I tried. I really did. But the thing about being psychic is you can’t always control it. Who am I kidding? I couldn’t ever control it. This was a first for me. Usually I only had visions in my sleep. I mean I could recall them after I’d had them, but they never materialized while I was awake before. Not a new image anyway.
And this was new.
The sun didn’t feel warming at all. If anything there was a chill deep down to the bone. Then I felt like I was drifting away - further and further away from my body until I was afraid I’d never be able to get back.
My head ached. It started with the old vision of the gun. It kept coming back as much as I was trying to send it away.
But then the gun turned into a hand holding a gun and then an arm was attached to the hand and suddenly I saw the whole of him holding the gun outstretched and pop, pop, pop, off it went.
Then just as suddenly the image went away and hard as I tried to get it back it wouldn’t come.
When I realized it was fruitless I also realized where I was and that Robby was just standing there with his paintbrush dangling at his side.
I could tell he had been trying to get my attention and that he knew I had been somewhere else.
“Are you okay?” he asked when he knew I was back in the land of the real.
“No, not really. I’m not feeling that great.”
“That’s obvious. You were practically hyperventilating and your eyes - they were staring out into space like you saw something. What was happening, Salem? Were you remembering the accident? Is that what my father’s pushing has done?” The bitterness in his voice couldn’t be masked.
“No, it’s nothing like that and your father has been a help. A great help. I’m dealing with things because of him, and because of you.”
“Well it didn’t look like it a minute ago. It didn’t look like you were dealing at all.”
I was about to speak when my grandmother screeching, “Stop him,” reverberated through my brain. Okay, now not only was I seeing images, but hearing a dead woman at the same time. And while I was awake.
Things were so not getting better.
I had to get out of there, had to get home to talk to my mother. “Look Robby, I can’t explain, but I feel like I have to get home right now. I’m sure this doesn’t make any sense, but I won’t feel right until I get there. Can we please do this some other time? I really need to talk to my mom.”
He brought the brush over to the sink and rinsed it along with his hands. I started to try to unzip the dress but couldn’t reach the top. “Stop him,” I heard my grandmother scream again.
“Robby, please help me unzip this.”
He stared at me for a second and didn’t seem to take a breath. “Aren’t you going to change in the bathroom?” His voice cracked mid-sentence as if he thought I planned on putting on a show.
“No, I don’t have time. Help me,” I urged. “Just get the top of this zipper then turn around.”
He did as I asked then I slipped the dress off while he had his back to me.
I looked up as the dress pooled to the floor and caught him looking at me in the glass of the window. “You’re peeking,” I yelled as I hopped into my jeans and yanked my sweatshirt over my head.
“I didn’t mean to.” He lowered his gaze to the floor. “It was an accident. I didn’t realize, and then there you were and it was hard not to … and … and … sorry.”
If I hadn’t been so worried it would have been laughable. But for my grandmother to be this insistent, then things must have reached critical mass.
“It’s okay, Robby. I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose.” I yanked on my sneakers without unlacing them. “Let’s get going though.”
“Do you mind me driving or would you rather my dad give us a lift?”
That’s just what I needed. Robby was going to find out more than I wanted him to know. And as much as I’d considered it earlier, I realized I didn’t need his dad knowing too. “I’ll be fine with you.”
“Great,” he said but looked like he didn’t mean it. “My car is, well … a little on the old side.”
It didn’t appear old to me. In fact I’d guess only a few years old. “The car that you’ve been driving?”
He looked a little sheepish. “Um, that would be my grandmother’s. She lets me use it when mine isn’t running.”
The way he said it hinted that it was the majority of the time.
“No problem, as long as it runs,” I said as we hustled out of the studio.
He was being kind. It wasn’t so much that it looked old, because it didn’t look that bad, from the outside anyway, but when he turned the key it made sounds that shouldn’t have come from any vehicle that was still on the road.
A loud groan of protest was followed by coughs and sputtering. The vehicle anguished out a moan of pain as it backed out of the driveway.
I tightened my seatbelt and prayed. Literally.
Chapter Fourteen
It was a classic car. A GTO. The ‘goat’ Robby called it. Maybe because it was stubborn and had attitude. But he should have called it ‘current pop star’ because there was more shaking going on than in a music video.
It would have bothered me on a normal day, a normal ride. But I was shaking to begin with and it had nothing to do with Robby’s car.
My hands clutched the sides of the seat and the cold leather upholstery iced hands that were already frozen with fear.
Knock, clang, bang. It was the exhaust or some other melancholy piece of equipment begging for a much needed retirement.
But the sound, so close to that of a gun. The time was getting near and I knew it. Knew it as well as I knew my own name.
I had to stop it from happening.
As we approached Tower Hill Road Robby’s vehicle started to vehemently protest.
I could tell his foot was flat on the gas pedal as the car choked and bucked its way slowly up the incline like the little engine that could.
When we reached the top and leveled off I realized I’d been holding my breath and let it out in a rush of air.
“Are you sure this car’s safe to have on the road?”
“It sounds worse than it is, but we’re still fixing it up. It’s the one thing my dad and I have in common.”
