by Dan Dillard
Chapter 20
"What happened?" Rocky said, barely out of her car.
"Come on," he said.
Jason grabbed her, practically dragging her toward the back of the property.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
She struggled against his progress. He continued to pull her against her protests. Finally she wiggled free and shoved him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Jason stopped to face her. "Rocky, the stream, the clearing. It's here."
He walked away. She stared at his back as he left. Then shouted after him. "What?"
He stopped again. "From the dreams. The place from the dreams. It's through there, a few hundred yards."
He continued back into the woods and she followed. He walked the path purposefully as if from memory. Perhaps it was. Before long she was beside him instead of behind, and her instinct matched his. Their pace quickened and the concern on her face turned to a smile.
When they reached the stream, he stopped and cupped his hand for a drink. Rocky paused next to him, but looked ahead at the place in the clearing. The light from the waxing gibbous seemed to pinpoint the place where they were headed. Tears of joy rolled from her eyes.
"Come on," he said and stood to take her hand.
She went willingly this time. When they entered the circle of mushrooms, Jason told her the whole story, everything James had said and how he'd changed into the beast in a matter of seconds. Rocky knelt down and ran her hand across the pebbles, her own tears splashing against them as she cried. There was no longer joy in them.
"So much pain," she said. "So much."
She broke down into sobs and Jason put his arms around her. He held her until she calmed down. Then she straightened up and looked about.
"Do you think he'll come back here?"
"Eventually, but not tonight. That lightning or whatever was pretty strong. It knocked him all the way over there. I think it turned him back human as well. We're safe inside here."
"What do you want to do?" she said.
"I don't know."
He moved into a more comfortable sitting position next to the three larger stones. Rocky sat next to him and settled into his arms. After a moment they lay back on the ground and looked to the sky. The moon was passing beyond the opening in the trees. There was nothing but silence there, as if even the wildlife was sad.
"We should talk to Anne," Jason said.
"Why?"
"I think she might be able to help us."
Rocky turned toward Jason and put one arm over his chest. The other was behind his head. He pulled her close and closed his eyes. Before long, both were asleep, peacefully for a change. It wasn't until the sun replaced the moon in the sky that Jason started dreaming, but not about the wolves and the Native family.
He saw wooden slats for walls, a plank roof and wooden floor beneath him. The scent of sawdust and oil were in the air. He was in the barn where he had first changed into the creature. He was struggling with pain, struggling with the changes his body was going through. It was like puberty happened all at once, over the course of a couple weeks.
He groaned in agony, looking at his hands, his feet. In the dream, they appeared normal on the outside, but something terrible was happening on the inside. It was something he'd hoped he never had to live through again. He remembered leaving home because his changes were becoming obvious. His urges to feed, overwhelming. He was afraid of what he might do. Once he'd entered the barn, it had all been a blur.
He watched himself stand. Awkward legs were still human, but shaky beneath him. He walked out in the sunlight, the star glowed high overhead, perhaps one o'clock in the afternoon. He followed the path from the back of that barn through the woods to the street where the convenience store stood. He passed people who paid him no more attention than normal. He was going back home. His mind questioned itself.
Was this a dream or a memory? Was this when he'd killed his family?
He walked down the sidewalk of his street, past the corner where the bus picked him up for school in the morning. Then up the driveway to the side door that led into the garage. It was never locked. Past both cars. Strange that they were there that time of day.
He walked through the door which led through a laundry room into the kitchen and there was the blood. Spattered and smeared on the linoleum. There was the body of his father. There was the body of his mother. There was the blue wolf devouring her. It raised its head to look at the boy, red liquid dripping from its muzzle, staining its teeth.
He woke furious, screaming. Rocky jumped, startled by the noise. It was Jason's turn to cry. He knew inside the vision was real. It should have relieved him, taking the weight of murdering his own parents from his heart, but to that weight was added hatred. He found the combination to be a much heavier substance.
"What is it?"
Jason roared through clenched teeth. The noise echoed through the woods sending birds scattering from tree limbs in all directions.
"We have to find Anne. I don't know who else can help."