Devil's Nightmare: Premonitions (Devil's Nightmare, Book 2)

by Robert Pruneda

“Whatever.”

  “Maybe you should go back to school, after all. You might even be able to take correspondence courses while you’re locked up.”

  Deputy Dilbecky laughed.

  Daniel frowned. “That’s not funny.”

  “I thought it was.” Aaron formed half a smile. “So, when did you find the necklace? Before or after you peeked into that barrel?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Yeah, actually it does.”

  The wind picked up and the light rain turned into a sudden downpour. The rain and wind uncovered the corner of an old Polaroid photograph buried in a thin layer of gravel.

  “We’d better get going,” Deputy Dilbecky suggested, pointing to the sky on the other side of the lake. “Looks like some even nastier weather.”

  The dark clouds flickered with electricity and dropped a sheet of even heavier rain. Aaron grabbed the exposed corner of the photo, pulled it out of the muddy gravel, and rushed over to the car. Dilbecky ran alongside him while attempting to keep them both under the cover of the large umbrella. A heavy gust of wind turned the portable canopy inside out and pulled it out of Dilbecky’s hand. She chased after the umbrella as it bounced towards the lake.

  Drenched from the rain, Aaron found shelter inside the vehicle, and yelled, “Forget the damn umbrella! Let’s go!”

  “Can someone roll this window up for me?” Daniel said from the back seat, as Deputy Dilbecky got inside the car. “I’m getting wet in here.”

  Water dripped from Aaron’s and Deputy Dilbecky’s soaked hair. They turned around and glared at Daniel without saying a word. The sound of a small electric motor muffled the wind and rain as the rear window sealed shut.

  †

  “You’re still here?” Aaron asked Sergeant Henderson, as he entered the office. “I thought you’d be at home with the wife and kids by now.”

  “Just finishing up some paperwork.” The windows vibrated from a boom of thunder. “I see you got caught in that storm.”

  “Very observant of you, Scott,” Aaron said, and placed a Polaroid photograph on the man’s desk. “Take a look at this and tell me what you see.”

  The lights flickered as Scott leaned forward to examine the photograph. The film had several spots of blemishes and scratches. The image was also dark and out-of-focus. “I don’t see anything.” He held the photograph at chest level. “Did you find this at the park?”

  “Yeah, buried in the gravel. I didn’t see it until the rain washed part of it up. It was about a hundred feet away from where we found that Cunningham kid.”

  “Okay.” Scott took another look at the photo. “You sure this isn’t just trash? Looks to me like someone took a crappy photo and tossed it.”

  “Take a closer look.” Aaron pointed to a spot in the upper left corner of the photograph. “There. You don’t see it?”

  He opened his desk drawer, retrieved a magnifying glass, and inspected the spot where Aaron pointed. “I still don’t—Oh, wait.” He moved the magnifying glass aside and squinted at the photograph before using the glass again.

  “You see it now?”

  “Yeah, it looks like…” Scott set the magnifying glass on the table.

  “It looks like you.”

  “Now, flip it over.”

  Henderson turned the Polaroid photograph over and raised his eyebrows at the letters and numbers smeared in dried blood: Is. 13:16. “It’s a scripture reference. Have you looked it up?”

  “No, I haven’t. I figured it would be quicker for you to do it.”

  “Quicker than Googling it?”

  Aaron grabbed a King James Bible from the desk and set it down. “Would you just do it, please?”

  Scott laughed. “Okay, okay. I’ll look it up for you.” He flipped through several pages of the Bible and mumbled, “You know, if you went to church every once in a while, then—”

  “Then what?”

  “Nothing,” Scott smirked. “Here it is. Isaiah 13:16. ‘Their children also shall be dashed into pieces before their eyes.’” He glanced at Aaron. “Sicko is using scripture to reference what he did to that poor kid.”

  Aaron peered over Scott’s shoulder. “It actually says that?”

  “That’s what it says.” He pointed his finger next to the scripture text. “There’s more.”

  Aaron read it. “’Their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished.’”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Scott said. “I mean, I get the first part, as sick as it is, but I don’t understand what message this guy is trying to send with this scripture. If you look at the whole context surrounding that one scripture, it’s about the fall of Babylon.”

