Received in the mail today: four printed copies of my first draft from lulu.com. Why would I have a 6"x9" perfect-bound book made out of my first draft? I guess because I'm proud of having finished my story within the month of November, and this is the first time I've written this much on a story before, and this is the first time I've won NaNoWriMo (in addition to it being my first attempt). What can I say? I was excited.
The front cover uses a canned image of clouds and lightning, and the title shows up nicely there. My name at the bottom in white looks weird to me. In my opinion, it's too big. Then again, when I feel insecure about stuff, I want it to be as close to invisible as possible.
The spine looks alright. I selected a beige-ish color, and it goes well with the cover.
The back cover has a picture of me, but my face is all blotchy in the print. Maybe my face is normally like that, but I'd rather that printed pictures of me be touched up a bit, I guess.
On the inside, we jump STRAIGHT INTO THE STORY. Oops! I totally spaced that you might want little things like title page, table of contents, things of that nature. The print itself is a little bigger than I would normally like. It's almost an easy-reading edition! That's why it reached 150 pages.
All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out. I bought four copies: one to put on the shelf for posterity (and future embarassment), one for my friend who wants to know how the story ends, one for my girlfriend who had to put up with me writing all month, and one for me to totally make notes in and treat like the first draft little bitch that it is.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
2008 Winner
I got back from Texas and found an internet connection just in time to get the "winner" badge for 2008. My official NaNoWriMo word count is 51,434 words. Woohoo!
Of course, "winner" for NaNoWriMo simply means that I was able to put 50,000 or more words down into a story. It's not like I was being judged or anything. Chris, who pointed me to the NaNo site, also won this year. /applause
I tried to get several people interested - people that I know enjoy writing. My daughter Cady is listed as having 533 words before she got distracted with other bright, shiny objects. My daughter Erika shows 9,568 words before working on other stories and getting frustrated with the slowness of the NaNo site. Shelly (mom of my two younger kids) got to 2,980 words. Last I heard, she was playing World of Warcraft. /poke
During the process, I got a call from Doug Denning (Croaker), who saw my name on the message board. He reached 25,848 words. According to the NaNo site stats for him, he took about 20 days off, so he did that in about 10 days of actual writing. That means he matched my pace (2,500 words a day or so) on the days he wrote. I finished writing on 11/22, before we left for Texas.
The other three on my writing buddies list were DorkmanScott (of Ryan vs. Dorkman fame), who according to his blog, his blog being the reason I put this blog together, wrote more than he updated the NaNo site, and marikurisato and willwrite4chocolate, who are local Denver people I added because they had word counts ahead of mine, and I wanted to use their progress to help motivate me. It amuses me that just after I did that, I didn't see their word counts move again until after I finished.
Ah, well, thank goodness it's over. I think there might be a party somewhere to celebrate. I should go.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
More Silly Statistics
MS Word lies. It tells me I edited the document for 11,412 minutes. That would have been 8 hours a day for the past 22 days straight. I must've left it open a time or two. Revision number 517 seems to be more meaningful to me. I'm guessing that's how many times I changed something and then saved it. But then again, I'm a compulsive saver.
51,407 words. 223,894 characters. 1085 paragraphs. 4151 sentences. 3.8 sentences per paragraph. 12.3 words per sentence. 4.1 characters per word. 3% passive sentences. Flesh reading ease 83.0. Flesh-Kincaid reading level 4.7.
As to what words I did use, there were 4,266 distinct words used in my writing. The most popular, not counting definite or indefinite articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, main character names, "said", or forms of "to be" or "to have" were: See/saw (297), car (175), looked (162), just (158), going (135), time (134), room (115) and right (114).
On the flip side, I had 1,988 words used only once, 663 words used only twice, 315 words used thrice, 215 words used four times and 153 words used five times each. That adds up to 5,884 words.
51,407 words. 223,894 characters. 1085 paragraphs. 4151 sentences. 3.8 sentences per paragraph. 12.3 words per sentence. 4.1 characters per word. 3% passive sentences. Flesh reading ease 83.0. Flesh-Kincaid reading level 4.7.
As to what words I did use, there were 4,266 distinct words used in my writing. The most popular, not counting definite or indefinite articles, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns, main character names, "said", or forms of "to be" or "to have" were: See/saw (297), car (175), looked (162), just (158), going (135), time (134), room (115) and right (114).
On the flip side, I had 1,988 words used only once, 663 words used only twice, 315 words used thrice, 215 words used four times and 153 words used five times each. That adds up to 5,884 words.
Done for November 2008
I'm calling it. 51,407 words in total, and the story has wrapped up. To be honest, I thought maybe I would have revealed more at the end, but it made sense to end it the way I did. I also thought that maybe I would be able to keep going once I got past 50,000, but truth be told, I am alright with where the story ended up. Give me some time off and maybe I will go back and edit it a bit. In the meantime, please read, and if you have any comments, leave them in the blog. Feedback is welcome.
Post 27
Peter understood that Gerald was no longer a threat to him. His rifle had no bullets in it and it was halfway across the yard from them, and right now, Gerald was lying on his back on the grass, about ten feet away from him. When Peter glanced over at him, he was hiding his head with his arms and rolling slightly back and forth.
Though Peter could feel every injury he sustained, he had but one thought: getting to Laura. He sprinted as fast as he could on unsteady legs across the yard, slowing down only as he got close to where she was lying in the grass. She hadn’t moved since last he was near her. He knelt by her side, almost choking on her name. He had to make an effort to be still, to see if Laura was still breathing. It took him longer than he would have though possible to calm himself down, between the physical and mental exertion of fighting against Gerald and the beating his body took at Gerald’s hands while he was disconnected from himself. He held his breath and prayed that she would be safe. He saw her chest rise and fall with a shallow breath, and finally exhaled sharply in relief. She was alive! She was still bleeding, and he didn’t know what to do next. He fumbled around for his cell phone and with shaking hands and dialed 9-1-1. It took him two tries to punch in those three digits correctly. When the operator answered, he told her, “My girlfriend’s been shot. She’s barely breathing.”
The 911 operator told him to calm down. She could hear the stress in his voice. “Where are you located?” she asked.
Peter rattled off Laura’s address, surprised that he remembered it. The last time he was aware of her address was the day he came over for the first time to cut their grass, the day all this started for him.
“I’m dispatching an ambulance right now,” the operator said. “Stay on the line with me.”
She went through the litany of questions, and walked Peter through applying pressure to where Laura was bleeding. After only a few minutes, Peter heard cars rolling up to the front of the house, sirens blaring. Around the corner of the house ran three police officers, weapons drawn. One of them stopped, holstered his weapon and talked with Peter, helping him with first aid, while the other two looked around the area, starting in the back yard. Peter could hear more sirens approaching.
One of the officers in the back yard called over to his partner. “He’s running! A guy just jumped over the fence!” Peter could tell the officer was running after him by the way his voice sounded. He didn’t lift his eyes away from Laura’s angelic face. For as much pain as she must be feeling, she looked completely peaceful. Peter heard the policemen clamoring over the back fence, yelling in the other direction. Their words were completely incomprehensible to him.
Paramedics arrived on scene, and Peter was pulled away from Laura while they began to work on her. He watched intently for signs that she was going to make it, but didn’t see any. The policeman that helped him with first aid allowed him to watch as the paramedics loaded her into the waiting ambulance, and then took him to the other ambulance and got him cleaned up as he talked with him about the incident. Another officer walked back from the house with the recovered rifle and magazine. That’s when Dan showed up, dressed in his police uniform.
Dan talked with the officers on the scene and convinced them to let Peter go with him to the hospital that Laura was being taken to. Peter had quite a few injuries to be tended as well, but none were life-threatening. They left before they got word on whether Gerald was caught or not. It wasn’t often that Peter got to ride in Dan’s police car. He wished the circumstances were better.
On the way to the hospital, Dan started in on his brother. “Why the hell were you at that house? Wasn’t the point of going to Uncle Jeff’s so that we wouldn’t be home?”
“Yeah, but...”
“But what? Seriously, that was probably the most impressive display of ‘I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing’ that I’ve ever seen! You could’ve gotten yourself killed back there, and with any luck, Laura will make it through this. She didn’t look good at all. Not at all.” He was shaking his head.
“Can we just get there, please? I’m already worried enough. I don’t need you telling me she’s not going to live through it.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, but damn it, Peter, you put yourself in that situation.”
“I know. I just hope they catch Gerald.”
They were quiet the rest of the way to the hospital. Dan translated the radio calls pertaining to Laura’s house for Peter. The gist of it was that they were unable to find Gerald. It was a residential area, and he could be anywhere. The officers on the scene found a little nest on the other side of the fence where he had been lying in wait for them. Under the camouflage he constructed, he would have been practically invisible to anyone but the closest observer.
They pulled into the emergency parking lot and walked in the automatic doors, up to the reception desk. The woman at the desk looked up at them. “How can I help you, officer?” she started, but when she saw Peter, she said, “Oh, my. What happened to you?”
Dan said, “We’re looking for a girl that was brought in by ambulance, Laura Sinclair.”
The woman nodded, and said, “They’ve taken her up to surgery already. You can go down this hall and around the corner to the elevators, up to the third floor, where there’s a waiting room and a monitor. Are you sure you don’t want this young man to be looked over while you’re waiting?”
Dan looked at Peter critically, trying to determine if he was acting in any way out of the ordinary. “If anything, he’s more normal now than he’d been recently. I think we’ll be okay for now.”
They went up to the waiting room as instructed and Dan talked with the nurses on that floor. After some verification, they gave him a code that he could use to watch the monitors for updates on her condition.
As they sat in the waiting room, Peter’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out, and the caller ID said, “Laura Sinclair.” Peter was mystified. Absently, he said, “How could Laura be calling me?” before answering it with a very tentative, “Hello?”
Dan reached for the phone, but it was already too late to keep him from answering it. He watched Peter’s face.
A familiar voice on the other end of the phone spoke very quietly. “Who is this?” the voice asked.
“What do you mean, who is this? You know damn well who this is, you son of a bitch.”
Dan was on his radio, but Peter tuned him out. He was listening for what Gerald would say next. “I really don’t know who you are. This is the last number dialed from this phone. I figured you could tell me why there’s a bunch of cops after me.”
“How could you possibly not know why you’re wanted by the police?” said Peter.
Dan reached over and held the wrist of the hand Peter had the cell phone in away from his head. “No matter what, keep him talking,” he said.
Peter was confused, but listened. Into the phone, he said, “Where are you?”
“I’m hiding out, waiting for them to leave. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like someone threw me out the back of a Humvee. Where am I?”
“You’re in Denver,” answered Peter. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Last thing? I was in some sort of firefight in Iraq. The convoy was ambushed and I was away from the vehicle, behind a building when a guy fell right next to me. I was staring into his eyes as he died, and then everything went black.”
“Hold on a second,” said Peter. He held the phone away from his head and covered the mouthpiece. He told Dan what Gerald said.
“Ask him to turn himself in. See if he does it.”
“Are you there?” he asked into the phone.
“Yeah,” said Gerald.
“I think the best thing for you to do would be to surrender to the police. If you don’t remember how you got from Iraq to Denver,” Peter started. Gerald interrupted him, though.
“I can’t surrender. They want to kill me! They’re going to take me to a torture room and start cutting off fingers! You don’t know what these guys are capable of!”
“What are you talking about?” asked Peter, his voice agitated.
“Hang on,” said Gerald. “I think I see my chance coming up. I’ll call you back.”
That was the last Peter ever heard of Gerald. Laura’s surgery lasted for four hours, and she pulled through. Surgeons removed two bullets from her, one from her leg and the other from her lung. Afterwards, she was in the hospital for eight days, where Peter visited her every day.
On the second day, she was awake as he entered the room.
“Hey! You’re awake,” he said as he entered.
“Hi, Peter.” Her voice sounded different somehow. “I’m glad to finally see you in person.” Peter didn’t know what to say as he walked over to her side. Laura continued, “Do you think maybe you can take me back?”
“Take you back, what do you mean?” asked Peter, standing by the bed.
