but, mercury's not in retrograde!

by McCarthy, G. L.

  “You’re right. Tomorrow I need to inform him about all the new information I have to share.” Alex wasn’t alone this time. She had Sam and several great friends.

  Leaving the computer and joining Jessie, who was channel surfing, Alex and Sam snuggled. Jessie inquired if she had found her answer and Alex gave her a vague reply. Not wanting to upset her while she was visiting, it was better if she only discussed the possible scenarios with Sam. Finding an old movie to watch, the three got comfortable and no more was mentioned about the raven and its meaning. At nine, when the movie ended, Jessie grabbed the portable phone and headed for her room. Sam had been playing with Alex’s hair and she wanted her to continue in the privacy of their room. Saying their goodnights, Alex turned off all the lights and was the last one to get into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Finding Sam already in bed and getting her spot nice and warm, Alex was undressed in a flash. She jumped in and was ready to forget about everything, except Sam.

  Last night had been about passion and hormones; tonight was about intimacy and caressing. Each woman took turns pleasing the other as they ran their fingers up and down the others back, arms, stomach, breasts and thighs. Alex was ready for another turn doing Sam when she was told to go to sleep. It was late and she had to go to work. Begrudgingly, she spooned Sam and gave her an IOU for tomorrow night.

  Falling quickly into a deep dream state, Alex’s mind jumped around with different images of the people she cared about. Each one was injured in some way by some freaky accident and each scene had a raven watching. Alex kept trying to help each of her dear friends, but was unable to get to them in time to avoid the accidents. Trying to make sense of it all, she realized she wasn’t the target of any of this it was her friends. She was the only one who wasn’t being physically hurt, but hurt just the same as she saw her friends suffering and she was helpless to stop it.

  When Alex awoke to her alarm, she felt like she had run a marathon and this huge feeling of dread overwhelmed her. Sam rolled over and noticed the look on her face. Stroking her worry lines, she waited for Alex to tell her what was wrong.

  “I understand what the raven means now.” Alex looked at Sam as the tears began to run down her cheeks. “Anna is trying to tell me that Richard or someone is going to hurt the people I care about instead of me. If something were to happen to me everyone would put him at the top of their list of suspects. But if he hurts my friends to get back at me, who would suspect him and how do I prove it? In fact, I wish he would come after me and leave them all alone.”

  “Don’t say that. We’ll stop him. We’ll talk to the Sheriff and tell him your concerns. I’ll call TJ who can watch out for Cyn when they’re together. I’m sure he doesn’t know about Jess and me, but you’ll need to warn Dez as he may not know of your breakup. Frederick, I’m sure, can take care of himself. We just need to warn everyone to be on guard. The plus is that we know what Richard may be planning and we’ll be well prepared.” Sam wanted to drive Alex to work, but knew if she was with Cyn, both would be okay as long as they stayed together.

  “Sam, how can I want a man dead that I’ve never met? I just want the earth to swallow him up whole.” Alex once again was quite certain that she was the target of Richard’s perversion for women.

  “He’s one sick person. But we’ll get him, Alex. I know we’ll get him.” Sam held Alex as she cried softly on her shoulder.

  Not wanting to be late when Cyn arrived, Alex pulled it together and jumped in the shower while Sam made the coffee and pulled everything out of the refrigerator for their breakfast. Cyn was on time and was surprised to see Sam up, but figured she may have already adjusted to the time change. The conversation was light as Sam inquired if she and TJ were still planning on a barbeque or would they be up for the Tea Room with the three of them. Cyn would check with TJ and see what she thought. Sending them off, Sam gave Alex a big hug and whispered to her that everything would be all right. Kissing her, Alex certainly hoped she was right.

  Chapter 29

  On the drive to work, Alex already felt exhausted and her day had only just started. Cyn kept glancing to her right to see if Alex looked sick, since she was being so quiet. After ten minutes of silence, Cyn had to ask what was wrong.

  “Alex, are you and Sam doing okay?” Cyn figured she would ask the obvious question first.

