by Zizi Cole
I looked back to where my mother was standing. She was still there, just watching the scene before her. She looked sad. I knew by the look on her face she didn’t want any of this to happen to us. She was doing what she thought was best for me, for her family. I looked back to Mia. Her eyes were filled with tears and her hands were trembling in mine. She was deeply afraid that I was going to hate her or turn on her. But I couldn’t do that. I understood. I had so many questions about it, though.
“Oh Mia, I don’t hate you. I’m not even mad at you. I get it. They did what was right at the time.” I smiled at her. “I have so many questions, I don’t know where to start. What kind of magic is it?”
“I don’t know all the details. Mom has kept her lips sealed about a lot of it. She’s only told me what she feels is necessary for me to know. She has told me that our family is a hybrid family. We have a mix of Fae and witch blood. Our family has the powers of both the Fae and witches without some of the vulnerability,” Mia explained. “I know it’s a lot to digest and we still have a lot to learn. We’ll find out more about our heritage together. Now that you know, we can explore our family ancestry and find out more.”
I nodded. “We’re basically fairy witches? Wow. I would have never thought of that. That’s amazing.”
She turned her head and looked at Jake. “Don’t forget, I know things. I’ve seen your resources. But you’re right, for now it’s best if we just trust you know what you’re doing, Jacob.”
He gave her a slight nod. He was sitting and letting everything that he learned absorb into his brain. I knew that he would let everything stew and he would have a better understanding of what was going on than we did. Maybe this would come to an end soon and life would be back to normal.
***
I was running through the house, covered in blood. I was trying to get away from the shadow that was chasing after me. I ran out the front door towards the wooded area to the left of the property. I slowed down as I entered the tree line. I didn’t want to fall and break my neck, but I had to keep moving. I couldn’t let the shadow catch up to me. He would cut my heart out.
I made my way through the woods on a path that had grown over from years of neglect. I stopped and looked around. I had never been in the woods before. That was one of the main rules my Momma had when I was growing up. She had said to stay out of the woods. I heard a branch snap. I started following the path again. I picked my way through carefully so I wouldn’t trip or get snagged on something.
The path opened to a wide clearing in the shape of a circle. Inside the circle was all kinds of strange symbols that I had never seen before. In the middle of the clearing was a large weathered stone. The stone had a smooth top, on which a black object was sitting. I carefully stepped closer to the object. As I got closer to it, I was able to see that it was moving slowly.
I stood next to the rock and looked down. I was staring at a still beating heart. There was blood leaking out of the heart. I looked around trying to find the body that it came from. I wasn’t seeing a body. I heard a creaking noise coming from the trees across from where I was standing. I followed the noise. When I walked into the tree line, I felt something drip onto my shoulder. I turned my head slightly to look at my shoulder. There was something wet on it. In the dark it looked almost black. By the scent, I could tell it was blood. I looked up and there was a body hanging in the tree. I stifled a scream and stepped back a step so I could see the body more clearly. The body was hanging by its ankles and it has been gutted like a buck during deer season. I looked at the face and my heart stopped. I was looking into what was left of Jake’s beautiful face. His eyes were open wide, unseeing. I covered my mouth as a sob escaped me. I lost the one man I had ever truly loved. I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked. It was my mother. She glanced around urgently. “You need to get out of here. He’s still coming. You don’t have time to fall apart, sweetie. You need to keep moving. Remember, don’t let him touch you.”
I heard the distinct sound of footsteps heading towards the circle. I examined my surroundings. I needed to go, but I couldn’t leave him. He was my heart. Without Jake, I was nothing. When I took a step forward, I stepped on something that sent a sharp pain through my foot. I bent down and picked it up. It was a diamond ring. Inside the ring it read ‘Forever and Always.’ I looked at my mom. She looked over her shoulder.
“You don’t have time for this, Alexandrea. You need to haul ass and get out of here.” Momma looked around again. “Please, hurry.”
I turned to run, and there he was, standing right behind me. He had a knife in his hand. There was blood dripping off the knife. As he reached out to touch my shoulder, I jerked backwards and fell onto the ground. I crab-walked backwards until I bumped into the tree that Jake was hanging from and my hand landed in something warm and wet. I looked at my hand and it was covered in blood. I had put my hand in Jake’s entrails. I screamed.
“Alexandrea! Wake up.” Jake shouted in my face. He was shaking my shoulders. I shot up and wrapped my arms around his neck. Jake wrapped his strong arms around my waist in a tight embrace.
“Oh my god! You’re okay. You’re here.” My whole body was shaking. He was alive and it was just a dream. I could feel his heart beating against my chest. It had been so realistic.
“It was just a dream, darlin’,” Jake whispered. “You’re safe. We’re all safe.”
“It was so real,” I whispered.
I held onto Jake as the dream faded. Before it completely faded, I thought I saw the man from my dream standing at the end of the bed. He had the knife in his hand. As he disappeared, he whispered, “Soon.”