Laura reached out her hand to him. As he looked at it, he noticed that Laura had the same kind of aura that he had seen before, on Gerald and on himself. It was more pronounced in the hand she was reaching to him. He took her hand and felt the surge of energy rush through him, the way it had at the hotel. After a few seconds, he recognized what happened. Leanne returned to him. He didn’t know how that was possible!
When Peter looked into Laura’s eyes now, they looked more like what he was familiar with seeing there. She gazed at him lovingly, still holding his hand. “I am so glad to see you,” she said. “Please tell Leanne thanks for saving my life. She convinced me to stay around for you when you were holding me, after I was shot in the back. She helped me to hold on.” Laura had tears rolling down her cheeks. “And I missed you so much.”
Though Peter could feel every injury he sustained, he had but one thought: getting to Laura. He sprinted as fast as he could on unsteady legs across the yard, slowing down only as he got close to where she was lying in the grass. She hadn’t moved since last he was near her. He knelt by her side, almost choking on her name. He had to make an effort to be still, to see if Laura was still breathing. It took him longer than he would have though possible to calm himself down, between the physical and mental exertion of fighting against Gerald and the beating his body took at Gerald’s hands while he was disconnected from himself. He held his breath and prayed that she would be safe. He saw her chest rise and fall with a shallow breath, and finally exhaled sharply in relief. She was alive! She was still bleeding, and he didn’t know what to do next. He fumbled around for his cell phone and with shaking hands and dialed 9-1-1. It took him two tries to punch in those three digits correctly. When the operator answered, he told her, “My girlfriend’s been shot. She’s barely breathing.”
The 911 operator told him to calm down. She could hear the stress in his voice. “Where are you located?” she asked.
Peter rattled off Laura’s address, surprised that he remembered it. The last time he was aware of her address was the day he came over for the first time to cut their grass, the day all this started for him.
“I’m dispatching an ambulance right now,” the operator said. “Stay on the line with me.”
She went through the litany of questions, and walked Peter through applying pressure to where Laura was bleeding. After only a few minutes, Peter heard cars rolling up to the front of the house, sirens blaring. Around the corner of the house ran three police officers, weapons drawn. One of them stopped, holstered his weapon and talked with Peter, helping him with first aid, while the other two looked around the area, starting in the back yard. Peter could hear more sirens approaching.
One of the officers in the back yard called over to his partner. “He’s running! A guy just jumped over the fence!” Peter could tell the officer was running after him by the way his voice sounded. He didn’t lift his eyes away from Laura’s angelic face. For as much pain as she must be feeling, she looked completely peaceful. Peter heard the policemen clamoring over the back fence, yelling in the other direction. Their words were completely incomprehensible to him.
Paramedics arrived on scene, and Peter was pulled away from Laura while they began to work on her. He watched intently for signs that she was going to make it, but didn’t see any. The policeman that helped him with first aid allowed him to watch as the paramedics loaded her into the waiting ambulance, and then took him to the other ambulance and got him cleaned up as he talked with him about the incident. Another officer walked back from the house with the recovered rifle and magazine. That’s when Dan showed up, dressed in his police uniform.
Dan talked with the officers on the scene and convinced them to let Peter go with him to the hospital that Laura was being taken to. Peter had quite a few injuries to be tended as well, but none were life-threatening. They left before they got word on whether Gerald was caught or not. It wasn’t often that Peter got to ride in Dan’s police car. He wished the circumstances were better.
On the way to the hospital, Dan started in on his brother. “Why the hell were you at that house? Wasn’t the point of going to Uncle Jeff’s so that we wouldn’t be home?”
“Yeah, but...”
“But what? Seriously, that was probably the most impressive display of ‘I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing’ that I’ve ever seen! You could’ve gotten yourself killed back there, and with any luck, Laura will make it through this. She didn’t look good at all. Not at all.” He was shaking his head.
“Can we just get there, please? I’m already worried enough. I don’t need you telling me she’s not going to live through it.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry, but damn it, Peter, you put yourself in that situation.”
“I know. I just hope they catch Gerald.”
They were quiet the rest of the way to the hospital. Dan translated the radio calls pertaining to Laura’s house for Peter. The gist of it was that they were unable to find Gerald. It was a residential area, and he could be anywhere. The officers on the scene found a little nest on the other side of the fence where he had been lying in wait for them. Under the camouflage he constructed, he would have been practically invisible to anyone but the closest observer.
They pulled into the emergency parking lot and walked in the automatic doors, up to the reception desk. The woman at the desk looked up at them. “How can I help you, officer?” she started, but when she saw Peter, she said, “Oh, my. What happened to you?”
Dan said, “We’re looking for a girl that was brought in by ambulance, Laura Sinclair.”
The woman nodded, and said, “They’ve taken her up to surgery already. You can go down this hall and around the corner to the elevators, up to the third floor, where there’s a waiting room and a monitor. Are you sure you don’t want this young man to be looked over while you’re waiting?”
Dan looked at Peter critically, trying to determine if he was acting in any way out of the ordinary. “If anything, he’s more normal now than he’d been recently. I think we’ll be okay for now.”
They went up to the waiting room as instructed and Dan talked with the nurses on that floor. After some verification, they gave him a code that he could use to watch the monitors for updates on her condition.
As they sat in the waiting room, Peter’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out, and the caller ID said, “Laura Sinclair.” Peter was mystified. Absently, he said, “How could Laura be calling me?” before answering it with a very tentative, “Hello?”
Dan reached for the phone, but it was already too late to keep him from answering it. He watched Peter’s face.
A familiar voice on the other end of the phone spoke very quietly. “Who is this?” the voice asked.
“What do you mean, who is this? You know damn well who this is, you son of a bitch.”
Dan was on his radio, but Peter tuned him out. He was listening for what Gerald would say next. “I really don’t know who you are. This is the last number dialed from this phone. I figured you could tell me why there’s a bunch of cops after me.”
“How could you possibly not know why you’re wanted by the police?” said Peter.
Dan reached over and held the wrist of the hand Peter had the cell phone in away from his head. “No matter what, keep him talking,” he said.
Peter was confused, but listened. Into the phone, he said, “Where are you?”
“I’m hiding out, waiting for them to leave. I don’t know what happened, but I feel like someone threw me out the back of a Humvee. Where am I?”
“You’re in Denver,” answered Peter. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Last thing? I was in some sort of firefight in Iraq. The convoy was ambushed and I was away from the vehicle, behind a building when a guy fell right next to me. I was staring into his eyes as he died, and then everything went black.”
“Hold on a second,” said Peter. He held the phone away from his head and covered the mouthpiece. He told Dan what Gerald said.
“Ask him to turn himself in. See if he does it.”
“Are you there?” he asked into the phone.
“Yeah,” said Gerald.
“I think the best thing for you to do would be to surrender to the police. If you don’t remember how you got from Iraq to Denver,” Peter started. Gerald interrupted him, though.
“I can’t surrender. They want to kill me! They’re going to take me to a torture room and start cutting off fingers! You don’t know what these guys are capable of!”
“What are you talking about?” asked Peter, his voice agitated.
“Hang on,” said Gerald. “I think I see my chance coming up. I’ll call you back.”
That was the last Peter ever heard of Gerald. Laura’s surgery lasted for four hours, and she pulled through. Surgeons removed two bullets from her, one from her leg and the other from her lung. Afterwards, she was in the hospital for eight days, where Peter visited her every day.
On the second day, she was awake as he entered the room.
“Hey! You’re awake,” he said as he entered.
“Hi, Peter.” Her voice sounded different somehow. “I’m glad to finally see you in person.” Peter didn’t know what to say as he walked over to her side. Laura continued, “Do you think maybe you can take me back?”
“Take you back, what do you mean?” asked Peter, standing by the bed.
Laura reached out her hand to him. As he looked at it, he noticed that Laura had the same kind of aura that he had seen before, on Gerald and on himself. It was more pronounced in the hand she was reaching to him. He took her hand and felt the surge of energy rush through him, the way it had at the hotel. After a few seconds, he recognized what happened. Leanne returned to him. He didn’t know how that was possible!
When Peter looked into Laura’s eyes now, they looked more like what he was familiar with seeing there. She gazed at him lovingly, still holding his hand. “I am so glad to see you,” she said. “Please tell Leanne thanks for saving my life. She convinced me to stay around for you when you were holding me, after I was shot in the back. She helped me to hold on.” Laura had tears rolling down her cheeks. “And I missed you so much.”
Friday, November 21, 2008
What I have, what I need
I have my climactic scene written (post 26), and am moving towards denouement. I know several of the things I want to cover in the denouement. The trouble is, I haven't quite decided the full transition from where I am to start that process. I don't want to challenge the suspension of disbelief (I'm not sure how valid that concern is given that my story deals with dead spirits being bound to living people), so I want to tread carefully here. I also don't want things to slip through the cracks, like my ill-fated liquor store robbery story arc. Now there's a couple hundred words I owe. Given that I'm only 400 words away from the 50,000 goal, I don't think there's much risk of not making up for that. I should even have some time to go back and adjust that part of the story to remove the text about it. I'll post it here when I do it, even if it will appear out of order.
I'm actually quite surprised that what I wrote here largely falls right in order of how it appears in my document. The only thing I wrote out-of-order is Post 1. I wrote Post 2 first, then post 1, but they made more sense in the order they are posted. They were largely written on the same day.
The final reason I'm posting this is so that the first words of Post 26 aren't the first thing on the blog, since they give something away for people who aren't caught up reading here. Not that I expect there are a lot of people reading this blog, but there are a couple.
I'm actually quite surprised that what I wrote here largely falls right in order of how it appears in my document. The only thing I wrote out-of-order is Post 1. I wrote Post 2 first, then post 1, but they made more sense in the order they are posted. They were largely written on the same day.
The final reason I'm posting this is so that the first words of Post 26 aren't the first thing on the blog, since they give something away for people who aren't caught up reading here. Not that I expect there are a lot of people reading this blog, but there are a couple.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Post 26
“Wait, was that a gunshot?” asked Peter. Laura was lying on the ground holding her right thigh with a pained expression on her face. Peter was scanning the area, but looked at her more closely when she didn’t answer his question, and she wasn’t making eye contact with him. She rolled towards him and he saw blood covering the side of her leg. “Laura! What the hell happened?”
Peter then looked beyond Laura and on to the fence as he shifted into a position to help Laura. At the fence line, he could see a dark shadow, down at the base of the fence, just on the far side of the big tree. Peter sprang into action, grabbing Laura by her wrists and pulling her to the side, putting the tree between them and whoever was causing the shadow. He then tried frantically to help her to her feet and at first she wasn’t cooperating. “Come on!” Peter cried. “We’ve got to get out of here!” She held her leg gingerly and pulled against Peter’s hands while trying to put her uninjured leg underneath her. She gritted her teeth and allowed Peter to help her up. He put her arm over his shoulders and helped support her weight, hoping that it would hurry them along.
They turned towards the house and began running. The vast expanse of green grass between them and the gate was intimidating, and any move they made directly towards the house would expose them to Gerald – it had to be Gerald. Instead of running directly towards the house, they ran towards the fence separating the Sinclair’s property from their neighbors, hoping to stay in the relative safety provided by the tree that stood between them.
Pa-pop! Another bullet hurled past them and broke a plank in the wooden fence ahead of them, just to their right. Gerald had moved! Peter risked turning and looking back as he carried Laura along, and he saw Gerald climbing the fence. He was covered in leaves and twigs sticking out at crazy angles from his clothing. He had donned camouflage and lay in wait for them to come to the house, and now he was coming after them! As Peter watched, he saw Gerald land and roll on their side of the fence. He came up and was kneeling to the side of the tree, looking at them as Peter turned away to run full-out towards the gate. It was still so far away, but they had to try.
Running as fast as he could with some of Laura’s weight on his shoulders, he tripped over her feet. They fell to the side, but recovered and kept running, fearful that at any moment, he could end up like the man in the visions he saw – shot in the head, killed instantly.
“Stop running away, you coward. Be part of me and taste real power!” yelled Gerald as he raised the rifle again.
