CHAPTER SEVEN
“Annabelle!”
I could hear her voice, but the fire was like a wall between us.
“Mommy,” I cried. My voice was faint and burned with the taste of carbon.
I could see glimpses of her bright blue eyes staring back at me. Her hair blew in the wind, but we weren’t outside. I looked around at the pink and white wallpaper with tiny little bears on its boarder. There was a child’s bed in the corner of the room and toys scattered about the floor.
It was a familiar place, but I took me a minute to put it all together.
We were in my childhood room. The realization set in hard like it had so many times before. This wasn’t reality, this was a nightmare, and I knew all too well how it would end.
I panicked, screaming and shouting for her to run. I wanted to her to leave that room, to leave me. I couldn’t watch her die again. I couldn’t watch the life drain from her beautiful blue eyes as her body fell limp to the floor.
“Go! Don’t stay here. You have to get out.”
She stretched her hand out with her palm facing out. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t understand the words coming from her mouth. The heat from the fire was intense, but I had to reach her.
I stepped forward and found my body pinned to the floor. It wasn’t hot anymore, but I couldn’t move. The flames burned all around me, destroying everything in their path.
I looked for her, and just as every time before, I found her lifeless body before me.
“Mommy!”
“Annabelle! Annabelle!”
I jolted up, breathing heavy and drenched in sweat.
Felix had both of his hands firmly on my shoulder. “Annabelle, it’s just another dream.”
I placed my hand over my chest to calm my pounding heart. “I’m okay.”
He sat back and looked at me. “It was that same dream again, wasn’t it?”
I nodded and took a deep calming breath.
He ran his hand through his hair and paced the room.
“Is this bad?” I asked, rubbing my faced with my hands. “I mean, is it weird that the nightmares have lasted this long?”
He sighed. “It’s not weird. Memories like that don’t just disappear overnight.”
“But, it’s been 13 years. I don’t even think I should be able to remember it at all.”
“I don’t know when they’ll get better…” He shrugged. “I just wish they would stop getting worse.”
“Worse?”
He looked at me, as though contemplating whether he should continue. Finally, he reached for the hand-sized mirror on my bed stand and handed it to me.
I stared back at my reflection. My skin was red all over.
“Oh my god,” I gasped.
“It’s okay,” he said, taking the mirror from my hand and returning it to the night stand. “It will go away soon enough.”
“Are you sure?”
He nodded. “It’s just your skin reacting to the images in your head.”
I sighed, letting my face fall into the palms of my hands.
He sat back down beside me. “I know that face. What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…” I paused, searching for the words. “What happened that night?”
His gaze fell from mine as he stared down at the floor. “You mean the night your parents died?”
I was glad he said it because I couldn’t. Something about saying those words made it feel more real. A large part of me didn’t want to talk about it, but there was still a small sliver of my heart that yearned to know more about the two strangers in my dreams- my parents.
I let my gaze find a random speck on my bed cover and stared at it intently. “Yeah.”
“You know I wasn’t there,” he said.
I inched closer to him on the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder. I never understood why he held so much pain and guilt over my mother’s death, but I could see it in his eyes every time we talked about it.
“I know, but, you must know something. What did the police say? Or the firemen… what did they say about what caused the fire? Maybe there’s a file we could look over again.”
“No!”
He didn’t yell, but there was sternness in his voice that was far more frightening.
I stared at him in silence, my eyes welling with tears.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But there’s nothing in the file that would help. I’ve looked.”
He got up and crossed the room very slowly, but before he closed the door I spoke.
“Aren’t you at all curious to know how I got out of that house and they didn’t?”
He paused, but he didn’t turn around. “Get some rest, Annabelle. It will be morning soon.”
He closed the door and I flopped back against my pillow, staring up at the ceiling. There was no way I was going to get back to sleep after that dream, I never could.
I tossed and turned, unable to get the images from my mind. This dream was different from the others. It was vivid and it felt real, like I was reliving that night all over again. And, most frightening of all, was the red marks covering my skin. That had never happened before.
