An Unsettled Past

by C. L. Brees

  The drive took around ten minutes, and they finally arrived at the restaurant. Mike pulled the Escalade up to the valet stand. He put the vehicle into park as a middle aged valet rushed to the driver’s side and handed him a parking stub.

  Mike jumped from the driver’s seat and ran around the back of the vehicle towards the passenger side. Always the gentlemen, he wanted to make sure he opened the car door for Alex. However, by the time he reached the other side, Alex was standing with everyone under two large umbrellas. They all stood and gawked at him.

  “Mike, you’re all wet,” Amy stated as Mike stood there in the rain and ran his fingers through his short brown hair.

  “I’ll be fine; I’m not going to melt.”

  They hurried indoors to escape the onslaught of rain striking them in the face. They approached the hostess stand and were greeted almost instantly by a blonde, slender, pale skinned woman.

  She glanced at them and smiled, “Hi folks, How many for dinner tonight?”

  “There’ll be five of us for dinner,” Mike identified as she counted out the menus and gestured for them to follow her.

  Everyone followed her as she seated them at a large round table near the window. Alex was ecstatic, as he could now people watch. The friendly hostess handed out the menus to the table and explained that their server would be with them in a few moments. Unfolding his napkin, Alex placed it in his lap in preparation for dinner. Just as he turned his head to gaze out the large window their server, Katie, arrived at the table. Standing before them in her white shirt and black pants, she introduced herself. “Good evening everyone. My name is Katie, and I’ll be taking care of you all tonight. Can I start you all out with something besides water?”

  “I’ll take a sweet tea here,” Alex ordered as she jotted it down on her notepad as she turned to Mike.

  “I’m fine with water. Do you think we could get a few lemon wedges for the table though?” Mike inquired.

  “Absolutely. I’ll make sure to get that right over to you. How about you?” she asked as she looked at Brandy.

  “Oh, I’ll just be drinking water this evening. Thank you, though.”

  “Sure, any other special requests for drinks besides water?”

  The table sat silent. The odd one out, Alex was the only person who was drinking something besides water at the table that evening. The server galloped away from the table and disappeared into the kitchen.

  “Guys I just have to say thanks again for having me here with you all tonight. It’s been great meeting John and Amy for the first time, even though I have heard so many wonderful things about you. It’s awesome to finally be able to put a face with the name,” Brandy expressed as she reached over and gave Alex a hug.

  “I’m glad you’re here with us too! Tonight is about friendships; we can deal with the other bullshit tomorrow,” Alex cheered as everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

  Katie returned a few moments later with a sweet tea and lemon wedges in hand. She took their food order as they all sat around and continued to converse about things happier than murder and mayhem. They all placed their orders and the food came fairly quickly to the table. Everyone ate and laughed as they let go of their inhabitations and enjoyed a nice quiet evening away from the confines of Alex’s house. The bill finally arrived at the table and Alex snatched it out of Mike’s hand. “You are not going to pay for this. I invited all of you out tonight, so this dinner is on me,” he insisted.

  Hesitantly Amy asked, “Alex, are you sure?”

  “I’m 100 percent sure. This is my treat tonight. You have all been so supportive and reassuring these past two days. This really is the least I can do to pay you all back for everything you’ve done.”

  “Well, thank you. That’s extremely sweet of you to pick up the tab tonight. Next time we go out, it’ll be my treat,” Amy promised.

  “Amy, I insist that you save your money for your move. Remember, your parents are going to cut you off the minute you move out.”

  “You do make a good point; my parents are a mess. They’re cutting me off because they have to replace all of the stuff my mom breaks every week.”

  After Alex paid the bill, everyone stood up and congregated around the table putting their jackets back on in preparation to re-enter the storm outside. The large meal weighed heavy on their stomachs, and moving was a bit slower than normal. They eventually all made it to the main door where Mike approached the valet stand to retrieve his car.

  Night had fallen on the sleepy suburban town, and with the freakish weather the streets were eerily calm for a Thursday night. The usual scene of happy couples strolling along the avenue gawking at the shop windows was replaced by flashes of lightning and ferocious winds that whipped down Fifth Avenue. The somberness garnered the attention of Alex who was already on heightened alert. Something is going to happen; I can feel it.

  The valet driver pulled up in front of the restaurant and stepped out of the vehicle, dropping the keys in the palm of Mike’s hand as he slipped the driver a five-dollar bill for his trouble. They piled one by one into the car. The storm quickly reminded everyone it had no plans to end anytime soon with a thunderous clap of thunder. The lightning flashed so intensely that they could make out the outline of the mountain range in the distance just a few miles to the west. Once everyone was buckled in, Mike peeled out and headed back towards Alex’s house. The rain pounded the windshield as the wipers barely kept up with the flow of water that poured down upon them. Alex glanced over at the speedometer and shook his head.

  “Slow down, Mike. How can you even see far enough to be driving this fast?”

  “Alex, I’m a trained professional at this. You do know that I do this for a living. So, sit back and relax, we’ll be ok. You know, you really do worry too much.”

