by H. T. Night
“You what?”
“I needed to know, Sam. Being two hours late from work wasn’t like him. It was out of character and therefore, I needed to know what was going on. You can understand that, right?”
I nodded. “Sounds like something I’d do, if I was skeptical about my husband’s whereabouts.”
“Exactly.”
“And?” I asked.
“I waited for him to leave work and I followed him. He drove in a direction that was away from our home, Sam. The opposite direction. My heart was beating so fast I thought I might have a heart attack during the chase.”
“Chase?” I laughed. “That wasn’t a chase, Mary Lou.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She smiled and took a sip of her drink, sitting back in her chair and holding her mug in both hands.
“Well? Where did he go?”
“He pulled into a business complex.”
“What kind of business complex?” I asked, waiting for the perfect moment to dive into my potato skins.
“At the time, I was so glued to him, I didn’t even notice what kind of businesses were in the complex and I didn’t care. I just knew that he was meeting his slut there and I planned to catch him in the act.”
“Come on, Mary Lou. Ricky isn’t like that at all.”
“I know.” Tears welled up in her eyes.
As they ran over her bottom lids, I instinctively reached across the table and took her hand in mine. “What happened?”
“I’m an idiot, that’s what happened.”
“So, you found out that Rick wasn’t cheating on you. Right?”
She nodded slowly, bringing her mug back to her lips. This time, I saw her bottom lip tremble before she took a sip. Then she placed the mug back on the table, sat up straight and shook her head, trying to suppress her emotions.
“The suspense is killing me, Mary Lou.”
“Ricky felt a lump in his throat, Sam. He went to his doctor and they sent him to a specialist. My husband thought he might have cancer and he didn’t want to worry me until he knew.” Tears streamed down her face like a smooth waterfall. My heart ached for her and Rick.
“What did he find out, Mary Lou?”
“When I followed him the other night, he was getting the results of the biopsy. It’s benign, thank God.” And that’s when the waterworks hit harder. She tried like hell to keep her sobs to an inward cry but every once in a while, a sob echoed through the place, causing the stares of three people who were sitting in the bar.
I squeezed her hand. “I’m so glad to hear that. The doctors will remove the tumor and Rick will be perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, but will our marriage be fine? I didn’t trust him, Sam.”
“Well, sis, he sort of gave you a reason not to trust him by not being honest with you from the start.”
I picked up a cheesy bacon-filled potato skin and took a nice, long bite.
“There’s more, Sam.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Rick and I talked about how important it is that we are there for each other in times like this. That we include each other in these sorts of things so that the other person isn’t left out. A spouse is your other half, you know.”
“Of course. That makes perfect sense.”
“That night, after we talked ourselves into exhaustion and fell asleep, I had a dream.”
The minute she said that, I knew that my dream of Tammy being engulfed in flames while something stood by and watched was going to take on a new meaning as my sister told me about her frightful dream. Something strange was happening and I’d bet my life that it wasn’t coincidental.
My eyes lifted from my plate. “What kind of dream?”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“I just wondered what kind of dream you had. Can you share it with me?”
“The whole dream took me by surprise,” my sister said. “It started with Rick and me taking the kids to Disneyland. I would have bet any money that what I was experiencing was real—the dream was vivid.”
“Yes, go on,” I encouraged.
“We had an amazing day. Until…” she trailed off. “It was about Billy Joe.” Mentioning her baby caught my attention.
“Until what?” I asked.
“Until we were leaving. I’m not sure how it happened, but one minute, Billy Joe was sucking down cotton candy and talking about the It’s a Small World ride and the next, he had collapsed right next to Space Mountain.”
“We’re still talking about the dream, right?”
“Yeah. This all happened in the dream, Sam, but it felt more real than anything I’d ever experienced. I was holding his hand and the next minute, he was dragging. He collapsed.”
“Then what happened?”
“Then the dream shifted and we were in the hospital. The doctors and nurses were rushing him to surgery and he was spitting up blood. There was so much blood, Sam. I was screaming at the top of my lungs, begging Billy Joe to be okay.”
“Okay. Where was Rick at the time?”
“Rick must have been there but I didn’t see him. At one point, the other two kids weren’t with me, so, in retrospect, I’m guessing they were in the waiting room with their dad. But, I ran toward Billy Joe’s room to be with him while they operated.”
She stopped and glanced down at her twisted hands resting on the table. Even though it was a dream and even after the dream, I saw the torment on her face, in her eyes.
“Was he okay? Did you wake up at that point?” The dream still had her wrapped into a ball of nerves.
“I stood at the door of his hospital room and stared inside at him. One minute, he was lying on the bed and doctors were surrounding him and the next, the room was engulfed in flames, Sam.”
I stood, ran my hand through the top of my long dark hair, wanted to walk away to regain my bearings but instead, I ran my hand over the chills that crept up on my arms.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Please tell me what happened next,” I said as I sat back in my chair.