  Aaron sighed and sat down. He chewed on the inside of his lower lip a little. “Could be a personal message. It may have nothing to do with the overall context or biblical interpretation of that scripture.”

  “So, you think the message is literal?”

  “I’d say the condition of that kid’s body confirms it,” Aaron said, as he stood and closed the Bible. “How literal we should take this is what concerns me.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Intimidation

  Aaron yawned and rubbed his face as he walked to his front patio. He considered skipping dinner and heading straight to bed after a hot shower. The storm that had soaked his clothes had finally passed, but lightning still danced in the distant clouds.

  “I’m home,” he announced as he entered the house. He tossed his keys on the entryway table and removed his utility belt and holster. The house was unusually quiet. “Hello? Anybody home?”

  The muted television displayed Lucy van Pelt bringing her younger brother Linus in from the cold after sleeping in the middle of a pumpkin patch. Aaron set his utility belt on the couch and grabbed the remote control. As he turned off the television, a door from down the hall slammed shut, followed by loud heavy metal music.

  Aaron tossed the remote control next to the belt and headed towards Cody’s bedroom. He knocked on the door and yelled, “Cody, lower that down.” He waited a few seconds, but the music continued to blare from inside the room. “Are you deaf?” he said, as he opened the door. “I said to lower—”

  The music stopped. The bedroom was empty. Aaron kept his hand on the door handle while his eyes scanned the room. He checked behind the door, and then turned to head back into the hallway—and ran straight into Cody, almost knocking him down. It was then that he noticed blood seeping from the scars on Cody’s bare chest. His sweat pants were also soaked in blood. There was a trail of bloody footprints from Samantha’s bedroom to where Cody stood. Tears of blood flowed from his eyes. He grabbed Aaron’s shirt with both hands and gazed into his eyes with blue irises surrounded by blood-filled scleras.

  Several squeaking rats charged into the hallway from the living room and surrounded them. They licked the blood from Cody’s feet and pants. Aaron watched in horror as more rats flooded into the hallway. The sound of the rodent herd was deafening and bone chilling.

  “Don’t leave me,” Cody cried. “I don’t want to die. Please.”

  Aaron glanced at Samantha’s bedroom door and placed both hands on Cody’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, Cody,” he said, as he lowered him into the hoard of rats until they covered him up to his chin.

  “No! No! No!” Cody cried with hysteria. “It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me! Don’t let—” He screamed in agony, jerking his head from side to side as the rats chewed at his lips, ears, and the bleeding scars on his chest.

  Aaron woke from the nightmare just as the rodents punctured Cody’s eyes with their nibbling teeth.

  †

  Aaron watched Cody tie his shoes while he got ready for school on Friday morning. He kept thinking about the dream he had, and how the nightmares involving Cody were getting more bizarre. What did they mean? He let out a subtle breath of exhaustion while he continued to gaze at the thirteen-year-old boy.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?” Cody wrinkled his foreh
ead and cocked his head back. “You okay?”

  “How did you sleep last night?” Aaron asked, ignoring the question.

  “Fine, I guess,” Cody said, while straightening the lip on his shoe. “Why?”

  Aaron shook his head. “Forget it. It’s nothing.”

  “Okay.” Cody gave him a sideways gaze while he grabbed his backpack. “Um… I’m out of lunch money. Could you—?”

  “Yeah, of course.” Aaron cleared his throat and reached into his wallet. He handed Cody a ten-dollar bill. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Did you know the kid that… the one that…”

  “Randy?” He slipped the bill into his pocket. “No, not really.”

  “How do you feel about his death?”

  “I don’t know. It sucks, I guess. Why?”

  Aaron rubbed the back of his neck. “You haven’t been having any nightmares?”

  “I didn’t dream about Randy getting killed, if that’s what you’re getting at.” Cody headed to the front door and yelled, “Samantha! Come on! We’re going to be late for school!”

  “I’m coming!” Samantha yelled back from the bathroom. “I just need another minute!”