  Tightening the seatbelt around his chest, Alex rolled his eyes, “I’m more worried about something running out in front of you. I know you wouldn’t intentionally hurt us.”

  As they waited at the traffic light at the corner of Mountain Pass and Valley View Boulevard, Alex gazed out the window to his right towards the 7-11 store. The same store had been the commencement of a huge ripple in his life. The light turned green and Mike floored it through the intersection. Alex, however, turned his head as they passed the store, entranced with it to the point he could focus on nothing else. Eventually, the store disappeared from his sightline, just as they approached the entrance to their subdivision. The road was dark as they city still hadn’t installed street lights along this stretch of road. Alex could see the shimmering lights of the exquisite entrance about a quarter of a mile down the road. He exhaled loudly because he knew that once they arrived, everyone could just relax in the safety of his home. He knew that all they had to do was get there and everything would be alright. The vehicle slowed as they approached the turn. As Mike turned right down the wide avenue, Alex was perplexed to not see the guard stepping out of his shack. He turned to Mike with concern. “Where’s the guard? That’s strange that he hasn’t come out yet. He’s usually on it when a car turns in.”

  “Maybe he’s just waiting for us to get closer. In case you missed it, it’s raining, and I know I wouldn’t be standing out in this if I didn’t have to.”

  “You make an excellent point.”

  The SUV came to a stop at the shack as Mike intensely gazed towards the window of the brick building. There were no signs of movement inside the illuminated structure. He slowly backed up and put the SUV in park. Mike reached towards the glovebox and pulled out his service weapon as he prepared to exit the vehicle. As he pulled the weapon out Alex gasped with fear.

  “What in the hell do you need that for?” “Something doesn’t feel right about this. I want you all to stay here and lock the doors. Do not under any circumstances unlock it for anyone except me. I’ll be back.”

  With his gun drawn, he slowly stepped from the vehicle and approached the guard shack. It didn’t take him long to figure out why the guard had no
t greeted them as he usually would. He peeked into the window to find the lifeless body of the guard laid out on the floor. His body lay face down in a pool of blood. Mike slowly opened the door to find even more blood flung on the ceiling in an arc. He cautiously stepped closer to the body. He reached down and gently lifted the guard’s forearm to check for a pulse. There were no signs of life left. Mike retreated from the body as quickly as he could without touching anything else. He grabbed for his cell phone in his jacket pocket to call for help. He called the station and a nonchalant colleague answered the phone. “Ridgewood Hills Police, Sgt. Rivers speaking; how can I help?”

  In a panicked voice Mike spoke. “Hey, Rivers, its Temple here. Look, we have a situation here at the Apple Valley subdivision off of Valley View. I need help right away.”

  “Temple, what in the world is going on up there?”

  “I have a dead guard up here. His throat has been slit. God, he’s actually almost been decapitated.”

  “What in the world? Alright, stay right where you are. I’m sending help your way.”

  “I’ll be right here, waiting.”

  He exited the shack and swiftly made his way back towards the Escalade. He banged heavily on the window as Alex quickly unlocked the door. Mike jumped into the driver’s seat and put the car into drive and sped off at a high rate of speed.

  “Mike, where’s the guard? Something is wrong—tell me what is going on.”

  “I need to get you all somewhere safe, now. The police are on their way here. We have a crime scene to process tonight.”

  As the tires screeched on the wet pavement below, Brandy nervously asked, “What exactly do you mean, a crime scene?”

  “The guard is dead. Someone slit his throat, and there is blood everywhere in that shack. The smell is overpowering of copper. I have to get you guys somewhere safe.”

  The SUV came to an abrupt stop at the end of the driveway of Alex’s house. Everyone rushed out into the rain. John stood there at the driver’s side window, “What should we do now?”

  “Get inside, set the alarm, and wait until I either call or come back. Do not open that door for anyone – a-n-y-o-n-e, you understand me?”

  “Understood. Please be safe, Mike,” Alex announced as he gathered his friends and ran towards the house.

  He sat there at the edge of the driveway until everyone had safely entered the house, and he rapidly backed the SUV back onto the street. He drove a few feet, whipped a U-turn, and drove back towards the entrance. He should have stayed with the guard and told Alex to drive back home without him. He just didn’t feel safe doing that, but now there would be hell to pay for disobeying a direct order to remain at the scene and secure it.

  Meanwhile, the four friends entered the house as Alex approached the alarm to disarm and rearm it. Oddly, it wasn’t beeping when he walked in. “Did I set the alarm when we left? I would swear that I did.”

  “You did—I stood right next to you when you did. Is it not armed anymore?”

  “It’s not. Maybe there was a power failure while we were out and something happened,” he hypothesized as he scanned the darkened room.

  Amy scanned the room with Alex and pointed out one crucial piece of information, “I don’t think that happened. Look at all of the digital clocks—they aren’t blinking.”

  He began to panic, “Check all of the doors and windows. Something isn’t right here.”

  Hastily, the four took off in different directions to check the house for a possible breech. As each of them entered a room, they turned the lights on full blast and yelled out to one another.

