by A. E. Davis
“Amber…” His voice sounded like he was right beside me, but again his lips weren’t moving.
I didn’t understand.
A slow smile crept across his face.
It didn’t warm me like his smiles normally did. Instead, a shiver of dread raced up my spine and ice formed in my veins.
A sad look crossed his face. I’d seen that look before but for some reason I didn’t think I had seen it on him but someone else.
“You’re so crazy.”
I jerked my head around.
Glinda was standing behind me clasping her hands together wearing a dated dress that looked like it was something out of a Gothic horror movie—all black with ruffles of lace at the high neckline and poufy sleeves. Her hair was a wild mass of curls and whipped in the wind around her ghostly pale face.
My body shook. I looked over to Viktor but he wasn’t looking at me anymore. His head was turned back towards the building.
“Why am I here?”
“You’re dead,” Glinda said in an eerily lilting voice.
“I’m not,” I argued.
“Sure you are.” She giggled like a demented person. “See.” My gaze drifted down to her hands again, something dark was dripping from them.
“What is that?” My body tensed.
“It’s your blood, silly.” She pointed at me.
I looked down. I was standing in a pool of blood.
“Told you,” she taunted gleefully, clapping her hands in her excitement.
“I told you things weren’t what they seemed.”
I turned and Jason was standing on the other side of me. His glasses were crooked and he looked really pale. The front of his shirt was covered in blood just like the last time I had seen him.
I was so cold my teeth started chattering.
“Won’t be too much longer now,” he said happily.
“WH—aat?” I chattered barely able to speak now.
“Amber…”
My eyes searched for the voice, it was my lifeline. I knew I had to find it or I was going to be as dead as Glinda said I already was. But it wasn’t coming from Viktor, Glinda or Jason.
“This isn’t real. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up,” I repeated, frantic, fighting the darkness.
“Amber!”
Jolting upward, breathing hard, I was ripped from my nightmare.
Something hot, pressed down against me. “Ahhh…” I batted it away, scrambling backward.
“Amber…” a deep voice soothed. “It’s me,” he said.
My dream loosened its grasp, slowly slipping away.
“It’s okay.” He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly to his chest.
“Vincent?”
“Shhh,” he murmured, petting my hair. “You had a bad dream.”
Taking deep breaths, my heart rate finally slowed.
“You want to tell me about it?”
“No.” I buried my face in his shirt.
He exhaled heavily. “I won’t let them hurt you.”
I tensed and lifted my head. “Why did you say that?”
“Say what?”
“Why did you say you won’t let them hurt me?”
“You were talking in your sleep.”
“What did I say?”
“I really couldn’t understand. There were just a few random things that you said and it made me think you were dreaming about someone hurting you.”
“Oh.” I wanted to feel relief from his explanation but I didn’t. Instead, it made me feel even more uneasy.
He moved slightly and my heart rate sped up.
“Where are you going?”
“Nowhere,” he said and tightened his hold.
“Promise?”
“I promise not to leave until the storm passes. Is that good?”
“Yeah, okay.” I laid my head back down but I kept my eyes open afraid to close them again.
The storm finally passed and muted gray light slid through my window. Vincent moved his arms and carefully disentangled himself from me. Feigning sleep, I quickly shut my eyes as he stood from the bed. I could hear him putting on his shoes and the faint rustle of him putting back on his jacket. He was standing over me… I could feel it. I kept pretending to be asleep. A faint breeze ruffled my hair, and I knew then that he had left.
Rolling over, I looked at my clock. The red angry numbers were lit once again, blinking. At least the power had come back on. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep but instead of sleep, my mind kept replaying the terrible dream I had. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was some kind of premonition of what was to come.
Later in the day, just as I finished the last load of laundry, Ken brought Mom back home from the hospital. She had crutches but Ken wouldn’t let her use them and instead, carried her inside as I held open the door. He settled her on the couch, propping up her leg under a pillow and placing the afghan over her.
“Amber, why are you home?” Mom asked once she was situated.
“Ah, the power went out and I overslept.” I didn’t want to tell her the real reason, which had more to do with my freaky dream and staying up half the night because Vincent was here.
“Well, make sure you get your homework from one of your friends. I don’t want you falling behind.”
“Sure. I will. Do you need anything, Mom?” I asked.
“No, honey, I’m fine.” She adjusted herself on the couch and looked expectantly over at Ken.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” Ken was saying.
“All right.” She pouted.
“Now, Eileen,” he said soothingly. “You know I have to go to work and check on things. You’re in good hands,” he said, looking at me.
“Yeah, Mom, I’m here if you need anything.”
She didn’t seem to hear me.
“I’ll be back before you know it.” He leaned forward and gave her a lengthy kiss.
I turned away and straightened her stack of books that I had put on the console table earlier to give them some privacy. It was really sweet but still uncomfortable to watch someone swapping spit with my mom, even though it was Ken. You’d think I would be used to it by now but I wasn’t.