Peter felt a sideways push from Laura, and they both went sprawling to the side as another bullet flew past them. It smacked against the side of the house, splintering the siding. Peter and Laura were barely able to recover from that. Adrenaline alone got Laura back on her feet. Peter got up next to her, and they began running again, though separately. Peter reached the gate first and opened it. He looked back for Laura, who was moving much more slowly than he was. Beyond Laura, he saw Gerald taking aim, but having trouble with the rifle, like it was resisting his will and aiming away. Peter took a step towards Laura, willing her forward faster. Gerald fought off whatever was trying to interfere with his attack, and leveled the rifle at Laura again.
Pop!
Laura ran forward a couple more steps and collapsed against Peter. He put his arms around her and felt wetness at her back. He drew his hand away and it was covered in blood! He looked into her eyes. She was staring back with a desperate look. She was almost beyond pain now. Her arms reached up and held his shoulders, and she began sinking down.
When her knees touched the ground, he told her, “Don’t stop now. We’re almost there!” He could sense Gerald running up to them and was beside himself trying to get her to keep running with him. He bent over and reached under her arms, grasping her back. His chest touched against hers as he pulled her upwards, and his head was beside hers. She began sobbing, fearful of death. Peter took a half-step forward for better leverage, and pulled up against her.
He was able to get her legs underneath her again, and she stood unsteadily, leaning against him. By the time she was standing, Peter looked past her and saw that Gerald was almost on top of them. He stopped running, and his rifle was at his side. When he got within ten feet of them, he grinned sadistically and threw the rifle to the side. “Looks like I’m not going to need that to finish off both of you.” His aura was utterly glowing, not only alive in motion, but alive with colors. Peter wondered if his mind were playing tricks on him, playing off Sam’s words from the restaurant about the colors in his aura, but he was certain that was what he was seeing. A cloud of spectral energy surrounded Gerald.
“Stay with me,” he whispered to Laura as his hand covered the wound in her back. He willed her to hold herself together long enough for help to come or for some miracle, and eased her tenderly, lovingly back down to the ground. When she was lying down, Peter turned towards Gerald again.
“Are you done having your little moment, boy?” Gerald’s voice was dripping with contempt. He assumed a fighter’s stance and taunted Peter towards him with waves of his hand. “I bet you don’t even get close to me.”
“I’ll do more than that, you bastard.”
Peter could barely contain his rage. Gerald knew this, and tried to throw him off his guard. “I forgot to thank you, by the way.”
Peter was perplexed. “What for?”
“The squirrel, of course. I had no idea that animals had so much energy in them! I mean, they hurt like hell going in, but once you get used to them, they’re not half bad.” Peter understood now why Gerald’s aura was so different now. He has taken many lives, and fed off the energy left behind. So that was why Gerald sent him the dead cat. “And you know what else?” Gerald began bouncing around like a prizefighter in the ring. “They put me back together nicely! This is the best I’ve felt since I took that shrapnel in Iraq.”
Peter had had enough. Even though he had no training or combat experience apart from the recent scuffle, he charged at Gerald, intent on strangling him to death with his bare hands. Gerald deftly turned him aside, causing Peter’s momentum to carry him flailing forward into the grass face-first.
“You’re going to have to do much better than that, boy. The greenest soldier could kick your ass, and I’m a motherfucking combat veteran.”
Peter stood up again. In his field of vision were both Gerald and Laura. Laura was not moving. Gerald was moving too much for his tastes. He needed a weapon. His eyes were drawn to the rifle lying discarded in the grass near the fence, but Gerald caught his glance. He side-stepped nimbly to the rifle and picked it up quickly. While he held the rifle, Peter’s fear outweighed his anger for a moment.
“This isn’t going to help you, boy. But I’m not going to shoot you with it, either.” He pressed the release button and dropped the magazine out of the weapon, then jerked the charging handle back and cleared the last round out of the chamber. It went spinning through the air and landed somewhere in the grass between them. Gerald then threw the weapon into the middle of the back yard. The suddenness of the throw caused Peter to duck first, and then retreat from Gerald a few steps. Gerald stepped towards him, closing the space between them. Peter finally realized what else was different about him. He wasn’t limping around at all. He seemed to be completely healthy now.
“Come on, boy. Don’t just stand there. Do something before your little whore dies. I need to be there when that happens so she can join me.” He thumped his chest to emphasize the joining. Peter looked at Laura again. She still hadn’t moved from where he lay her down. He felt like he had one shot at this. He turned and ran away from Gerald.
“You little coward, come back here!” Gerald called after him as he gave chase.
Peter was headed towards the tree. As he ran, he was afraid it wasn’t going to work. He was convinced that it wasn’t going to work. He felt helpless. The fence around him made him claustrophobic. He was trapped in a corner, and there really was nowhere to run. As he neared the tree, he slowed, knowing that Gerald was right behind him. He abruptly changed direction to his right, wishing he were wearing his baseball cleats. Gerald slowed down at his sudden change of direction, seemingly amused at what Peter was doing. “Oh, you want to play, do you?” Gerald asked.
Peter turned again, and now was running headlong at Gerald. Gerald got back into his fighting stance, but Peter wasn’t interested in fighting him. He also wasn’t going to let Gerald turn him aside again. He opened his arms wide and tackled Gerald around his beltline, driving his shoulder into the larger man’s gut. The two men crashed to the ground, Peter on top. “Close enough,” Peter thought to himself. “It had to be.”
Gerald began punching Peter in the back, which was about all that he could reach. Peter’s head was sheltered away from Gerald by Gerald’s own body. Peter was able to ignore the blows, but was surprised when Gerald once again gained the upper hand and ended up on top of Peter. He was definitely much stronger. Peter did all he could to roll over and face his assailant. After several punches in his back and now, some in his head, he was able to do just that. With all the strength he could marshal, he sat up and grabbed Gerald’s shirt. He reached out not only with his arms, but with his mind and spirit as well.
He connected.
The world around him went black, even though is eyes were open. Instantly, he saw an amazing collection of energies and faces, men and women, all imprisoned behind a barely-visible dark light. He began reaching into their cages, connecting with as many of them as he could, and pulling against their bonds. He could feel them slipping through, one by one. As they emerged from the shadowy light, their radiance was gleaming in the overwhelming dark, their form silhouetted neatly as they floated freely around Peter.
He reached all he could, and the darkness became more and more brilliant, filling every corner of his vision. He was disoriented by it all, until he saw a familiar spot. Was it up? Was it down? He had no way of knowing. He reached out for it, and the kaleidoscope of energy whirled all around him, channeling through him and into the spot to which he connected them. One by one, the colors fell through and left behind a dimmer realm. When all the glowing specters had gone, Peter found himself alone in a dark place. The only thing keeping him aware of movement around him was his connection to the familiar spot through which the color had gone. There was another presence here, a malevolent, brooding presence that had no desire to follow him through to the outside world, a sinister evil that wanted nothing more than to keep Peter in this place forever more.
Peter felt a sudden pulling, a rending of the connection he was bonded to. Whatever was here, it did not want Peter to leave the way he came. It made him hold on all that much more to the bond, focusing all his attention on maintaining that way out for himself. The attacks against him were fierce, but he was able to withstand them until finally, with determination, he turned again towards the center of where he felt this malevolent energy was coming from. Though he didn’t have arms in this place, the analogy to his mind was of holding the exit with one hand and reaching out to the malevolence with the other. His touch was all it took to connect the two together.
As the malevolence was being forced through the bonded site, Peter could feel a tearing at him. It was trying to cut him off before he could get out himself. It nearly worked. The hold that Peter still had on the site was weak. The last sliver of the malevolence went through the site, tearing at it the whole way. Peter hadn’t considered what may happen if the site were suddenly no longer there. He risked checking his surroundings for something – anything else – that might provide a means out should he need it, but there was none. There was only cruel, cold darkness.
He redoubled his focus on the site and pulled himself back from the brink through it, leaving only the nothingness behind.
His eyes could see again. Gerald was still on top of him, his shirt still in his hands. Behind Gerald, Peter saw the house, felt the sun on his head, and the grass beneath him. He also felt the myriad of bruises, scrapes and cuts left on him from Gerald’s beating. Everything hurt, from moving to breathing to just sitting still. It was almost overwhelming how much he felt here, after having been completely disconnected from his physical being.
But things had changed. Gerald no longer had an aura the he could see. Neither did he, he noticed, looking at his hands as they released the shirt from their grasp. Looking up at his face, though, he was baffled by Gerald’s expression. He wasn’t angry or malicious. He was actually frightened and nervous, as though Peter were going to kill him. Peter pulled his hands back so as to not threaten Gerald, and Gerald crab-walked backwards away from Peter, looking disoriented.
Peter then looked beyond Laura and on to the fence as he shifted into a position to help Laura. At the fence line, he could see a dark shadow, down at the base of the fence, just on the far side of the big tree. Peter sprang into action, grabbing Laura by her wrists and pulling her to the side, putting the tree between them and whoever was causing the shadow. He then tried frantically to help her to her feet and at first she wasn’t cooperating. “Come on!” Peter cried. “We’ve got to get out of here!” She held her leg gingerly and pulled against Peter’s hands while trying to put her uninjured leg underneath her. She gritted her teeth and allowed Peter to help her up. He put her arm over his shoulders and helped support her weight, hoping that it would hurry them along.
They turned towards the house and began running. The vast expanse of green grass between them and the gate was intimidating, and any move they made directly towards the house would expose them to Gerald – it had to be Gerald. Instead of running directly towards the house, they ran towards the fence separating the Sinclair’s property from their neighbors, hoping to stay in the relative safety provided by the tree that stood between them.
Pa-pop! Another bullet hurled past them and broke a plank in the wooden fence ahead of them, just to their right. Gerald had moved! Peter risked turning and looking back as he carried Laura along, and he saw Gerald climbing the fence. He was covered in leaves and twigs sticking out at crazy angles from his clothing. He had donned camouflage and lay in wait for them to come to the house, and now he was coming after them! As Peter watched, he saw Gerald land and roll on their side of the fence. He came up and was kneeling to the side of the tree, looking at them as Peter turned away to run full-out towards the gate. It was still so far away, but they had to try.
Running as fast as he could with some of Laura’s weight on his shoulders, he tripped over her feet. They fell to the side, but recovered and kept running, fearful that at any moment, he could end up like the man in the visions he saw – shot in the head, killed instantly.
“Stop running away, you coward. Be part of me and taste real power!” yelled Gerald as he raised the rifle again.
Peter felt a sideways push from Laura, and they both went sprawling to the side as another bullet flew past them. It smacked against the side of the house, splintering the siding. Peter and Laura were barely able to recover from that. Adrenaline alone got Laura back on her feet. Peter got up next to her, and they began running again, though separately. Peter reached the gate first and opened it. He looked back for Laura, who was moving much more slowly than he was. Beyond Laura, he saw Gerald taking aim, but having trouble with the rifle, like it was resisting his will and aiming away. Peter took a step towards Laura, willing her forward faster. Gerald fought off whatever was trying to interfere with his attack, and leveled the rifle at Laura again.
Pop!
Laura ran forward a couple more steps and collapsed against Peter. He put his arms around her and felt wetness at her back. He drew his hand away and it was covered in blood! He looked into her eyes. She was staring back with a desperate look. She was almost beyond pain now. Her arms reached up and held his shoulders, and she began sinking down.
When her knees touched the ground, he told her, “Don’t stop now. We’re almost there!” He could sense Gerald running up to them and was beside himself trying to get her to keep running with him. He bent over and reached under her arms, grasping her back. His chest touched against hers as he pulled her upwards, and his head was beside hers. She began sobbing, fearful of death. Peter took a half-step forward for better leverage, and pulled up against her.
He was able to get her legs underneath her again, and she stood unsteadily, leaning against him. By the time she was standing, Peter looked past her and saw that Gerald was almost on top of them. He stopped running, and his rifle was at his side. When he got within ten feet of them, he grinned sadistically and threw the rifle to the side. “Looks like I’m not going to need that to finish off both of you.” His aura was utterly glowing, not only alive in motion, but alive with colors. Peter wondered if his mind were playing tricks on him, playing off Sam’s words from the restaurant about the colors in his aura, but he was certain that was what he was seeing. A cloud of spectral energy surrounded Gerald.
