The Weird Travels of Aimee Schmidt: Seeking Others

by J. A. Schreckenbach

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Opening

  Preface

  Chapter 1 Providence

  Chapter 2 Briar Farm

  Chapter 3 Not Guilty

  Chapter 4 MIA

  Chapter 5 Sidetracked

  Chapter 6 Tests of Faith

  Chapter 7 Unforeseen

  Chapter 8 Trouble Brewing

  Chapter 9 Interference

  Chapter 10 Birthday Surprises

  Chapter 11 Seeking Others

  Chapter 12 Mixed Feelings

  Chapter 13 Too Much Fun

  Chapter 14 Homecoming

  Chapter 15 Indiscretion

  Chapter 16 Degrees of Separation

  Chapter 17 Heartaches

  Chapter 18 Road Trip

  Chapter 19 Enough

  Chapter 20 A Dark Place

  For all who have Dreamt the dream no one Believes,

  then followed the Path no one can See.

  “Sunlight fell upon the wall; the wall received a borrowed splendor.

  Why set your heart on a piece of earth, O simple one?

  Seek out the source which shines forever.”

  Rumi

  Preface

  July 10, 2006 Joseph Smith’s farm near Cambridge, England

  Dylan paced up and down the dark, empty hall nervously flipping his cell phone in his sweaty palm. Aimee had made it clear, crystal clear, she didn’t want him to contact her dad about the accident, but Dylan knew he didn’t have a choice. Something had just happened that freaked her out, something worse than almost getting killed in a car wreck, and he felt he owed it to Mike to call. Aimee was Mike's daughter, his only daughter, the child he had raised without a mother since birth, and she had just survived her third car wreck in four months. Mike should know what happened. He knew how much Mike loved his daughter, and just how much he worried about her. He did too. So despite Aimee’s wishes, he dialed Mike’s cell phone number. As if he was expecting the call, Mike answered on the first ring.

  “Mike?”

  Silence.

  “Hey…uhmm…look, I’m afraid I have some, uh, well, some news, uh, it’s not so good.”

  Silence.

  “No, she’s okay...I guess. Yeah, well, we were in an…uh…an accident this morning…”

  Silence.

  “No, sir. She can’t talk right now. She’s sleeping. A doctor checked her out and got her patched up for our trip. He wants her to see her doctor as soon as we get back. He thinks she has a fractured collarbone and a sprained ankle.”

  Silence.

  “No, sir. I’m fine...a little bruised, but Aimee…,” Dylan took in a long breath before continuing, “…she’s lucky to be alive.”

  Silence.

  “She was driving…”

  Silence.

  “Yes, sir, I know she shouldn’t have been behind the wheel. I’m really sorry now I let her, but you know Aimee, how determined she can be when she wants something. Anyway, we were heading up to Cambridge in my dad's car and she was driving fine, but a tire blew. The car flipped and landed in a ditch. I’m not sure how I got out, but I came to in the ditch and the person who lives on the farm where we crashed was pulling Aimee from the car. Mike, thank God he was there.” Dylan hesitated a few seconds, then somberly said, “The car caught on fire seconds after he pulled her out.”

  Silence.

  “Yes, sir, I know. I’m really sorry, Mike. I know I’m supposed to keep her safe and out of trouble, but it was kinda a freak accident. It would have happened even if I had been driving. Mike, I really feel sick about this. Hopefully there’s nothing else wrong, and fortunately no one else was involved. Anyway, we’re here at this guy’s farm close to Cambridge. His name’s Joseph…Joseph Smith. He’s been, well, I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank him for what he did. He saved Aimee, then got his neighbor, a retired doctor, to come right over. He checked her out, then stayed with her all day until she woke up, and made sure she didn’t need to be taken into Cambridge. Aimee didn’t want me to call you, you know, she didn’t want you worrying since we were supposed to fly back tomorrow, but, well, uh, we won’t be leaving for a few days…”

  Silence.

  “No, sir. Dr. Payne thinks she’s okay, but she passed out suddenly about an hour ago and now he thinks she should rest a couple days before she travels.”

  Silence.

