CHAPTER ONE
I
MORNING IN CADENCE FALLS
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1995
It was a beautiful early autumn morning in the small town of Cadence Falls Washington and the residents of the sleepy village were waking up to face another day. People were going about doing their early business, getting their espressos, laughing and going about their business. Men, women, and children were coming and going on their way to their places of employment, to school, to appointments and other various engagements. The sun was showing brightly through the half barren branches on the trees and the air was crisp and fresh. It was a beautiful morning all in all; it was cool and breezy, but not too windy. The trees were sparsely loaded with leaves that were near their surrender for another year and the ones that had fallen to the ground were raked into random piles in the front yards of the local citizenry. It is the end of a cycle, one that will begin again soon, renewing life all around. It was a great day to be alive, unless of course fate had something else planned.
Jennifer Cox, a proud young mother was struggling to push her baby carriage up the side of the hill toward the intersection, anxious to meet with the other young mothers in the community, and hoping to compare baby stories with them. A lot can happen with a baby in a week’s time, and she had news to share, that little Andrea had finally slept her first full night, much to her mother’s relief.
At the drive through espresso stand at the top of the hill, people are getting their ritualistic morning coffee fix. Second in line, waiting in his car, Jake Miller is getting his morning coffee and talking through his car phone with his fiancée, discussing patterns for the dishes in the kitchen, of which he hardly seems too interested. The car before him pulls away and he pulls up to the window and upon seeing him, Cassie Davis the spunky young barista begins working on his usual drink. Having had a late night with his fiancée, he realizes that he needs a stronger dosage today.
“Excuse me honey, can you hold on a minute?” Jake said in his most loving tone, before addressing the coffee girl. “Can you make that a triple today, please?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Miller.” Cassie said with a smile. “How’s Brooke today?”
“She’s doing well, she says to tell you hi.” Jake responded and then returned to his conversation with Brooke.
A few moments later Cassie handed Jake his tall and steaming hot cup of coffee. Jake twisted around to try to reach his wallet, but his movement was restricted by his seat belt. He rolled his eyes and unlatched the seatbelt, arching his back, reaching around and fishing his wallet from his back pocket. He rummaged around in his wallet for about ten seconds for producing a five-dollar bill and handing it to Cassie.
“Keep the change.”, Jake stated, with Cassie nodding in approval, a warm and pleasant smile on her face.
About two blocks down the road, Jennifer finally had reached the intersection and saw a friend of hers across the street who she hasn’t seen since high school. Excited, she called out to her and her friend and waved her over. Her friend got an exceptionally excited look on her face and ran across the street and the two began to converse with one another. Jennifer turned from her baby carriage and gave her friend the biggest hug she could, and telling her that she missed her. Laura, her friend, indicated that she too missed Jennifer, and then they discussed the many changes that college had brought about in Laura’s life, and the many changes that marriage and motherhood had brought about in Jennifer’s life. The two of them were very excited to see one another again. But neither of them was paying attention to anything but each other at that very moment.
Perhaps the strangest of things on this particularly fine autumn morning was young Tuesday Moxley standing across the street from them, still wearing her nightgown and clutching her teddy bear, Winston. Some might think that it’s unusual for a fourteen-old girl to be standing on a street corner holding a teddy bear, and they might have, if anyone had seen her at all. Stranger yet, she seemed invisible to everyone around her, as people were walking past her, taking no notice of any kind. And stranger still, it seemed as if Tuesday, on this very bright and colorful autumn morning seemed to lack any color of any kind, as if she had just escaped from an old black and white movie. Finding oneself in black and white on a morning that was as vibrantly colored as that autumn morning was, most certainly was not a good thing.
Then that queasy thing that always happened in Tuesday’s stomach began to build, as if somebody had flicked a switch on. She was suddenly in touch with the sentiments of everybody around her, connected to what they were thinking and how they were feeling. She could feel Jake’s amorous feelings toward Brooke, and could hear when they disagreed about the traditional china plates with the floral patterns he favored as opposed to the modern designs she preferred. She could sense the happiness that Cassie felt for the two of them, a genuine happiness wishing the best for them, and sadness as well, wishing she could attain a love like Jake and Brooke’s. She could feel the ecstatic elation between Laura and Jennifer, as the two frantically shared important thoughts with each other trying to catch up the last three years in only a few moments. She could easily sense the feelings of little Andrea, as a calm overtook her.
Tuesday then had an uneasy feeling, as she often did, that something appalling was about to happen. Promptly, she reached out into the thoughts and the feelings of those around her, as she had done so many times before and it wasn’t long before she figured out what was happening. Little Andrea’s baby carriage began to roll backward down the hill, slowly at first. Neither Jennifer nor Laura instantly took notice of it, but Tuesday was instantly aware of it. She has experienced things like this many times and knows that it will end badly, as that feeling turns into a nauseous uneasiness that creeps into her gut and does not let go.