10
He stood at the edge of the property inside the tree line. He watched the light in Alexandrea’s room come on. The bastard that had been staying with her must have gone into her room. He knew he should have made his move right after he got rid of her parents, but the time wasn’t right. The timing had to be perfect. Before it was done, he would have her right where he wanted her. That bastard, who hadn’t left her side, would no longer be in the picture.
It had to have been Jake’s idea to close the blinds in the house, because every window was now effectively covered. Before he showed up in the house, the windows were always open. Alexandrea and her mother both liked having sunlight coming in the windows. Soon. He would see her again soon. He would make sure of it.
The light went off in the bedroom, so he knew whatever was going on was over, unless that asshole was touching his woman. She belonged to him, and he was going to make sure she knew it. If she wasn’t willing to accept that fact, he would force it on her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he would if he had to. He hadn’t come this far for her not to bend to his will.
He continued to watch the house. He figured the windows would stay dark, but then a light in the kitchen came on. He frowned. That never happened. Nightly, her light would come on, then go off and the house would remain dark. He stepped farther into the trees so that if anyone looked out, they wouldn’t see him.
He had things he had to prepare, so he went to leave. Before he left, he blew a kiss to Alexandrea’s window.
Soon, Sweetheart.
***
After the nightmare, I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Jake suggested we go downstairs and have a cup of herbal tea. He swore it would help me relax, so I followed him to the kitchen. My hands were still shaking. I couldn’t get past the nightmare that I had. It had faded, so my adrenaline wasn’t pumping like it had been, but I was still unnerved. I hadn’t realized how much the idea of anything happening to Jake would affect me. Now I knew I wouldn’t survive it.
I watched as he filled the tea kettle with water and put it on the stove. We hadn’t spoken since we made it into the kitchen and I just sat there watching him pacing. I studied Jake as he paced. He was wearing a pair of black cotton pajama pants and a black tank top. He had a lot more muscle than I remembered. Of course, he wasn’t a teenager anymore. He was an
incredibly handsome man. He was deep in thought, probably trying to figure out how this dream was different. I hadn’t told him about the nightmare. I couldn’t. It was too devastating for me to repeat. He should probably know, but I didn’t think I was strong enough to do this.
I screamed when the kettle started whistling. Jake turned and took the kettle off the heat, then finished making our tea. He put the mug of hot tea in front of me along with the honey and milk. I attempted to put the honey and milk in my tea, but my hands were shaking so badly that I was just making a mess. Jake gently took the honey out of my hands and added some to my tea. He then poured a splash of milk into the mug and stirred.
I picked up the tea and took a sip. I felt it warming my insides up. I hadn’t realized how cold I had been until then. The mug felt good on my hands. As I sipped, I noticed Jake was watching me. He looked puzzled and concerned. I set the mug down on the table and kept my hands on it.
“What?” I asked.
“I can’t figure it out. I know you’ve been having nightmares since your parents died. I know they’re getting worse, but you are strong. The only time I can tell they bother you is when you wake up screaming from them. Then within minutes, you’re calm and going back to sleep. Not this time. What’s different?” Jake asked.
How was I supposed to tell him that I saw his death? That seeing his dead, bloody corpse bothered me more than seeing my own corpse bloody and missing its heart. I couldn’t tell him. I simply couldn’t tell him about the horrors I’d seen. He didn’t need to be burdened with the evil I’ve seen in my head.
I shrugged. “I don’t remember. I just know that it was way worse than the others.”
He frowned. He knew I was lying. He had always been able to tell when I lied. He was a human lie detector. “You want to try again?”
“No,” I answered.
“No?” he repeated. “No explanation?”
“Nope,” I told him.
“Lex, you can tell me anything,” he said softly, taking my hand. His hand was so warm and big compared to my small, cold one.
I shook my head no. There were some things I couldn’t tell him. We were sitting there staring at each other when the landline phone rang. We both jumped. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was jumpy and on edge. I smiled, then got up and walked to the phone that was mounted to the wall.
“Hello?” I answered.
“What the hell is going on?” Mia asked. Her voice was still heavy with sleep.
“Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, no reason. I just wanted to call you at three in the freaking morning just to see what you were up to. To see if you were sleeping or maybe fucking the hottie that you have staying at your house,” Mia replied snidely.
“I had another nightmare and couldn’t sleep, so we’re having tea. How did you know we were up? Why the hell did you call the landline and not my phone?” I turned and glanced at Jake. He was watching me. I could tell he was interested in the conversation I was having.
“I tried your phone first. You didn’t answer, so I called the house. And I’m a fucking psychic, how do you think I knew you were up?”
“Damn girl, you are a bitch at three in the morning.” I grinned at the phone. I could feel her irritation rise. “You should consider sleeping at three a.m. instead of snarking at me on the phone.”
“If you weren’t sending vibes so strong that it woke me up, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now,” Mia snapped. “And by the way, just fucking tell him what the nightmare is about so we can all get some fucking rest.”
