by Rose Pressey
“Oh, don’t say that. I hope that’s not the case.”
I drank my Diet Coke as Tammy waited on other customers. After she finished we discussed some other things from the library and maybe taking a girls’ trip soon. I needed a break and to get away. We talked about going to Atlanta on some Sunday when the library was closed. Maybe we could do a little bit of shopping.
“Okay, it’s time for me to get to the graveyard,” I said.
“Just be careful out there,” Tammy said.
“You know I will,” I said with a wave.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk and made my way toward the alley. I’d only taken a few steps when out of nowhere a car swerved up onto the sidewalk and hit me in the leg. I tumbled to the ground. Pain shot through the side of my leg. For a moment I thought I blacked out. A few people who had been headed into the tavern ran over to me.
“Are you all right?” the man asked.
It took me a moment to catch my breath but finally I said, “I think I’m all right.”
“Here, let me help you sit up,” he said.
The man and another woman held onto my arms and helped me stumble to my feet. I was limping now, but otherwise all right.
“We’ll go into the tavern so that you can sit down,” the man said.
“Do you want me to call an ambulance?” the woman asked.
“I’m not sure if it’s that serious. He just really bumped the side of my leg.”
“You never know what kind of damage it could’ve done. You should definitely have it checked out,” the woman said.
I was so confused about what had happened that I couldn’t think straight. There had been something about the car that flashed in my mind as important, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I hobbled into the tavern with help from the man and woman. Tammy’s eyes widened when she saw me. She rushed around the counter toward me.
“Oh, my God. What happened?” she said in a loud voice.
Now everyone in the tavern was watching us. The man and woman helped me down to the chair.
“Some car just drove up on the sidewalk out of nowhere and hit her.”
“Are you injured?” Tammy asked.
“I think my leg might be a little bit injured,” I said.
Tammy pulled out her phone and called for an ambulance right away. I would have preferred that not have happened, but I knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer. And I supposed I did kind of need my legs, so possibly I should have them checked out. I tried to calm my nerves as she placed the call.
“I’m calling Brannon too,” she said.
Yes, I had totally forgotten about doing that. I couldn’t think of anything. I just kept replaying seeing that car come toward me.
Within a few minutes, the emergency medical technicians had arrived. They were taking my blood pressure and asking me all kinds of questions. Next out came the stretcher and now they were helping put me on so that I could go to the hospital. Was it really necessary to go through all of this? I supposed I had no choice. I was up on the stretcher and being taken out of the tavern. This was kind of embarrassing. But I supposed better to be embarrassed than to be permanently injured or worse.
I kept replaying that car coming toward me in my mind and I swore that the person had done it on purpose. It had happened so quickly I hadn’t gotten a good look at who was behind the wheel. But that car looked exactly like the one that had been following me earlier in the day.
Chapter 21
As I was being hauled off to the ambulance on the stretcher, Brannon’s car screeched to a halt nearby. I leaned up on the stretcher and watched as he jumped out of the car, racing toward me. I’d never seen him run that fast. The sight of him made butterflies dance in my stomach all over again. I supposed he really cared for me.
He raced up to the stretcher and walked along beside me as they steered me toward the ambulance. “Tell me what happened. Where are you hurting?”
“I just hurt my leg a little bit, but I’m sure it’s fine. They just want me to go as a precaution, that’s all.”
“Thank God you’re listening to them. We need to get a description of this car right away,” he said.
“Well, that’s easy,” I said. “I got a good look at it.”
Tammy rushed alongside us now. “I want to ride with you. I already told them that I can’t work the rest of the night.”
“You don’t have to go,” I said. “I’m fine.”
Tammy flashed me a stern look. “I’m going and that’s the end of that.”
“Okay, okay,” I said.
At this point they had an IV hooked up to my arm so it wasn’t like I could argue too much.
“About that car,” Brannon said, bringing me back to the conversation.
“It was the car from earlier. The one that had been stalking me.”
“I knew it,” he said. “We’ve got to find this guy right away.”
“I don’t know who it could be, but I think he might’ve been aiming for me on purpose.”
Tammy jumped up into the ambulance with me.
“I’ll lead the way for the ambulance,” Brannon said.
“I really don’t think that’s necessary.”
He headed for his car, so I couldn’t argue with him. I knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer anyway. The hospital was about five miles out of town, so it wasn’t exactly close, but it wasn’t too far either.
“Do you really think that creep did this on purpose?” Tammy asked.
“The way he aimed for me makes me think so. I mean, I can almost see his face staring right at me as he drove up on the sidewalk. I hope they get him soon.”
“Let’s hope they get it before I get him,” she said.
I knew Tammy was mad. And I was too. But I was still so confused about what had happened that I didn’t have time to get too angry just yet. Plus, my leg was kind of hurting. I was going to have one big bruise tomorrow. I was lucky that it hadn’t been much worse. It seemed as if that guy had wanted to kill me.
We arrived at the hospital and I was checked out by the doctors. Now I was just waiting for the results of my x-rays to make sure that everything was all right and hopefully I would get to go home soon.