I thought about my mother and the way her face, looking so much like my own, had been so strong. She should’ve been afraid, but she looked determined. I closed my eyes and images of her rushed through my mind. I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I flipped the covers off my body and swung my legs out of the bed, letting the fall pull my body upright. I went to my dresser and took out a pair of black yoga pants and a black tank top. I dressed quickly and grabbed my sweater, and my running shoes from the closest.
I crept downstairs careful not to disturb Uncle Felix, but when I reached the bottom of the stairs I found him in the study hunched over the computer screen.
“I’m going for a run,” I said.
He jumped at the sound of my voice and it made me smile. It was a difficult task catching Felix with his guard down, and I took great pleasure in accomplishing it, however rare an occasion.
He glanced down at his watch. “Now? The sun doesn’t rise for another half hour.”
“I know,” I said, giving him my “what’s your point” look.
“Annabelle, this isn’t the city. There are bears and mountain lions in those woods.”
I placed my hand over my mouth mockingly. “Oh my.”
His face went flat, devoid of all emotion. “It’s not a joke.”
I sighed.
There was no winning with him today. Something had him on edge.
“I’ll stay in town,” I said.
He let out a deep breath, looking exasperated. “Fine, but stay out of the alleyways.”
I bent down and kissed him on the cheek. “You got it.”
I heard a light grumble, but I was out the door before he could change his mind. He was in a mood and it wasn’t something I was prepared to deal with.
I jogged down the block, not quite sure where I was headed. Before long I found myself at the town square. The shops were still closed so it was both dark and quiet. I felt like I was in an episode of The Walking Dead, just waiting for the zombie hoard to ambush me.
Luckily, the sun was just beginning to peek in the horizon. On the far side of the square the sunlight broke through the canopy of leaves and I could see a trail leading into the forest.
Daylight was only minutes away, and I had barely broken a sweat. I saw no reason to turn back now.
I changed the song on my iPhone and when the music started I sprinted down the path, matching my pace to the beat. The images from my dream faded as the beat pulsed through my body. I could feel the sweat dripping down the side of my face and onto my neck. The sensation made me run harder. I felt so alive and free, like I was running on clouds.
The song changed and my feet slowed. I took out my phone and scrolled down my playlist.
Suddenly, my foot caught on something and I went tumbling to the ground. I rolled onto my back and slowly sat up. My e
lbow was bleeding and there was a tear in the knee of my yoga pants.
I placed my hand on the ground to help myself up and felt something cold and hard. I looked down and screamed, staggering backwards.
There was a middle-aged man with blonde hair and deathly pale skin lying motionless on the ground beside me. His lifeless eyes looked like they were staring right at me, thoroughly chilling me.
I ran back towards the town until I couldn’t run anymore. I stopped just outside the square, breathless and disorientated.
“Are you alright?”
Startled, I turned to find a middle aged man with grey streaked brown hair and square framed glasses.
He held his hands up and slowly approached me. “Hey, it’s okay. Just tell me what happened.”
“Call for help,” I said between gasps for air. I pointed to the trail behind me. “There’s a man in the woods.”
The man immediately took out his cellphone and dialed. As he waiting was for a response, he came to my side and helped me over to an empty crate in an alley nearby.
Something about him seemed familiar and I felt an instant sense of security in his presence.
“Take a seat and catch your breath,” he said.
I sat down and leaned up against the wall.
He kneeled beside me. “Can you tell me what this man did to you?”
I shook my head. “No, you have it all wrong. I think… I think he’s dead.”
His face paled. “Dead?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
A patrol car, lacking the wailing sirens, pulled into the alleyway.
An older man in uniform pulled the car to the side and stepped out. “Darius, what’s going on here?”
Darius looked me over. “Wait here.”
A second officer exited the patrol car and joined his partner and Darius. They talked quietly amongst themselves, and then the younger officer returned to the patrol car and radioed something in.