  “No, you don’t need to fly over. Hopefully, we’ll be home by the end of the week, but…but, Mike, I’m really worried about her.”

  Silence.

  “Nope, the doc doesn’t think anything is really wrong physically, other than the collarbone and ankle, but…”

  Silence.

  “No, Mike, I’ve never seen her like this before. One minute she was awake, talking, and seemed fine, and the next, hell, I don’t know how to explain it. As soon as she met Joseph something changed. The look on her face was like nothing I’ve seen before, and then she blacked out. She wasn’t out but a few seconds, but when she came to something was totally different. It was like she saw a ghost or something horrible. She won’t talk to anyone. She’s barely said a word to me other than she’s okay and she wants to go home. I asked her if she wants to talk to you, or James, but she doesn’t want to talk to anyone. I don’t know, Mike, something’s not right…”

  Silence.

  “Yes, sir, I know a little about her breakdown. She calls it her dark period. She hasn’t shared a lot about that time with me, but I know she’s still struggling to put it past her. I don’t know what happened earlier, but it was totally weird, like she just snapped. Maybe all the stress she’s been under has something to do with this. I was hoping our trip would get her mind off it all for awhile, and now she has this to worry about, too. I know she’s stressing about those assholes who tried to kill her and what’s gonna happen when she has to go to court. Hell, Mike, I swear I could kill all of them myself for what they did to her.”

  Silence.

  “Yeah, she’s had a few since she’s been here. I know when she has one because she wakes up completely spooked, but like everything else that bothers her, she keeps it buried deep inside. I’ve tried to get her to open up and talk to me, but she won’t.”

  Silence.

  “Yes, sir. As soon as she wakes, I’ll call and give you an update.”

  Silence.

  “No, sir, I’m fine, really. I’ll be good once Aimee’s better and we can get home. Tell James and Sacha, but ask them not to call. I’ll phone James later. She’s sleeping so she can’t talk right now anyway.”

  Silence.

  “Yes, sir, I’ll call you later.”

  Dylan tucked his cell phone back into his jeans' front pocket, then leaned against the wall in the hallway outside the bedroom where Aimee was asleep. After Aimee fainted, Joseph immediately called his neighbor to return. Dr. Payne checked her over, then gave her a strong sedative which quickly put her into a deep sleep. Dylan closed his eyes and took a long breath. His worrisome thoughts immediately were interrupted by the conversation of the good doctor and their host as it floated into the hallway. Something caught Dylan's attention and he strained to listen. Dr. Payne’s voice seemed unusually tense, almost irate, with Joseph. Dylan found himself sneaking towards the kitchen to hear them better. Dr. Payne’s last few words instantly imprinted into Dylan’s brain.

  “Timothy,” Dr. Payne said in a low, but very authoritarian voice, “leave her alone. Not now, son. She can’t handle this…not yet.”

  Just then, Joseph tore out of the kitchen into the dimly lit hallway. Before he
crashed into Dylan, he abruptly stopped. His crystal, blue eyes pierced straight into Dylan’s shocked face. After a few seconds Dylan’s eyes narrowed into dark, thin slits while both of them stared at each other with the intensity of two dogs sizing up their enemy before they either ripped each other apart, or one retreated with his tail between its legs. Finally, Joseph nodded once, his jaw set tight, before he pushed past Dylan and, without a word, stormed out the front door into the cool, dark night.

  Chapter 1 Providence

  “Whatthahell?!” exclaimed Dylan after he watched Joseph tear out of the house and disappear. Just then Dr. Payne rounded the doorway, suddenly halting before slamming into Dylan, who reeled around, his mouth agape. He stared angrily into Dr. Payne’s face. “Whatthahell is going on?!” demanded Dylan.

  Dr. Payne responded, “I’m sorry for Timothy’s rather curt behavior, Dylan, but I do believe that today’s events have taken quite a toll on him. Please forgive him, but ye have to understand that he only lost his parents in that beastly accident a little over a year ago, and then today, the two of you, complete strangers, almost a fatality right at his doorstep, well.…”

  “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” interrupted Dylan, “but this doesn’t make sense. I mean, I heard you tell him to leave Aimee alone, to let her be. Why? What does he want with Aimee? He doesn’t even know her.”