Voices carried as they traveled down the hall and I knew right away who had arrived.
“You called my parents?” I asked.
“Of course I called them,” Tammy said. “They would be angry if they found I hadn’t called. They wouldn’t say anything to you, they would blame me directly.”
“That’s true, they would do that.”
My mother burst into the room. “Oh, my gosh, are you all right?”
Now she would claim that any new gray hairs she discovered would be because of me. Usually she blamed my dad. Only a touch of gray peeked through in her dark hair though. Disobedient curls went in all different directions on top of her head. She wore tan pants and a pink t-shirt with dirt smudged on the front. She ran over and hugged me. My father rushed to my other side and held my hand. Did he have more gray sprinkled in his dark hair now too? I’d only seen my parents a couple days ago. Maybe my mom was right and I was causing their gray hair. My father was a man of few words. Yet I knew he loved me even if he remained quiet. I hated seeing the worry in their eyes.
“Are you okay? I’m worried sick,” my mother said.
“Oh, I’m just fine, nothing to worry about.” The IV wire attached to my hand tapped against the side of my bed. “I’ll be going home in no time.”
My mother caught me checking out her appearance again.
“I was working in the garden when Tammy called. Plus, I had rollers in my hair.” She tossed her hair trying to tame the tight curls.
“You’re working in the garden this late?” I asked.
“It’s cooler out at this time,” she said.
“Well, you look great,” I said.
“Well, I’ve seen you look better. I told you walking around town for the tour wasn’t safe. I knew you’d be r
un over by a car.”
Uh-oh. I’d heard this talk on more than one occasion. “It wasn’t because of the tour.”
“It was hit and run,” Tammy chimed in.
“I want to find out who did this to you,” my father said in a stern voice.
“Well, they’re working on that, Dad.”
My parents wanted to be filled in on all the details. I left out several things like the fact that I was looking into the murder investigation and trying to solve the crime. They didn’t need to know those little details. I didn’t want them to worry too much. They probably had a reason to worry because I was always getting into some kind of trouble. My poor parents and the things I put them through.
A short time later my doctor came in and said that everything checked out fine on the tests and x-ray so that I could go home. Thank goodness I was getting out of here. Brannon was giving me a ride home. I slipped out of the surprisingly soft hospital gown and into my clothes. I couldn’t wait to get home, take a shower, and change into my pajamas. I just wanted to be in my bed.
My parents wanted to come over to my house tonight, but I convinced them that I was too tired. My father agreed and talked my mother out of it. Tammy also wanted to come over. But then she realized that I really just wanted to go home and go to bed.
Brannon drove me home and came inside of course to make sure that I had everything I needed.
“I can come back later,” he said. “If that’s okay with you?”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine. If I need anything I’ll call you right away.”
We had stopped off at the pharmacy and gotten my prescriptions. I still couldn’t believe I’d been hit by a car and was already home. Thank goodness it had caused no real damage. Brannon waited until after I got out the shower. He didn’t want me to fall or anything. I slipped into my pajamas and headed back downstairs to say goodbye.
I had a snack and then shuffled off to bed—literally. After crawling under the covers, it didn’t take long until I drifted off to sleep. I supposed it was the medication. It had made me drowsy. I wasn’t sure how long I had been asleep when something woke me up. I looked at the time on my phone. It was almost five o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t believe I’d slept all night. I rarely did that. I was always waking up every few hours.
I sensed something in the room with me. When I looked at the foot of the bed, I saw her. It was my doppelgänger. Momentarily I was so shocked that the sight sucked the breath out of my lungs. I scooted up in the bed and stared at her. She didn’t say a word. And neither did I. I had no idea what to do or how to get rid of her. There was definitely a heavy presence in the room.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Of course, she didn’t answer. But somehow, I was understanding her thoughts. She wanted me to follow her. I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. But I really couldn’t stop myself either. She walked to the door. I picked up my phone and put on my shoes. I grabbed my keys. Because I felt like that was what she wanted me to do.
I followed her down the hallway and down the stairs to the front door. She walked right through the door. I opened the door and then headed down the path after her. I had no idea where she was taking me, but I felt compelled to follow her nonetheless. All the while in my mind I was telling myself this was a bad idea. But it was like I was fighting off some kind of trance she had me in. It looked as if she was headed right for my car.
“I heard about what happened to you.”
The voice caught me off guard and I spun around. My neighbor was behind me.
“Yes, well, I’m home right now,” I said.
“You sure do bring a lot of trouble everywhere you go.”
I really didn’t have time to argue with my neighbor about this right now.
“Well, everyone has their thing, don’t they?”
“You don’t see me getting into trouble.”
“Maybe I just don’t see it,” I said.
She scoffed. I knew that I had made her angry. I didn’t want to argue with my neighbor or have her mad at me. But I had places to go right now.
“I can’t talk to you right now.”
I thought it was kind of odd that she hadn’t seen the doppelgänger this time. She’d seen her when she went into her house. And now she only saw me.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said, waving and then continuing toward my car.