“Love you too, Mia. Good night.” I responded and hung up the phone. I loved aggravating her. Knowing Mia, she would be up for the day now. She would either go beat a punching bag up, imagining it was me, or she would head to the diner and get caught up on paperwork.
Jake grinned at the look on my face. “I’m assuming she didn’t tell you she loved you. And if I know Mia, she probably told you to tell me what was going on.”
I shrugged. “Nope, she didn’t tell me she loved me, but she does.”
“And she said to tell me?” Jake pressed.
I shrugged again. I had no intention of telling him what happened. He really didn’t need to know about my dreams. Well, nightmares. Did he? It’s not like he could stop my nightmares from plaguing my existence. That wasn’t necessarily true. I didn’t tend to have nightmares when he was with me. Maybe if I told him about them, they would go away.
I opened my mouth to tell him, but no words came out. I shut my mouth and shook my head. I didn’t want to be difficult, but I couldn’t tell him. I had to explain to him why I couldn’t tell him about the nightmares.
“I can’t tell you. I don’t want you to have to deal with the nightmares that I’ve seen. They’re horrific. I’m afraid telling you about them will give the nightmares power. They’re basically the same thing over and over. Running from a dark figure with a knife.” I said.
“Okay, it’s okay,” he said. “I understand. Just keep this in mind. If Mia did tell you that you should tell me, maybe there’s a reason behind it. Maybe she saw something that makes her feel that telling me would be beneficial to you, to us.”
I nodded to acknowledge his statement. Some part of me knew that he was right, but I still couldn’t say the words. I set my cup in the sink and went to bed. As I was lying there, I went over the details of that last nightmare in my head. It was so weird. I had been having nightmares since my parents died. There had never been anyone dead in them except my parents and myself. Why had Jake died in the dreams? What made him so different?
I dozed off wondering why the last dream was so different.
11
The next couple of weeks went by uneventfully. I went to the therapist, did the household chores, spent time with Jake and Mia, and had the usual nightmares. As I walked outside from my weekly session with Dr. Fields, I stopped on the sidewalk. I took a deep breath of fresh air to calm my nerves and gather my thoughts.
Therapy had been very difficult this session. Dr. Fields had touched on things that I would rather not discuss. He seemed to know more about my family than he should. He had touched on my childhood and my mother’s family. I skirted around what I knew, which really wasn’t much. The subject was dropped shortly after that.
Dr Fields had also asked me about the nightmares I had been having. I didn’t want to tell him in detail about them, so I told him that they were the same thing. Finding my parents dead. I didn’t tell him about the missing hearts, being chased by the man in black, or any of other frightening things that had happened in the nightmares. I felt the omission of some of the details was a lie, but it was a lie I was going to have to live with. I lied to my therapist more than I felt comfortable with. I wasn’t entirely sure he bought the lies. He would bring up the same subjects at almost every session.
He also asked if I had been using the sleeping pills. I told him I was, even though I hadn’t been. The pills scared me as much as the man in my dreams. The pills would probably keep me from waking up. I didn’t want to know what happened if I couldn’t wake up from my nightmares. Nothing good. That much I was sure of.
I started to walk to my car that I had parked a little way down the street. There hadn’t been any parking spots open when I arrived for my session, so I had parked in front of a little boutique a few storefronts away. I was looking down while I was walking, so I didn’t see the man in front of me looking down at his phone. We bumped into each other.
“Sorry,” I said, quickly trying to get past him.
“It’s cool, dude.” He answered. Then he turned back towards me. “I’ll be damned if it isn’t Alexandrea Cooper.”
I turned around. I couldn’t help but smile. Before me stood a man a little shy of six feet. He had light brown curly hair, glasses, and the biggest grin I had seen in a while. I gave him a big hug.
“Jason Lane, I haven’t seen you since high school,” I told him, smiling.
“Righ
t? I never thought I would see you around Ravensville after graduation when you took off to the big city. You left all the little people behind,” he said. There was no bite to his statement, he said it as if it were just a fact. I had left with no intention of coming back. “Sorry about your folks. I know how it feels. I lost my parents a couple years back. It was devastating. If you need to talk, just let me know.”
“I will,” I told him genuinely. “So, what have you been up to?”
“You know me,” he answered. “I haven’t changed much in the last ten years. I did get married and have two kids.”
“That’s great!” I smiled. It was good to hear some happiness. Jason had always been a free spirit. He was the class clown and friends with everyone. He had also been the one the other kids went to when they wanted to party. Jason had always been the partier. I had never figured he would settle down and have kids. “Well, I hate to cut this short, but I really need to get home. I’ll talk to you soon.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “Here, this has all my info on it, including my cell number. It really is great seeing you, you look great.”
I looked at his card. Jason was a realtor. I was thoroughly amazed. I had figured that Jason would become a wanderer and travel after high school. I guess people did change after all. I turned and headed to my car.