“Stay with me,” he whispered to Laura as his hand covered the wound in her back. He willed her to hold herself together long enough for help to come or for some miracle, and eased her tenderly, lovingly back down to the ground. When she was lying down, Peter turned towards Gerald again.
“Are you done having your little moment, boy?” Gerald’s voice was dripping with contempt. He assumed a fighter’s stance and taunted Peter towards him with waves of his hand. “I bet you don’t even get close to me.”
“I’ll do more than that, you bastard.”
Peter could barely contain his rage. Gerald knew this, and tried to throw him off his guard. “I forgot to thank you, by the way.”
Peter was perplexed. “What for?”
“The squirrel, of course. I had no idea that animals had so much energy in them! I mean, they hurt like hell going in, but once you get used to them, they’re not half bad.” Peter understood now why Gerald’s aura was so different now. He has taken many lives, and fed off the energy left behind. So that was why Gerald sent him the dead cat. “And you know what else?” Gerald began bouncing around like a prizefighter in the ring. “They put me back together nicely! This is the best I’ve felt since I took that shrapnel in Iraq.”
Peter had had enough. Even though he had no training or combat experience apart from the recent scuffle, he charged at Gerald, intent on strangling him to death with his bare hands. Gerald deftly turned him aside, causing Peter’s momentum to carry him flailing forward into the grass face-first.
“You’re going to have to do much better than that, boy. The greenest soldier could kick your ass, and I’m a motherfucking combat veteran.”
Peter stood up again. In his field of vision were both Gerald and Laura. Laura was not moving. Gerald was moving too much for his tastes. He needed a weapon. His eyes were drawn to the rifle lying discarded in the grass near the fence, but Gerald caught his glance. He side-stepped nimbly to the rifle and picked it up quickly. While he held the rifle, Peter’s fear outweighed his anger for a moment.
“This isn’t going to help you, boy. But I’m not going to shoot you with it, either.” He pressed the release button and dropped the magazine out of the weapon, then jerked the charging handle back and cleared the last round out of the chamber. It went spinning through the air and landed somewhere in the grass between them. Gerald then threw the weapon into the middle of the back yard. The suddenness of the throw caused Peter to duck first, and then retreat from Gerald a few steps. Gerald stepped towards him, closing the space between them. Peter finally realized what else was different about him. He wasn’t limping around at all. He seemed to be completely healthy now.
“Come on, boy. Don’t just stand there. Do something before your little whore dies. I need to be there when that happens so she can join me.” He thumped his chest to emphasize the joining. Peter looked at Laura again. She still hadn’t moved from where he lay her down. He felt like he had one shot at this. He turned and ran away from Gerald.
“You little coward, come back here!” Gerald called after him as he gave chase.
Peter was headed towards the tree. As he ran, he was afraid it wasn’t going to work. He was convinced that it wasn’t going to work. He felt helpless. The fence around him made him claustrophobic. He was trapped in a corner, and there really was nowhere to run. As he neared the tree, he slowed, knowing that Gerald was right behind him. He abruptly changed direction to his right, wishing he were wearing his baseball cleats. Gerald slowed down at his sudden change of direction, seemingly amused at what Peter was doing. “Oh, you want to play, do you?” Gerald asked.
Peter turned again, and now was running headlong at Gerald. Gerald got back into his fighting stance, but Peter wasn’t interested in fighting him. He also wasn’t going to let Gerald turn him aside again. He opened his arms wide and tackled Gerald around his beltline, driving his shoulder into the larger man’s gut. The two men crashed to the ground, Peter on top. “Close enough,” Peter thought to himself. “It had to be.”
Gerald began punching Peter in the back, which was about all that he could reach. Peter’s head was sheltered away from Gerald by Gerald’s own body. Peter was able to ignore the blows, but was surprised when Gerald once again gained the upper hand and ended up on top of Peter. He was definitely much stronger. Peter did all he could to roll over and face his assailant. After several punches in his back and now, some in his head, he was able to do just that. With all the strength he could marshal, he sat up and grabbed Gerald’s shirt. He reached out not only with his arms, but with his mind and spirit as well.
He connected.
The world around him went black, even though is eyes were open. Instantly, he saw an amazing collection of energies and faces, men and women, all imprisoned behind a barely-visible dark light. He began reaching into their cages, connecting with as many of them as he could, and pulling against their bonds. He could feel them slipping through, one by one. As they emerged from the shadowy light, their radiance was gleaming in the overwhelming dark, their form silhouetted neatly as they floated freely around Peter.
He reached all he could, and the darkness became more and more brilliant, filling every corner of his vision. He was disoriented by it all, until he saw a familiar spot. Was it up? Was it down? He had no way of knowing. He reached out for it, and the kaleidoscope of energy whirled all around him, channeling through him and into the spot to which he connected them. One by one, the colors fell through and left behind a dimmer realm. When all the glowing specters had gone, Peter found himself alone in a dark place. The only thing keeping him aware of movement around him was his connection to the familiar spot through which the color had gone. There was another presence here, a malevolent, brooding presence that had no desire to follow him through to the outside world, a sinister evil that wanted nothing more than to keep Peter in this place forever more.
Peter felt a sudden pulling, a rending of the connection he was bonded to. Whatever was here, it did not want Peter to leave the way he came. It made him hold on all that much more to the bond, focusing all his attention on maintaining that way out for himself. The attacks against him were fierce, but he was able to withstand them until finally, with determination, he turned again towards the center of where he felt this malevolent energy was coming from. Though he didn’t have arms in this place, the analogy to his mind was of holding the exit with one hand and reaching out to the malevolence with the other. His touch was all it took to connect the two together.
As the malevolence was being forced through the bonded site, Peter could feel a tearing at him. It was trying to cut him off before he could get out himself. It nearly worked. The hold that Peter still had on the site was weak. The last sliver of the malevolence went through the site, tearing at it the whole way. Peter hadn’t considered what may happen if the site were suddenly no longer there. He risked checking his surroundings for something – anything else – that might provide a means out should he need it, but there was none. There was only cruel, cold darkness.
He redoubled his focus on the site and pulled himself back from the brink through it, leaving only the nothingness behind.
His eyes could see again. Gerald was still on top of him, his shirt still in his hands. Behind Gerald, Peter saw the house, felt the sun on his head, and the grass beneath him. He also felt the myriad of bruises, scrapes and cuts left on him from Gerald’s beating. Everything hurt, from moving to breathing to just sitting still. It was almost overwhelming how much he felt here, after having been completely disconnected from his physical being.
But things had changed. Gerald no longer had an aura the he could see. Neither did he, he noticed, looking at his hands as they released the shirt from their grasp. Looking up at his face, though, he was baffled by Gerald’s expression. He wasn’t angry or malicious. He was actually frightened and nervous, as though Peter were going to kill him. Peter pulled his hands back so as to not threaten Gerald, and Gerald crab-walked backwards away from Peter, looking disoriented.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
So close to 50k
Boy, oh boy, when I look at my meter and see how close the bar is getting to that magical 50,000 word mark, I do have an urge to keep writing. But my fingers will thank me later. Won't they?
Decision time
I deliberately stopped writing at a point where I had to make a fairly critical decision for the rest of the story. I really don't know which way I want it to go. It felt pretty good today, though. I am hopeful that the rest of my sessions go as well. My outline is still current, so at least there's that.
Post 25
“You look like hell, Peter,” said Jeff as he walked into the room.
“I was about to say the same thing about you,” said Peter, grinning at his uncle.
“Good one! You guys going to have yourself some breakfast?”
“We’ve got plans,” said Peter, with a sidelong glance at Laura. Laura was looking at him. “We were going to head out to Denny’s.” They passed a Denny’s on the way to Jeff’s house.
“Oh, well, you’re on your own for that,” said Jeff. “We were gonna fix somethin’ here.”
Peter started for the stairs. “No, we’re going to get changed and head out. But thanks for the invitation.”
They went up to the guest bedroom and got a change of clothes out of their bags. Peter headed for the bathroom to change, but Laura suggested, “Why don’t you change in here?” Peter looked at her as though she were up to something. “I’ll head to the bathroom. We both know your luck with bathrooms lately.”
Peter groaned. “Well, color me disappointed.”
His eyes drifted down her body as she stood at the door frame looking at him. She lingered, noticing where he was looking, and then turned slowly to leave the room, with a little extra bounce in her walk as she went down the hall. Peter walked over and closed the door. He got changed quickly, feeling only a little nervous that Laura would return while he was still naked. He felt a little silly about it when he was done and out of the room before she opened the bathroom door again. He walked up to the bathroom door and as he was about to knock on it, Laura opened the door and made him jump. Laura laughed at him.
“I’m ready,” she said. She walked past the guest room and tossed the clothes she wore the day before onto the bed. They went downstairs and out, with a shouted, “Goodbye.” Peter heard a murmur of voices behind him as his family talked about where they were going. Only some of them heard that he and Laura were going out for food.
“Do you feel up to driving today?” asked Laura.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Whatever is going on with me has been getting worse lately, and I don’t want to cause an accident or anything.”
“You’re going to have to give me directions, then.”
Peter guided her to the Denny’s, which was right near Sixth Avenue. All in all, it was easy to find. They parked in the side lot and went inside. It wasn’t very crowded at all. One section in the back was closed. There were two people sitting on benches along the counter on one side, and only about five other tables taken. The hostess took them to a booth in the middle section near a heavier, middle-aged woman who wore a brightly-colored sundress and no make-up. Come to think of it, Laura wasn’t wearing any make-up today, either. The woman was sitting by herself reading a short (maybe 50,000 word) novel, which was resting on the table in front of her. A mug of tea was close to her other hand, and her plates from breakfast were stacked on the other side of the table. As Peter and Laura walked past, she looked up from her book and stared at Peter with an odd expression. Peter wasn’t sure if she was just lost in the book or if it was his exhausted-looking appearance that she was reacting to. He honestly didn’t care.
Laura sat down first, on the near side of the booth. Peter sat on the far side. As soon as he sat down, he knew he was going to be distracted by the woman. The bright colors she wore drew his attention every time she moved to take a sip of tea. He tried to ignore her and focus on Laura, or look over at the front section of the restaurant.
Coffee was the first order of business. Peter needed something to keep himself going today. He felt like he could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. The waitress brought them their coffee and some water for Laura, and gave them some time to look over the menu. Peter reached his hand across the table, and Laura held it. They looked at each other and smiled, then looked more closely at the menu. While they were reading it over, Peter could feel the older woman’s eyes on him. He looked up at her as she was looking away, then held his menu a little further to his right so that he wouldn’t be looking in that direction. There was something odd about the woman and the way she stared. Laura set her menu down, announcing that she made a decision on what she wanted. Peter looked up to ask her what she was getting when he jumped. The older woman was standing at their table! At first, Peter thought the waitress had returned, but he looked up to see the bright colors of the older woman’s dress instead. His startled reaction caused Laura to look up as well. Laura held Peter’s hand a little tighter.
“Excuse me,” the older woman said, her eyes fixed on Peter, “but you have the most complex aura I’ve ever seen.”
Peter was amazed by what she said. He almost couldn’t believe his ears.
“What did you say?” asked Laura.
The older woman looked only briefly at Laura, then directed her gaze back at Peter. “His aura. It’s incredibly complex. I’ve not seen the likes of it before.”
“You can see it?” asked Peter.
“Yes, I can. I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of weirdo, though I’m used to that, too. Most people can’t see what I can see.”
“Can you describe it?” asked Laura.
“Yes,” she said, and took a half-step back from their table. “It’s larger than I’m accustomed to seeing. It’s probably twice as big as yours,” she said, indicating Laura. “And it’s rippling around your body. It’s made up of a dazzling array of colors, and sometimes shapes. You’ve got a strong focus point here at your head.” She put her hand to her forehead. “...and another one here.” Her hand moved over her heart. “And from those points, it’s reaching out in all directions.” Her motions were somewhat exaggerated, her arms drawing large circles in the air between her and Peter.
