“No, I don’t think you’re a lunatic. I believe you.” He meant it. “Everything makes sense now. I remember hearing about the plane crash on the news and I even remember seeing the Anderson’s interview that day. Also, Austin told me something about a plane crash, or one that was going to crash…” he stopped, thinking back on what Austin had said. “I thought that he was just being paranoid,” he chuckled under his breath. “But now I see that what he ‘couldn’t tell me’ wasn’t about him being scared to fly, it was all about the Andersons, and you.”
“Yeah, so now looking at all the pieces, it seems like Eve was following me, like when she showed up at the airport that day. I think she was there to stop me from intervening for some reason.”
Collin was trying to puzzle this out. “Why do you think she was trying to stop you? How would she even know about this? You said you hadn’t told anyone about it before it happened.”
“I know…I’ve been thinking about that. Somehow I’m going to find the answer.”
There was a break in our conversation and I was building up the courage to tell him about what was going to happen next, or what could happen next in his life. I had to do it. Why was it such an internal battle for me? Bre, you have to tell him!
But Collin’s cell phone rang. “Hello? Hey, Aunt Julie!” He covered up the phone and whispered to me. “I forgot to call and tell her my plane was delayed.” He grit his teeth and shrugged his shoulders.
I smiled back at him, but then immediately his face dropped, horror in his eyes.
“What?” His posture went rigid. “W-what do you mean h…” he stammered. “No but…” He paused for a long moment. The wait was excruciating, not knowing what was going on. “No, he called me and said he was home early and he was going to pick me up at the airport. Now, now, calm down, are you at the hospital?” He ran his hand over his mouth. “Okay, so you don’t know for sure then?” Another pause. “Call me the moment you hear anything…everything’s going to be fine, do you hear me? He’s going to be fine. Alright…bye.”
He hung the phone up and just stared at it in his hand.
“Collin, what’s going on?”
He took a deep breath. “It’s my dad, he’s…” he took another breath, “He’s been in an accident.”
“Oh my gosh, is he okay?”
“I don’t know. My aunt said it was really bad and she’s getting mixed stories from a couple of people who saw it…some people are saying that the man in the accident didn’t…didn’t make it and some say that they didn’t know for sure, that he was immediately rushed to the hospital.” His voice was shaking, and his hands were trembling.
“Collin, I’m so sorry,” I placed my hand on his back, but he immediately got up and started pacing back and forth.
“Maybe he’s alright, maybe…” But I knew nothing I said to him right now would help.
We waited an eternity for another call. Collin checked his phone probably a dozen times, anxiously waiting for it to ring. He tried calling his aunt back but couldn’t get through. He called all the hospitals in the San Francisco area with no luck.
“I can’t just sit here,” he fired off. As the words exited his mouth, his phone rang. “Hello?” Collin instinctively was shaking, waiting for any news.
My heart stopped.
“What did they say?” He hung on every word, then fell to his knees, dropping the phone from his hand.
I jumped up and dropped to my knees right in front of him. “Collin, what?” My hands came up to grab his shoulders, but stopped. I wanted to comfort him, but I wasn’t sure if I should touch him right now.
“He’s gone…He’s dead,” his face went white. His breathing was irregular. He sat there on the floor, limp, unmoving, in complete shock that his father was gone. I silently moved closer and held him. He sank into my arms and wept deeply. My heart broke with his as we both cried.
It was then that I knew the dream I had about the accident was not about Collin at all, but his father.
The days and nights crept sluggishly along. I was depressed and the guilt was strangling me. I couldn’t get every ‘if only’ scenario out of my head. If only I had told Collin sooner about the dream. If only I had known it was his father. If only I had asked to see a picture of his dad…then maybe, but how was I to know? The torturous thought that Collin or Austin may never speak to me again if they found out that I knew, haunted me to the deepest hollow of my fears.
It had been three days since Collin and Austin left for San Francisco. Three very long unbearable days filled with crying and no sleep. I just walked around the house like a zombie trying to find its resting place.
The days were a blur. School started back up and I was glad to be forced to do something besides seclude myself in my room. I was dazed in class. A few times I was called on to answer questions, but each time I just said, “pass.” It wasn’t like me, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t block the situation out of my head, as much as I tried. Mr. Anderson was the only teacher that never confronted me about my lack of participation.
During lunch on Wednesday, I told Becka I didn’t want to sit with anyone but her. So we found a quiet corner in the cafeteria where most of the freshman sat, usually to avoid the upper classman. I hadn’t eaten very much since that day at the airport, so Becka forced me to eat a banana and some of her sandwich.
“Bre, I’m worried about you. I understand you feel like it’s your fault, but it’s not. There’s no way you could’ve prevented this.”
“Yes there is.” I took an unwanted bite of banana and swallowed. “If only I had listened to you and told Collin when I had the chance then…”
“Then, what? You could’ve told him to call his father? No, because you thought it was Collin. Collin still would’ve been distracted and not called. Even more so, because what was he going to say, ‘Oh, um dad, I can’t come home because this girl that I just met thinks I’m going to die if I go home.’ No, he wouldn’t have called.”