  Maria entered the living room from the master bedroom. She tossed Aaron’s badge at him. “You left that on the bed.” Then she glanced around the living room. “Where’s Sam?”

  “Still in the bathroom,” Cody answered.

  “Samantha!” Maria yelled. “Let’s go! I swear that girl can spend an hour fixing her hair. Now, where did I put my purse?”

  Aaron grabbed it off the couch and handed it to her.

  “Thanks.” She gave him a kiss. “Try not to work so late tonight. I want us all together for a nice family dinner for a change.”

  “I’ll do my best.” He fastened his badge. “You want me to pick something up after work?”

  “No, I’m making enchiladas,” she said, as she dug into her purse and pulled out her keys. “Samantha, let’s go!”

  Cody glanced at Aaron and stepped outside. Samantha was still combing her hair when she left the bathroom. “Hey, is it okay if I sleep over at Rebecca’s tonight?”

  “No, not tonight,” Maria said, and guided her daughter towards the front door. “We’re having dinner as a family tonight. So—”

  “Aw, come on, Mom,” Samantha whined. “I never get to sleep over.”

  Maria grabbed Samantha’s backpack from the couch and handed it to her daughter. “We’ll talk about it in the car. Now, let’s go.”

  “Fine. Whatever.” Samantha pouted. “Bye, Aaron.”

  “Have fun at school,” Aaron said, smiling. “Maybe you can sleep over at Rebecca’s house tomorrow night.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Maria said, as she and her daughter stepped outside. Samantha complained and pouted all the way to the car. Aaron peered out the living room window. Cody pointed at his watch and said something to Samantha.

  “Shut up, Cody!” she yelled.

  Aaron shook his head. His phone rang while he put on his utility belt. It was Sheriff Donovan. “Morning, Sheriff,” he answered.

  “Where you at? On yer way to the office yet?”

  “No, I’m still at the house.” Aaron slipped his gun into its holster. “But I’m heading out right now.”

  “You got Cody with ya?”

  Aaron lowered his brow. “Um, no. It’s Maria’s turn to take the kids to school.” He looked out the window and watched the silver Mercedes disappear into the canopy of trees. “Why? What’s up?”

  “Well, Aaron, We got ourselves a bit of a conundrum.”

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “You see, I just got off the phone with one Bernice Slavic. You know, her husband owns the shop that maintains our vehicles.”

  “Yeah, I remember.” Aaron pinched the ridge of his nose. “What did she say?”

  “Well, Aaron, she gave me one doozy of an earful. Says someone from the Lost Maples County Sheriff’s Department harassed her boy at school yesterday. Know anything about that?”

  “I questioned Peter Slavic yesterday.” Aaron grabbed his keys off the entryway table and went outside. “But I sure as hell didn’t harass him.”

  “Didn’t you now? Because Principal Newman at Lee Hauser is backing up the mother’s claim.”

  “I didn’t do anything out of line. And we have Daniel Corbin in jail because of my so-called harassment.” Aaron locked the front door and headed towards his cruiser in the driveway. “I can’t help if that—”

  “Bernice says you threatened her boy.”

  “Threatened him? Oh, give me a break, Richard. I didn’t threaten anybody. All I did was use a little bit of scare tactics to get the information I needed.”

  “And how ‘bout you questioning him about bullying Cody? Is that true?”

  Aaron unlocked the car door and held it open. “Principal Newman tell you that?”

  “Dang it, Aaron, answer the gosh darn question.”

  Aaron tilted his head skyward and closed his fist as if he was choking someone. “Yeah, the subject might have come up.”

  “Listen to me, Aaron, I don’t know how you done things in Austin, but here in Lost Maples, we call that an abuse of power. You used yer position as a law enforcement officer to intimidate a student about a personal matter. Ya just can’t be doing stuff like that here. Comprende, amigo?”

  “Do you know how many kids commit suicide every year because of bullying? My kid tried to kill himself, Richard.” Aaron leaned against the cruiser and patted around his pockets for his cigarettes. “And, with all due respect, sir, forgive me for not trusting the public school system to handle the situation. All I did was inform that punk that I knew what he was doing to Cody.”