Peter sat back in the seat. “I don’t even see all that,” he said.
“You can see auras, too?” asked the woman.
Peter nodded, then glanced around the restaurant and noticed that their conversation attracted some attention from nearby tables. “Would you like to sit with us?” Peter asked. Laura immediately stood up and moved to the other side of the table, allowing the woman to sit across from both of them just as the waitress was returning to take their order. They told the waitress what they were going to eat, and returned to the conversation with the woman.
“I’m Sam,” she said. She only introduced herself. She didn’t extend her hand or make any move towards touching Peter. Peter and Laura introduced themselves, giving only their first names.
Laura started the conversation off saying, “So how long have you been able to see auras?”
“All my life,” she answered, “as far back as I can remember. You see, I was born early, at a time when babies born early didn’t survive as well as they do today. I had a twin who didn’t make it. I was my mother and father’s little miracle. I was always a small kid, the smallest in my class my whole childhood. You can see I’ve made up for that since then.” She looked down at her own body and held out her arms, presenting herself to them. “And I never really got the hang of school. I was always so distracted by the colors and lights of the kids around me that I couldn’t focus on my studies. Oh, I learned well enough, but only on my own. I read all the time when I was by myself, and it taught me a whole lot that I would never have learned in school. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was seeing the auras of the kids around me. I could tell the guilty ones, the sad ones, the happy and joyful ones. Oh, and the lonely ones. I could spot them very easily. They were the ones whose auras most matched my own.”
“What kind of an aura do I have?” asked Peter.
“It’s so hard to say with all that activity going on. I’m seeing all sorts of flashes. Some of them, I would call happiness. Some would be anger. Some love. But they’re all mixed together and moving around so quickly. And you,” she said to Laura, “have a lovely, calm aura that balances his out nicely. I’m not surprised you two were drawn to each other.”
Peter and Laura looked at each other and smiled. Peter looked back at the woman again. “Maybe you’d have some advice for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he began, choosing his words carefully, “to be honest, I think I’m haunted.” He deliberately chose that word because of the connotations it had in pop culture and society today.
Sam looked intently at him. After a moment of inspection, she said, “You know, I think you may be right.”
“What I’d really like to do is to allow the spirit that’s haunting me to fulfill whatever it needs to move on, but so far, it hasn’t been able to do that.”
“What have you tried so far?” asked Sam.
Peter really didn’t want to go into detail about that, particularly since the things that have been happening to him were things that he has never heard about happening to other people. Instead, he relied on his weak knowledge of pop culture’s hauntings. “The usual stuff, holy water, exorcism, flatulence.”
Laura elbowed him. “He means flagellation.”
“Oh, honey, those things aren’t going to work for you. They’re all religion-based. What you need is something that’s a little more pure, a little more natural for you. You need something that’s focused on your spirit and the spirit of the departed that won’t let you rest.”
Peter chuckled at her words, having just gone through a sleepless night. “You’re right on that one.”
Sam ignored his laughter. “Do you have any significant spiritual places? Any places of special meaning to you as far as your spiritual journey?” she asked.
Peter thought about the various places where things along that line happened to him lately. He thought of the park in Golden, of Laura’s back yard, of his back yard, and of the hotel where Leanne was killed. He nodded slowly.
Sam didn’t miss a beat. “What you need to do is to go to that place and really try to connect with it. It’s a spiritual place for you for a good reason, right? You have a greater tie to the energy of the world there, a delicate, insubstantial connection and the further away from it you go, the harder it is for you to connect. You need to get in touch with the energy of that area, and try to manipulate it and make this wayward spirit leave your body and rejoin the great beyond.”
“That makes sense,” said Laura. “One of those places isn’t far from here, Peter. Did you want to try that?”
Peter was reluctant. He didn’t want the discussion to carry on all day, because he didn’t feel comfortable talking about this with a complete stranger. On the other hand, she raised some good points. He started to nod and answer Laura when suddenly, the pain in his chest returned. He was looking down at the time and saw his own aura flare out around him, as though it were encasing him in energy. He also saw some element of himself trying to leave through is chest.
Sam sat bolt upright. “Oh, my!” she said. “Someone doesn’t like us talking about this. That’s for sure.”
Peter was able to suppress the attack, or whatever this was coming from within, and hide the pain he was feeling. He felt as though Leanne helped hold him together, which made him suspect Wassim was ultimately responsible. He tried to play it off. “Yeah, that happens from time to time.”
“I bet,” said Sam. “Well, you listen to my guidance on this, young man. You seek out a place where you feel connected, where your energy is strong, and you purify yourself there. You don’t need to be whipping yourself. That’s pain in the physical world. You’ve got pain in the spiritual world that you need to heal up.”
As she finished speaking, another waitress brought their breakfast out to them. Sam took this as her cue to leave them alone. She stood up, said her goodbyes, and wished Peter the best. “If you want to, I’ll be in here next week. Maybe you can come talk to me again.”
Peter thanked her and watched her walk up to the cash register as Laura sat on the other side of the table again.
“Was that strange or what?” asked Laura, excited about their chance encounter.
“I’m glad we went out for breakfast today,” he said. “That never would have happened if you hadn’t said the magic word.” Laura had a puzzled look on her face. “Coffee!” explained Peter. They laughed. “Uncle Jeff makes the worst coffee on the planet.”
Laura was curious. “So you want to give what she said a try. Which place did you think you want to go to?”
Peter set his fork down and swallowed the bite of French toast he was chewing. “There is no way I want to try something like this at the hotel. Just no way. That place is just scary to me now.”
“Okay, what about the park? The one in Golden?”
“That wouldn’t be too bad, but if you remember correctly, that one ended rather badly. I woke up to some hiker shoving smelling salts in my face.”
“That’s right, you did,” she said.
“So that leaves my house and your house. The only thing that happened at my house was me waking up to my face melting. Oh, and nearly breaking the back window of the house with a baseball.”
“Okay, so my house, the back yard. When do you want to try this?”
“Wasn’t the whole point of having everyone over at Uncle Jeff’s so that we weren’t going to the house while Gerald is on the loose?”
“Do you really think he’s going to be at my house waiting for us to randomly show up?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Let’s go during the day. He seems like a nighttime kind of weirdo,” Laura observed.
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“He kidnapped me at night, and met you in the parking garage where it was all dark and mysterious. So he’s a nighttime weirdo.”
“What about the hotel room? That was during the day.”
“True, but it was inside. I think we’ll be fine.”
Peter was cautious, but still excited to give it a try. They finished their breakfast, paid and left. On the way out, Laura asked, “Do you want to go now?”
Peter thought of the baseball bat in the back seat of the car, and the last time he saw Gerald. Gerald looked huge. Even though he could hit a fastball out of the park, the bat wasn’t going to do him much good. On the other hand, they did get away. There was something about the energy that Gerald took from him that made him hurt. Peter took some odd satisfaction from that. He convinced himself that it would be fine. “Sure, let’s go.”
They were right near Sixth Avenue already, so the trip to Laura’s house was very quick. They got out of the car. Peter reached into the back seat and grabbed the baseball bat that was still there. Then they walked around the house, looking around for any signs that Gerald had been there. They didn’t see anything. The door was still locked, and all the windows were in place as they should be. They even checked the garage, which was closed up just as her father would have left it.
Laura opened the front door of the house, and they walked through it to make doubly-sure that nobody disturbed anything. When they got to Laura’s room, she sat down on the end of her bed. Peter sat next to her, and let the bat fall to the floor. She touched his arm, and kissed his cheek. He turned his face to hers and their lips met. They kissed deeply, embracing each other tightly before falling back onto her bed. Peter’s arm was under her head. They held their kiss as Peter repositioned himself on top of her. With one knee on either side of her, he could feel the warmth of her body through his clothes. He immediately got an erection and pressed his body down on hers. His hand went to her breast, feeling her through her clothes.
As he touched her chest, his own chest began to hurt again. At first it was light, and he ignored it, but then the pain was suddenly unbearable. It took hold so quickly that he nearly bit her tongue. He rolled off of her.
“Peter! What happened?”
He was holding his chest. “I’ve got to get outside before this gets any worse.” He ran down the stairs and out the back door, all the way across the yard to about where he remembered the body of the squirrel was a few weeks ago. He fell to his knees, and put his hands on the ground. He wasn’t sure if it was the power of suggestion or if Sam’s words were true, but he swore he felt a stronger connection to the energy around him, and it was on the spot where the squirrel died that it was the strongest. The pain in his chest subsided, and his own aura flared outward. He noticed Laura running breathlessly up to him. “How fast did he move to get here?” he wondered to himself.
Laura knelt beside him and put her left arm around his waist. She had the baseball bat in her right hand, which she set down beside her, and then moved her right hand to his right arm. Peter shook his head and pulled his arm away from her. He was trying to concentrate, and she was a distraction to him right now. Laura let go of him, but didn’t move far away. She took up the bat again and held onto it, leaning against it for balance.
First, Peter controlled his breathing, and tried just to relax. Next, he tried to connect with the energy he felt here. He manipulated his own aura, as he saw it, and tried to reach out with it to the energy that he felt from the ground here. It was a struggle for him, and the slightest distraction at this point caused his own energy to retract. Slowly, he progressed to the point where he could target his energy directly at the spot on the ground that he was focusing on.
Causing the two energies to unite was a different story, though. As he could see, the energy from his body would get close to the energy on the ground, but wouldn’t break through. There had to be some way to get the two to commingle. The ground under him was soft, so he reached his hand to the spot on the ground and dug it away slightly. With as strongly as he was focused on the spot on the ground, he could see the energy from the ground pooling up where he removed the dirt and grass. He held his fingers into that spot and guided his energy downward into it.
He connected.
He could feel his own energy interacting with that of the earth. It was a soothing effect on him, and not at all draining. If anything, he felt more energized, even purified, by the energy coursing through him. It was at this moment that he felt a tingling, burning sensation in his chest. He looked down to see a dark red cloud of energy seeping downward into the ground, through his hand and into the spot he had dug away. He focused inwardly at the energy occupying the same space as his body. He could still feel Leanne’s presence, but Wassim was released. As Peter watched, the darkened energy filled the hole in the ground and spilled over into the grass on all sides. Then, just as it had before on this very spot with the squirrel, it dissipated.
He concentrated for a moment, trying to entice Leanne out and into the ground, but her energy wouldn’t move. He tried for several minutes, but couldn’t manipulate a pathway alluring enough for her to follow into the ground. As Peter broke his connection with the spot on the ground, he heard a loud crack to his right. The bat that Laura was leaning on split powerfully, half of the bat flying past his head. With her support gone, Laura fell to the ground.
“I was about to say the same thing about you,” said Peter, grinning at his uncle.
“Good one! You guys going to have yourself some breakfast?”
“We’ve got plans,” said Peter, with a sidelong glance at Laura. Laura was looking at him. “We were going to head out to Denny’s.” They passed a Denny’s on the way to Jeff’s house.
“Oh, well, you’re on your own for that,” said Jeff. “We were gonna fix somethin’ here.”
Peter started for the stairs. “No, we’re going to get changed and head out. But thanks for the invitation.”
They went up to the guest bedroom and got a change of clothes out of their bags. Peter headed for the bathroom to change, but Laura suggested, “Why don’t you change in here?” Peter looked at her as though she were up to something. “I’ll head to the bathroom. We both know your luck with bathrooms lately.”
Peter groaned. “Well, color me disappointed.”
His eyes drifted down her body as she stood at the door frame looking at him. She lingered, noticing where he was looking, and then turned slowly to leave the room, with a little extra bounce in her walk as she went down the hall. Peter walked over and closed the door. He got changed quickly, feeling only a little nervous that Laura would return while he was still naked. He felt a little silly about it when he was done and out of the room before she opened the bathroom door again. He walked up to the bathroom door and as he was about to knock on it, Laura opened the door and made him jump. Laura laughed at him.