II
THAT FEELING IN HER STOMACH
Tuesday’s mood instantaneously changed, seeing that the infant was in dire peril. As a man approached her on the street, she screamed out to him, hoping to alert him to the danger the child was in though she knew it would do her no good.
“Not again!” Tuesday cried out in a panicked voice. “Please don't make me go through this again!”
She said it loudly enough that everyone around should have heard her, but nobody took any kind of notice whatsoever. The man just walked on by her as if she weren’t even there, which was annoying to Tuesday.
Jake Miller tossed his wallet over on the passenger seat after several unsuccessful attempts at trying to get it back into his back pocket, muttering something to himself about small economy cars. He reached over and pulled his seatbelt over and clipped it, but it didn’t latch completely. He held his coffee in his hand, and took a sip before pulling out of the drive-thru, and turning onto the main road, facing down the hill.
Tuesday sensed this at once, that somehow Jake was connected to the fate of this child, and that it wouldn’t end well.
Tuesday screamed again, this time even louder. Once again, nobody even looked in her direction, nobody even cocked an ear, nobody responded at all. Tuesday’s attention was suddenly ripped from Jake’s car and back to the baby carriage, which was rolling faster now, down the hill and heading off the side of the sidewalk and toward a tree.
It was at this moment that Jennifer wanted to show a little pride and was beaming about her daughter, and wanted her friend to meet the child. But when she turned around to show Andrea to Laura, the carriage wasn’t there, in fact it had traveled a good forty feet down the hill. Instantly, Jennifer’s elation transformed to panic, as she turned and gave chase to the runaway baby, calling for somebody, anybody to help her.
Instantaneously, Tuesday felt the sudden change in the emotions of the young mother, and tried her best to follow the action, but was compelled to look back up the hill at Jake’s car, which had begun to pick up some speed, and had covered the distance of a block in the few seconds that Tuesday had been watching the stroller. Again her attention shifts b
ack to the drama with the child. Jennifer is chasing the carriage, screaming, with Laura hot on her heels.
“My Baby!!” Jennifer shrieked, which seemed to get the attention of everybody on the block, but nobody seemed close enough to help her.
Tuesday continued to scream herself, but her cries fell on deaf ears. The onlookers at the top of the hill saw what was happening and became focused on the direction the stroller was rolling, too far away to cease its momentum or to affect it in any way at all. Things began to move in slow motion now, at least that’s how they seemed to Tuesday and all that she can hear is the steady sound of a heartbeat, growing faster and faster, as the scene around her moving slower and slower. Bystanders from the other side of the street were beginning to take notice, with looks of great concern upon their faces, knowing they were helpless to resolve the outcome. Again, Tuesday’s attention was yanked from the child and back onto Jake’s point of view in his car.
She could see Jake very clearly, as if she were in the car with him, going along for the ride, wherever that ride may be taking her. Jake reached for his coffee from the cup holder, gripping the paper cup by the plastic lid from above. As Jake did so, the car enters the intersection, and the driver's side tires hit deep rut, causing the car to lurch, which separated the lid from the cup, spilling the hot coffee all over him.
“Owww!!” Jake screamed out in pain, flinging the cup aside and scrambling for some napkins in the console to soak up the hot liquid in his lap. “Crap, that’s hot!!”
Tuesday could feel the pain of the hot coffee searing into Jake’s skin, and could feel the concern coming from Brooke, who was still on the phone with him. Jake’s attention wasn’t focused driving, but alleviating the pain from the hot coffee, burning his lap.
Tuesday disappeared from the car and found herself on the street again, seeing the baby carriage, still in slow motion, as if she never missed a second of the action going on around her. Although it had picked up some serious speed, the baby carriage worked itself over to the side of the sidewalk and its wheels were now riding in the grass. A moment later, it was completely off the sidewalk and had moved onto the lawn, slowing it dramatically. A few seconds later the baby carriage came to a complete rest gently against a tree, much to the relief of everyone witnessing this. Jennifer and Laura, who were a good distance behind the infant, were still in hot pursuit, hoping to catch the runaway stroller. Tuesday stopped screaming for the moment, and a calm washed over her. She smiled, thinking that everything was going to be fine with the baby, as she could no longer sense the danger surrounding the child.
With a sigh of relief, she could sense the emotions of the onlookers returning to normal, some even began to clap and cheer for the positive outcome they were witnessing. Tuesday smiled a little to herself, and secretly hoped to herself that this would be the one time that everything turned out fine. This had to be it; this had to signal the end of the curse.