“Amber,” Ken said when he finally broke from the heated kiss and straightened again.
“Yeah?” I glanced up, my face burning.
“How was everything last night?” His hair was mussed and he had dark circles under his eyes.
“Oh, it was fine,” I said. “Officer Sykes came by.”
Ken did a double take. “He did?”
“Yeah, he knocked on the door and introduced himself.”
“He wasn’t supposed to come to the house.” He looked mad.
“I guess he wanted to make sure I was all right.” I shrugged. I didn’t mention that he freaked me out with his weirdness.
“That was nice of him,” Mom said.
Kens brows creased. “Did he come inside?”
“No. He just stood on the porch.”
Ken’s frown softened. “What did he say?”
“Not much. He just told me that you asked him to stop by.”
Ken nodded, seemingly accepting my answer and raked his hand through his hair. He dropped his hand and looked worriedly at Mom. “Now, I don’t want you leaving that couch, understand?”
“I have stuff I should be doing,” she tried to protest.
“Nonsense,” Ken cut her off with a look of warning. “You need to rest. Doctor’s orders, remember?”
“Fine,” she grumbled.
“Now, there’s my good girl,” he cooed.
I glanced up and Mom was giving Ken googly eyes.
“I will get you something to drink.”
“I’ll help you,” Ken said abruptly.
“I’ve got it,” I said, wanting to give them some more alone time. Ken made eyes at me. I guessed he wanted to talk to me. “Okay.”
“I’ll be right back,” he told Mom and followed me to the kitchen.
“What did
the Doctor say?” I asked as soon as Mom was out of earshot.
“She got pretty beat up in that fall but she’ll be fine. She just needs some rest,” he said. “Make sure she doesn’t try to climb the stairs.”
“I will,” I assured him as I glanced out of the kitchen doorway at her. She looked so fragile sitting on the couch. I had a sudden urge to go over and give her a big hug. “Did she say any more about how she fell?”
Ken shook his head. “She still says she felt like someone pushed her.”
“Do you believe her?” I could tell by the look on his face that what she said really bothered him.
“No. Do you?” he asked sounding expectant.
“I guess not.” I wrapped my arms around my waist. “I mean that would be impossible…right?”
“Yeah,” he sighed, looking worried. “I guess.”
It surprised me he wasn’t more adamant about the reason she gave about falling and couldn’t help but wonder why.
“I better get going so I can get back,” he said.
“All right. Thanks Ken.”
He smiled then. It was one of his warm fatherly smiles that made me instantly feel better.
“Anytime,” he said. “Do you need anything from the store?”
“Nah, I think I’m good. But thanks.”
“What’s your Mom’s favorite flower?”
“Oh she loves Peonies, but I don’t think you’ll have much luck finding them this late in the year, though.”
“I think you may be right,” he said. “What’s her second favorite flower?”
“Carnations,” I said.
He gave me a confused look. “Do they sell them at the grocery store?”
“They should.”
“What do they look like?”
“They have long green stems with flowers about this size.” I held up my hands to indicate the size. “They usually dye them different colors,” I elaborated.
“Oh, the ones they use for corsages?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Got it.” Ken pulled out his little notebook out of his pocket and jotted something down. “Now, don’t go filling up on junk, I owe you girls dinner.”
“I won’t,” I assured him, smiling.
Ken opened the fridge, pulled out a Dr. Pepper, and handed it off to me.
I took it from his hand and walked over to get a glass out of the cupboard.
“I’ll see you later.” Ken turned and left the kitchen.
Grabbing some ice from the freezer, I shut the door and dropped the cubes in Mom’s favorite glass. As I poured the soda, I heard the door shut. I added my red and white straw inside her drink. Taking a deep breath, I left the kitchen and went back out to talk to Mom. “Here you go,” I said, holding out the glass.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” she said as she took the glass from my hand. “Can you get my pain pills out of my purse? My ankle is bothering me.”
“Oh, sure.” I went over to the door and lifted her purse. It was really heavy. Mom was famous for putting everything including the kitchen sink in her bag. Not literally mind you, it was just another one of her sayings.
When I got back to the sofa, her drink was on the coffee table and her eyes were shut. Not wanting to wake her, I set her purse on the table within reaching distance and went to put away the rest of the laundry.
thirty nine
“So can you come out, Friday?” Glinda asked, her voice bordering on whinny.
“I don’t know. I still haven’t asked Mom. She’s been really clingy with her ankle still hurt.”
“Isn’t Ken, I mean Officer Warren, going to be there?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think he gets off until later.”
“Well, this sucks.” She sighed heavily into the phone.
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, what about Saturday?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t look good.”
“Arrgh!” she growled. “You have to go or else I’ll be stuck by myself with Cressida.”
“I want to go,” I reminded her. “But if Mom wants me to stay home, I can’t go.”
“Can’t she get a nurse or something?”
“Ah, no.” I shook my head. “I’ll talk to her later when she wakes up and see what she says, okay?”
“Okay.” She let out a lengthy audible sigh.