“I’m ready,” she said. She walked past the guest room and tossed the clothes she wore the day before onto the bed. They went downstairs and out, with a shouted, “Goodbye.” Peter heard a murmur of voices behind him as his family talked about where they were going. Only some of them heard that he and Laura were going out for food.
“Do you feel up to driving today?” asked Laura.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Whatever is going on with me has been getting worse lately, and I don’t want to cause an accident or anything.”
“You’re going to have to give me directions, then.”
Peter guided her to the Denny’s, which was right near Sixth Avenue. All in all, it was easy to find. They parked in the side lot and went inside. It wasn’t very crowded at all. One section in the back was closed. There were two people sitting on benches along the counter on one side, and only about five other tables taken. The hostess took them to a booth in the middle section near a heavier, middle-aged woman who wore a brightly-colored sundress and no make-up. Come to think of it, Laura wasn’t wearing any make-up today, either. The woman was sitting by herself reading a short (maybe 50,000 word) novel, which was resting on the table in front of her. A mug of tea was close to her other hand, and her plates from breakfast were stacked on the other side of the table. As Peter and Laura walked past, she looked up from her book and stared at Peter with an odd expression. Peter wasn’t sure if she was just lost in the book or if it was his exhausted-looking appearance that she was reacting to. He honestly didn’t care.
Laura sat down first, on the near side of the booth. Peter sat on the far side. As soon as he sat down, he knew he was going to be distracted by the woman. The bright colors she wore drew his attention every time she moved to take a sip of tea. He tried to ignore her and focus on Laura, or look over at the front section of the restaurant.
Coffee was the first order of business. Peter needed something to keep himself going today. He felt like he could fall asleep at the drop of a hat. The waitress brought them their coffee and some water for Laura, and gave them some time to look over the menu. Peter reached his hand across the table, and Laura held it. They looked at each other and smiled, then looked more closely at the menu. While they were reading it over, Peter could feel the older woman’s eyes on him. He looked up at her as she was looking away, then held his menu a little further to his right so that he wouldn’t be looking in that direction. There was something odd about the woman and the way she stared. Laura set her menu down, announcing that she made a decision on what she wanted. Peter looked up to ask her what she was getting when he jumped. The older woman was standing at their table! At first, Peter thought the waitress had returned, but he looked up to see the bright colors of the older woman’s dress instead. His startled reaction caused Laura to look up as well. Laura held Peter’s hand a little tighter.
“Excuse me,” the older woman said, her eyes fixed on Peter, “but you have the most complex aura I’ve ever seen.”
Peter was amazed by what she said. He almost couldn’t believe his ears.
“What did you say?” asked Laura.
The older woman looked only briefly at Laura, then directed her gaze back at Peter. “His aura. It’s incredibly complex. I’ve not seen the likes of it before.”
“You can see it?” asked Peter.
“Yes, I can. I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of weirdo, though I’m used to that, too. Most people can’t see what I can see.”
“Can you describe it?” asked Laura.
“Yes,” she said, and took a half-step back from their table. “It’s larger than I’m accustomed to seeing. It’s probably twice as big as yours,” she said, indicating Laura. “And it’s rippling around your body. It’s made up of a dazzling array of colors, and sometimes shapes. You’ve got a strong focus point here at your head.” She put her hand to her forehead. “...and another one here.” Her hand moved over her heart. “And from those points, it’s reaching out in all directions.” Her motions were somewhat exaggerated, her arms drawing large circles in the air between her and Peter.
Peter sat back in the seat. “I don’t even see all that,” he said.
“You can see auras, too?” asked the woman.
Peter nodded, then glanced around the restaurant and noticed that their conversation attracted some attention from nearby tables. “Would you like to sit with us?” Peter asked. Laura immediately stood up and moved to the other side of the table, allowing the woman to sit across from both of them just as the waitress was returning to take their order. They told the waitress what they were going to eat, and returned to the conversation with the woman.
“I’m Sam,” she said. She only introduced herself. She didn’t extend her hand or make any move towards touching Peter. Peter and Laura introduced themselves, giving only their first names.
Laura started the conversation off saying, “So how long have you been able to see auras?”
“All my life,” she answered, “as far back as I can remember. You see, I was born early, at a time when babies born early didn’t survive as well as they do today. I had a twin who didn’t make it. I was my mother and father’s little miracle. I was always a small kid, the smallest in my class my whole childhood. You can see I’ve made up for that since then.” She looked down at her own body and held out her arms, presenting herself to them. “And I never really got the hang of school. I was always so distracted by the colors and lights of the kids around me that I couldn’t focus on my studies. Oh, I learned well enough, but only on my own. I read all the time when I was by myself, and it taught me a whole lot that I would never have learned in school. What I didn’t know at the time was that I was seeing the auras of the kids around me. I could tell the guilty ones, the sad ones, the happy and joyful ones. Oh, and the lonely ones. I could spot them very easily. They were the ones whose auras most matched my own.”
“What kind of an aura do I have?” asked Peter.
“It’s so hard to say with all that activity going on. I’m seeing all sorts of flashes. Some of them, I would call happiness. Some would be anger. Some love. But they’re all mixed together and moving around so quickly. And you,” she said to Laura, “have a lovely, calm aura that balances his out nicely. I’m not surprised you two were drawn to each other.”
Peter and Laura looked at each other and smiled. Peter looked back at the woman again. “Maybe you’d have some advice for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well,” he began, choosing his words carefully, “to be honest, I think I’m haunted.” He deliberately chose that word because of the connotations it had in pop culture and society today.
Sam looked intently at him. After a moment of inspection, she said, “You know, I think you may be right.”
“What I’d really like to do is to allow the spirit that’s haunting me to fulfill whatever it needs to move on, but so far, it hasn’t been able to do that.”
“What have you tried so far?” asked Sam.
Peter really didn’t want to go into detail about that, particularly since the things that have been happening to him were things that he has never heard about happening to other people. Instead, he relied on his weak knowledge of pop culture’s hauntings. “The usual stuff, holy water, exorcism, flatulence.”
Laura elbowed him. “He means flagellation.”
“Oh, honey, those things aren’t going to work for you. They’re all religion-based. What you need is something that’s a little more pure, a little more natural for you. You need something that’s focused on your spirit and the spirit of the departed that won’t let you rest.”
Peter chuckled at her words, having just gone through a sleepless night. “You’re right on that one.”
Sam ignored his laughter. “Do you have any significant spiritual places? Any places of special meaning to you as far as your spiritual journey?” she asked.
Peter thought about the various places where things along that line happened to him lately. He thought of the park in Golden, of Laura’s back yard, of his back yard, and of the hotel where Leanne was killed. He nodded slowly.
Sam didn’t miss a beat. “What you need to do is to go to that place and really try to connect with it. It’s a spiritual place for you for a good reason, right? You have a greater tie to the energy of the world there, a delicate, insubstantial connection and the further away from it you go, the harder it is for you to connect. You need to get in touch with the energy of that area, and try to manipulate it and make this wayward spirit leave your body and rejoin the great beyond.”
“That makes sense,” said Laura. “One of those places isn’t far from here, Peter. Did you want to try that?”
Peter was reluctant. He didn’t want the discussion to carry on all day, because he didn’t feel comfortable talking about this with a complete stranger. On the other hand, she raised some good points. He started to nod and answer Laura when suddenly, the pain in his chest returned. He was looking down at the time and saw his own aura flare out around him, as though it were encasing him in energy. He also saw some element of himself trying to leave through is chest.
Sam sat bolt upright. “Oh, my!” she said. “Someone doesn’t like us talking about this. That’s for sure.”
Peter was able to suppress the attack, or whatever this was coming from within, and hide the pain he was feeling. He felt as though Leanne helped hold him together, which made him suspect Wassim was ultimately responsible. He tried to play it off. “Yeah, that happens from time to time.”
“I bet,” said Sam. “Well, you listen to my guidance on this, young man. You seek out a place where you feel connected, where your energy is strong, and you purify yourself there. You don’t need to be whipping yourself. That’s pain in the physical world. You’ve got pain in the spiritual world that you need to heal up.”
As she finished speaking, another waitress brought their breakfast out to them. Sam took this as her cue to leave them alone. She stood up, said her goodbyes, and wished Peter the best. “If you want to, I’ll be in here next week. Maybe you can come talk to me again.”
Peter thanked her and watched her walk up to the cash register as Laura sat on the other side of the table again.
“Was that strange or what?” asked Laura, excited about their chance encounter.
“I’m glad we went out for breakfast today,” he said. “That never would have happened if you hadn’t said the magic word.” Laura had a puzzled look on her face. “Coffee!” explained Peter. They laughed. “Uncle Jeff makes the worst coffee on the planet.”
Laura was curious. “So you want to give what she said a try. Which place did you think you want to go to?”
Peter set his fork down and swallowed the bite of French toast he was chewing. “There is no way I want to try something like this at the hotel. Just no way. That place is just scary to me now.”
“Okay, what about the park? The one in Golden?”
“That wouldn’t be too bad, but if you remember correctly, that one ended rather badly. I woke up to some hiker shoving smelling salts in my face.”
“That’s right, you did,” she said.
“So that leaves my house and your house. The only thing that happened at my house was me waking up to my face melting. Oh, and nearly breaking the back window of the house with a baseball.”
“Okay, so my house, the back yard. When do you want to try this?”
“Wasn’t the whole point of having everyone over at Uncle Jeff’s so that we weren’t going to the house while Gerald is on the loose?”
“Do you really think he’s going to be at my house waiting for us to randomly show up?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Let’s go during the day. He seems like a nighttime kind of weirdo,” Laura observed.
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“He kidnapped me at night, and met you in the parking garage where it was all dark and mysterious. So he’s a nighttime weirdo.”
“What about the hotel room? That was during the day.”
“True, but it was inside. I think we’ll be fine.”
Peter was cautious, but still excited to give it a try. They finished their breakfast, paid and left. On the way out, Laura asked, “Do you want to go now?”
Peter thought of the baseball bat in the back seat of the car, and the last time he saw Gerald. Gerald looked huge. Even though he could hit a fastball out of the park, the bat wasn’t going to do him much good. On the other hand, they did get away. There was something about the energy that Gerald took from him that made him hurt. Peter took some odd satisfaction from that. He convinced himself that it would be fine. “Sure, let’s go.”
They were right near Sixth Avenue already, so the trip to Laura’s house was very quick. They got out of the car. Peter reached into the back seat and grabbed the baseball bat that was still there. Then they walked around the house, looking around for any signs that Gerald had been there. They didn’t see anything. The door was still locked, and all the windows were in place as they should be. They even checked the garage, which was closed up just as her father would have left it.
Laura opened the front door of the house, and they walked through it to make doubly-sure that nobody disturbed anything. When they got to Laura’s room, she sat down on the end of her bed. Peter sat next to her, and let the bat fall to the floor. She touched his arm, and kissed his cheek. He turned his face to hers and their lips met. They kissed deeply, embracing each other tightly before falling back onto her bed. Peter’s arm was under her head. They held their kiss as Peter repositioned himself on top of her. With one knee on either side of her, he could feel the warmth of her body through his clothes. He immediately got an erection and pressed his body down on hers. His hand went to her breast, feeling her through her clothes.
As he touched her chest, his own chest began to hurt again. At first it was light, and he ignored it, but then the pain was suddenly unbearable. It took hold so quickly that he nearly bit her tongue. He rolled off of her.
“Peter! What happened?”
He was holding his chest. “I’ve got to get outside before this gets any worse.” He ran down the stairs and out the back door, all the way across the yard to about where he remembered the body of the squirrel was a few weeks ago. He fell to his knees, and put his hands on the ground. He wasn’t sure if it was the power of suggestion or if Sam’s words were true, but he swore he felt a stronger connection to the energy around him, and it was on the spot where the squirrel died that it was the strongest. The pain in his chest subsided, and his own aura flared outward. He noticed Laura running breathlessly up to him. “How fast did he move to get here?” he wondered to himself.
Laura knelt beside him and put her left arm around his waist. She had the baseball bat in her right hand, which she set down beside her, and then moved her right hand to his right arm. Peter shook his head and pulled his arm away from her. He was trying to concentrate, and she was a distraction to him right now. Laura let go of him, but didn’t move far away. She took up the bat again and held onto it, leaning against it for balance.