I didn’t bother trying to listen in on the conversation because I didn’t want to be a part of any of it. I had gone for a run with the intentions of clearing my mind, not to add to my mental torment.
I felt a light touch on my shoulder and jumped almost instinctively.
“It’s okay,” said Darius. “It’s just me.”
I placed my hand over my racing heart. “I’m sorry. I’m just not myself right now.”
“That’s completely understandable,” said Darius. “But this is Sheriff Pickering and he needs you to show him where you found the man.”
I jolted up and backed away. “I’m not going back in there! No way!”
The sheriff glanced over his shoulder at his partner and frowned. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled. “If you don’t believe me than go see for yourself, but I’m not going back in there.” My voice trailed off as I looked back at the woods. “I don’t want to see it again.”
Darius stepped in between the sheriff and me. “You won’t have to. I’ll stay by your side the entire time. I promise.”
I sighed.
The unfamiliar smell of death still lingered on my clothing, acting as a constant reminder of what I had seen. I wanted to forget, but I knew that was impossible. Nothing I did from this moment forward would change what I saw, but at least it wouldn’t be in vain.
I nodded and lead them down the path and deep into the forest.
Walking took a lot longer than running, making it difficult to figure out how far down the trail we would have to go. I wasn’t prepared to see the body again, but as we followed the bend there he was, just like I remembered him, cold and pale.
Darius stepped in front of me, blocking my line of sight.
The sheriff looked over the body as though he still wasn’t sold on whether he could believe me. “Did you touch or move the body at all when you found it.”
That was all it took to send the memory surging back full force.
I burst into tears. “I tripped over him.”
Darius took me in his arms and lead me away from the scene as the sheriff and his partner stood over the body, staring down at it like it was nothing more than a dead animal.
I sobbed the entire walk back to the town square. Darius kept a firm arm around my shoulder and I leaned into his shirt to muffle my sobs.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said. “I have a son your age and it’s a parents’ worst nightmare to have their child go through what you just did.”
I nodded.
“You’re brave to do what you did. To call for help.”
I wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I don’t feel brave.”
He gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze. “What’s your name?”
“Annabelle.”
He stopped and a small smile spread across his face.
“I believe you know my son.”
I sniffled. “What’s his name?”
“Dad!”
I blinked the tears away just in time to see Carter hurrying toward us.
Carter came to a sudden halt at the sight of my tear-streaked face. “What happened?”
Darius shook his head. “I’m not quite sure. Annabelle came across…”
I looked up at Darius and he paused.
An ambulance pulled into the alley, siren blaring.
“Maybe we should talk about this later,” he said to Carter. “I’ve got to go make some calls. Take Annabelle to the ambulance over there. The sheriff wants her vitals checked before he sends her home.”
Carter nodded and took hold of my arm. “Are you okay?”
I stared at my feet as we made our way to the ambulance. “Yeah, I’m okay.”
“What happened?”
I glanced over my shoulder at the trail. “I went for a run this morning. I was supposed to stay within the town, but the sun was rising so I thought it would be okay to go through the woods. I ran down that path,” I said, pointing behind me. “And then I… I tripped over him. He was just lying there… dead.”
A single tear ran down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away.
We both went quiet. I could feel his eyes on me, but I couldn’t manage to meet his gaze.
We reached the ambulance and a slender blonde woman stepped out of the ambulance. “Are you Annabelle?”
I nodded and she opened the rear door, motioning for me to step inside. “I just need to take your vitals before you can be cleared to go.”
Carter sat beside me in the ambulance as the woman took my blood pressure and flashed a small light into my eyes. She asked me a series of questions, and cleaned and bandaged my elbow.
“You’re all set,” she said, quickly jotting down a few notes.
I smiled. “So I can go home now?”
“Yep, just as soon as your parents get here.”
My face dropped. “My parents? You didn’t call…”
She shrugged. “Standard procedure for minors.”
I hopped out of the ambulance and found myself face-to-face with the last person I wanted to see at the moment.
Uncle Felix.