Twenty minutes away.
Zoe walked out of a Chloe’s, a locally owned clothing store, with a new scarf wrapped around her neck. She stopped to showcase it for him.
“Ah, very nice. Didn’t someone ever tell you not to buy things this close to Christmas?”
She made a pouty face and he laughed.
“Don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on getting you anything anyways,” he scoffed.
The banter continued as they made their way through the throngs of people towards the center of the plaza and the twenty five foot tree that would be lit soon. Finding Jessica and Joey wasn’t difficult considering Joey spotted them first and ran over.
“Dad! Hey Zoe, come over here, we picked out a great spot.”
“Hey Joey! Merry Christmas!” Zoe said with a smile.
“Merry Christmas to you!”
He led them over to where Jessica was standing, bundled in a light pink sweater, with jeans. It was currently in the lower forties but would continue to drop as the sun went down.
“Thank you guys for including me.”
“Of course Jessica. We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Zoe responded kindly first.
“Agreed!”
Everyone counted down together from ten. At zero the tree blazed with brilliant light and cheering resounded from everyone. Zoe continued to steal glances at Jessica from time to time. It was a woman’s instinct and she knew that Jessica still loved Greg. That was something she couldn’t have.
* * *
Greg was in the kitchen making hot chocolate as Zoe stared at the ceiling in bed, not able to shut her mind down. She was worried about herself. There were hours in the day that were just blank to her. It was like someone had turned her off for those periods of time. Another thing that ate away at her ability to sleep was the hug that Jessica had given Greg after the tree lighting. She could see it in her face. Jessica wanted to be back with Greg. The way she held tight to him when they hugged was evidence enough. After imagining ripping Jessica’s hair out, she drifted to sleep.
Her eyes shot open, turned completely blue, and she gasped.
It felt like she was flying. Trees, buildings, and streets blurred past beneath her. Was she dreaming? She slowed and drifted to the ground. A woman was on a ladder struggling to fix lights that were hanging crooked on the end of her house.
“Well, here’s your chance Zoe. I know you hate this woman. Just say the word and she’s no longer a problem.”
Zoe jumped at the voice. The teenage girl stood next to her, looking at the woman with hatred.
“If you don’t take care of this situation, she’s going to steal Greg from you.”
“No, she’s not after Greg. I’m just getting jealous over nothing.”
The teenage girl looked at her with her all blue eyes and snorted. “Who are you trying to convince?”
“This has to be a dream. We can’t really be here right now. I was just sitting down on the bed.”
Jessica balanced on the ladder precariously and was re-hammering in a nail that had bent, causing the lights to hang off kilter.
“Fine. You always did lack the guts to follow through when it counted.”
The girl looked towards Jessica and did a flick to the right with her head. Jessica grabbed for the roof as the ladder rocked to the right and fell. The light strand broke away and wrapped around her neck. Her eyes were frantic as she clawed at the lights. The girl lifted her head slowly and the cord bit in deeper, cutting off Jessica’s air supply.
Strangled gasps could be heard as she kicked her feet and struggled to undo the light cord. Zoe was frozen to the spot. For a moment she made eye contact with Jessica, who mouthed ‘Help me’.
“You’ll thank me for this one day. Come on, nothing more to see here.” She reached her hand to Zoe’s and took hold.
Seconds later she sat upright in bed, out of breath and sweating profusely. Just a dream. Just a horribly realistic dream. She got out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom to splash some water on her face. When she looked up she saw the girl, she once thought was an imaginary friend, in the reflection where her face should have been.
She winked.
To Be Concluded
Haunted II: Awakening Page 7