“I don’t get it,” I said momentarily distracted. “Your dad’s a great guy. Why is it so hard for the two of you to get along?”
“It’s complicated. I stopped being the model son when my mom got sick. I traded being the star athlete for the quiet of being an artist.”
He couldn’t be serious. I mean, we’re talking shrink here. “And that bothered him?”
“He skipped two grades so was always too young to play on the school teams.” Robby shrugged. “It was like when I was out there playing, he got to play too. I spoiled that for him. He just won’t admit it. But what are you talking about? Your relationship with your mom hasn’t exactly been perfect lately.”
That’s all it took to bring me back to the sense of doom I’d been feeling for the past hour.
As soon as we pulled into the driveway my tension increased. Her car wasn’t there. I ran to the garage but knew better. She only parked there at night when she knew she wasn’t going out again.
My breathing became more labored as I ran toward the house and the whole thing felt like it was happening in slow motion. My keys fumbled in my hands and fell to the ground.
Robby picked them up. “Which one is it? I’ll open the door.”
I pointed to the right key and as soon as the door was open I pushed past him into the kitchen. “Mom,” I yelled as I ran around the house desperate to find someone I knew wasn’t there.
By the time Robby caught up to me I was screaming for her. “Salem, it’s obvious she’s not here,” he said trying to calm me. Why don’t you call her cell?”
“Cell phone. That’s right, I can call her on her cell.” Smart. Sensible. I threw my arms around him and kissed him quick. “Tha
nk you, thank you.” I pulled back leaving him hanging forward, lips anticipating more.
“No problem,” he said looking at me as if I had a major one.
Okay, obviously not the time for a first kiss and not the kind of kiss that dreams are made of. But it happened. Past tense. I’d just have to deal with that later.
I grabbed the phone and punched in the numbers of her cell as Robby stood obviously still contemplating the kiss. “Mom, thank God. Where are you?”
“In the mall parking lot. I’m coming home now. Everything okay?”
She sounded light years away. I mean if we have the technology to have cell phones in the first place, why are they scratchy sounding half the time? But it was better than okay now that I’d heard her voice. Couldn’t let her know that though or she wouldn’t come straight home.
“No, it’s not. I had another vision. Only this time I was awake. It’s bad, Mom.”
“Salem, maybe you should talk to Dr. Martin,” resounded into the phone even scratchier than before.
“Stop it. I’m not hallucinating. You know it’s real. And it has nothing to do with being afraid of losing you. I know the difference.”
“Salem…”
Okay. Time to pull out the big guns. “And Grandma yelled to me.”
Dead air. Tick. Tick. Tick. “W-What?”
I looked up and saw Robby’s jaw dragging along the floor. But at this point it didn’t matter.
“Grandma’s telling me to hurry and to stop him from shooting you. She’s…she’s helping me.”
“Salem, I’m in the car, I’m fine, and I’ll be home soon. And there’s no one here with me. Damn, the battery is getting low.”
“Mom?” I heard the warning beeps on her phone and cursed her for never remembering to charge her phone. I couldn’t lose her, I just couldn’t.
“Damn, it’s going to….”
The line went dead. “Mom,” I screamed three or four times once again knowing she wasn’t there.
I threw the phone toward the wall. Okay, so not one of my most mature moments. Robby caught it mid-flight and placed it in the receiver as I started to cry. With a catch like that maybe he should have considered the baseball team.
He put his arms around me and drew me close. “Um,” he half whispered in my ear, “Did I hear you tell your mom that you…” he paused not able to finish the sentence.
“I hear one of your favorite dead women while images of the future flashes before my eyes. Yup, you got it.”
“Are you serious?” He half laughed then realized I was.
“No, I’m kidding.” I scowled and tried to pull away from him, but he held me firm.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He said it so simply like ‘why didn’t you tell me you were going to be late?’ Like it was something normal.
“Would you have believed me or just signed me up for extra sessions with your dad? Do you believe me now?” I said before he could answer the first question.
He pushed me back a bit so I could see his face while his hands held my shoulders firm. “Yeah. Yeah, I believe you. Now why don’t you tell me the details?”
“I’m psychic.”
“I sort of figured that out. So you’re like your grandmother in more than just looks?” Okay, so now it was my turn to be shocked. Of all the things Robby could have said, that was the one thing I never would have guessed. And he said it like it was common knowledge.
“You… How did you know that?”
He looked at me like it should have been obvious. “My grandparents knew her, remember?”
“And your dad, does he know any of this?” He glanced away making me glad I hadn’t info dumped on his father earlier in the doorway.
“He won’t be as easy a sell. He’s much more skeptical. But my grandfather said your grandmother knew his brother wasn’t coming back from the war. She showed up at their house crying the day my great uncle was killed. They tried to console her and tell her everything was all right. Thing was they found out a week later and sure enough he died when she said he did.”
I fell forward and hugged him tighter. “I’m not sure if the accident started all this or just being in this house, but once it started… I just can’t seem to shut it off. I had a vision of the mill fire, and then I knew they’d find a body.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No, I didn’t understand it until it was too late to help. But now,” I couldn’t go on. The tears were falling freely down my face.
