davis hangs his head slightly, and begins to rub his palms together slowly.
“I’ve been trying to give that girl justice for that past five years Mr. Vickers. And though I didn’t want to have to face it, I’ve always suspected in the back of my mind that my son-in law Tyler Malloy was involved in her disappearance.”
“Can I trust YOU sheriff Davis?”
He nods.
“I think you are absolutely right about the good deputy. And I’m not certain of it but I think that he has been following me.”
Sheriff Leonard Davis nods to the affirmative.
“He has. We tailed him to the front of this house last night. He was parked across the street for three hours.”
Daniel studies him for any signs of deceit. But detects nothing.
“Of course you realize sheriff that all I have are the clues left to me by Jennifer in my dreams. I can’t prove anything yet with any certainty.”
Leonard Davis leans forward.
“Forget what you can prove son, tell me what you feel in your gut.”
“I think that Jennifer Watson and Tyler Malloy were involved intimately. I think that something happened that made Jennifer feel as though she needed to defend herself. So she wrote intimate details about the affair in a book, and then tried to use it as leverage in some way against Tyler Malloy. And I think he killed her over it.”
Leonard Davis raises his eyes in surprise.
“Do you think that he has the book?”
“No. She hid it. I think that he’s been keeping tabs on Angela Watson in the hopes that she would lead him to it somehow. He wouldn’t have the interest that he does now if he’d already found the book, he would have destroyed it already. We were getting ready to go to the library today to see if there may be any leads there. Maybe someone would remember her many visits there.”
“Annie Clark.” Sheriff Davis tells him. “She’s been the librarian there for years, she may very well remember Jennifer visiting.”
They both rise to their feet, and shake hands before parting.
“Mr. Vickers.. You do what you have to do at the library, get a picture from Angela, she has a lot of head shots of Jennifer. Show Annie Clark. She’ll remember.”
“What are you Going to do Sheriff Davis?”
“I’m going to keep an eye on Tyler. I have an idea that may keep him away from you for awhile anyways.”

Unsettled.



It isn’t until 10:30 am that Daniel Vickers and Sharon Milner arrive at the Pleasantville public library. It is a rather unpleasant looking structure that is made of red brick, and has small square windows on either side of the large old oak door that serves as the main entrance. As they open the door it feels as cold and dreary inside as it does on the outside. They approach the front desk where a slightly faded blond haired woman sits writing in a ledger. The stereo typical looking forty- something looking librarian Daniel thinks, until her warm and bright smile seems to light up the room as she greets them.
“OOHHH.. People!” She squeals. “How may I help you?”
Daniel and Sharon both smile before introducing themselves.
“Ma’am? Are you Annie Clark?”
She nods. Daniel slides the picture of Jennifer Watson across the face of the desk. And when Annie Clark sees the photo, the lines of her near perfect smile slowly sink to the sides of her face, giving her a suddenly sad appearance.
“Miss Clark.. Do you know this young lady?”
She nods again. This time more slowly.
“That’s Jennifer Watson.”
She tells them that she remembers the lovely teenager quite well, she would come to the library several times a week to visit with Annie Clark to talk about books and just engage in all around girl talk. She told them that Jennifer had helped her organize a used obsolete book sale just before she had disappeared and in return Annie Clark gave her the books in question for her help.
“Miss Clark.. Did Jennifer just come here to visit with you and talk, or did she spend any time reading the books here?”
“She would come in mostly on Tuesdays after school and sometimes on Thursday’s when she didn’t have soccer practice. But she always came on Saturdays. And yes she loved to read. In fact she would always sit in the same section every time. I would always try to get her interested in the classics like Melville and Twain and such. but she was more interested it seems in the metaphysical books, like the ones on reincarnation, life after death.. Strange stuff like that.”
The lights were becoming brighter for Daniel Vickers. it suddenly became clear to him. Annie Clark directed them to the metaphysical section. And Daniel told her that he was looking for a particular book that wasn’t in her registry. And he would be taking it with them. She nervously agreed. Both she and Sharon Milner curiously watched as he slowly moved along the isle patiently going over each book. Finally he looked at the two women.
“When a person wants to get lost.. Where is the first place they head?”
They both shrug.
“They Find a crowd.. Of other people. So. Where would be the best place to hide a book Sharon?”
“Amongst other books.”
They tell Annie Clark what exactly it is that they are looking for and she anxiously begins to aide in the search painstakingly looking for anything out of place. Sharon Milner’s cell phone rings and she pauses to answer. It is Angela Watson.
“Something has happened to Sheriff Leonard Davis, an unknown Vehicle forced him off of the road. He is in the hospital with minor injuries.” she tells them. Annie Clark will continue to search for the book that doesn’t belong, Daniel and Sharon must temporarily abort their search efforts to see to the safety of Angela Watson.

Past Sense.