First, Peter controlled his breathing, and tried just to relax. Next, he tried to connect with the energy he felt here. He manipulated his own aura, as he saw it, and tried to reach out with it to the energy that he felt from the ground here. It was a struggle for him, and the slightest distraction at this point caused his own energy to retract. Slowly, he progressed to the point where he could target his energy directly at the spot on the ground that he was focusing on.
Causing the two energies to unite was a different story, though. As he could see, the energy from his body would get close to the energy on the ground, but wouldn’t break through. There had to be some way to get the two to commingle. The ground under him was soft, so he reached his hand to the spot on the ground and dug it away slightly. With as strongly as he was focused on the spot on the ground, he could see the energy from the ground pooling up where he removed the dirt and grass. He held his fingers into that spot and guided his energy downward into it.
He connected.
He could feel his own energy interacting with that of the earth. It was a soothing effect on him, and not at all draining. If anything, he felt more energized, even purified, by the energy coursing through him. It was at this moment that he felt a tingling, burning sensation in his chest. He looked down to see a dark red cloud of energy seeping downward into the ground, through his hand and into the spot he had dug away. He focused inwardly at the energy occupying the same space as his body. He could still feel Leanne’s presence, but Wassim was released. As Peter watched, the darkened energy filled the hole in the ground and spilled over into the grass on all sides. Then, just as it had before on this very spot with the squirrel, it dissipated.
He concentrated for a moment, trying to entice Leanne out and into the ground, but her energy wouldn’t move. He tried for several minutes, but couldn’t manipulate a pathway alluring enough for her to follow into the ground. As Peter broke his connection with the spot on the ground, he heard a loud crack to his right. The bat that Laura was leaning on split powerfully, half of the bat flying past his head. With her support gone, Laura fell to the ground.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Notes of the night
I just noticed that italics don't paste well into here. That's too bad. Many of the visions were done in italics to set them apart, but I guess you don't know that by reading here. No, I'm not going to go back and fix them.
So as it figures today, I was all gung-ho about writing right after I got the outline done. Then I had to set it aside and do work stuff. After work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple things (fresh veggies, mostly). When I got home, I set up the crock pot for tomorrow, and then made spaghetti for tonight. Of course, after all that, I was no longer in the mood to write. I think it actually shows in my writing for today somewhat. I mean, I got the word count, and I got the main ideas across, but I feel like it lacks a certain style. I'm sure you could argue that most of my writing lacks a certain style, but hey - this is my first time. Be gentle. ;-)
Anyway, after a while, I started to get into it again, and then challenged myself on the word count. At first, it was 2000 words to describe the first point in my outline. Then it was breaking 42,500 words. After that, it was breaking 43,334 words (one-third of 10,000 on top of the approximately 40,000 words I had). I made that goal and my fingers complained about being tired. What better excuse to type up a long explanation on today's writing!
So as it figures today, I was all gung-ho about writing right after I got the outline done. Then I had to set it aside and do work stuff. After work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple things (fresh veggies, mostly). When I got home, I set up the crock pot for tomorrow, and then made spaghetti for tonight. Of course, after all that, I was no longer in the mood to write. I think it actually shows in my writing for today somewhat. I mean, I got the word count, and I got the main ideas across, but I feel like it lacks a certain style. I'm sure you could argue that most of my writing lacks a certain style, but hey - this is my first time. Be gentle. ;-)
Anyway, after a while, I started to get into it again, and then challenged myself on the word count. At first, it was 2000 words to describe the first point in my outline. Then it was breaking 42,500 words. After that, it was breaking 43,334 words (one-third of 10,000 on top of the approximately 40,000 words I had). I made that goal and my fingers complained about being tired. What better excuse to type up a long explanation on today's writing!
Post 24
Peter came to a decision. Dan was still here, so Peter went to him. “I think it would be a good idea if we at least spent the rest of the weekend at Uncle Jeff’s house,” he said. Dan nodded.
“That sounds like a great plan, Pete. Let’s get you packed up and ready.”
“What about me?” asked Laura. “I would rather stay with you, but if you guys are going somewhere else, my parents should, too.”
“Why don’t you give them a call while we get packed up. We can go by your place to pick up some clothes if you want to stay with us.” Peter looked at his mother. “That is, if it’s alright with you, mom.”
“That’ll be fine, Peter. Jeff has a couple spare rooms now that his kids have moved out,” said Heather.
Laura was on the phone with her father, so Peter went up to his room to gather a few things together. It was convenient that he already packed up his room, putting away the things he felt he didn’t need for a while. With it like this, he didn’t have to hunt for the things he wanted. He felt suddenly sentimental looking at the room he lived in for years. He had a fleeting sensation that he wouldn’t be returning to this room. He dismissed that thought as quickly as it surfaced.
He was able to get a bag of clothes together relatively quickly. He closed his bedroom door and came back downstairs carrying his baseball duffel bag full of clothes in one hand and a baseball cap he picked up off his desk in the other. To him, one naturally went with the other.
Laura waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. “My parents are going to be staying with a friend of theirs for the next few days, but they want a phone number where they can reach me.”
“Do they have a cell phone?” asked Dan, passing behind Laura on his way to the living room.
“Yes, my mother does since she travels a lot.”
“Great. Let’s give her a call on her cell phone when they get where we’re going. I don’t want Uncle Jeff’s number to be lying around at your house in case you get an unwanted guest while your parents are away.”
“Do you really think he’ll break into my house?”
“Let’s not take any chances,” said Dan.
“Peter, will you go with me to my house to get my stuff together?”
“Of course I will.” Peter set his bag down at the base of the stairs and gave her a hug, trying not only to reassure her, but to give himself some confidence. Leaving his own house was more difficult than Peter expected.
Dan helped his parents get their luggage out to the truck. Peter helped Sarah with hers, and Laura carried Peter’s duffel bag out with her.
“Do you remember how to get to Uncle Jeff’s place, Peter?”
“Yes, we’ve only been going there for years, right? I’m sure I can find it.” Peter and Laura waved goodbye to his parents before they got into Laura’s car, Peter as the passenger this time, and they left, heading to Laura’s house. As they drove away, Peter looked back at his house almost longingly.
“Are you okay?” asked Laura.
“Yes, but it does feel weird leaving the house behind, completely unprotected.”
“Did you remember to lock the door?”
“My dad will take care of that. He never forgets.”
Peter took a deep breath, which turned into a yawn. Laura saw him out of the corner of her eye, which made her yawn, too, which made them both laugh. Just then, in the middle of their laughter, Peter got a sudden pain in his chest. It was coming from the very same place where Gerald was trying to pull some kind of energy out of his body. Peter put his hands on his chest and doubled over in pain, his expression shifting from laughter to agony.
“What is it, Peter?” Laura could barely keep her eyes on the road. “Are you okay?” She reached a hand over and put it on his shoulder. Peter barely noticed her touch. The pain was excruciating. Then came the vision.
People around him were yelling and screaming in a language he didn’t understand. It sounded like some Middle Eastern language to him, but he knew that much only from movies and television. People near him were running and pointing down the road, and when Peter looked in that direction, he saw armored Humvees driving towards him. He had to take cover but there was nowhere to run. He was caught in the open. Some soldiers got out and walked on foot or ran towards him, their rifles at the ready. One of them raised his weapon and aimed it directly at Peter. Peter began to run blindly away. He looked to his right to check on the soldier and was taken aback when he saw that it was Gerald, drawing down on him. Time slowed down. Gerald fired his rifle, and it went wide of the mark. Peter heard the bullet ricochet off a wall behind him. He continued running, and saw that Gerald began to chase him. He chased him through the streets and between buildings. He was only a block away from where the Humvees drove in. Peter ran around the corner to his right and stopped in his tracks. He had run into a courtyard, closed in on three sides by walls. His only option was to run back the way he came, and that way was now blocked by Gerald, who just peeked his head around the corner of the building. There were windows cut into the sand-colored stone. Peter thought he could make it to one of them, and he began to run towards it. He stopped when he saw that someone was inside, aiming at him. He was completely motionless, staring into the darkness beyond the window, where he saw a brief reflection of sunlight and movement beyond. He didn’t know what to do. Then his eyes adjusted, and he saw that the people inside the building were carrying video cameras. They were filming the courtyard as Peter ran into it.
Peter turned around to face Gerald, and Gerald pulled the trigger once more. Suddenly now Peter was floating above his body, which was lying face-down in a pool of blood. He watched as Gerald ran up to him, cut off one of his ears and pocketed it. He then turned his attention to the window that Peter saw the film crew behind. He raised his weapon again and began to fire indiscriminately. As he shot, he advanced on the window. Peter knew the people inside were scrambling to get away. He knew they were dying. Peter saw a bright light over his head, at the end of a long tunnel. He felt as though he wanted to head towards the light, but then the light was gone as quickly as it came. Instead, he felt himself being drawn into a dark, stagnant pool.
When Peter snapped out of his vision, he sat upright in the car. Laura had pulled over to the side of the road and was rubbing his back and shaking him gently, asking, “Are you okay?” Peter nodded in response. “Does it still hurt?”
“No, I feel better now, but I had another vision. This one was strange.” He described his vision to Laura.
“Again, we have soldiers. Gerald was one of them. He was a brutal killer of defenseless people, an animal himself,” she said.
Peter felt the pain in his chest begin to rise again. He put his hands on his chest and rallied against it. The vision began to replay in his head, but when it reached the point where Peter began to run blindly away, Peter pulled himself out of the vision. The pain subsided.
After a few minutes of making sure Peter felt better, Laura put the car back into gear and drove the rest of the way to her house. Once there, they got out of the car and went in the front door. Peter went with Laura up to her room. This was the first time he saw what her room looked like. It was girlier than he expected, done up in pink and purple, with a flowery, ruffled comforter on her bed that matched the curtains.
Laura pulled a suitcase out of her closet and opened it up on the bed. She took out the dryer sheet that was put in to keep it fresh while she wasn’t using it, and went to her dresser. Opening the drawers one by one, she pulled out enough clothes for several days away and placed them into her suitcase. Peter sat on the bed next to the suitcase, watching her fill it up.
She went out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom, returning with her toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, a hairbrush, hair ties, a blow dryer and an extra towel. “I like to travel light,” she quipped as she placed them into the suitcase.
Once all the things she wanted were placed in the suitcase, she closed it, and Peter picked it up to bring downstairs. It was heavier than he expected, but not so heavy that he couldn’t move it. She opened the door for him, and he put it into the trunk of her car.
“Are you ready to say goodbye to the house for a few days?” Peter asked.
“I guess that’s what I have to do, isn’t it?”
She locked the door and they got back into her car. They drove north on a side street, and west on Sixth Avenue. It reminded them of driving out to Golden, though Uncle Jeff lived in Lakewood, so they wouldn’t be going that far. They got off Sixth Avenue at Simms and drove south and a little west. Peter was guiding Laura, until he realized that they had taken a wrong turn. They drove around the neighborhood, which was mostly made up of apartments and condos, until finally they found the right street. His parent’s car and truck were already here, parked along the street. Laura pulled up in front of the truck and parked. They got out, and Peter pulled the suitcase out of the trunk. Laura grabbed Peter’s duffel bag.
They began walking towards the house when Laura noticed how much Peter was struggling with the suitcase. “It has wheels, Pete.”
He looked at her skeptically and stopped walking. He put the suitcase on the ground. Laura reached over and pushed a button on the side of the handle. The handle telescoped, and Peter was easily able to wheel the suitcase along behind him and up to the house.
They got to the step of the front door and Laura rang the doorbell. Jeff answered the door. At first, he was distant, because he didn’t recognize Laura, but then he saw Peter and was openly friendly. “Hey, Pete! C’mon in!” He stood aside first for Laura, who brought Peter’s bag in, and then for Peter who brought Laura’s suitcase in. His parents and sister were sitting around the large, oak dining room table talking about Gerald, and how he has caused them to leave their home.