If that was indeed the case, why did that feeling in her stomach still exist?
III
WITNESSING THE HORROR
Suddenly her attention shifted back to Jake in his car again and she realized that everything wasn’t going to be resolved peacefully. While his attention was momentarily focused on the hot coffee that was spilled all over him, he failed to realize that he had completely crossed the intersection, but more importantly, he had drifted into the other lane, with oncoming traffic rapidly approaching him. He had also picked up some considerable speed, which he was also unaware of, and he was traveling at least forty miles an hour.
The sound of a horn blaring caused Jake to look up and out his front window and at the last possible moment he saw a pickup truck headed directly for him. Tuesday could sense his panic as he pulled his steering wheel hard to the right to get the car back into his own lane, causing his tires to squeal quite loudly. In a moment of great confusion, the people around who were just cheering on the mother’s dramatic rescue of the child were about to become witness to another accident. Tuesday could feel their confusion but was able to somehow remain focused on what was happening.
At that very moment, Jennifer was only a few short feet from rescuing her baby, when her head turned at the sound of the tires on the pavement and realized that the danger had not passed. Tuesday could feel the tension of situation and suddenly everything moved more slowly than it ever had. She screamed from the depths of her soul and yet again, nobody took any kind of notice of her whatsoever.
“No, Stop!!” Tuesday cried out, hoping anybody could hear her, could make a change in what was coming. “Make it stop!!”
In his attempt to avoid an accident, Jake over-compensated his steering and veered across his lane and into the front yard, on a direct course toward a tree, where a baby carriage appeared to be resting. In a moment of clarity and adrenaline, Jennifer dived toward the stroller, shoving it clear of the tree, just a second before Jake’s car impacted it.
Jennifer however, was not so lucky.
Neither was Jake.
Jennifer was caught fully between the tree and the vehicle, while in a mid-air dive, which wrapped her back around the trunk backward as the front end of the car conformed to the shape, pinning her fully to the tree. Tuesday could physically feel the pain that Jennifer experienced in her dying moment, an excruciating pain, but not the worst pain than she had ever felt. She experienced it all in the fraction of a second, but it was a second that lingered on as the moment Jennifer died seemed to stretch on for what had seemed like hours to Tuesday. She could feel the horror that Laura experienced, watching the death of her childhood friend right before her eyes, and the pain of her loss. She could even feel the shock and the amazement of the onlookers, who had felt comforted and elation only a moment before.
Worst of all, Tuesday could physically feel the pain of Jake, who wasn’t quite as fortunate as Jennifer. His seatbelt, which hadn’t been fully connected, failed, and he went through the windshield and slammed against the tree. Jake held on for a while, and Tuesday could feel the pain he was suffering, she could feel his broken bones, she could feel the lacerations on his face, she could feel the blood filling his lungs, his heart pumping desperately. She could also sense the worry that had filled Brooke at that moment, who was still on the phone, and had to hear the gasps and groans of her true love dying. Tuesday felt Brooke’s heart breaking, the loneliness of her loss consuming her, and a small part of her wished that she could have what Jake and Brooke had.
Anxiety began to fill Tuesday as the dread and the grief had overtaken her. The world began to spin around her, her attention turned to the bottom of the hill a half a block further, and could see traffic stopping, including a bus full of school children that were about to witness something that she wished they would never have to see.
Tears began to fall from her eyes, as she could no longer endure the pain she was feeling. In the dark recesses of her mind, she found herself wishing that Jake would just die so she would stop feeling this agonizing pain, although it was not nearly as bad as she experienced from Jennifer. The stress was more than she could take for very long, as Tuesday began to scream louder and louder, and the tears became more and more. In her head, she heard a cacophony of voices, some concerned, some sad, some crying. The voices and the emotions became greater and greater with each vehicle passing by the accident, and she could feel all these emotions all at once. She was fairly able to cope with it right up to the moment the school bus pulled up alongside the accident and the emotions of the children overwhelmed her. She looked up to the bus and saw several of her familiar classmates looking at the scene of the accident, and a boy was there, a boy she didn’t know.
And why couldn’t Jake just die? It was selfish of her to think of, but the closer he came to it, the more painful it became. The pain was so great it dropped her to her knees, and she began screaming like a madwoman. She looked up again at the school bus, and saw herself on board, and the paradox of feeling her own em
otions was more than she could take. She started pounding the ground with her fists, screaming and yelling, crying. After a few moments, it became difficult to move, as if somebody, somewhere were holding her back. She didn’t realize the truth of this until she fully awoke from this nightmare to find her mother restraining her on the bed.