  “Yes, we’re great. I ah, I’m just worried about everybody.” Alex wondered if that would be enough to answer her question. She wasn’t sure how to tell Cyn about her dream.

  “What are you worried about? We’re all adults and can handle our own relationships.” Cyn thought Alex needed to relax about her budding relationship with TJ.

  “You’re right. I’m just being paranoid.” Alex was glad Cyn had thought she and TJ were the topic of her concerns and that would end the questioning. “So what do you and TJ have planned for tonight?”

  “We were going to barbeque again, but Sam mentioned us all going to the Tea Room. I’ll call her at lunch and see if she’d like to go. She enjoys everybody and she and Sam seem to have really hit it off which is so great, don’t you think?” Cyn wanted to have a conversation this morning, but Alex didn’t seem to be in the mood.

  “Yes, it is great. I’m glad TJ and Sam are getting along. Can you imagine how it would be if they didn’t like each other. What would we do then?” Taking this conversation and turning it into girl talk was hopefully going to get Alex out of this funk.

  “I know we’d have been up a creek. But losing my time with you wouldn’t be an option and TJ would have had to deal with that.” Cyn was proud of herself for taking a strong stand on this possible scenario.

  That was just enough love and caring from Cyn to bring the flow of tears. Alex started to lose it. The worry had been building and she couldn’t keep it from Cyn any longer she had to tell her.

  “Alex, what’s wrong? I’ve never seen you like this.” Cyn was now very worried about her friend.

  “Cyn, I don’t know if I’m blowing this totally out of proportion, but I’ve had a couple of dreams and I think they are a warning from Anna. I only told you part of my dream about TJ and her dad. The rest of the dream I think has to do with Richard Greenway. Then last night I had another dream and I think he means to get back at me by hurting my friends like you, Dez, Frederick, and if he knows about her, Sam too.” Alex was somewhat relieved at that moment she didn’t have more close friends.

  “Oh gosh, Alex, it doesn’t sound like you’re blowing anything out of proportion. It sounds like something that creep would do. We need to tell the Sheriff and Frederick right away. Can you call Dez when we get to school and leave her a message? I realize she wouldn’t be up at this hour.” Cyn knew Dez’s sleeping habits as well as Alex, and she wasn’t an early riser.

  “You’re right, I’ll call her. Do you know where Frederick would be at this hour? Maybe he can get the Sheriff to come have lunch with us under the guise of a friendly visit.” Alex was thrilled Cyn was handling this okay. She remembered how she didn’t want her to have to deal with Richard stalking her alone and once again Cyn was stepping up.

  “I’m not sure, but I know we’ll definitely see him at lunch.” Cyn didn’t think a few hours would make that much difference.

  When they arrived at school, Alex called Dez’s service as well as leaving her a message on her cell phone voice mail. She knew that either would be one of the first messages she would get from her, since she didn’t give out her home number to clients. Then she thought to call the house just in case she might answer, but she didn’t, so she left a third message.

  Walking to class, Cyn put her arm around Alex’s waist. Alex looked at her and smiled as she put her arm around Cyn’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze just before they parted to go to their separate buildings. They were going to get through this, just like before, but first they needed to take care of a pest that didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

  As Alex unlocked the door to her classroom, while
several girls were waiting, the Sheriff came around the corner with Frederick and asked Alex if he could speak to her for a moment. Her heart sank. She knew it had to be Dez. Everyone else was accounted for. Trying not to break down in front of the girls, Alex took a deep breath and braced herself for the news.

  Dez had been in an accident some time after midnight. Her truck had gone off the road on a tight curve. She was in the hospital. Luckily for her she had her seatbelt on or it could have been a lot worse. Preliminary reports were that she had a broken left leg, several broken ribs and a concussion. The prognosis was good and she was expected to fully recover and be back at work in a couple of months, although she didn’t remember too much about the accident. Fortunately for her she was seen by a passerby when she lost control of the truck. The witness was able to call and get help, otherwise she may never have been found. Alex started to tremble and Frederick grabbed her, as she looked like she was going to faint. She needed to sit down and tell the Sheriff what she knew about all this. Frederick asked one of the girls to run to the office and get Mrs. Greenway to cover the class while Alex composed herself. Then Frederick and the Sheriff helped her to the teacher’s lounge so she could lie down. Her mind was spinning.

