by Zizi Cole
I was almost to my car when I thought about the ring in my nightmare again. I couldn’t shake the feeling that the ring was more than just my imagination. To my knowledge, Jake had never bought me a ring. What was I going to do if the ring was real? Was there a chance that my dreams were real? What if they were premonitions?
I got in my car and started for home. I hadn’t realized how late in the day it was. The sun was starting to set on the horizon. Since it was fall, once the sun hit the horizon, it would become pitch black in a short amount of time. It was going to be completely dark before I hit the highway that led to my house. I sighed. I had hoped that I would make it home before dark. That was one thing Jake has been adamant about since everything started. He didn’t seem to think being out past dark, alone, was a good idea. Frankly, I agreed with him on that.
I turned off of Main Street onto the highway, which was completely dark. There were no street lights posted and trees lined both sides of the streets. On nights like tonight, it felt like I was driving in a tunnel. There was no light from overhead. The clouds covered the moon and blocked the stars. I accelerated a little. I could feel my heart rate picking up. I hated driving this road when it was so dark out.
I started getting the sensation that I was being followed. I checked my mirror and no one was there. I had a tingling sensation at the base of my neck. Then, goosebumps rose up on my arms. I looked in the mirrors again. Still nothing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a figure forming in the passenger seat. My mother. I sighed. Maybe the feeling was just from her.
“Put on your seatbelt,” she instructed.
I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to buckle up. I always buckled up. I reached over and buckled up quickly. “Thanks,” I murmured.
“You need to get home, quickly,” she said. “You need to stay inside when it’s dark.”
I glanced at her. “Seriously, Momma? I am an adult. I don’t have a curfew.”
“Stay inside when it is dark,” she repeated.
Okay. I guessed that was the end of the discussion. I would stay inside after dark. I checked my mirrors again. Still nothing, but the sensation of being followed still hadn’t subsided. I glanced back at my mother. She was still sitting there. She was staring straight ahead. Besides being transparent, it was almost like she was still alive. She was never fond of my car or the way I drove. She thought I drove too recklessly because I liked to go over the speed limit. Suddenly she turned and looked at me.
“Hold on tight,” she instructed. “Try to keep the wheel straight.”
I was going to ask her what she was talking about when two things happened at once. My cell phone rang and someone rear-ended my car. It was good that I had instinctually listened to my mother and had tightened my grip on the steering wheel. I screamed as my car was rear-ended a second time. I almost lost control of the wheel. The sound of the doors locking caught my attention. I knew I didn’t hit the lock button so Momma must have materialized to do it. I didn’t think ghosts could manipulate objects.
My phone stopped ringing and the text tone sounded. I didn’t dare take my hands off the wheel or my eyes off the road. I thought it was over, so I started to relax a little bit. Just under a mile to my house, I was rear-ended a third time. I lost control and the car started fishtailing. I corrected it just enough to regain control, but didn’t stop. I had to get home. I knew when I got to the house, I would be okay.
“Don’t get out of the car before help comes,” Momma told me as she faded away.
When I got to my drive, I turned sharply and flew down the drive. I hit my brakes and skidded to a stop. I was breathing hard. Looking around, I still didn’t see anyone. I never saw the other vehicle that had rear-ended me either. What the hell was going on? I heard something smack the trunk. I turned in my seat, but didn’t see anything. Suddenly there was a loud scratching noise. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from the passenger side, but it could have been coming from anywhere. My heart was in my throat. I didn’t know what to do. I did know what I was not going to do and that was get out of the car. My mother had given me sound advice.
The car rocked and I screamed. My phone started ringing again. I grabbed it and answered it.
“Are you okay?” Mia asked.
“No, I’m being attacked!” I yelled into the phone. “I’m scared. I don’t see anything, but there’s someone outside my car.”
“Stay there. We’re on our way,” Mia told me. “When you didn’t answer I called Jake. He picked me up at the diner and we’re almost there. We had a hold up on the way there, but we’re on our way. There’s metal parts and skid marks all over the road. What the hell?”
“Please hurry,” I pleaded.
I heard rustling, then Jake. “Lex, we’re on our way to the house. Just hold on a couple more minutes. Call the cops and we’ll see you soon.”
“No, please don’t leave me alone,” I begged. “I can’t do this alone. I’m scared.”
“It will be okay, baby. I will never leave you alone. I promise.” Jake said.
There was another loud screeching sound coming from outside of the car. I screamed again and dropped the phone. I looked out the window and all I could see was darkness. Then there was a loud thump on the roof of my car. A thick red liquid started pouring down my windshield. I stared at it in horror. Blood was running down my windshield. What in the hell had that much blood? The better question was, where in the hell was it coming from? As I stared at the blood running down my windshield, I could hear Jake yelling in the phone for me to pick up the phone. I was so shocked, I couldn’t move. Who would pour blood on my windshield? That was simply evil.
I heard the rumble of an engine and a thump as my car rocked again. I squealed and held onto the wheel. I saw headlights in my rearview mirror coming closer. Jake. The truck stopped beside me and he was out of his truck and at my door trying to open it.