He pauses slightly to lean forward before knocking a second time on Sheriff Leonard Davis’s door. He pulls his collar up around his neck and looks out into the early morning skyline before lighting up another cigarette. The faded peeling white paint on the front door seems to fall off as it swings open to reveal the tired figure of Leonard Davis.
“Daniel? Come in please. Tell me you’ve found the book.”
He looks down at the decaying floor boards of the front porch swinging his head from side to side. Leonard Davis bows his head at the notion. Letting Daniel Vickers step into his home.
“Coffee?”
He nods.
He disappears into the kitchen to retrieve the coffee leaving Daniel Vickers eyes alone to scan the room . There are pictures scattered along the far wall of the living room, snapshots, glimpse’s into the life of a career lawman. There are pictures of him and Tyler Malloy standing side by side smiling for the camera. Happier times he guesses. A strange feeling tugs at the back of his thoughts and for a brief instant he considers the trust issue that he has toyed with since meeting the sheriff.
Leonard Davis appears in the living room and hands him the cup of hot coffee. He gestures for a cigarette which Daniel responds to. They both light up.
“So what exactly are you thinking son?”
He stares out the window at the gray skyline exhaling smoke almost as he answers.
“I’m thinking that there are a few things out of place with this whole mess, things that I haven’t been able to put a finger to. I know where Jennifer is. The problem there is if we find a body your boy may run Sheriff Davis. And if we can get a hold of the book, then we may be able to piece together why she ended up the way she did.”
“Well son. I’m flying blind here, I have to follow your lead on this. Where exactly do you think her body is?”
“I think that he took her out to Cherry Creek and murdered and then buried her there.”
He eyes the sheriff cautiously.
“By the way, Did you happen to get a look at who ran you off of the road ?”
He shakes his head no.
“It all happened too fast and it was way too dark to see, I could barely maintain control over the vehicle, son of a bitch ran me right into a ditch.”
He leans forward slowly smashing the cigarette butt into the ash tray his eyes never leaving the sheriff.
“Look. I want this girl.. I want her mother to have some peace. You lay low sheriff, I’m going to Cherry Creek to find her body if I can. I’ll call you as soon as I have anything to tell you. Then you move. Deal?”
“No son I can’t let you do that. If he gets wind of what your doing or where you’re going or why, he may follow you. You alone with him?? He’s armed Your not. I’m coming with you.”



Cherry Creek.



They slowly pull away from the curb with Daniel Vickers watching the rear view mirror for any signs of Tyler Malloy. He pulls out onto main street and heads west towards Cherry Creek stopping at a gas station just at the edge of Pleasantville.
“I gotta go to the bathroom can you fill it up for me?”
Leonard Davis nods getting out of the car. Daniel stops briefly when out of sight to call Sharon Milner on her cell. He quickly tells her the plan and that he’d left an envelope with instructions for her in her purse for her to follow, and she should open it and read it as soon as possible. He returns to the vehicle without ever using the rest room. He pays the clerk in cash for the gas and returns to the drivers seat. With a tug of the gear shift, the Chevy slowly moves out onto the road and he turns towards Cherry Creek leaving Pleasantville behind them. There is a strange silence for a time leaving each man to his thoughts. Daniel thinks about the past twenty four hours and all of the surreal scenes that had played out in his head. He thought about Sheriff Leonard Davis, he thought about Jennifer Watson, and of course his attention never strayed far from the thought of Tyler Malloy. But it was his traveling companions voice that finally broke the silence.
“Tyler was a good man once, I respected him Mr. Vickers. At least enough for him to marry my daughter. Hell, I never expected it to turn out the way it did, He changed somehow, became a different person. I always felt it in my gut that he’d had something to do with that girls disappearance. I just never found any proof to it.”
He listens intently all while watching the road signs. He turns onto Crows Crossing Road and ten miles out they cross over the Jasper county line into Freemont County. Daniel slows the speed of the Chevy as they turn onto the dirt road that will take them down to the very edge of Cherry Creek. He stops fifty yards in.
“Its foot trails from here mostly, we’ll have to walk in to where he buried her.”
He retrieves a shovel from the trunk and leads the way to where he thinks that the body of Jennifer Watson may be buried. Daniel Vickers isn’t stupid and he isn’t surprised in the least when the figure of Tyler Malloy appears at the edge of the tree line of Cherry Creek. He is even less surprised when he turns to find himself staring down the barrel of Sheriff Leonard Davis’s Gun.
“Son. I really got to hand it to you. I don’t know how you figured this whole thing out but you’re going to wish you hadn’t. now real easy like take your hand out of your pocket and put that shovel down nice and easy like next to that tree right there. This is as far as your going.”
Daniels stares down Sheriff Leonard Davis.
“So let me guess. Tyler Makes a mess so you clean it up by killing his sixteen year old lover. Is that how it works?”
Tyler steps forward.
“What’s he talking about Len?”
“Shut up Ty.”
He cocks the pistol .
“I cleaned up your last mess, and now I’ll clean up this one.”

~Scratch A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~

The Cherry Creek Prophecies.. Parts 5 - 7 ( Unrevised)

Distant warning.



It has almost reached the point to where it has become an expectation for him. Every time that he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep, familiar images begin to take shape in the world of Daniel Vickers dreams. Each time taking a different tone. Now there is no sound, there are no voices to answer his questions, this time it is almost as if he is there in the heart of Pleasantville. Even though he knows that he has never been. The images that he sees this time are very different, they are outlined with the faint remnants of a white haze, as though he were looking at a faded picture. It is almost dark here as he sees the black truck with the broken side mirror, pull into the alley behind Tanners drug store off of Main street in Pleasantville. It slowly rolls to a stop and he sees the arm of what appears to be a male extend itself from the drivers side window. The hand beckons to someone that he doesn’t immediately see, until the form of young Jennifer Watson appears at the side of the vehicle. She seems to recognize the unseen occupant of the truck and smiles as she walks around to the passenger door and slowly opens it. Almost as if on cue, she looks back in the direction of Daniel Vickers and offers him a smile as well. He feels his entire body freeze in place as he tries in vain to move towards her, to prevent her from getting into the vehicle. He tries to call out to her but he cannot. “Jennifer dear god No!! don’t get into the truck!” he tries to muster the words, but in vain, his voice falls silent. And Daniel Vickers now finds himself in an all too familiar posture. He is on his hands and knees on the cold wet surface of the alleyway, in the pouring rain, sobbing uncontrollably.. For he knows that he has just witnessed the final moments of Jennifer Watson’s life.

The Road Of Crows.