“Maybe,” I muttered.
Beck lowered her chin. “No, not maybe. These things just happen. It’s a part of life.”
“But…I’m the person who sees things before they happen. I’m the person that can prevent them.” I lowered my eyes to the table.
“You can’t help everyone in the world, and besides, you didn’t know if the car crash was the same as the plane crash situation. The car crash scenario was different, you said so yourself.”
She was right. I really had thought that the car crash was different because it was a dream and not a vision. Regardless, I still hurt for Collin. Now what was he going to do? How was he going to make it through this?
“Have you talked to Collin?” Becka asked.
“No. I’ve tried calling, but he never has his phone on. I left messages, but I haven’t heard back,” I murmured.
“What about Austin?”
I shook my head.
“Keep trying. I’m sure they’re just overwhelmed and busy making funeral arrangements.”
“Yeah.” My mind was adrift.
“So, let’s see those papers you were telling me about,” she instructed.
I dug in my backpack and handed her the note, transcript and ticket.
"It doesn't make sense," I complained as Rebecca looked closely at the papers. "I don't understand what she is doing."
Rebecca pointed to the word in red. "What does this mean?"
“I don’t know. It looks like some type of weird name to me. What do you think?”
“Lapsus,” she said out loud. “Yeah, I think you’re right, but I never heard that name before. It’s really eerie sounding,” she responded. “Well, like I said before, I think you’re reading way too much into it.” She folded the papers up and slid it back to me.
“How can you say that after looking at all of this?” I was getting frustrated.
“I don’t know, I think it’s weird, but she’s also weird,” Becka shrugged.
“Yeah, and that weird girl almost ki
lled you.”
She looked up from her food and narrowed her eyes at me.
“Don’t ever talk about that night again,” she threatened. The night of the party really messed with Rebecca’s head. It would take time to get over the fact that she could’ve died that night, but right now, I needed her to be on my side. I had to say it. Eve almost killed Rebecca and who knows what else she’s capable of. She almost ran me over at the airport. What was next?
“I’m getting to the bottom of this,” I said emphatically.
“What are you planning on doing, walking up to her and asking her straight out?”
“I don’t know yet,” I stared at a crack in the wall, mulling over my thoughts.
“Or go back to her house and snoop again…Yeah right, just leave it alone, Bre.”
“Yes!” I blurted out. It was brilliant, exactly what I needed to do.
Becka frowned. “Yes, what?”
“That’s what I have to do. Go back to her house and find more evidence.” I picked up the sandwich and took a bit.
“Are you crazy? She’s not going to just let you go into her house and snoop around in her room!” She rolled her eyes.
“No. I’ll go when I know she’s in school, in the morning.”
“That’s crazy. What about her parents?” she objected.
“I’ll make sure no one’s home. Beck, you have to go with me.”
“What? No!” She shook her head. “I’ll never go back there.”
“I can’t go there by myself, you have to go with me.” My adrenalin was racing, and I began to plan out when and how I was going to make this work.
“I’m sorry, I can’t, I just can’t,” she refused again.
I felt my face tighten. “Well then, I’ll have to go without you.” I started to get up, mad and scared at the same time. This entire situation with Eve was a mystery and, although breaking into someone’s house wasn’t normally something I’d ever consider, I had to untangle the unknowns. I had to find out what Eve was up to, even if it wasn’t practical, and even if it was totally insane.
“If you change your mind, I’m going tomorrow morning.”
“Bre, think about what you’re saying,” she still pressed.
“Eight o’clock, at the gas station, on Pine Street.”
I didn’t listen to her objections as I left the cafeteria.
The rest of the day flew. I was consumed with my new secret mission. I tried not to think about that terrifying night at the party and that “thing” lurking in the shadows. At least I was going during the day, I told myself. I called the boys one last time, first Collin and then Austin, but no luck. Both went to voicemail. And now their inboxes were full. I sighed and hung up.
“Bre!”
I jumped.
“Dad, you startled me.” I wasn’t expecting him home yet. It was five and I thought I was the only one at my house until at least six.
“Sorry,” he smiled.
“It’s alright…what’s up?”
“I just wanted to let you know dinner’s at six-thirty tonight, so I need you to stay home this evening.”
Dinner at six-thirty? It wasn’t like my family to have dinner together, let alone set a time for it. What was going on?
“Since when are we planning our dinners together? I was just going to warm up some leftovers from the other night. I’m really not in the mood to spend…” I held up both my hands and simulated quotations marks. “…‘quality family time’ right now.”
“We’re having dinner like a normal family tonight,” he commanded, starting to close my door.
“I’m not eating with her,” I protested.
“Six-thirty, sharp,” his voice was stern as he shut the door before I could object again.