  As Alex took some water, she was shaking and crying, although she wasn’t aware of either. The Sheriff was going to leave, since he had delivered the news about Dez, when Alex grabbed his arm. He could see by the look in her eyes that something was wrong. She seemed to be having a panic attack and couldn’t speak. Frederick rushed out to get Cyn, hoping her presence would help calm Alex down. The grip she had on the Sheriff’s arm was beginning to hurt him. He tried to get her to ease up by telling her Dez was going to be all right and she didn’t need to worry. It was only minutes before Cyn came flying through the door, at which point Alex let go of the Sheriff. Cyn could now tell him what was going on. She relayed Alex’s concerns about her dream to the Sheriff, and hoped he knew this wasn’t some paranoid crazy woman making this all up. The Sheriff believed in dreams, especially when they were as vivid and detailed as Alex’s were. He also knew that what she believed about Richard could also be a possibility. No one had seen him since his mother confronted him on the phone over a month ago.

  Alex was beginning to relax and was able to speak and fill in the details about what she had seen in her dreams. It was extremely eerie as she had seen Dez in an auto accident, after being struck by a non-descript vehicle causing her to lose control and go over the side of the road. She then told of seeing Frederick being burned in a boiler explosion, and Cyn falling while hiking at dusk. All appeared to be freak accidents, but Alex told the Sheriff the raven had been watching from a distance all three times. The raven had to be telling her Richard was the cause. She asked if he could please check where Dez lost control and see if there was evidence of another vehicle that may have caused the accident. Alex looked at Cyn and Frederick and asked them to heed this warning and avoid the scenarios she just relayed as she felt this was how Richard planned to get to them, too.

  In the meantime, the Sheriff was going to put out an all points bulletin to bring Richard in for questioning, as he wanted to know what he’d been up to lately. He was also going to drive back to the scene of Dez’s accident and take a closer look around. Alex was feeling a lot better when the Sheriff did turn to leave, but not before he looked her in the eye to make sure she wasn’t going to grab him again. Frederick thought it would be a good idea if everyone had a picture of Richard, so he would get one from the office and make copies. He could also provide a description of his car and he even knew where he could get the license plate number. Hugging Alex tightly, Frederick realized how helpless parents must feel when their child is hurting, because right now he felt totally helpless. He was going to do his best to keep Alex from feeling any more pain from Richard Greenway.

  Walking back to class, Alex and Cyn had left Frederick to get the needed pictures. The Sheriff had decided he needed to talk to Mrs. Greenway first to make sure she hadn’t had any contact with her son. Alex walked into her class, thanked Mrs. Greenway, told her she was fine, and let her know the Sheriff was waiting for her back in the teacher’s lounge. The look on Mrs. Greenway’s face spoke volumes. Alex knew she had a good idea what the Sheriff wanted to talk to her about. But the truth was, she hadn’t heard from her son and if he was in trouble again she really didn’t want to have anything to do with him period.

  After he left the school, Sheriff John headed for the accident scene with several copies of Richard’s photo in hand to give to his deputies. Now that the Sheriff had something to look for, this accident may not be so cut and dried. Driving up the road the Sheriff could see the spot, but the real find was two hundred feet past which showed tire tracks pulling off onto the shoulder. The Sheriff pulled off ahead of the tracks and walked back to the spot. It was a perfect view of where Dez’s truck landed. Luckily the truck didn’t catch fire or the outcome would have been tragic. Was the intent to injure Dez or kill her? The Sheriff remembered what Cyn had told him about Alex’s theory, back when Richard was stalking her, specifically his need to control. Hurting Dez and the others would be a major way of controlling the situation. If everyone was to die then he would have nothing to control Alex with. The more he thought about Alex’s dream, and how the raven was watching in every scenario, the more sense it made. Finding Richard Greenway was now going to be a priority. The only thing that was going to be hard was getting evidence to put him away for all these acts. First he needed to check the 911 log and see who called in the accident. Hopefully they could catch a break and have a cell phone number to trace back. He also wanted to have a meeting with all those involved. He wanted to be kept informed on any little thing out of the ordinary. He wasn’t going to have Richard Greenway getting away with anything in his town.