He slowly pulls the cigarette to his lips as he ponders Sharon Milner’s question. “And throughout the dreams.. She never mentioned a name of who may have possibly killed her?” He exhales the smoke and slowly shakes his head no.
“She only got close enough to speak to me a couple of times in the dreams.”
“And you don’t recall her ever mentioning a name”
“No.. she never does.. The first time I heard her speak, it was like she was playing some kind of child’s game and she kept repeating ‘White hats are a lie, don’t ever believe them’ she kept saying it. Over and over again. Then the last time she spoke of Justice.”
She pulls over the Chevy just twenty five yards from the turn onto Crow’s Crossing Road, it is the only way for them to reach Pleasantville from there. But Sharon Milner has heard many a strange tale of the road of crows, and its Daniels turn to drive so she would rather sleep through the experience. They both get out to stretch their legs, the rain has momentarily stopped, they both slowly walk over to the road sign and stare silently down at the lonely two lane black top. It almost seems deserted, there are no vehicles coming or going, and the horizon seems dark to Sharon Milner, dark and ominous. She turns to face Daniel Vickers.
“It’s your turn to drive Danny.. I ain’t tackling C.C.R.”
She pauses to light her own cigarette and jerks her thumb at the green and white road sign.
“Do you suppose that Cherry Creek could be somewhere on C.C.R.?”
He Shrugs his shoulders.
“I dunno Shar.. its just a road to me. Get in.. I’ll take it from here.”
They switch places after he assures her that he is now very much awake and capable of taking the wheel. She slowly eases into a restful position and he pulls onto the turn as she drifts off to sleep. Daniel himself has heard the stories of this magical stretch of road as well, and as his thoughts return to Jennifer Watson, her wonders to himself how her story will someday fit into the lore of the haunted stretch of highway called Crows Crossing Road. It almost seems too peaceful to him here, as the rolling hills and the seemingly endless miles upon miles of woodlands slowly roll by as he takes them closer to Pleasantville. In the back of his thoughts he returns to the words of the beautiful young girl he has come to know as Jennifer Watson, he once again can almost feel her cold crisp breath roll across his warm skin in a soft whisper.
“Tell me Please.. What do you want from me?”
“Justice Daniel.. Give me… Justice..”

Pleasantville.



He is surprised to find that Pleasantville looks very much like it did in his last dream. It has a slightly southern picturesque quality, and yet has that unmistakable underlying creepiness to it that keeps tugging at one’s subconscious. He doesn’t take them directly into the city limits right away, he instead decides to try his hand at getting them both rooms on the out skirts of town. It is a place called “The No Tell Motel” he smirks to himself at the obviousness of the title and softly nudge’s Sharon Milner on the shoulder. She sits up slowly and stretches her muscles. She smiles at Daniel Vickers.
“Honey… We’re home.” He says jokingly.
She winks at him.
“Well.. You picked one hell of a place for us to spend our honeymoon.”
They enter the motel office and are almost immediately greeted an older gray haired gentleman named ‘Stanly.’
“What can I do for you Kids?”
He offers them a less than friendly smile through tar and nicotine stained teeth. Daniel steps forward.
“We’ll be needing a couple of rooms if you have any vacancies.”
Sharon Milner offers the conversation little in the way of interest as her eyes slowly scan over the view of the town from the motel office’s doorway.
There is a church steeple that looms atop the middle of the small gathering of buildings that form the general downtown area of Pleasantville. A mixture of fog and clouds loom just above the rooftops, the whole scene casts a disturbingly dark shadow over the entire image, that makes her want to crawl into a deep pit and hide.
He steps up beside of her and dangles her room key in front of her face.
“Well there isn’t much to it is there kitten?”
She rolls her eyes at him.
“Lets just hope they have a decent place to eat Dan. I would hate to have to choke you to death before our wedding night.”
He smiles.
“Now that’s the Sharon Milner that I know and love.”
He helps her with her bags before retrieving his own from the trunk. They lock everything into the rooms and return to the Chevy. Where Sharon drives them to the first diner that they find. Pleasantville is as dark and dreary up close as it is from a distance she thinks as they enter The Main Street Diner where a short pudgy middle aged waitress almost immediately ushers them into a booth. They both settle in as she brings them hot coffee. And Sharon irritably begins a soft low rant about the creepiness of the whole situation until she notices that Daniel Vickers either isn’t listening or is no longer capable of hearing her. A familiar stare crosses over his face as he slowly rises to his feet, and when the black pickup truck with the broken side mirror slowly rolls past the front window of the Main Street Diner, Daniel Vickers face looks as if he’s seen a ghost.

One More Clue.

It is now harder than ever for him to tell the difference between what is real and what is part of the dream. It seems to him that the images that she shares with him are becoming more complex , the messages contained in the images more convoluted. It is a warm sunny day here, although he can’t feel the warmth, the air still seems cold as he follows her through the alley’s of Pleasantville. He calls to her but she doesn’t answer, finally he catches up to her in the alley next to the drug store. The air becomes colder now.
“Jennifer please wait.”
She slowly stops and turns to face him. Daniel Vickers approaches the beautiful young girl, and she doesn’t move.
“You have to tell me what happened to you sweetie.. I’m flying blind here.. There’s so much that I-”
She smiles.
“You will know why you Daniel soon.. Very soon.”
He bends down and slowly extends his hands to her, his fingers barely touch her hair when the tall dark figure appears suddenly from behind her and wraps its arms around her waist and begins to pull her into the shadows. Daniel grabs hold of her wrist, and tries in vain to pull her free from it. Slowly the shadows begin to take her and as he feels his bare feet sliding along the cold wet surface. He knows that he can’t save her, her wrist slips free from his grasp, and as he falls He sees it from out of the shadows towering above her, a white cowboy hat. He can feel her voice again.
“The answers are in the book Daniel.. Find the book and you will find the answers.”

Calling Miss Watson.