  “I’m sorry ‘bout what happened to Cody. Honest to God, I am. But we got protocols for these things. We can’t be letting our emotions get in the way of doing the right thing. You know that, Aaron. You’re a smart fella. And if Peter Slavic is picking on yer boy, then the school will take care of it… the right way.”

  “Sure they will,” Aaron said. He got in his car and started the engine. “Just don’t forget that Peter Slavic is also the last one that saw Randall Cunningham alive after tossing him in the lake.”

  “Aaron, listen to me—”

  “Anyway, my phone is about to die,” he lied. “I’ll see you at the office.”

  †

  Cody pushed the flush handle on the urinal and stepped over to the sink in the bathroom at school. While he washed his hands, he glanced at the mirror. Peter was standing a few feet behind him. Cody rolled his eyes and sighed. He ignored Peter and reached for the paper towel dispenser.

  Peter pushed him forward into the counter and pressed his heavy body against him, holding him there with one hand over his mouth. Cody struggled to break free and yelled a muffled cry for help, but it was useless. Peter was much stronger and weighed twice as much as he did. Peter kept his hand over Cody’s mouth, yanked his head back, and flipped open a pocketknife. Cody’s eyes filled with panic and tears when Peter pressed the cold steel under his chin.

  “I want you to listen to me very carefully, queer,” Peter said into Cody’s ear. “Your dad paid me a visit yesterday.”

  Cody tried to say something, but Peter kept his hand pressed over his mouth.

  “I don’t give a shit that he’s a cop. I promise if that pig don’t back the fuck off, you gonna wish you never told him a damn thing about me.” Peter raised the point of the shiny blade to within a centimeter of Cody’s bruised right eye. “So, don’t fuck with me.”

  Cody’s eyes focused onto the knife and grew wider. Tears dropped from them and rolled down his cheeks.

  “Now, you listen to me. And you listen good. I’m gonna let you go, and you ain’t gonna say nothin’ to nobody.” Peter lowered the knife back to Cody’s neck. “Got it?” Peter lowered the blade and pressed the pointed end against Cody’s crotch. “Or do I need to cut your balls off like a pig to prove I’m not fucking
around?”

  Cody nodded and looked into Peter’s eyes through the reflection in the mirror.

  “Good.” Peter removed his hand from Cody’s mouth and closed the knife. He stepped back. “Turn around.”

  Cody ran his hand under his nose and sniffled. He turned around slowly and whimpered, “I told him not to say anything.”

  “You know what, Cody? I really don’t give a shit. You shouldn’t have said nothin’ at all.” Peter placed his hand on Cody’s cheek and rubbed his thumb under his tear-stricken eye. “Don’t you worry, though. I ain’t gonna hurt this pretty little face of yours no more. I shouldn’t have hit you in the face like that.”

  Cody’s body relaxed a little at that statement.

  “But, I can’t have you leave here thinking I’m going soft on you either.” Peter smiled. “Remember when you punched me?”

  “What?”

  Peter closed his fist and landed a solid punch in between Cody’s legs. He squealed at the impact and fell to the floor, doubling over with his hands pressed over his crotch. Peter kicked him in the stomach three times. “Hittin’ you in the face leaves marks. Now keep your goddamn mouth shut, and maybe I’ll go easy on you.” He landed another kick to Cody’s stomach before leaving the restroom.

  Cody coughed and gasped for air. Kevin stood near the door just inside the restroom, staring at him with his mouth slightly agape.

  “Come on, Kev,” Peter said as he headed towards the door. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t have no bruises this time.”

  Kevin pressed his lips together and took a deep breath through his nose. He and Cody locked eyes for a moment. He started taking a step forward before Peter grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Peter warned. “Now let’s go.”

  Kevin did as Peter ordered, leaving Cody on the restroom floor in the fetal position, crying in physical and emotional pain.

  †

  “You outdid yourself with this one, babe,” Aaron said, complimenting Maria as he cut into a chicken enchilada. She had delivered on her promise to cook one of her specialties, along with frijoles a la charra, fried rice, and fresh guacamole. She’d even made the tortillas from scratch. “Samantha doesn’t know what she’s missing.”