“The doctors were still working on my son and I banged on the window to warn them that the flames were going to engulf them, but no one turned to look at me. They couldn’t hear me. I guess they didn’t feel the heat… but you know how dreams are.”
My mind was all over the board. I stared into my sister’s eyes, trying to understand the connection between our two dreams. What was going on and why would we both have a dream that was so similar? “What I’m going to ask you next is very important. Please answer honestly.”
“Of course.”
“Did you run into the room and try to save Billy Joe?” I asked. I now knew we had a version of the same dream. I wanted to know if we handled the dream the same way.
“No!” Tears spilled over her bottom lids again. And I instantly hated myself for asking her that question.
“Okay, tell me exactly what you did. And I need to know if there was someone else in the room that was not a doctor or medical staff?”
Her eyes grew wide and scared. She tensed up with a growing fear that was visible from any onlooker. She leaned forward and whispered, “How did you know?”
I pushed my plate away from me and leaned forward. “Mary Lou, tell me exactly what happened from that point and share with me everything that you saw. Don’t hold back a single detail.”
My sister’s eyes moved back and forth as if she were replaying a video in her brain. Then she brought her coffee cup up to her mouth with a shaky hand and took a small sip. Her eyes met mine.
“I was scared, Sam. I backed away from the door—the window in the center of the door gave me a horrific visual and I watched the flames grow and grow, lapping toward the doctors and my son.”
The horror that swept across her face gave me those wicked chills again across my arms—the goose bumps from hell. But she needed me to be the voice of reason, so I took a deep breath and reached across the table to take my sister’s hand.
&n
bsp; “Mary Lou, look at me. It’s okay. It was only a dream. I just want to know what happened.”
“I’m doing the best I can.”
“I know. Sometimes, in the details is where we find the clues we need to understand what happened.”
She nodded. “I wanted to save him, Sam. I really wanted to. Please believe me.”
“I do.”
“But then I saw a man or something like a man appear, standing over my son. He had one hand over his mouth and—”
“The other hand over his eyes.”
Her brows came together. “How did you know that?”
“Even at that point, you didn’t try to save your son?”
“No, I froze. I mean, literally froze. My fear wouldn’t let me push the door open and run to him. And yet, in some odd way, I didn’t think that he wanted Billy Joe. It was like he was after me, or he was…” she trailed off.
“He was what?”
“He was studying me.” She ran her hands over her face. “I know that sounds strange, but I didn’t feel my son was in any real danger.”
“I understand.” I sat back. “How did the dream end?”
“I woke up. At that moment, when that man arrived, I backed up until my body hit the wall, and I woke up.” She sighed. “You know those dreams that feel so real yet seem to be left undone?”
“Oh, do I.”
“I tried to go back to sleep and go back into the dream so I could save Billy Joe. But the nightmare was so disturbing, my mind wouldn’t let me venture back into it.”
“It’s okay. Listen to me, Mary Lou. If you ever sense that same man lurking around Billy Joe or Tammy and you’re not in a dream, please let me know.”
“The strange thing is, Sam, I don’t even know if it was a man. I have no memory of his face.”
“Your mind is blocking him out. Makes sense. It’s a protective mechanism.”
She nodded and took a drink from my soda, all while streaks of tears had left a trail of mascara in their wake. My heart ached for my sister. “Will you be okay, Mary Lou?”
“I’m fine. Go do what you have to do. I’m going to sit here, finish my coffee and take a taxi home.”
“Okay, but remember, let me know if anything else like that dream happens again. Even if it’s not a dream. Please.”
I took off in my minivan and decided to pick up Carl’s Jr for Danny and Tammy.
Before I made it home, I passed a place that had intrigued me for a while. I decided I would pull into the parking lot and see if maybe I could find some answers from an unlikely source.
Chapter Eight
I’d never believed in psychics, nor had I ever thought I’d actually walk into one to have a stranger read my future. But these were dire times and I needed to know that Tammy was not in danger.
I stepped out of my minivan and walked to the front of Maria’s Psychic Shop. I opened the door and it creaked in a way that made me wonder if I was the first customer Maria had had in a very long time. A noisy air conditioner vent kicked on and I wondered how that would interfere in a séance. My nerves were rattling as I waited for someone to come out and greet me. “Keep an open mind,” I whispered to myself. “An open mind.”
I scanned the dimly lit room of Maria’s shop area, wondering if people truly believed that she was clairvoyant—that she could see into a person’s future or present or even past. The round table was adorned with a purple tablecloth. A crystal ball, bright and shiny, sat in the middle of the table with various-sized candles encircling the magic glass ball.
It was rather theatrical in appearance. Black material draped across the walls and a red curtain separated the psychic room from the rest of the house. A black cat lay on the back of a leather couch, its yellow eyes glaring at me.
Would I know if she was really psychic? I’m an investigator, I should be able to tell these things, right?
After a few minutes of planning to leave and then deciding to stay and repeating that again and again, a woman stepped out from behind the red curtain and nodded at me. She wore a purple gown, had long silky black hair and boy, did she look the part.