It is 6:00 am in Pleasantville. And Daniel Vickers finds himself standing next to the phone booth nearest Spencer’s hardware store just a half of a block from Main street. He ruffles through the pages of the phone book that dangles from a chain attached to the booth. He stops at the W’s, and slowly moves his right index finger down along the column of names. He pauses to look up to see if Sharon Milner has met with success in finding them some quarters to make phone calls with. Finally he sees her as she turns the corner and moves along the side walk towards him. The look of discomfort on her face almost draws a smile to his lips.
“Well.. Good morning again sunshine.. I trust you found some quarters?”
She thrusts the small pile of coins into his waiting palms, as she makes a small uncomfortable grunting sound.
“There.. That’s all I could get.. Thank God that this shit hole has a twenty four hour 7- 11. Who would have thought that we would both have the same piece of crap Cell phone and both batteries would be dead at the same frickin time.”
He pauses to study her through the soft plume of misty breath emanating from her lips. She gives him a irritated look, and jerks both hands up in frustration.
“So? Did you find any names?”
“There are seven listings in Pleasantville for the name of Watson. Two of them are male.”
“Ok.” she tells him. “But here’s the drill sweetie pie. If anyone answers. You can’t say ‘Did You have a daughter named-’ you have to speak of her as if she’s still alive. They may not know what happened to her Dan. We have to be respectful. You may only get one shot at this. I have a feeling in my gut Danny. Its going to be her Mother that we find.”
He tries the first three numbers. The two males have no idea what he’s talking about. The third is a woman that remembers reading the name of Jennifer Watson in the newspapers about five and one half years ago, but is not a relative and doesn’t have any knowledge of that particular family. He looks down at the remaining quarters, and then turns to Sharon Milner.
“Four left..”
He drops two more quarters into the slot and dials the number for Miss Angela Watson of 334 Rivercrest drive. A middle aged female voice softly offers him a hello.
“Hello? Umm. Miss Watson? Ma’am.. You don’t know me, but I have to ask you an important question, ma’am please don’t hang up.”
He fumbles to find the right words, when he just comes out and asks the complete stranger on the other end of the conversation if she has a daughter named Jennifer who has been missing for five and one half years. But it is when he can almost feel the pain in her voice that he knows he has found Jennifer’s mother. She reluctantly agrees to meet with them and gives them directions to the Watson residence.

The Reason.



The house is white and is surround by a slightly faded picket fence, and has neatly manicured shrubs that outline the small stone porch that leads them to the front door of the Watson residence. He pauses to catch his breath as Sharon Milner takes in the surreal scene. She nods, and Daniel rings the door bell. almost immediately they are greeted by a very slender well groomed middle age woman with long blond hair, who offers them a seemingly forced smile and lets them into her home. At where Daniel tells her the whole story about the dreams and all of his vivid images of her daughter, and she sits patiently and surprisingly collected as she listens to Daniel Vickers tale.
A silence falls over the room as he finishes the whole story. She doesn’t ask them to leave.
“Mr. Vickers.. I don’t know you.. I don’t know why or how you can describe my daughters image so vividly. Now let me tell you my story. I have known for- well.”
She pauses.
“Since the very beginning really.. I know my daughter is dead.. And I also know that someone.. Somewhere.. did a terrible thing to her.. And that person is still walking amongst us free as a bird. And now here you are.. Out of the blue. A complete and utter stranger to me.. And you say that you have seen my daughter in your dreams.. And she has asked you to come here from god only knows where.. To do what Mr. Vickers?”
He stands looking at her.
“To find out what happened to her.. Miss Watson.. I don’t expect you to believe me.. Hell.. I can barely believe it myself. But I know I can’t rest until I figure this whole thing out.. I- no.. we, came all of the way from Beaumont Miss Watson, all because your daughter asked this of me , she wants justice, and whether anyone believes me or not, I have to find out what happened to her. Because the longer this goes on Miss Watson, I can’t do this simply because she cries out for justice.. I have to do this because she deserves justice.”
A curious look comes over the face of Angela Watson.
“Beaumont..” she says softly as if talking to herself. “Jennifer’s father lives in Beaumont. I haven’t heard from him in years.”
She rises and offers them a cup of coffee as he wanders over to a wall of pictures. It is there that he and Sharon see the first real images of young Jennifer Watson. Angela brings them the coffee and Sharon Milner thanks her as she pours Daniel and herself a cup.
“Danny? Sweetie The coffee is ready.”
Silence.
“Danny?”
He turns to face them, his face slowly turning slightly pale.
“Miss Watson?.. Who is the man in this picture? The one standing with you in front of the Victorian?”
She walks up beside of him.
“That man Mr. Vickers?”
He slowly Nods.
“Why That’s Jennifer’s daddy.. Evan.. Evan Daniels.”
He turns to face her fully.. The color slowly coming back to his face.
“Miss Watson.. This is going to sound crazy to you.. But I now know why your daughter contacted me.”
She blinks giving him a blank stare as Sharon Milner now appears at his side.
“Miss Watson.. The man with you in that picture… his name was Evan Vickers not Evan Daniels. I know this because he was my father.”

Slightly Out of Focus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



She remembered it as being a particularly cold day on the last morning that she saw her daughter alive. Angela Watson always took a chill rather easily and wore extra clothing that morning before she’d went to the market. She’d left Jennifer there alone on several occasions and had seen no cause for alarm when she’d left her daughter standing at the doorway wearing her long white nightgown. In fact she remembered commenting to her that the air outside was much too cold for such attire and she’d needed to go back inside the house and close the door. It was the last time she seen her in five years. Even now she seemed remarkably composed as Daniel related to her in exact detail every comment she’d made to him in the dream. The Scribbling on the papers, the vivid imagery that he’d painted on the walls of his fathers den. They talked through the morning piecing things together about Jennifer.. About Evan Vickers.. They’d went over the writings several times painstakingly examining every word in an attempt to jog a familiar image in Angela Watson’s memory, but it wasn’t until Sharon Milner reminded him of the book that Jennifer had spoken of in his last dream. Angela Watson’s confusion slowly began to grow.
“A book?.. My daughter spoke of a book?”
“Yes Miss Watson. Did she collect books? She said specifically.. ‘Find The book and you will find the answers’ .”
She takes them into Jennifer’s room and they examine her book shelf. Treasure Island.. The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer.. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.. Among others. But nary a book out of place.
“And nothing is missing? Daniel asks.
Angela Watson shakes her head no.
Daniel begins to pace back and forth in front of the book case.
“The answer is here somewhere.” He tells them. “It has to be.”
Angela Watson and Sharon Milner return to the kitchen to make a new pot of coffee leaving Daniel Vickers to wrestle with the possibilities. He sits on the edge of her bed. And suddenly he begins to think of the beautiful sixteen year old girl in a new light.
“She was MY little sister.. And someone took her from us.”
His eyes slowly return to scanning every inch of the bedroom.
“Ok.. So what am I missing here?”
He returns to the parlor to find the two women laboring over his writings.. The phrase “White hats are a lie.” repeated throughout the text. Miss Watson again shakes her head.
“I don’t see the significance Daniel.” She tells him. “A lot of people around here wear a lot of different white hats.”
“No Ma’am. I think that Jennifer was talking about something specific. It wouldn’t be a ordinary thing.. It seems to me that it would be something that stands out.”
He returns to the bedroom to look over the books, once again leaving the women to ponder the significance of white hats.