“Lex, unlock the doors!” He yelled through the window. Then he turned to Mia. “Call the police. Have them get someone out here immediately.”
“On it,” Mia said, subdued.
When the door clicked unlocked Jake jerked the door open, reached in, unbuckled me, and pulled me out of the car. He held me tightly as I started shaking. He was stroking my hair and shushing me. I was shaking so hard that I thought I was going to fall apart.
Mia got out of the truck and was looking at the car. She frowned as she was examining it. She walked around to the back and pointed out the back of the car.
“Hey, Jake, someone rear-ended her. It was parts of Lex’s car that we saw on the road. I can’t believe she made it home with this damage. I’m really surprised that she didn’t have a wreck from the impact that would have caused this kind of damage,” Mia told him.
“I’ll look at it when the police get here. I’m also going to have to make a couple of phone calls of my own. I’ll find out who is behind this before she’s seriously hurt,” Jake told her.
Mia stopped at the passenger side of the car. The color in her already pale face drained. “Uh, I hope that you’re close to solving this mystery and getting rid of this maniac.”
“Why?”
“Come look at this,” Mia said, pointing to the side of the car.
Scratched in the black paint was one word.
SOON.
12
Deputy Price showed up about fifteen minutes after Jake and Mia did. We were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee when he showed up. He went outside and looked at the car. He also took pictures and made notes. He came back in and joined us at the table.
“Ms. Cooper, this is the weirdest thing I have ever seen,” Deputy Price told me. “To be frank, I’m not quite sure what I can really do. I called in the forensics team to come look at it and they’ll try to get any trace evidence that I’m not skilled enough to obtain. I apologize, but it will probably be a long night.”
“Okay, that’s fine,” I told him. “And, Deputy Price, you can call
me Alexandrea or Lex.”
He nodded. “Okay, you can call me Ethan.”
I smiled. “Ethan, didn’t you go to go high school with us? I think I remember you.”
“Yeah, I was on the football team with Jake. I graduated with y’all. I left for the police academy shortly after. We used to hang out a lot.”
“I knew that. I’m sorry, it’s been a rough couple of months,” I told him.
“I understand. Now, I really need to ask you some questions, Lex,” he told me.
I nodded. I was sure he had more than a few questions for me. I would have a lot of questions for me if I were him. Hell, I would probably have me taken in for interrogation after everything that had happened over the last two months. Before he could ask a question, Jake’s phone went off, breaking the silence. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the display, and excused himself.
“I have to take this,” he told me, kissing the top of my head. “I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” I smiled at him. I turned and looked at Ethan. “Let’s get this party started.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” he asked, pulling out his notepad and pen.
I took a deep breath. I proceeded to explain to Ethan about what had happened. I was beginning to grow weary of having to give statements to the police. As I explained to him the events of the night, I couldn’t wait to be done with it. I had never had this much interaction with the Sheriff’s Department before my parents were murdered. It was becoming exhausting. As I finished retelling the events of the evening, I paused and waited for him to finish taking notes.
“Describe the car that rear-ended you,” he said, still writing.
“I can’t.”
Ethan looked up. “Why not?”
“I never saw the vehicle. I looked in my mirrors but I couldn’t see it. It must have been black or a dark color. I doubt they had their headlights on,” I explained.
“Do you know what the word ‘soon’ means on your car?” he asked.
“I don’t know for certain, but I’m pretty sure that it means that whatever is going to happen is going to happen ‘soon.’ I do know that it was also on the card that you found in my room before,” I told him.
“I see,” he said, tapping his pen on the table. “Did you happen to see the person vandalizing your vehicle?”
I shook my head. “No, that’s probably the scariest part. I didn’t see anyone or anything.”
“Okay,” he set the pen down. “Here’s the thing, I don’t know what we can do since no one saw anything. Unless, Mia, did you see the assailant when you and Jake pulled up?”
Mia shook her head. “It was pitch black and we didn’t see anything. He must have been gone by time we got here. We heard the whole incident on the phone. When Jake took the phone, he put it on speaker so he could drive while talking with her. We heard her scream, and I’m guessing she dropped her cell phone because she wasn’t responding to Jake shouting at her, trying to get her attention. At that point, he sped up so we could get there and protect her.”
“Okay.” He nodded and closed his notebook. “I’ll hang around until the forensics team gets here and finishes up. Then, I’ll head back and write up a report.”
“Would you like some coffee?” I asked him. If he was going to chill for a while, then he might as well make himself comfortable.
“Sure,” Ethan said. “Coffee sounds pretty good right about now. It’s been a long day. Thank you.”
I got up and poured him a cup. I figured he would take it black since most police I knew did. I watched Deputy Ethan Price try to avoid eye contact with Mia. I would definitely ask Mia what that was all about. I brought the coffee to him and set it down. I went back to my chair and sat down. I looked towards the living room where Jake had disappeared to take his phone call. A part of me wanted to go into the living room and find out who he was talking to, but I didn’t want to invade his privacy like that. That would piss him off.