“I better go downstairs to check on her.” I took the last sip of my soda and set my glass back down.
“Too bad she didn’t get hurt worse,” Glinda mumbled.
“Glinda!” I sputtered shocked, nearly spitting out my sip of soda. “What a terrible thing to say.”
“I didn’t mean it, literally.” She exhaled. “I was only thinking if she was still in the hospital then you could come out.”
“No. I wouldn’t,” I told her sternly. “I would be at the hospital.”
“Oh. Right. I didn’t think of that.”
“I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right,” she sighed. “But…”
“Bye, Glinda.” I hung up the phone before she said something else I didn’t want to hear. Pulling my hair up into a messy bun, I climbed from bed and picked up my empty glass off my nightstand. My dark blue leather journal was open on top. The last entry I made was about my weird dream/nightmare. Not wanting to think about that now, I shut it quickly and shoved it into my nightstand drawer. Tinkerbelle wobbled briefly on top and then settled back down.
With Mom incapacitated, the rest of the week flew by in a blur. When I wasn’t rushing from one place to another getting her something, I was trying to study for exams and catch up on all the homework I had been slack about doing.
When Friday finally arrived, I was more than ready to get out of the house for a while. When Ken announced he had taken the weekend off to tend to Mom, I wanted to hug him.
“Where are you kids headed,” Ken asked as I pulled my wallet out of my bag and tossed it into one of my old purses I rarely used.
“Ah, not sure,” I said absently, checking to see if I had enough cash.
When I looked back up Ken was frowning.
“Ah…I think we might be going to the movies,” I lied quickly.
“What are you planning on seeing?”
“Um…” Crap. How didn’t I know what was on at the movies? “It’s a chick flick,” I said hoping he didn’t ask me which one. There had to be one playing, right?
Kens frown smoothed out. “Ah…” he said. “It’s just going to be you girls then?”
“Of course,” I said and kept rambling, “I mean, what guy wants to go to a chick-flick…right?” God. What was I doing?
“Ken does,” Mom said, smiling.
“Now Eileen,” Ken chided, his face reddening.
“I know,” she sighed. “He watches them for me.”
“That’s really nice,” I said glad to be out of the hot seat.
“Where’s the movie playing?”
“Um, at the Lincoln, I think.”
“Hey, you know they play Twilight there all year long.” His face turned a nice shade of red.
“They do?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, I’ve heard they do.” His face reddened more if possible. I had to wonder why? Was Ken a secret Twihardaholic? Nah, he couldn’t be…could he? Not able to wrap my head around that, I pulled on my jacket.
“Well, I better get going,” I said quickly and lifted my purse off the floor.
“Make sure you girls stay in the lit areas,” he reminded me.
“Oh, we will,” I assured him.
“Drive safe, honey,” Mom called out as I opened the door.
“I will.” I slipped outside before they could ask me any more questions.
Once outside, the cool air took my breath away. Walking quickly, I jumped in the car and pulled out my phone to text Glinda.
ME: On my way
As soon as I got the keys in the ignition, my phone bleated.
GLINDA: Hurry up!
I shoved my phone back in my purse and started Peggy Sue. After two tries and a few explicit words, the stupid thing finally sputtered to life. Mom was really going to have to get Peggy Sue an overhaul if she was going to keep it. The dang thing sounded like it was going to die.
Putting the car in reverse, I slowly backed out of the driveway and headed towards the Timber Museum to meet Glinda.
At least it wasn’t raining. I turned on the stereo and listened to Elvis. It was another catchy tune and I bobbed my head and hit the steering wheel in time. I was pretty impressed with myself. I felt like I made great time getting to the museum. Glinda’s car was in the lot with her high beams on which blinded me as I pulled in beside her.
I barely got the car in park when my passenger door flew open.
Glinda jumped in bringing a blast of cold air with her. “What took you so long?”
“I’m not a race car driver,” I snapped, instantly irritated since I thought I had made good time.
“Fine,” she huffed, situating herself in the seat and pulling on her seatbelt. She reached forward and brushed dirt off her boot. “How do I look?”
I glanced over at her. “You look great,” I said honestly. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and she was wearing a super cute purple scarf around her neck with little black skulls and crossbones on it with a black pea coat and skinny jeans that were tucked snugly into a pair of tall black boots. She looked really pulled together.
“So do you,” she said as she reached forward and cranked the heat. I looked down at my less than stellar outfit and sighed. Next to her, I looked like a reject.
“When’s everyone else getting here?” I turned down the heat.
“Slow poke, they already left.”
“I’m not that late.”
“Yeah, you are. I said eight. It’s almost nine.”
“It is?” I glanced at the clock in the car.
“That thing is slow,” she said following my gaze.
“When did everyone else leave?”
“About twenty minutes ago,” she said. “Can you go now? I want to get there before Christmas.”
“Ha. Ha. Very funny.” Not. “Geez.” I put the car into drive and headed out of the lot. “So, who was here?”