Dark Reflection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



They mull over it for several more hours until their tired brains can take no more, and Daniel has to take the initiative and volunteer to take the two women to dinner. To which of course Sharon Milner gleefully accepts.
“Alrighty Dan, as long as your buying.. But no more diner food, I want a nice sit down and relax dinner, and I’ll just bet the Miss Watson could use one too.”
He raises his hands playfully.
“Hey.. I know when I’m out numbered. What do you say Miss Watson. Your town.. You pick the restaurant .”
They close up the house and retire to the Chevy and Angela Watson directs them to The Flamingo Palace. A small but elegant eatery just at the outskirts of Pleasantville. As they pull into the parking lot an odd yet familiar feeling begins to tug at him.
“Man where have I seen this place before?”
Disregarding the feeling as an odd coincidence, he escorts the two ladies to the door where they enter into the establishment and are told by the Maitre’ d that they are not terribly busy and they can be seated without having made reservations shortly. And as they are being escorted to their table a faint reflection on the window pane catches the eye of Daniel Vickers. The image of a tall blonde middle aged man wearing a white flat brimmed cowboy hat with a black headband just above the brim. As they are being seated he draws the attention of Angela Watson to the hat.
“Miss Watson?.. Do you recognize that man over there?”
She trains her attention on the man in the hat.
“Why yes.. That’s deputy Tyler Malloy. He’s lived around here for almost seventeen years now. Everybody knows Tyler.”
Daniel leans forward, closer to Angela Watson.
“Miss Watson did Jennifer know him?”
“Daniel.. I would hope so.. He coached her girls soccer team for over three years.. He doesn’t do it anymore though.”
Daniels eyes never leave the table of Deputy Tyler Malloy. And as he turns towards the exit, Daniel Vickers rises from his seat and excuses himself from the company of the two women, citing that he forgot something in the car and he would return momentarily. Cautiously keeping his distance from Tyler Malloy, he follows him to the parking lot and watches from a distance, and almost as Daniel expects he opens the drivers side door and pulls himself up into the cab of the black pickup truck with the broken side mirror. The sharp cold words reverberate in the back of his mind.
“White hats are a lie Daniel.. White hats are a lie!”
Good guys wear white hats.. Bad guys wear black.. Sheriff’s.. Deputy’s.. Cops.. They were supposed to be good guys.. But THIS white hat was a lie. And now Daniel Vickers was on to him.

Words on a page.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Although he and his two companions dine mostly in silence, a thousand different thoughts are going through the mind of Daniel Vickers. He knows that he would have to be careful in his interrogation of Angela Watson from this moment forward as Deputy Malloy was possibly a friend of hers. And at the same time he needed as much information on this man as he could get. Through some well managed subtlety, he deduced through the evenings conversation that deputy Tyler Malloy was the son in law of Sheriff Leonard Davis of Pleasantville. And he’d coached the girls soccer team that Jennifer was a member of for three years up until the time of her disappearance. he had stopped by a few times in the months that followed to see how Angela Watson was doing and to see if she had heard any new news concerning Jennifer, but as time went on it seemed to Angela Watson that his attention in this matter had waned, and the visits through the years became fewer and fewer . And finally the only people that would even bother giving attention to the case were from the local division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Selma County. On a local level the case had been all but forgotten. Except for Sheriff Leonard Davis himself who would still take the time every so often to circulate missing persons pictures of Jennifer.
They return to the Watson residence shortly after nine pm. And once again Angela Watson invites the young pair to join her for coffee. they sit and the women exchange unrelated small talk leaving Daniel Vickers to his thoughts. He returns to Jennifer’s bedroom and stands in front of the bookcase. Silently his eyes slowly move over every book, searching time and time again for the missing clue. He sits on the bed and rubs his eyes. And his hands slowly return to his knees.
“So tell me.. What’s Missing?”
He yawns and stretches before once again closing his eyes.
“Find the book Daniel.. Find the book and you’ll find the answers.”
“What Book Jen?”
He rises from the edge of Jennifer Watson’s bed.
“Ok.. So lets try a different approach.. What isn’t on a sixteen year old girls bookshelf, that should be there?.. What book is so important to a six-”
He returns to the living room where he finds Sharon Milner and Angela Watson playing cards. And he leans down towards her.
“Miss Watson?”
She looks up at Daniel Vickers smiling.
“Yes?”
“Miss Watson.. Did Jennifer keep a diary?”

~Scratch.. A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~

The Cherry Creek Prophecies.. Parts 1 - 4 ( Unrevised)

First Light..