  Dr. Payne took a deep breath and gestured into the dark front room. “Come, please have a seat, and maybe I can shed some light on what ye heard.”

  Dylan hesitated while Dr. Payne stepped into the room and flipped on a light, chasing away the dark from around a chair and settee. The doctor took a seat in the small wingback and patted the flowered cloth settee.

  “Please come. Have a seat,” he said with an imploring tone.

  Dylan looked down the hall towards the room where Aimee was resting, and then slowly walked towards the old man. He didn’t know what to think of what he just witnessed, but he needed to know why this man, Joseph, whom they had only known for less than a day, felt compelled to mess with his girlfriend.

  “Please sit, and I’ll share a story that I believe will explain what just happened.”

  Dylan cautiously sat down on the settee, then leaned forward as if he was ready to spring back up to escape at any moment. He drew in a deep breath, then said, “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “Well,” Dr. Payne began, “you already know that Timothy, uh, well, Joseph, as he prefers, lost his mum and da in a rather nasty accident outside of London. They were on their way home, and for whatever reason, Thomas swerved into the right lane, straight way into the path of a large tractor. The man driving the tractor tried to pull off the road, but tractors are not so easily handled. Anyway, the man saw Jane grab the wheel, but it overcorrected and the car flew across their lane and flipped a couple times into the ditch, then landed upside down onto its roof. By the time the gentleman was able to get to the car, it was in flames…”

  “Just like us this morning…” Dylan added before Dr. Payne could finish.

  “Yes, the similarity between the two accidents is uncanny, but unlike you, his parents died from the car flipping because the roof was crushed in like a tin can. The farmer was unable to rescue either one of them. He said it was absolutely ghastly.”

  “Damn...” Dylan started as he eased back into the cushion, “...wow, yeah, well that is horrible. I can’t imagine losing a parent, much less both of your parents at the same time, and then to have them burned to…” He stopped, shuddered, then couldn’t continue.

  “Yes, it was horrible, the worse type of horrible one can imagine. I had to identify the bodies because Timothy was on a dig on the coast and couldn’t be raised. When the police finally reached him, he raced home. He was so distraught he couldn’t go back to work. The University placed him on a leave of absence, but after six months he decided he couldn’t leave the farm. He needed to stay and carry on with his parents’ homestead, but God only knows why. Other than a small herd of sheep, a dozen or more chickens, a garden of weeds, and this old house, there’s nothing holding him here.”

  Dylan shook his head and sat quietly processing Dr. Payne’s story. Finally he asked, “So, what does this have to do with Aimee?”

  Dr. Payne leaned forward resting one elbow on his knee, stroking his white beard with his large fingers and peering over the glasses sliding down his nose. “Young man, do you believe in fate?”

  “Fate? What do you mean?”

  “Destiny. Providence. The unknown becoming the known, but before it happens. A glimpse of the future, either by a dream or just a bloody gut feeling, but somehow, some way, it comes to pass.”

  “You mean, like something a fortune teller might dream up?”

  “Yes, perhaps like a fortune teller, a psychic, or maybe someone as ordinary as you or me having a sense of what is going to happen, and it does.”

  Dylan snorted. “Man, that stuff is make-believe, fairy tale. How could an educated person believe in something like that?”

  “Dylan, your accident this morning jarred a memory that Timothy had…a memory that happened a long time ago, and like ya, Timothy just thought his mum was being rather silly, trying to mess with him, as you young folks say. But after this morning, he now believes she was trying to tell him something about his future.”

  Dylan asked with a hint of sarcasm, “And what is that, that he should give up a promising career to hibernate here because someday, and who knows when that would be, a couple of unlucky Americans would have a freakin’ blow out, flip and crash at the edge of his property?”

  Dr. Payne sighed deeply, then sat into the winged back. “Dylan, it may seem coincidental, or maybe she really was able to see the future, but what Jane told Timothy did come true. She told him that some day he would meet a beautiful, young Yank, with long, blonde hair, and that he wouldn’t just meet her, he would save her life, and that because of her, his life would change. She wouldn’t tell him how it would change, but that he would know what he needed to do with his life when he met her.”