Jake came back into the room. He grabbed his coffee cup, refilled it, and then sat back down at the table. He reached over and squeezed my hand. He had a strange look on his face. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. He looked like he was relieved, but really worried at the same time.
“What’s wrong now?” I asked Jake, feeling deflated.
“Well, we need to talk,” he told me. “I’d prefer it be just us, but everyone here should know anyway.”
“Okay,” I said timidly.
Jake looked at Ethan, “You already know most of what I’m going to say.”
Ethan nodded.
Jake looked back at me, begging for forgiveness with his eyes. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. I squeezed his hand reassuringly. I had kept the fact that I could see ghosts from him and I still hadn’t told him the dreams, so I figured we were even.
“Okay, I have to tell you before he gets here.” Jake looked at his watch. “I’m not just a farmer like I tell everyone. It’s just convenient that everyone thinks I hang out at the farm helping Pops with it. I do actually help Pops quite a bit when I’m not working.”
“If you don’t work on your dad’s farm, what do you do?” I asked. My stomach had a sinking feeling.
He got up and began pacing. He never had this much nervous energy to him. I could tell he had a lot to say and apparently little time to say it. “I work for a government agency out of Kansas City. We primarily do surveillance. We keep an eye on potential threats to the government and human kind.”
“Human kind?” I wondered. “What do you mean, human kind?”
Jake looked at me sharply. “We keep an eye on and deal with beings that threaten to upset the balance. We police the supernatural beings that live among the humans.”
“What do you mean deal with?” I asked. I had horrific images of different ways these threats could be dealt with.
“Lex, that’s not important right now,” he said. He watched my face, and his expression softened. “Darlin’, don’t worry about it right now. I’ll explain more later.”
I nodded.
He sat back down and looked at me again. “I’ve been checking out your ex from New York. I can’t verify if he’s in the city or if he has a solid alibi for the different incidents that have happened since you came home. He let you go too easily for the type of person he is. I looked into his past and he has a history of domestic abuse. He may be evil, but I think he is solely human. I’m not so sure that this ‘thing’ that’s been messing with you is human, though. If they are, they’re into some kind of voodoo. I’m not sure yet. That’s what I’ve been working on.”
“So, the phone call I just took in the other room is my partner, Cole. He’s on his way in from the city and he’ll be working with me, trying to figure out what’s going on before anyone tries hurting you, Lex.” He grabbed my hand and held it tight. “I’m so sorry I haven’t told you. Most of what I do is classified and I’m not able to talk about it. Ethan knows because I’ve worked with the Sheriff’s department on several cases, including your folks’ case.”
I suddenly remembered when he’d said that he had hated seeing my parents like that. When he’d said it, I didn’t think much about it but it was odd he had said it that way. I just hadn’t taken out the conversation and examined it too closely. I looked at Jake. I felt like I was looking at a stranger, until I looked into his eyes. I knew that I should be furious that he had lied to me, but it wasn’t like I had been completely honest with him, either.
Mia looked at Jake with a disgusted look on her face, “Cole is coming? Really? I think I’m going home.”
I looked between Jake and Mia. What was up with that? Who was this Cole? Apparently Cole was someone Mia didn’t care for. I hated being the only one in the dark.
“Who is this Cole person?” I asked. “Do I know him? Mia, why would you want to leave?”
“Cole Evans is a douchetastical asshat, that’s who he is,” Mia spat. “He is a rude, condescending, arrogant, pigheaded, son-of-a-bitc
h.”
“Oh,” I looked at Jake. Jake was trying not to laugh. He knew that laughing would just set Mia off even more.
Jake looked at me, “She’s just mad because she embarrassed herself in front of him and he laughed at her. He isn’t that bad. He just has a unique sense of humor.”
Mia glared at Jake, “In other words, he’s an asshole.”
This could get interesting. I was curious to see what it was about this Cole Evans that got under Mia’s skin so deeply. And I also wanted to know how they met. Did that mean that she knew that Jake works for some super-secret agency? I was fascinated with what was happening here. I had so many questions but I didn’t think they were going to answer them. At least not right now.
I figured that I would find out soon enough.
13
I asked Mia to tell me more about Cole when Jake left the room to go get his laptop. She looked at me and snarled. Whoa, she really didn’t like this guy. I had never seen her react that way to a man, or anyone for that matter.
“He’s despicable,” she started. “Arrogant, lying, greedy-”
“Telling lies about me, again?” a voice asked from the doorway.
I turned and looked. Leaning against the archway of the kitchen was a handsome man. He was at least six feet tall. He had chiseled features, dark brooding eyes, black hair that was a little long, and he had a strong jawline. He had a smirk on his face that told me he knew exactly what Mia thought of him.
He turned his dark eyes to me. They were intense, but they had a spark in them that I trusted. When he smiled at me, I couldn’t help but smile back. He walked over to me and took my hand. “I’m Cole Evans. It is a pleasure to meet the woman that’s had Jake tied up in knots for years.”
I shook hands with him. I smiled when I replied, “Are you sure that you’re speaking with the right girl? I’m pretty sure I haven’t tied anyone in knots.”
“Oh, absolutely. The way he talked about you…” Cole started.