It is at the edge of pitch black, a slight pause between the god awful headaches, and the burning of his eyes.. He can hear the sound almost reaching for him.. Surrounding him.. Now between pauses.. A click? A Buzz? What in Gods name?.. Click… “You have reached the home of Evan Vickers, I am not here at present, but if you leave your name and phone number I will get back to you as soon as possible.” Beeeeeep.
“Daniel Please… This is Sharon.. Sweetie I need to know that your alright.. Out there at your dads place in the country… all by yourself.. Its so isolated.. Sweetie.. Beth Simon called me today.. Said that you haven’t been at work for four days.. No one has heard from you and they were forced to let you go.. Sweetie please call me.. Or if you need.. I’ll drive out to spend a few days.. I am so sorry about your dad. Call me.” click.. He rolls slowly onto his back his eyes straining through the black, trying desperately to grab focus on anything familiar. Finally it comes to him, faint images of dim blue light that softly form a border around the edge of curtains that hang in the window. Dawn.. Here comes the light, slowly taking its place in the black, softly illuminating the room, as slowly as the light creeps in, filling up the room, he realizes that he is in his father’s den, lying on the hardwood floor. His back arches slightly offering soft resistance to the uncomfortable surface, eyes open just as he hears the low thumping sound coming from the living room door.
“Daniel?? Are you in there?? Please.. C’mon now open the door its Sharon.” No Answer.. More knocking this time with more force. She slowly looks around at the front porch of Vickers home, it looks run down, the face of the old two story Victorian has seen better days, the front porch sagging at one end, the wooden floorboards creak under even the slightest bit of weight put on them, the white paint on the outside of the entire structure, is weather worn and peeling, the hedge work is growing wild over the sides of the Porch’s hand rails, further evidence of Evan Vickers failing health preventing him from doing regular maintenance and upkeep on the Vickers home before his passing four weeks ago. She has her back to the door when it creaks slowly open exposing Daniel Vickers to her. He has no shirt on and is barefoot wearing only a pair of sweat pants. She studies him for a moment in a almost agitated state.
“Well?… are you gonna let me in? or am I gonna stay out here and freeze to death?”
He slowly opens the door and barely notices as the beautiful black haired young woman slowly glides past him. She takes out a cigarette and lifts it to her lips, her eyes never leaving him. She lights up and slowly inhales the smoke looking him up and down.
“Damn Danny.. You look a mess.. What’s been happening with you sweetie?”
“Nothing Sharon.” he lights his own and softly pulls the smoke into his mouth.
“Nothing?.. Really?.. Lets review.. Your dad passes, you come home and decide you want to stay this time, you get a job, and don’t show up for four days.. So they fire you.. Maybe it’s too soon huh?.. Maybe you need time to grieve.. Daniel.. You don’t look well.”
He sits directly across from her and lights another smoke, then pauses slightly to study her.
“I haven’t been sleeping well is all Sharon.. Been having a bad dream.”
“About your dad?”
“No.”
“Well, I guess having bad dreams would be normal considering..”
“Not dreams Shar.. Dream.. it’s the same one over and over again.”


Insomnia..



He offers to help her bring her belongings into the house but she says no, He’s only wearing sweat pants, is barefoot and has no shirt. And its been raining and its cold enough to see your own breath.
“Besides Daniel, I only brought a few things with me.” she tells him. He watches her walk beneath the canopy of the willow tree’s that seem to consume the entire front lawn of the Vickers home, as she goes to the trunk of the Chevrolet to retrieve her things.
She eyes the trees surrounding the house and then slowly returns her attention to Daniel Vickers.
“You’ve got yourself quite the jungle growing here Danny, now all that you need is an alligator pit.”
She carries her things to the guest room, and throws her bags on the bed, and then returns to the living room where she discovers that Daniel has gone upstairs to take a shower. But it is when she ventures into the kitchen that she gets the sense that something is very odd, there is precious little food, but the large round table near the breakfast nook is crowded with various containers of paint. He appears suddenly behind her giving her a start. She looks over her shoulder at him.
“So what’s for dinner Dan? Flat or enamel?”
He studies the scene on the kitchen table, and shoots her a confused look, which makes her feel uneasy.
“I-..” a long uncomfortable pause ensues.
“I’m not sure where that came from.. I don’t remember buying any paint..”
She lifts one of the containers.
“Danny.. These are art supplies.. Do you paint now?
He shakes his head no, but stares on in silence.
“Maybe your Dad?”
He doesn’t answer..
“You don’t have any food in the house sweetie, I’m going back to town to get some dinner.. So.. Do you want to come along?”
“N…No.. I think I’ll stay here and Try to take a little nap. I didn’t sleep well last night.. If at all.”
She watches him curiously, as he returns to the den to try to nap. Sharon Milner has known Daniel Vickers since they were both children and she’d never known him to possess an artistic bone in his entire body, nor his father. Something was not right here in the Vickers home, and she wasn’t going to leave Daniel alone until she found out what. She puts the Chevrolet in gear a slowly turns around in the Vickers driveway, and briefly stops to look in the rear view mirror at the front porch, and as the sound of windshield wipers slowly brush away the soft beads of rain, she thinks to herself.. This winter is going to be colder than usual.

Revelation.



She can feel a slight tug of anxiety, as she makes the turn at Aberdeen Road, soft beads of rain begin to appear on the windshield, slowly becoming larger ones as the downpour begins. She checks her watch, its past noon, she was gone for four hours, but now she had in her possession enough food to last them awhile. There is something not right with her high school chum Daniel Vickers.. There’s something there, beyond the sudden death of his father, almost like a presence that she felt from the moment that he first opened the front door of the Vickers home. The feeling of anxiety returns as she sees the sky grow dark, now the rain lashing down harder on the Chevrolet, it almost seems angry to her. Her thoughts return to Daniel Vickers and his recurring dream, she would have to ask him about it, but diplomatically, she certainly didn’t want to upset him beyond what he already was. Damn it Sharon! pay attention! She barely sees something run in front of the vehicle when she instinctively slams both feet on the brakes, causing the Chevy to turn sharply sideways, almost hydroplaning out of control, the rain crashes against the dark cold pavement as she thinks about braving the elements to get out and see what she had almost hit. It is then that she sees it through the driver’s side window.. What the hell?.. A dog? A… Wolf?.. Here? She squints to see through the rain to see the strange animal that is standing in the middle of the road in the pouring rain staring at her. Anxiety begins to slowly turn to dread and fear as the animals cold stare pierces through the rain storm, she slams the Chevy into gear and slowly begins to accelerate. Ten minutes later she is pulling into the Vickers driveway, she puts it into park and tries to calm herself before taking the groceries inside. She opens the door and goes to the trunk where she picks up four plastic bags full of groceries.
“Daniel?.. Sweetie I’m back.”
She hears muffled noises coming from the den and smiles to herself, he never did like to wake up quietly.
“Danny? I didn’t know that you had any black wolves running around these woods. I almost hit one, scared the bejesus out of me!”
Silence.
“Danny?”
She puts the groceries down on the round table by the breakfast nook not even noticing that it is now completely empty. She heads towards the den where he was napping, and when she finds him, he is in an exhausted heap on the floor, both hands and arms are covered in paint, the room looks as though a cyclone hit it, but what she finds by far the most un nerving is the perfectly painted mural that is spread across the longest wall of the den.

