by Dakota Lake
Micah walked up the stairs, I was unsure whether I was meant to follow him or not so I stood at the bottom watching the dog.
“What are you doing?” he asked from the top of the stairs and motioned with his head for me to follow. Upstairs was dark but there was light coming from under one of the doors, which was the one he opened, holding the door open for me.
I walked into a smallish room, inside there was a single bed, a nightstand with a lamp, a desk, a small closet and a chest of drawers. My boxes were stacked in the corner. The bed had been neatly made with purple sheets and there was a gorgeous purple furry blanket to match the bed linen draped over the end. The room looked cosy, Seth made it sound like his spare room was a tip with junk lying around, obviously he had quickly cleaned it out while I was asleep.
Wow! But where did he get the bed linen from on such short notice?
I half smiled turning to Micah and was about to tell him how great this was but he looked at me expressionless and walked out shutting the door behind him.
I freshened up in the bathroom and unpacked a few things putting my daisy alarm clock on the nightstand. I didn’t want to go downstairs with Micah down there, so I sat on the bed with a book, but I soon felt tired, which surprised me after the long sleep I just had in the truck. I laid down on top of the covers and soon forgot about everything.
I was awoken by what sounded like a motorcycle in the distance getting closer with every second. I slowly got off the bed and peeked out the curtains it was still dark, I looked back at my clock, it was 1.30am. I quietly creaked the door open, I didn’t want to wake Seth if he was in bed. I crept along the landing to the end window which over looked the driveway.
Outside was like looking into a sea of black, the only visible light was coming from the porch. The roar of the motorcycle grew louder and I could see a light flickering through the trees. The bike soon pulled up next to Seth's truck, there was another black truck further along it looked like a very new and expensive black Dodge Ram, maybe Micah's?
The driver swung off and removed his helmet, it was Seth but even in this light I could see his face didn’t look right. His left eye was all swollen and there was a cut along the side of his face and his lip looked damaged, he looked as if he'd been beaten up. Micah appeared from the house and casually strolled over to him. Seth handed him the bag from his back and grinned at Micah as the pair of them did a fist bump in the air.
I was horrified my brother had been attacked and Micah didn’t even look concerned, what was going on?
They both walked towards the cabin, I quickly moved away from the window so not to be seen spying. I quietly tip toed past my door nearer to the stairs I stood hovering over the rail, I was deciding whether I should stay up here or go down when I heard Seth talking, so I decided to stay put and crouched down.
“Where is she?” Seth asked, quieting his voice.
“Upstairs, she went back to sleep again.” Micah said.
“Sleeping on what exactly? I hadn’t cleaned her room out. I didn’t even have time to get her any bedding, you two left it so late to tell me about any of this,” Seth said, sounding exhausted. “Stop getting all worked up Jessie already took care of her room, I think she liked it.” Micah said cheerily.
Who was Jessie?
“So when did she wake up?” Seth asked sounding concerned.
“Around midnight, she looked fine when I left her upstairs.”
“What was that thing she was doing with her eyes? It looked as freaky as hell,”
“Maybe she’s possessed?” Micah said, rather amused by the comment.
“Micah it's not funny,”
“I'm kidding, calm down.....geez has everyone lost their sense of humour round here,” “You're sure she wasn’t just having a bad dream?”
“No I think she tried to look in my head.”
“So you’re saying she can do what I can, but not as well yet?”
“No. I don't know, I'm not sure but I could feel her searching in my head. I think she might be able to read peoples minds and possibly see things, like images or memories. I’m not entirely sure yet though,”
“How did she even get in your head? Even I can't get in your head and I thought my ability was strong.”
“I don't know but I definitely felt her in my head, it happened so quick. It shouldn’t even be possible our minds our different to yours stronger and more intelligent, which is only stating the obvious really,”
“Micah,” Seth said annoyed with him. “So what does this mean?”
“Well she can definitely do something, it just doesn’t work as well on me. You will need to contain your thoughts around her as a precaution though. If she can get into my mind yours will be like a walk in the park,” Micah said.
“How do you expect me to that?” Seth replied rather alarmed.
“Well you're going to have to try, think of something to distract yourself when she's around. We don't know what she can do seeing as you wont ask her. It seems silly you insist on keeping her in the dark about everything, when it's plainly clear she's already like you in some way. You need to tell her,”
“Not yet, she's still a kid.”
“Yeah one with possible mind reading abilities....that stares a lot.” Micah said.
“Funny she said the same thing about you, the staring thing.”
There was a long pause and then boots moved across the floor.
“Micah what is that dog chewing? Is that....is that my trainer!”
“Well this has been an interesting day and all but I need to be going, try not to get too much blood on the floor. You're leaving a trail and you have company remember,”
I heard Micah's boots move across the floor and the front door slam shut. I stood up and quickly went back to my room. What was going on? They both knew what I could do. What had happened to Seth's face? neither one of them said anything about it like it was normal.
This was craziness and what I experienced in the car might not of been a dream but something I picked out of Micah's head. He must of gone skydiving at some point.