  Amy yelled from the kitchen, “Garage door and window are locked.”

  John yelled from the dining room area, “Everything in here is locked, too.”

  Meanwhile, Brandy was in the living room ensuring all the windows and checking for possible evidence of a break-in. Everything checked out fine there also. Within a few moments the entire main floor was checked, and they all reassembled in the dining room to talk things out.

  Hysterically, Brandy shouted out as she paced around the dining room, “I knew it was a bad idea for me to stay here. Now I’m stuck with some maniac on the loose in the neighborhood.”

  “We’re not going to let anything happen to you, I promise. When we find out exactly what these guys want we’ll make sure to give it back to them. No harm, no foul.”

  John stood to his feet and cried out, “I can’t stay here—I need to go home right now. If I stay here with you guys, I’m surely going to die. I love you all dearly, but I don’t want any part of this.”

  John began briskly walking towards the door as Alex jumped to his feet. He stepped in between John and the front door and put his arms out in front of him. “Hold it right there. No one is leaving this house. It isn’t safe out there anymore. You know that the guard is dead, and now there is no one protecting us from these maniacs. There’s no telling what will happen if you go off on your own. These guys obviously mean serious business. I can’t allow anyone to leave. We wait here for Mike to return, just like he said.”

  John lashed out at Alex. “You tell me, right here, right now, that nothing is going to happen to us, and I’ll stay.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to any of us as long as we stay together. There’s safety in numbers. They can’t take us all. If I could, I would go back thirteen years ago and change the course of history, but we all know that is impossible.”

  Sympathetically, Amy softly touched his shoulder. “We know, and we trust you to keep us safe. We still need to sweep the upstairs. I think we should all go together to check on it.”

  “I don’t know how comfortable I am going upstairs. It gives me the creeps up there.”

  “Fine. Brandy and John stay down here while we go upstairs and check. If you hear us scream—run.”

  They crept up the wooden staircase towards the second floor. With each step the floor beneath creaked and moaned. As he stepped onto the sixth step, a cool gust of wind blew strongly down the stairwell towards them. Paralyzed with fear, they stopped ascending the stairs. Alex turned his head slightly and looked down at Amy who was one step behind him.

  “Did you feel that?”

  She nodded her head. “Something’s not right. I’m not going up there—sorry.”

  “Agreed. Let’s just stay downstairs for the time being.”

  They walked back into the dining room as the other two looked at them confused. The heavy rain was pounding against the French door in the dining room as the lighting and thunder continued making the situation even more uneasy.

  “What did you find up there?”

  “Wind. Something isn’t right, so we came back down. If anyone is in this house, they’re upstairs.”

  “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Absolutely not. Just keep an eye on the staircase; that way we aren’t taken by surprise.”

  They sat at the table in silence watching the staircase for any signs of an intruder. A few minutes passed by and there was still no sign of anyone in the house. The hush of the room was abruptly broken when the grandfather clock stuck eight. Startled, Amy began twitching in her seat, the adrenaline pumping through her veins faster and steadier now. In a last ditch effort to try to calm everyone’s nerves, Alex broke the silence that had engulfed the room.

  “Here’s the plan—and you guys feel free to chime in with your opinions. I think we should stay put and wait on Mike to get back. Since he’s off duty, maybe they will not keep him too long. What do you all think?”

  John chimed in: “So is Mike staying here with us tonight?”

  “Absolutely, yes. I’m sure once they get things taken care of he’ll be back as quickly as he can. He knows we’re in danger.”

  Just as he ended his sentence his phone began ringing. Looking down at the caller ID, he saw it was Mike. “Hey, what’s going on over there?”

  “It’s a damn mess here. The crime scene unit just arrived and they’re collecting evidence
now. My boss told me to go home, clean up, and then head back your way to keep you all safe.”

  “Well, that’s good news. So you’ll be heading back here then shortly?”

  “Yes, just let me run home quickly and grab a change of clothes and take a quick shower. You guys are safe, right?”

  “As safe as we’re going to be. I felt a gust of wind coming from upstairs. I think someone could possibly be in the house. I’m sure we’re just being paranoid and I left a window open or something.”

  “Well, remember that call you received earlier, the one you thought was from Heather?”

  “Yeah, did the trace come back yet?”

  “Yeah it did. The number came back registered to your mother. Did you know that you have a second phone line in your house?”

  “Maybe she has one in the office that I don’t know about. But wait, I was here in the house at the time; no one was in here.”

  “Maybe someone was after all. Look, I’m going to head your way in a few minutes and bring you all back to my apartment. I don’t feel comfortable with you all there anymore.”

  Alex attempted to get his emotions in check. “Alright, we’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

  “I want every one of you to go the kitchen now, and grab whatever you can to protect yourself. They’ve been inside your house. Don’t lower your guard for a second. See you in a few.”

  Just as Alex was about to hang up the phone, all of the lights in the house suddenly went black. The only thing illuminating the house were the bolts of lightning streaking across the sky. Seconds later, the bright flash of exploding gunpowder and ear piercing sound of a gunshot rang out through the house.