Dreams.



She covers him in a towel after pulling him from the warm shower, and helps dry him off, visibly shaken, he lays down on the bed and she wraps him in a blanket, moments later he falls fast asleep. She lay there next to him, she herself visibly shaken as well. Slowly she makes her way back to the den, the house has grown dark as the storm outside has intensified. She lights herself a cigarette and studies the picture on the wall. It is as dark as the storm raging outside of the window pane. There are black looking trees
spread out across a small hillside, it is densely populated with trees and under brush. Behind the them she can make out the faint but unmistakable image of a stream or brook , but the most curious piece of the picture she sees is, beneath and between two of the trees on the ground, Daniel Vickers has painted a wooden door. His voice comes up suddenly from behind her, causing her to jump.
“I don’t know how or why.. I just woke up and did it, I was sleeping and dreaming again.. My head started to pound like the last time..”
She kneels down in front of him.
“Like the last time? .. Danny? This has happened before?”
He shakes his head as he’s lighting his own cigarette.
“Yeah.. Only last time there wasn’t any painting.. Just words.”
“Words Danny?.. You painted words on a wall?”
“No.. I.. I wrote them down on paper.”
“On paper? Do you still have it??”
He walks over to his fathers roll top desk and removes a stack of papers from the top drawer, he hands them to her.
“I went over them a thousand times Sharon, they’re gibberish.”
She studies the papers over and over again, staying up most of the night. The common thread in the entire text she finds is the name “Jennifer Watson” and the repeated phrase, “White hats are a lie”. the rest give words relative to one another but have no distinct meaning, names of places and people that she’d never heard of. An hour and a half ago, she’d left Daniel sleeping soundly on the dens sofa. She gets up and pours herself a cup of coffee, listening to the soft rapping of the rain on the windows.. She would have to ask him who Jennifer Watson is. Her thoughts are interrupted by the low thumping noise coming from inside of the den, she hurries to look, almost tripping over her own two feet in her haste. When she enters she finds him much in the same way as before. In the middle of the floor, his arms covered in paint, with a whole new picture painted on the wall next to the first. In the new picture the woods are exactly the same, only the door now isn’t on the ground, it is leaning up against one of the trees, and there is a beautiful young girl in a long flowing white night gown pointing at the door. She cast a confused troubled look at Daniel.
“Sharon?… what’s happening to me?”

Confidence..







She finds him standing there on the corner, in a trance like state, Staring, his eyes completely focused on something across the street. The rain has stopped momentarily, but she can tell by the way he is breathing that something is amiss. She tries to break the cold chill that is forming at her spine.
“So.. Dan? You ready to go to lunch?’
He nods, and they both walk across the street towards the Beaumont Café. Once inside the waitress seats them next to a window and Daniel Vickers considers letting Sharon Milner in on the whole picture. He watch’s as the waitress pours their coffee, takes their orders and then leaves. he draws a deep breath and momentarily stares at Sharon Milner.
“They’re starting to change now..”
She raises her eyes to meet his.
“What Dan?”
“The Dreams I mean.. they’re changing now.. Before at first they were just about trees and shit.. Now there’s a girl in them.. And they feel more violent.. that’s all I can remember is the feeling of violence.”
“Is it the same girl as in the picture?”
He nods to the affirmative.
“Yeah.. And I have seen her a few times since then.. Only not in the dreams.. I think she’s following me.”
“Following you?? .. Danny why didn’t you tell me this??
He doesn’t answer.
“I’ve seen her at the store.. The hardware store.. And a few other Places.. Only from a distance though.”
“And it’s the same girl from the dream and the painting?”
He stares out the window, the rain returns, and begins, to run down outside of the pane like little beads of perspiration.
“Dan?”
He turns to face her.
“Does the name Jennifer Watson mean anything to you at all?”
“I don’t think so.. I didn’t recognize it when I wrote it down.”
“Could that be the girls name?.. the one from your dream and the picture that you painted?”
A silence falls over the conversation as the waitress brings them lunch.. They dine in complete silence each mull over every word of their last exchange as if searching for clues in some great mystery. He pays the check and they return to her car as the rain persists, she turns to Chevrolet towards highway 10 and slowly accelerates.. They drive on in silence for most of the way until they hit Aberdeen road.



