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.”
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.
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