This was the first time this had ever happened, I’d only ever been able to read thoughts not memories. I had so many unanswered questions and I couldn’t believe my brother knew what I could do and hadn't said anything.
I heard Seth coming up the stairs so I quickly switched the lamp off and dived under the covers. I heard the door open a fraction, then it closed quietly.
I rolled over onto my side feeling confused, which quickly changed to borderline panicking Micah had been talking about ME on the phone before. It was me he wanted to bring back. And he'd told the person on the phone to stay away from me, but who was he talking to? Was it this Jessie person Micah had mentioned before, who had apparently sorted my bedroom out ready for me and picked out my sheets.
I laid there worrying about Seth, was he okay? The two of them didn’t seem to be worrying so he obviously wasn’t dying, I'd see the damage in the daylight tomorrow then maybe he would give me some answers. He'd have to it's not like he could say he fell down the stairs. So many different things where whirling through my head I knew sleep would be impossible.
Chapter Four
The next morning I was out of bed by 7am, washed and dressed by 8am then I went food hunting. I rummaged around in the cupboards for anything that looked edible or in date, half a loaf of bread, biscuits, soft cornflakes, tinned beans, a fridge full of red meats and energy drinks. I opted for a piece of toast and the only thing I could find to spread on it was peanut butter which wasn't so bad it was one of my favourite things to eat, but Seth really needed to go grocery shopping. I hadn’t seen Gunner since I had been downstairs but I had noticed a built in dog flap which took up most of the bottom half of the back door, he must be outside roaming around. Micah hadn’t said anything about keeping the dog in so I assumed it was okay.
I amused myself by watching TV and reading more of my book. These activities kept me busy until about 10am when I of
ficially hit boredom, Seth still hadn’t emerged from his room. I was anxiously worrying about him, I still hadn’t seen the damage to his face. I didn’t even know if he had to work today, his shifts changed every week and he had random hours.
I finally decided on a walk to distract myself. Seth hadn’t said there were any dangerous animals in the forest even when I had joked about the bears, so I thought a small stroll wouldn’t hurt. Outside the air felt cold and smelled of pine which was the only way I could describe it. It was the complete opposite to what I used to back home. Even though the sun was out and felt warm on my face, I still needed my hoodie to feel comfortable with the temperature outside. Behind the cabin I found a small dirt path that ran along the edge of the river. It was overgrown and I had to duck and jump branches and thorns. The sun kept disappearing behind the clouds, casting a gloomy shadow overhead. I hadn't got far when I heard bushes rustling near by, I turned just in time to see something black jumping out which knocked me to the floor. I rolled over and saw the dog circling back to me.
Gunner stood wagging his tail with his leash in his mouth dribbling. I managed to wrestle the leash from him but he wouldn't let me clip it on, he kept dodging me like it was a game then he took off down the path. I jogged behind him to keep up.
He finally came to a stop wagging his tail. I gave up trying to put his leash on and picked up a stick instead, chucking it down the path for him. The dog seemed friendly enough, he was like an overgrown puppy wanting to play. We kept to the path, what was left of it anyway. I had left my cell at the cabin so I had no idea what the time was?
We had walked some distance along the river and I was about to turn back when a small dock came into view. I couldn't imagine many people fishing off it this place looked untouched and overgrown I doubted anyone had been up here for a long time. I laid down at the end of the dock and watched the clouds above drift by, lost in my own random thoughts. Gunner laid down beside me resting his head on his paws.
The clouds in the distance looked darker and we're headed this way. I thought it best if we made our way back, I didn't want to get soaked. Before I could move something landed on the deck next to me I flinched away, Gunner stood up immediately and growled. It was a bird, hopping along the edge I was surprised it had landed so close to me. Gunner was still growing when he dived at the bird, but the bird was faster and took off into the air. Gunner stood at the end of the deck barking after it as it flew away. I watched it fly over into the trees it was a large bird much bigger than a standard crow.
I started walking back along the deck but Gunner didn't follow instead he started giving off a low growl looking across the river. I moved closer to him and looked over at the area of greenery he was watching, all I could see was trees and bushes. His growling grew deeper and louder, maybe he had seen another bird? He was clearly agitated by something and it was starting to unsettle me, maybe a walk in the woods was a bad idea.
“Gunner, time to go come on.....Gunner now!” I said but my voice was coming out all panicky, alarm bells were starting to go off in my head. When I had first asked Seth if I could come and stay I'd heard him say 'it's not safe' he probably meant the area, mountain lions, wolves I had no idea what could be roaming around I should of asked first.
Gunner continued to growl and had now began to snap at the air pacing the end of the deck. I looked over again to the other side of the river, standing amongst all the greenery I could clearly see a figure this time. Someone was over there but they quickly moved out of sight behind a tree. They had been watching me. It was time to go with or without the dog I just hoped he had done enough growling to frighten the stranger off.
I turned and started to briskly walk back along the deck but it didn’t last long and I found my legs had taken over and I was running for cover towards the trees. I had just made it off the deck when I turned to see if Gunner was following when I ran straight into something.
