Read Dreamwalkers Book One - The Intruder. A Markland Garraway Paranormal Mystery Thriller Page 52
Chapter 51
Badock’s Wood
8.40 a.m.
Markland and Howie stood at the top of the burial mound. Neither of them spoke. The hill had given Markland many surprises, but nothing quite like seeing Jodie and the stranger disappear in front of his eyes.
It was Howie who broke the silence.
“What the hell just happened?”
Markland didn’t reply. Instead, he lowered his head and attempted to hold back tears.
“She’s gone. She’s gone and it’s my fault,” said Markland quietly. “I should never have got her involved. What the hell was I thinking?”
Howie took a step closer to him, and repeated what he’d just asked.
“Markland, what’s happened, where did she go?”
“How on earth should I know,” snapped Markland. “I should have kept well clear of you. This is all down to you! If you hadn’t got me involved, then none of this would have happened and Jodie would be safe.”
“Sorry,” whispered Howie.
“Sorry! You’re bloody sorry are you? And what exactly are you sorry for? Are you sorry that you’ve created a situation so bad, that a poor innocent girl has vanished before our eyes to God only knows where? Or are you sorry because you’ve dragged me into some God damn twilight zone world, in which my wife’s having an affair with my boss…..”
“Okay, okay,” pleaded Howie with his hands in the air. “I had no idea what I was getting us into. How was I to know that any of this would happen?”
Markland didn’t reply. He took a moment to compose himself. He lowered himself down and sat on the burial mound. He looked around for an explanation to what could have happened. There was nothing to prove Jodie had ever been there.
Then he noticed something was different. He sprung to his feet, and took a step closer to the boulder embedded in the burial mound.
“The rock!”
Howie’s eyes followed in the direction Markland was pointing.
“The marker’s gone. That Roman numeral ‘one’ you scratched into that rock isn’t there.”
“Why would that be? We’ve not gone anywhere?”
“I think you may be wrong. Look over there,” replied Markland, pointing towards the bench.
“Shit where did that come from?”
“I think it’s always been there, it’s us who’ve been elsewhere.”
Both men stared at the monument, which was where it was the last time they’d seen it on Wednesday night.
“We must be back in our world,” said Howie excitedly.
Markland didn’t reply. Instead he pulled his phone from his pocket, and dialled his home number. There was no signal. His phone still didn’t work.
“No Howie, I don’t think we’re back, somehow we’ve ended up in another world. Please could you put a marker on the rock.”
Howie sighed, knelt down and scraped a Roman numeral ‘two’ into the rock with his penknife. Markland thought about what had just happened, then it occurred to him where he’d seen the man who had taken Jodie.
“That man was Drew Lees,” exclaimed Markland.
“Pardon?”
“The man who just took Jodie, he’s Helena’s neighbour in Exeter. Drew Lees, the one who plays the loud music.”
“How do you know?”
“Jodie and I saw him when we left Dean and Helena yesterday. He was watching us from his window.”
“What the hell has he got to do with any of this, and how did he get here?”
“I’ve absolutely no idea.”
Markland was lost for words. He didn’t know in which direction to turn. He climbed down from the hill and on his own walked towards the bench.
Howie followed him, but Markland raised his hand, and gestured for him to stop.
“Please leave me alone. I need to think this through.”
Howie stopped and took a step back.
“Perhaps all of this is just a dream. Maybe I’ll wake up soon, and all of this will be a memory. Or perhaps this is a dream within a dream?” muttered Howie, as Markland made his way to the bench.
Howie watched Markland alone on the bench. He hung his head and rubbed his eyes with his palms. Howie felt an enormous sense of guilt. Markland was right. Howie had lured him to the woods, which was somewhere Markland swore he’d never go again. Markland should have stuck to his guns and kept away from Howie. But Markland was in a rut. It was easy to say no to Howie, but saying no to the lure of the hill was different. He knew that as soon as he’d seen the visions he had little choice but to go along with Howie and help him find James.
Markland gestured to Howie to sit beside him. Howie strolled over and sat between Markland and the monument.
“The situation’s changed. We’re no longer trying to find James. Our priority is to bring Jodie back. I agree that we need to swap both James’ back to their respective worlds, but I presume that neither of them are in any immediate danger.”
Howie nodded in agreement. He thought about Jodie and how in his heart he missed her.
“The thing is,” added Markland, “I’ve no idea where to begin to look for her.”
“Perhaps Drew Lees has her in Exeter?”
“Perhaps he does, but it won’t be the Exeter which is in this world, and we’ve no idea of knowing which world she’s in right now.”
Howie wasn’t a particularly clever man and had no suggestions. He was all out of ideas before he’d even begun to consider where she could be.
Markland wouldn’t need to wait long until he received the first clue to where Jodie had gone. And the source of the information would come from the most unlikely person he could imagine.