Frustrated, I spent the next hour and a half figuring this Eve thing out. I looked at the note Eve’s parents wrote to the school to change her classes. I noticed again that the handwriting looked identical to Josh’s note. I got up and pulled the box of keepsakes out of my closet. I sat back on my bed and started searching for the letter. I kept everything so it had to be there. Sure enough, there it was. I opened it up and laid them side-by-side. The writing was identical. The letter ‘S’ was the same, the way it curved around the bottom and into itself. There was no disputing it. Eve wrote them both, but why? And how was it that she got away with it? It was signed, Irene Larsen. That must be her mother’s name.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to find out who these people were. I sat down at the computer and waited impatiently for it to start up. I tried to remember previous conversations with her. The only thing I could recall was that, according to Rebecca, she had moved a lot and lived in many different places.
I logged in and searched for anything I could find on ‘Eve Larsen,’ where she lived before, schools, work, anything. The only thing I found was that she went to Rogue River High. Great, I thought to myself. I looked down at the note. Irene Larsen, that’s who I needed to be searching for. I drummed my fingers quickly over the keys and hit enter. The screen flooded with black lettering, Irene Larsen’s name was all over the screen. Irene Larsen, realtor; Irene M. Larsen, scrabble club; Irene J. Fox, Rogue River High School, Class of 1971. I’m not sure why, but I hit the link for Irene J. Fox. How many Irene’s could there be in Rogue River? The screen flashed a picture and a description of her. I sat back, shocked at how much she looked like Eve. They could’ve been twins. That was definitely the right Irene, there was no mistaking it.
I glanced over the information and Irene J. Fox graduated in 1971 with honors, head of the cheerleading squad and homecoming queen. After graduating, she’d been accepted to Southern Oregon University. I read more. Irene J. Fox has been a wonderful student and will be missed. I looked at the name again and saw that her middle name started with a J. Also, I found that she attended Southern Oregon University. I noted to myself that I needed to remember that.
I began a new search: Irene J. Fox, and hit enter. I found her picture at the university and a little more information, but nothing that stood out as important. I searched for over an hour and came up with a few things, but I needed more: Irene J. Fox, Rogue River, Oregon. I searched…
“Bre, dinner’s ready,” Caleb said as he poked his head in the door.
“It’s already six-thirty?” I groaned. I was really getting somewhere and didn’t want to stop.
Caleb shook his head, reading my mood and stepped into my room. Glancing into the hallway first, he closed the door quietly. I folded up the letters and shut the computer down so he couldn’t see what I was doing.
He sat down pulling at his earlobe. “This is weird.”
“I know, tell me about it. I mean, who does she think she is? Is she trying to pretend to be a mom now, after all this time? Well, it’s not going to work.”
“I don’t know,” He shrugged. “You haven’t been around a lot lately. They haven’t been fighting as much.”
“Really?” I was shocked to hear that. They always fought. “That’s a little hard to believe.”
“It’s true. The other day I was gonna watch TV in the living room, but they were there watching a movie together.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Were they holding hands?”
“No, they were sitting on separate sides of the couch, but they were both laughing at the movie and talking like everything was normal,” he answered.
“Dinner!” Dad called from the kitchen.
We both looked at each other in dismay.
“Let’s go,” I said.
In the dining room, my Dad was sitting at the end of the table. It was perfectly set, resembling something from Better Home’s Magazine. The dinner plates were perfectly centered; the water glasses were on the right side of each place setting; the napkins were folded perfectly. She did this.
Sitting down, I whispered, “Dad did Su…Mom cook?”
He smiled. “Yes she did, and it looks wonderful, so both of you behave yourselves. She worked really hard on
this meal.” He glared at Caleb and I, like he did when we were young, warning us that if we said anything wrong we were going to get it.
Not a moment later, Susan came into the room holding a large pan and setting it down in the middle of the table.
“Here we go,” she said, sitting in her chair. “Well, hello children.”
Children? I bit my bottom lip in fear I’d say something. My hands tightened around the arms rest of my chair.
“How was school today?” She looked at each of us.
Caleb and I glanced at each other. Neither of us spoke.
“Breanna?” my Father said. “How was your day?”
Scooping out some salad onto my plate, I managed to say, “Fine.”
“Caleb?” Dad prompted.
“It was good,” Caleb responded, but his enthusiasm was that of a brick wall.
“Oh.” There was a hint of hurt in her voice, but she played it off.
Did she really think we’d be one big happy family, just like that? What was she trying to pull? I stared at her while she ate her food, apron still on. It was as if she was “dressing the part,” but our lives weren’t some play she could put on. I wasn’t going to sit here and pretend to be happy just because she wanted to play make believe and act like she was a “mother” for one night.
My father spoke up, “Dinner looks delicious, honey.”
My head involuntarily snapped up, and I was speechless. Honey? Really? Who was this man and what were they doing? Just take a deep breath, I repeated silently.
I grabbed the spatula and scooped up what looked like lasagna onto my plate. If there was one thing that was positive about this evening, it was that the food did look good.
“Thank you,” she smiled.
I felt like I was stuck in a fifties movie. She was being so polite and the two of them acted as if they had this perfect little life. It was totally off. I took a slow bite, still worried about how it was going to taste, even though it looked and smelled edible. To my surprise, it was really good. Better than the frozen lasagna from the grocery store.
“How is it, Breanna?” Susan looked at me, waiting for me to respond.
Awaken (Awaken Series Book 1) Page 28