I started to fall backwards from the impact, when someone grabbed me by my arms and pulled me back up.
“Whoa, careful,” he said.
I got a quick look at him as he helped me up. He looked maybe my age, maybe older it was hard to tell his eyes were covered with dark black shades that matched his dark black hair. It was cut short styled up but still looked ruffled. I steadied myself while holding onto his arm which felt extremely muscular for his lean physic, he was dressed in a long sleeved black shirt, black jeans and black boots everything about him was dark. Where had he come from?
Are you okay?” he asked.
I turned back to look over at the riverbank, the stranger was no where to be seen. I looked at the boy who was looking in the same direction as I was.
“I thought I saw something across the river.” I said in a calmer voice looking back at the boy. “Like what?” he asked curiously.
“I dunno it looked like a person, maybe?”
I realised Gunner had stopped barking or growling I turned to look for him but he was gone I glanced around quickly and found him sitting next to the boys feet. The boy looked down at the dog and scratched the top of his head.
“It was probably a tall deer, no one comes out this far. What are you doing out here?” he asked sounding concerned, but he had said no one comes out this far. What was he doing out here? “I was just going for a walk with the dog,” I stepped back, he could be anyone. I couldn't help myself from asking. “What are you doing out here?”
“I have a place near by. You shouldn’t be out here on your own, it's not safe,” he said looking at me, I wished he would take his shades off so I could see his face properly.
“Why because of the wild cats or wolves?” I took another step back, dangling the leash trying to get Gunner's attention to follow me but he was firmly rooted next to the boys feet.
“No I've never seen any out here but still your dog didn’t seem too happy he obviously saw something.” The boy said looking across the riverbank again.
“Come on, I’ll walk you back.” he walked past me and Gunner followed by his heels. I tried to remain calm, how did he know where I lived or where I had walked from? I started searching the ground for anything I could use as a weapon if I had to, not that a small twig would do much damage.
“I'm guessing you live in that old cabin further up the river?”
Micah had told me hardly anyone knew it was there, who was this boy? He definitely wasn’t dressed for hiking through the woods.
“I didn’t think that many people knew it was there.” I slowly trailed behind him catching up. “They don't.”
“So how do you know about it?” he shrugged.
“I've lived in this area for a long time.”
We walked along in silence, I realised it wasn’t from him not speaking I couldn’t hear his thoughts that or he wasn’t thinking anything which was unlikely. This was what it was like around Micah. The boy picked up a stick and I noticed a skull ring on his middle finger. He chucked the stick for Gunner who happily fetched and returned it to him. Every so often I would steal glances in his direction, but I think he knew because a small smile played n his lips each time I looked at him. We soon arrived back at the cabin and I felt somewhat disappointed we had arrived back so quickly. “Thanks for walking me back. Do you have far to go from here?”
He shook his head to my question but didn't say anything.
He stood there watching me, at least I thought he was watching me it was hard to tell with the shades covering his eyes. I started walking towards the cabin, but turned waiting for Gunner. “Come on Gunner, ” But the dog stayed next to boys feet. “Looks like you've made a friend,” “Go on,” he said to the dog. Gunner stood up and trotted over to me.
The boy was looking in my direction and a slight smile crept onto his lips, I couldn't help but smile back. He stepped back and turned around walking back the way we had just come. I stood for a minute watching as he walked back along the river path. The wind had picked up and was blowing my hair around my face I could feel small ra
in drops starting to fall. I turned and jogged back to the cabin, Gunner ran to the back door and straight in through the dog flap. I opened the back door to find Seth bent over rummaging around in the fridge, I could only see the back of him. “Hey,” I said closing the back door waiting for him to turn around.
“We were about to send out a search party.” he joked turning around with a plate of steaks, but the plate of stakes wasn’t the first thing I noticed it was his face. His perfectly clear face there wasn’t a mark on him, no bruising, no swelling it was completely clear. I hadn't imagined last night had I? There was no way he could of covered that up with concealer.
“I went for a walk, the dog sort of followed me. I thought it would be okay?”
I walked over to the edge of the table holding onto it for support what was going on with his face? “Yeah it's okay. Just next time let me know before you disappear, where did you go?” “I found a small dirt path by the river which I followed.”
“That path follows the river all the way down to the bridge near Eggy's Diner, well apparently it used to it's probably far too over grown to get through nowadays.”
“Micah said Gunner was vicious, is that true?” I asked sitting at the table trying not to stare too much.
“Micah didn’t mean nasty vicious, the dog can be temperamental though, he doesn’t like strange men for some reason and he growls a lot. Good job no one lives round here right.” he said placing his steaks in the frying pan.
“I'm starving, you want some?” he smiled gesturing to the steaks. I just shook my head. “Well actually we bumped into someone Gunner even let him stroke him and they played fetch together, he said he lived near by.” I noticed Seth's posture had changed, even I knew he was frowning and could only see the back of him. He turned and leaned against the cooker. “No one else lives out here, you have to get a car ride just to get out this far unless you're hiking and even then it's a bit far up here. Who was this person?” he asked.