  Chapter 30

  Alex couldn’t shake the queasy feeling in her stomach and it took all her willpower to get through the morning. Once again she wasn’t going to let Richard control her actions, but the thought of eating lunch put her over the top. Cyn came to get her and to inform her that she’d received a call from TJ. Sam had called her and told her of Alex’s concerns about the dreams. Cyn wanted to know why Dez would go out after midnight on an emergency. Alex told her if an animal was in pain, Norman Bates could have called and identified himself as such and Dez would still have gone. She wanted everyone to assume it was Richard that called, since Dez wasn’t able to remember anything just yet.

  Meeting Frederick as usual was fine, but the thought of food was making Alex nauseous. She couldn’t watch either of them eat their lunch and needed some air to think. She walked out to the gazebo, where the wind was howling around the small structure. She looked off towards Old Woman Hill. The barriers were still up from the slide and nothing was going to be done to stabilize the hill until it stopped raining for the season. Then, the feeling of being watched came back. Alex slowly turned around to try and see as much of the grounds as she could without appearing to be looking for something. She jumped a foot when she saw a raven sitting on the railing looking at her.

  “Are you trying to scare me to death?” Alex asked the raven, expecting a verbal response.

  The raven looked at her and shook all over as he rearranged his feathers and hopped closer to her, never losing eye contact - not afraid of her presence.

  “So, where do I find Richard Greenway? Can you at least help me with that much?” Alex was ready to tie a leash on this bird and have it take her to him if she thought it would.

  The raven started to peck the wood and looked at Alex like he was trying to tell her what she wanted to know.

  “Wood. He’s in the wood I mean woods?” Alex figured that was too easy an answer until the raven squawked at her. “He’s in the woods around school?” Alex wanted to jump for joy as once again the raven squawked before flying off. “Thank you.”

  Alex hurried back to tell Cyn and Frederick. Maybe one of them knew of a place in the woods ne
ar school that Richard could be hiding. If they didn’t, she was sure the Sheriff would, or possibly TJ since she grew up in this area.

  What Alex didn’t know was that Richard Greenway had watched this little exchange of information, but luckily didn’t understand the meaning. He took Alex’s reaction to the raven that she was rattled and he was winning. He was a lot closer than anyone knew and he had plans to ruin her life, just like she’d ruined his. He had put her girlfriend in the hospital last night and he had plans to get her other meddlesome friends soon, especially that “good for nothing” janitor. He was the one who took all of his pictures of Alex that he had so painstakingly snapped over the past year. Richard assumed he wanted those photos for himself, since his mother never saw them. Richard planned to make Alex’s life a living hell. She would never know when he was going to strike next to hurt one of her precious friends. He had only slightly disabled that dyke, Cynthia Montgomery’s car, but could have just as easily cut the brake line. It had been a message, but apparently Alex was too stupid to get its meaning. After last night she’d better realize she’d messed with the wrong guy and she should pack up and leave. Richard needed to get back to his job, and as long as she was there his mother wouldn’t let him return. He’d been gone too long and someone needed to look after the lovely young girls of Taylorwood.

  Returning to the kitchen eating area, Alex was beside herself with excitement. She believed the raven was telling her that Richard was in the woods and watching the school. Just then, she realized if that were true, he could be listening to their conversations. How else would he know when and where Cyn was going to be to have her “accident” and when Frederick checked the boilers? He had to be watching and listening. As she walked in she held her finger to her lips and looked for a piece of paper. Finding a napkin and always having a pen in her pocket, she wrote: Need to talk outside. Richard maybe listening.