The trees that tower above either side of Aberdeen road, do not allow even the smallest amount of sunlight to shine through even in the event that the rainfall subsides, which in this case it doesn’t. The skies grow darker and even more ominous storm cloud roll in, and Sharon Milner finds her foot pressing on the accelerator pedal even harder. Daniel stares strait ahead lost in his thoughts, and she thinks that she may as well be driving alone. It is then that she feels the steering wheel slowly start to shake as the right rear tire makes a thumping sound.
“Oh great. A flat.. perfect timing.”
The Chevrolet slowly rolls to a stop and Daniel Vickers gets out into the rain to change tires.
“Stay here.” he tells her. She rolls her eyes at him.
“Are you gonna need a hand?” She asks.
“No.. I think that I can still remember how to change a flat tire, stay out of the rain Sharon.”
She feels the rear of the vehicle slowly raise off the asphalt as the jack lifts it, and hears soft clinking sounds of lug nuts being removed as the tire is replaced. The Chevrolet slowly returns to the pavement and then she hears nothing. The rain returns. The sky gets blacker.. And from out of the front passenger side window she sees Daniel Vickers slowly walking across the grassy field towards the woods. She opens the door and steps out in the rain and looks over the top of the car and begins to yell at him. She can barely hear her own voice.
“DANIEL!!”
She begins to walk towards him slowly, curiously watching him, slowly at first then each step quickening in its pace until she is running through the rain soaked grass to catch up with him. Then through the woods, the trees becoming nothing more than blurred edges at her side as she runs through them. Until finally she sees him again, he is on his knees in a small clearing.
She slows down to almost a complete stop, her shoulders rising and falling with each gasp for breath.
“Daniel?.. What the Fu-” her words stop abruptly in her throat, there in his hands Daniel Vickers is clutching a piece of white cloth.
"It was her Sharon.. I saw her again.. standing in the trees."
He stares up at Sharon Milner blankly. She helps him to his feet, and stares back in disbelief.
“Danny.. Damn man.. What in the hell is going on with you?”
“Sharon? I need you to go with me someplace.”
She blinks and slowly nods.
“Yeah.. Yes.. Of course sweetie.. But where are we going?”
“We have to drive to a place called Cherry Creek.”
She doesn’t answer at first.
“Sharon?”
“Yes?”
‘We have to leave tonight.”

Face To Face.

The light here shines most brilliant, but it seems cold to him even though he is numb and has no feeling in his entire body. It is a vision that Daniel Vickers has become accustomed to. But he is no longer sure where the dream ends and his reality begins. The light slowly dims but he can still see his breath and then ever so slowly images through the light begin to take shape. There are the trees again and the very same stream or creek that travels slowly through the images without sound. It is then that he sees the visage of young Jennifer Watson standing before him . She is close enough that he can almost see a trail of breath emanating from her mouth. he is certain that he is dreaming. His hands and feet slowly dig into the wet grassy soil and Daniel struggles just to get to his knees.
“I know that this is a dream.” he tells her. “Tell me what you want of me!”
He can barely see her lips moving but there is again no sound. He lowers his head as the terrible cold begins to weave its way through every muscle in his body. Every movement becomes difficult . She suddenly appears at his side. Her words seem as crisp as the air around them, and resonate with a cold metallic ring.
“Daniel.. My life was not a dream.. I lived once.. Until the white hat took me.. Find me Daniel.. Please… Find Me.”
It is the first time that he hears her cold voice, and her words tear through his unconscious mind. He is no longer fearful as he looks into the eyes of the beautiful young girl..
“Tell me.. Please.. What do you want from me?”
She is almost touching him now, as he hears her words roll across his cheek in a cold whisper.
“Justice.”

Eye's Opening.



When he wakes up he is sitting in Sharon Milner’s car. It has stopped at a roadside gas station/diner. she appears at the passenger window and he rolls it down to see what she wants.
“Good your awake now. We’d best get something to eat here, and if you have to pee you’d better do that now too sweetie, the attendant tells me that there aren’t too many places to stop before we hit Pleasantville, and we’re still three hours away from that.”
He gets out of the car and pulls his jacket up and around his shoulders as his sleepy eyes slowly begin to move across the landscape. It is now late afternoon here, wherever here is. His eyes lock onto Sharon Milner’s.
“Cherry Creek is about two and a half hours from here, don’t ask me how I know that Sharon.. I just do.”
They sit in silence for what seems like forever to her. The waitress brings them hot coffee and takes their orders. Sharon holds the cup fully in her palm as though her hands needed the warmth. Her attention slowly moves back to Daniel Vickers, who is staring out the window at the cold wet scenery outside.
“I know what she wants from me now.” he tells Sharon Milner.
She leans towards the conversation almost wide eyed. He now has her full attention.
“What is it Danny?”
It is his turn to lean towards Sharon Milner.
“I think that she was murdered Shar. And she wants me to find whoever did it.”
“Why you Danny?”
“I.. I.. I.. Don’t know Shar.”

Signs.



She puts the car into drive and slowly pulls back out onto the wet asphalt of the interstate. The attendant tells her that they must go in the same direction for another thirty miles and then watch for the signs to take them to Pleasantville, after that they will need to head east. They drive on as Daniel fiddles with the radio stopping at the local weather report.
“Damn.. They’re calling for even more rain. It seems like that’s all that it ever does around here is rain. It’s like sunshine is a disease or something.”
They share an uncomfortable laugh as if trying to lighten the mood. But underneath, both of their thoughts return to the young girl Jennifer Watson.
“Danny.. If she was murdered, we could be stepping into some deep shit here.”
He nods in agreement.
“I know.”
“It could be big Danny.”
“I know.”
He turns to face Sharon Milner from the passenger seat.
“She chose me Sharon. For whatever reason she chose me. Maybe she needs someone outside of her circle to come in and find the truth, maybe she didn’t have anyone else. Maybe its all just a completely random thing. Maybe I’ll never know why she contacted me.. But she is trusting me to find the truth and reveal it.. And I know now that I have to at least try to help her.”
Sharon Milner smiles and puts her hand on Daniel Vickers.
“Well.. She picked the right guy for the job.”
Out of the corner of her eye she sees a streak flash across the window through the rain. And she slams on the brakes and the car slides to a stop across the wet asphalt. She concludes that it is dusk now, and the failing light is playing tricks with her eyes. Now he puts his hand on hers.
“No Shar.. There’s something else here.”
They get out of the car and slowly move towards the partially covered road sign.
Crows Crossing Road 3 miles.

Scratch ABT.. Copyright © 2007.