I decided her entrance was my cue to leave. It just felt too fake and I needed something real—someone to tell me that the dream and the stranger I’d encountered wasn’t going to become reality. “I’m sorry. I don’t belong here. I don’t actually believe in this stuff.” I pivoted to turn and then she spoke. Her voice was soft and airy.
“Do you believe that you should leave before you’ve even allowed me to share what I know?”
I turned slowly, my eyes narrowed. “What do you know?”
“I know what ails you, Samantha Moon.”
I nearly jumped back fifty feet and more than ever, I wanted to hightail it out of there. “How do you know my name?” I had not spoken to anyone. When I walked into the place, it was empty and so I’d sat down and waited for someone to greet me. Unless she had run my license plate, she couldn’t have known who I was.
“I know a lot of things, Samantha. I know a lot of things about you. I believe you will be doing yourself an injustice if you leave without exploring what I know.”
“Are you Maria?” I asked.
“I am.” She motioned for me to sit down. “Please, have a seat, Sam. You don’t mind if I call you, Sam, right?”
“If you don’t mind that I call you Maria.” I tried to make light of the situation, but my line didn’t make me feel any better. And her face remained soft and sweet but lacked any real emotion.
“Please feel free to call me Maria.”
She sat across from me. Her skin was flawless, her eyes were gray with dark outer circles and she was calm, cool, soft-spoken. If you asked me, I’d say it was her poker face—the unfaltering gaze one gives during a poker game when they don’t want to give away the cards in their hand.
After we sat facing each other, staring at one another for a good minute, Maria finally asked, “What can I help you with, Sam?”
“When I was getting ready to leave, you said you know what ails me. Was that a true statement?”
“Yes, of course. I know why you’re here.”
“Then why ask me?”
Maria’s lips formed a smile just at the corners. “I believe that this should be a give-and-take experience. I won’t pry into your mind and in turn, I will let you ask me what is most pressing on your mind.”
“You can pry into my mind?”
“Well, let’s just say I can hear your thoughts, see your memories, that sort of thing. But I don’t like to invade, which is why I asked you what I can help you with. Or your partner.”
I hesitated, processing that this woman thought she could enter my mind and read my thoughts. If this were true, wouldn’t there be more studies on it and ultimately, more people doing it? Finally, I said to her, “I have some weird dreams that I’d like evaluated.”
She reached out and opened her hand. I slid mine to hers and let her grip my hand while she closed her eyes. I still wasn’t completely sold on Maria being able to read and know a person’s fate, but little by little, she was converting me into a believer. Starting with her knowledge of my partner.
Her eyes were still closed and I watched the rapid movements beneath her eyelids. At one point, her eyelids opened and there were no pupils, just a white cloudy wall where she should have had eyes.
“Maria?”
Her grip grew stronger and as suddenly as she squeezed my hand, she released her grip and abruptly pushed her chair back, stepping away from the table. She moved to a cross necklace made from wood that hung on a coat rack and she ran her fingers over the beads as her lips moved incessantly.
I partially stood. “What is it? What did you see?”
Maria shook her head. “I’m not at liberty to have this session with you, Samantha Moon. I’m sorry. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Leave? Why? I want to know about my dreams.”
“I’m afraid your fate is sealed.”
I stood, irritated, and frustrated and angry. Yes, I was angry, too. Something weird was happening to me and if this woman knew then I should know what she knew about my life. My thoughts were that much of a twister at the moment.
“Maria,” I said her name calmly, putting on my poker face. “You have a gift to see into someone’s life. I’m asking you to share with me what you can and whatever you feel that you can’t share, then leave that part out.”
She stared at me for what felt like forever. And then she slowly took her seat and extended her hand to the other chair, asking me to join her. I exhaled a sigh of relief.
Whatever information she could give me would help in my preparation of protecting my sweet little Tammy. So, I waited patiently, watching her movements and noticing the slight tremble in her bottom lip.
“Tammy is not in danger, Samantha. She won’t be in danger for many, many years.”
“But eventually, she will be?”
She hesitated. “Life is dangerous and so she will have her struggles and she will grow into who and what she will become.”
“Grow into what she will become?” Her words were bothering me. What in the heck was this woman talking about? Why would she do this to me—induce me with more fear and worry? I was here to make me feel better, not increase my blood pressure. “My sister and I had the same dream—the same but different.”
“Yes, both involving fire.”
I was sold. This woman, Maria, was the real deal! She knew things that were too personal. “Yes. Fire,” I said.
“It was a test, Sam.”
“What kind of test?”
“The kind that determines what happens next—who happens next.”
“What does that mean?” I was confused.
“That’s all I can tell you.”
“But that’s not enough.” I needed better solutions than this.
“Have you ever compiled a family tree?” she asked.
“No. Why?”
“There’s something in your bloodline that you should make yourself aware of. Something that goes back many generations.”
“And you can’t tell me what it is? Do I have a disease?”
“No, Samantha. Nothing like that. But this is out of my realm. There is nothing more I can tell you without putting myself in danger.”