The neighbor spoke again, but I didn’t understand her or bother to ask what she’d said. I no longer saw the doppelgänger, but an address popped into my head. I had been there a long time ago. Was the doppelgänger telling me to go there? I had no idea why she was leading me there.
After slipping behind the steering wheel, I started the engine and headed for the address. Absolutely no one in my life would approve of this, but I felt compelled to do it anyway. As I drove I kept on the lookout for the doppelgänger. She was nowhere around.
As I neared the street, I still didn’t see her. However, I saw a car behind me and for a split second, I wondered if it was the guy who had hit me. Was he coming back to finish the job? The memory flooded back to my mind. The sticker I’d seen on the car as it ran up onto the sidewalk. It had been the sticker for the gym I’d seen on the other cars. Was this the same guy the boutique owner had seen walking down the sidewalk and behind her shop during the time of the murder?
When the car turned off on another street, I released a deep breath, thankful that the driver hadn’t continued to follow me. It must’ve been someone else in a car that looked like his. It was still dark out, so I hadn’t been able to quite see the color of the vehicle.
I turned down the street and the surroundings became even more isolated. Flanked by woods, I knew that an old church was out here somewhere. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since anyone had actually used the church. It was a beautiful building though and I remembered going there with my grandparents years ago. Why I was headed there right now, I had no idea. The dark sky made this area even spookier.
This was probably one of the craziest things that I’d ever done. I didn’t have to do this, yet I had to do it. See, that made no sense. The only way to explain it was that I felt as if I was in some kind of trance. Even though I had all my thoughts about me, it still felt as if someone or something was trying to take over my body. The doppelgänger had to be doing this. I had no idea why or how to stop her.
No doubt it was an evil spirit just pretending to look like me. I couldn’t let that evil spirit have my body. The spirit would get my soul and it would be all over for me.
I pulled down the long gravel road and reached the old church. It was a small stone structure with many surrounding trees. The big magnolia trees out front of the church were full of giant white flowers. A large white steeple stood atop the building at the front, right above the double wooden doors. An old graveyard sat behind the church, full of gravestones that dated back to the 1700s. As far as I knew no one was using this church any longer.
All that was missing was misty fog traveling across the ground, like something straight out of a scary movie. I pulled in to the turn for the church and drove past to a small paved parking area to the right of the building. The place was so overgrown and full of trees that it was almost like being in a forest.
Why I was even here or what I was even looking for? I parked the car a good distance away and walked across the area toward the church. The first signs of daylight had started to take over the horizon. That was one good thing. At least I wasn’t out here in the dark.
Where was the doppelgänger was taking me? Moving around the side of the stone church, I headed for the back area and soon saw the old graveyard. Was that where she was taking me? I continued walking, my feet crunching over the old branches and brush. It had been quite a while since anyone had maintained the landscaping around here. I just wanted light from the sun to come up and clear my thoughts.
The iron gate creaked as I pushed it open and stepped into the old graveyard, looking at all the diffe
rent old gravestones. Many different variations of stones decorated the area, tall ones, short ones, and even statues of angels. Moving from one gravestone to the other, I read some of the names and dates. Even though faded and hard to read, I realized a lot of the graves had been here since the 1700s. I was particularly drawn to the back of the cemetery for some reason. As if someone was telling me to go there. Probably the doppelgänger again. She was kind of bossy.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.
As if I really thought I’d get an answer. Though she had somehow communicated with me enough to get me here. Maybe she would finally tell me why I was here. I continued to wander around looking at names on the gravestones. I moved around to another tall ornate sun-blanched stone. Brushing back some of the weeds, I saw the name on the front and stopped in my tracks.
A woman’s name was written on the gravestone.
Abigail Potter. Just because that name was written on the stone didn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe this person just happened to have the same name, but what were the odds? I had been drawn here for some reason. Almost as if walking exactly to the location on purpose. Now I had to find out why. Who was Abigail? Was she just using this name? And if so then, what was her real name? Why was she in Devil’s Moon?
Things just kept getting stranger by the minute. I felt as if I would never unravel the puzzle. I looked around at some of the other headstones but didn’t recognize any other names. There seemed to be no other connection with this person. I wished that the doppelgänger would let me know why Abigail was using this name.
Chapter 22
I started walking toward the church again, but soon stopped in my tracks when I saw Abigail. Her back was turned to me, but I knew for sure it was her. What was she doing here? She didn’t act as if she saw me, but before long she would probably look back and see the car, even if she didn’t notice me. She was walking toward the church.
After taking a few steps to follow Abigail, I stopped in my tracks when I saw my doppelgänger. Abigail hadn’t seen her yet. I moved a bit closer and watched Abigail walk past the church. A car was parked in front of the church. Abigail climbed in and I really wanted to know what she was up to. The doppelgänger had disappeared around the side of the church. Who did I want to follow the most—Abigail or myself? Both of them were equally as scary. I couldn’t tell which one I was more afraid of. Abigail was all alone in that car. The fact that she was out here at this church was highly suspicious.