  Dylan’s brows scrunched, and his eyes cut into Dr. Payne’s eyes. He stared for a long while, then said, “I don’t believe this was anything more than sorry-ass luck for us. I don’t think damn fate had anything to do with us passing by here and our car wrecking…” He stopped, sucked in a long breath and stared off. A short minute later, calmer, he continued, “I’m grateful that he was here, and that he saved Aimee…” Dylan paused again for a few seconds, then added, “but if he thinks there is some mystical connection between the two of them just because his mother told him some crazy story about meeting a beautiful, young American, well…” Dylan stopped a third time before he could finish. “Yeah, well, this isn’t prophetic or fate, or any other damn thing. It was a freak accident. Nothing more. And after we leave here in a couple days we’ll be forever grateful to Joseph, but his association with our lives will be over. And if he needs me to tell him so, I’ll be glad to. Aimee doesn’t need any more stress in her life.”

  “Aye, I understand, and I must say I agree with you, which is why I told him what you unfortunately overheard, that he needed to leave her be.”

  “I know he’s smart, but if he’s wise, he’ll listen to you.” Dylan started to stand. “I need to check on Aimee. I appreciate you telling me this. I mean, I don’t believe it’s providence, but whatever he thinks it is, well, it is unfortunate it happened.”

  “Son, how are ye feeling?” asked Dr. Payne changing the subject.

  “I’m fine, a little sore, but nothing bad. I’m worried about Aimee, though. She seems so fragile.”

  “She’ll be okay. Her vitals are good considering all she’s been through today. I think the realization of what happened hit her like lightening, and she shut down. It’s the body’s way of processing the pain, the stress, the understanding she was seconds away from death, and had it not been for some stranger, she might not be here. I believe that’s why she fainted. The rest will help her. Please go.
Be there for her when she wakes up. I’m staying the night here in the spare room. Come get me if she needs me. And don’t worry, I’ll have a talk with Timothy when he cools down.”

  Dylan nodded, then quickly headed down the hall to Aimee’s room. Aimee was still asleep, although not soundly. He could tell she had been thrashing around in the bed. The room was cool. Dylan straightened the covers and pulled them over her, flipped on the small lamp in the opposite corner of the room illuminating the family photos on the wall, then turned off the bedside lamp. He quietly pulled the chair from the corner over next to the bed and sat down, groaning lightly as he stretched out his sore legs. He snatched the light throw on the end of the bed and wrapped it over his torso, then sat watching Aimee, waiting for her to stir. Within a few minutes, unable to fight sleep, his eyes closed and light snoring filled the room.

  Around three, the back door in the kitchen slowly swung open. Joseph slid through, and without a sound slipped his rubber boots off onto the mat by the door. In his stocking feet he continued to the sink, filled a glass with some water, and sipped it.

  Suddenly, the ceiling light came on and Joseph whirled around. Dr. Payne was standing in the doorway of the hall, filling the space from door jamb to door jamb.

  “Edward,” Joseph began.

  “Timothy.”

  “Look, Edward, I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I knew better…”

  “Yes, Timothy,” Dr. Payne interrupted in a quiet voice, “ya knew better, and unless ye want to ruin what ye were put on this earth to fulfill, I strongly suggest ya get yourself under control and let them rest a few days, and then see them off back to the States.”

  “I know, Edward. I promise I’ll behave. It’s just that all those years Mum and Dad were sent on journeys, and me never knowing where they were, or worse, if they would come back.” He paused, his unfathomable past flying through his mind. Joseph continued after a long silence, “I hoped, and even prayed, that Mum was wrong, that I wasn’t like them, that I would be normal. But deep down, I knew I was just like them. I’ve tried to hide from it, hoping that if I stayed away on digs, it wouldn’t happen to me. I didn’t want to witness any more of that craziness, and wanted Mum to be wrong. If I distanced myself, I could escape my fate. Today what happened, God, I don’t know, Edward, it’s not possible, is it? Can it be real? How could Mum have known that I would save this young woman, every last detail described precisely like she told me all those years ago?”