“What is it that you see happening now?”
“Oh Robby, my mom is going to be shot. I know it, but I don’t know how to stop it. My grandmother… I know this sounds crazy, but I heard my grandmother while you were painting.”
He gave me a half smile and nudged my chin with his hand. “Did she say anything about me? About what a great guy I am?”
I punched him in the arm, but it did help lighten the mood a bit.
“Seriously Robby. She told me to hurry and it’s making me scared. Like I won’t be able to stop it in time. Can you believe I not only have visions, but I also hear ghosts?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I can. Don’t forget my mother died in my house. I know it’s not the same as you, but sometimes I just sort of … feel her there. I just know it. So yeah, I believe you.”
My heart soared. No doubt about it I was crazy for the dude.
Skyler started meowing and prancing around our feet. Then he stopped and looked up at the ceiling. Eyes fixated, focused.
“Find her!” echoed through my brain so loudly I looked at Robby to see if he had heard.
Skyler bolted out of the room and headed for the bathroom with me at his heels. I stopped short and Robby bumped into me with a force that sent me sprawling on the bathroom floor.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“No problem,” I said as he lifted me from the tile floor. My knees throbbed and it took me a moment to notice Skyler perched at the trash mewling.
“What does he want?” Robby asked.
“Probably looking for Q-Tips. He loves those.”
Robby saw the box on the counter to the left of the sink and took one out to try to tempt him.
“You have to use it.” I so did not want to explain Skyler’s little fetish.
“Use it?” He said it like he was trying to figure out what you’d use a Q-Tip for.
I rubbed my knee and tried to figure out why I’d run after Skyler. “It’s the ear wax he likes.”
“That’s just gross.” He handed me the unused Q-Tip and I put it on the sink.
“Yeah, I know. He’s always pulling them out of the trash.”
Skyler mewed again and pulled a yellow post it out of the garbage instead and started chewing on it.
“Looks like he likes paper too.”
“Not usually, unless you roll it in a ball. Then he bats it around,” I said as I picked it up and looked at it. A ‘to do’ list of my mother’s. Must have fallen out of her purse. Either that or it had a little help from my grandmother.
Right after the mall she had ‘Lil General. That meant she wasn’t coming straight home. Then it made sense. There would be no reason for anyone to shoot my mother unless she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The convenience store. And there had been a string of robberies throughout the state.
I really didn’t have much time.
“‘Lil General, Robby. We have to get to ‘Lil General. It’s going to happen there.”
“Are you sure?”
I stopped and concentrated as hard as I could. My grandmother’s voice came through, “It’s not her time, Salem. Hurry, please.”
“Yup, and Grandma thinks so too,” I said as I pushed him to get going.
“You hear from her recently?”
“Yeah, just a second ago.” He was wasting time and we couldn’t afford it.
“And she wants you to go to the convenience store. Anything in particular she wants?”
“She’s going to the
convenience store.”
I saw the light bulb go on. “Your mother?”
“No, my grandmother, she’s craving chocolate.”
Robby stared for a second before he realized I was being sarcastic. “Right, funny.”
The last few words distorted and were warbled. Then I heard him.
“Give me your money,” he said to the attendant. Only it wasn’t Robby’s voice. It was the shooter. Deep, edgy, tense. I hadn’t heard the voice before, but it was there now and I knew no matter how much time went by, I’d never forget it.
Then I saw the gun, the arm, the body, the face. Dirty. Unkempt. He had beard stubble that only meant he hadn’t shaved in the past few days. His greasy hair limply wisped over thinning spots on top of his head. The lines in his jaw were tight with hatred. And eyes- cold hard eyes devoid of any mercy. He was a man on the edge, a man who couldn’t think of the people he victimized, but only of the money he wanted.
Then I saw my mother.
The shock in her eyes. The second of recognition when she knew what was going to happen because she’d already heard it from me.
Not fear. Not exactly. I knew she was thinking of what would become of me.
And I panicked. What would I do if I couldn’t prevent it?
“Come on, Robby. We need to leave now. There’s no more time to waste.”
Chapter Fifteen
The ‘Lil General convenience store was only about seven minutes away. In a normal car, that is. In Robby’s, however, it took a bit longer.
At one point I wanted to get out and run figuring I’d get there faster. There was no telling how much time we had to intervene. I eyed my cell phone wondering if I should call information for the store’s number. But then what would I say? You’re about to get robbed? Oh yeah, that’d go over well.
“I wish you could get this car moving.”
Robby winced. “I’m trying, Salem, but it’s a little temperamental.”
Talk about an understatement. But he was trying his best. I shouldn’t have been taking it out on him, but time was getting short.
Finally the store was in sight. I strained my eyes to see the small parking area to detect my mother’s car, but we were still too far away. Seconds seemed like hours. There were a few cars in front of us and I willed them to move faster while we still had the green.
This time it wasn’t the fault of Robby’s relic. We were stuck behind Methuselah. This woman had to hold the Guinness World Record for oldest woman alive. Or at least oldest woman still driving. The white hair on the lady in front of us barely fringed the top of the seat. Then she moved her head a little to the right and it disappeared altogether behind the headrest.
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