“I just wish he would leave us alone,” said Sarah. “We have enough trouble in our lives. We don’t need some guy randomly singling us out.”
The conversation went from there to introducing Laura to everyone, including Jeff’s wife Karen, and then continued on for hours, drifting from one topic to the next. They frequently revisited the events surrounding Gerald’s harassment of them, but also talked about a great many other things. The family was comfortable with each other. Peter and Laura decided to excuse themselves after a while, and went into the living room, where they watched TV and sat, sometimes arm in arm, sometimes holding hands.
For dinner, they ordered enough pizza to feed twice the number of people that were in the house, which gave them a pretty good variety to choose from. Everyone sat around the table for dinner. Afterwards, Jeff showed Laura to the small guest bedroom, and told Peter that he would be sleeping on the couch, which Peter was okay with.
They felt a lot safer here than they did at home, which was a sad revelation. Once dinner was done and things had quieted down, Jeff and his wife and Peter’s parents went up to their respective rooms, leaving Peter and Laura on the couch, again watching TV. Jeff had movie channels, so they were watching Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This was the one with Johnny Depp.
As the single Oompa Loopma was dancing around on the screen as a troop, thanks to being digitally replicated, Peter had another episode. This time, it wasn’t a pain in his chest. It was his vision. It kept slipping and blurring, causing him to look away from the television. He was able to get it back under control, but it took an effort, and it was giving him a strong headache. After a while, he was getting nauseous.
His vision was then normal for the rest of the movie. As the credits rolled, and it was getting late, Peter’s vision blacked out completely and all at once. He was lucky to be sitting down when it happened. If it were to have happened when he was driving, he would have caused an accident.
“Laura, I can’t see.”
“You can’t see anything?”
“Nothing. My vision’s black.”
“Can you fight it like you did before?”
“I’m trying.” A wave of nausea rose up, but he fought that back. “Help me get to the bathroom, just in case.”
“Okay.”
Laura stood up and helped Peter to his feet. She led him to the bathroom and lifted the toilet seat. Peter knelt next to it, with one hand on the bowl, so that he would know where to aim if the need arose.
“How’s the vision?” she asked.
“I’m... fighting through it,” he said with some effort. “I don’t feel nauseous any more, at least not right now.” He grimaced as the pain returned to his chest. As soon as it did, though, his sight returned. The brightness of the bathroom, with its lights reflecting off the mirror, was almost too much for Peter’s eyes. The pain in his chest intensified.
Peter tried something. He felt his face getting warmer.
“What are you doing?” Laura asked.
“I’m asking for help,” he said, clearly focused on something other than speaking. His face grew redder and warmer, as though he was diverting blood to the skin on his face. He looked down at his arms and saw the now-familiar aura around his arms. “Help me, Leanne,” he said.
Laura took half a step back. “What is it about you and bathrooms, Peter?” Peter didn’t react, though.
Finally, Peter took a deep breath, relaxing his mind and body. He saw that he still had an aura around his arms, but his face returned to a normal color. The pain in his chest subsided completely, and his eyesight was normal. “So this is how Aura Man does it,” he said finally, looking himself over in the mirror. “I’ve got to tell you, it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world.”
Peter grabbed a drink of water and they returned to the couch. They were both wide awake, and 12 Monkeys was just coming on, so they sat to watch it. Peter tried to keep tabs on how he felt as the movie played. He felt fine every time he checked. After a while, he stopped worrying about it.
Towards the end of the movie, they were starting to fall asleep. Laura drifted off first, leaning against Peter’s shoulder. Peter raised his arm and she leaned further over onto his chest. He put his arm around her, and placed his head gently onto hers. With his other hand, he reached the remote control and turned the television off. Then he too drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, the house exploded. The shock of the light and searing pain he felt throughout his entire body all at once was almost too much for Peter. He felt like he was losing all control, as he had during the first vision when he woke up posed like a soldier with a rifle. He sat bolt upright and could faintly see around him by the dim light available in the living room. He found himself having to fight the urge to hit Laura with the back of his hand. She was now awake because of Peter’s flailing and struggling. Slowly, meticulously, he fought against the disconnected feelings and regained control over his body. It wasn’t until he was fully in control that he spoke to Laura.
“You might want to go up to your room now. That was really scary.”
“What happened, Peter? You had me so worried!”
“It is as though something inside me wants to take control over my body, and I’m not letting it. If it weren’t for Leanne being with me still, I wouldn’t have been able to stay in control. If anything like this happens again, I don’t want you near me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t think you would hurt me, Peter. I think it’s good for you to learn what is going on with these things, these attacks.”
“But I don’t want to become another Aura Man, running around killing people.”
“You could never do that, Peter. You’re a good man.”
Her words were indeed soothing to Peter. He was once again awake, though. Wide awake. They sat in the dark holding each other until finally, Laura drifted once again off to sleep. Peter sat awake the rest of the night, fearful that he would lapse again and end up hurting Laura.
In the morning, Peter stirred and Laura woke up when they heard people coming down the stairs. Laura looked at Peter with sleep still in her eyes. “You look terrible, Peter. Did you sleep at all?”
“Not really. I might have dozed here and there, but I was too afraid of hurting you to let myself fall asleep.”
Peter stood up, stretching the tightness from sitting in one place for so long out of his limbs. Laura stretched while sitting on the couch.
“How about we go get some breakfast, and some coffee?” asked Laura.
“That sounds like a great idea. Just promise me you’ll sleep in the guest bed tonight.”
Laura smiled at Peter. “I promise, but it was kindof nice waking up to you this morning.”
“That sounds like a great plan, Pete. Let’s get you packed up and ready.”
“What about me?” asked Laura. “I would rather stay with you, but if you guys are going somewhere else, my parents should, too.”
“Why don’t you give them a call while we get packed up. We can go by your place to pick up some clothes if you want to stay with us.” Peter looked at his mother. “That is, if it’s alright with you, mom.”
“That’ll be fine, Peter. Jeff has a couple spare rooms now that his kids have moved out,” said Heather.
Laura was on the phone with her father, so Peter went up to his room to gather a few things together. It was convenient that he already packed up his room, putting away the things he felt he didn’t need for a while. With it like this, he didn’t have to hunt for the things he wanted. He felt suddenly sentimental looking at the room he lived in for years. He had a fleeting sensation that he wouldn’t be returning to this room. He dismissed that thought as quickly as it surfaced.
He was able to get a bag of clothes together relatively quickly. He closed his bedroom door and came back downstairs carrying his baseball duffel bag full of clothes in one hand and a baseball cap he picked up off his desk in the other. To him, one naturally went with the other.
Laura waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. “My parents are going to be staying with a friend of theirs for the next few days, but they want a phone number where they can reach me.”
“Do they have a cell phone?” asked Dan, passing behind Laura on his way to the living room.
“Yes, my mother does since she travels a lot.”
“Great. Let’s give her a call on her cell phone when they get where we’re going. I don’t want Uncle Jeff’s number to be lying around at your house in case you get an unwanted guest while your parents are away.”
“Do you really think he’ll break into my house?”
“Let’s not take any chances,” said Dan.
“Peter, will you go with me to my house to get my stuff together?”
“Of course I will.” Peter set his bag down at the base of the stairs and gave her a hug, trying not only to reassure her, but to give himself some confidence. Leaving his own house was more difficult than Peter expected.
Dan helped his parents get their luggage out to the truck. Peter helped Sarah with hers, and Laura carried Peter’s duffel bag out with her.
“Do you remember how to get to Uncle Jeff’s place, Peter?”
“Yes, we’ve only been going there for years, right? I’m sure I can find it.” Peter and Laura waved goodbye to his parents before they got into Laura’s car, Peter as the passenger this time, and they left, heading to Laura’s house. As they drove away, Peter looked back at his house almost longingly.
“Are you okay?” asked Laura.
“Yes, but it does feel weird leaving the house behind, completely unprotected.”
“Did you remember to lock the door?”
“My dad will take care of that. He never forgets.”
Peter took a deep breath, which turned into a yawn. Laura saw him out of the corner of her eye, which made her yawn, too, which made them both laugh. Just then, in the middle of their laughter, Peter got a sudden pain in his chest. It was coming from the very same place where Gerald was trying to pull some kind of energy out of his body. Peter put his hands on his chest and doubled over in pain, his expression shifting from laughter to agony.
“What is it, Peter?” Laura could barely keep her eyes on the road. “Are you okay?” She reached a hand over and put it on his shoulder. Peter barely noticed her touch. The pain was excruciating. Then came the vision.
People around him were yelling and screaming in a language he didn’t understand. It sounded like some Middle Eastern language to him, but he knew that much only from movies and television. People near him were running and pointing down the road, and when Peter looked in that direction, he saw armored Humvees driving towards him. He had to take cover but there was nowhere to run. He was caught in the open. Some soldiers got out and walked on foot or ran towards him, their rifles at the ready. One of them raised his weapon and aimed it directly at Peter. Peter began to run blindly away. He looked to his right to check on the soldier and was taken aback when he saw that it was Gerald, drawing down on him. Time slowed down. Gerald fired his rifle, and it went wide of the mark. Peter heard the bullet ricochet off a wall behind him. He continued running, and saw that Gerald began to chase him. He chased him through the streets and between buildings. He was only a block away from where the Humvees drove in. Peter ran around the corner to his right and stopped in his tracks. He had run into a courtyard, closed in on three sides by walls. His only option was to run back the way he came, and that way was now blocked by Gerald, who just peeked his head around the corner of the building. There were windows cut into the sand-colored stone. Peter thought he could make it to one of them, and he began to run towards it. He stopped when he saw that someone was inside, aiming at him. He was completely motionless, staring into the darkness beyond the window, where he saw a brief reflection of sunlight and movement beyond. He didn’t know what to do. Then his eyes adjusted, and he saw that the people inside the building were carrying video cameras. They were filming the courtyard as Peter ran into it.
Peter turned around to face Gerald, and Gerald pulled the trigger once more. Suddenly now Peter was floating above his body, which was lying face-down in a pool of blood. He watched as Gerald ran up to him, cut off one of his ears and pocketed it. He then turned his attention to the window that Peter saw the film crew behind. He raised his weapon again and began to fire indiscriminately. As he shot, he advanced on the window. Peter knew the people inside were scrambling to get away. He knew they were dying. Peter saw a bright light over his head, at the end of a long tunnel. He felt as though he wanted to head towards the light, but then the light was gone as quickly as it came. Instead, he felt himself being drawn into a dark, stagnant pool.
When Peter snapped out of his vision, he sat upright in the car. Laura had pulled over to the side of the road and was rubbing his back and shaking him gently, asking, “Are you okay?” Peter nodded in response. “Does it still hurt?”
“No, I feel better now, but I had another vision. This one was strange.” He described his vision to Laura.
“Again, we have soldiers. Gerald was one of them. He was a brutal killer of defenseless people, an animal himself,” she said.
Peter felt the pain in his chest begin to rise again. He put his hands on his chest and rallied against it. The vision began to replay in his head, but when it reached the point where Peter began to run blindly away, Peter pulled himself out of the vision. The pain subsided.
After a few minutes of making sure Peter felt better, Laura put the car back into gear and drove the rest of the way to her house. Once there, they got out of the car and went in the front door. Peter went with Laura up to her room. This was the first time he saw what her room looked like. It was girlier than he expected, done up in pink and purple, with a flowery, ruffled comforter on her bed that matched the curtains.
Laura pulled a suitcase out of her closet and opened it up on the bed. She took out the dryer sheet that was put in to keep it fresh while she wasn’t using it, and went to her dresser. Opening the drawers one by one, she pulled out enough clothes for several days away and placed them into her suitcase. Peter sat on the bed next to the suitcase, watching her fill it up.
She went out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom, returning with her toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, a hairbrush, hair ties, a blow dryer and an extra towel. “I like to travel light,” she quipped as she placed them into the suitcase.
Once all the things she wanted were placed in the suitcase, she closed it, and Peter picked it up to bring downstairs. It was heavier than he expected, but not so heavy that he couldn’t move it. She opened the door for him, and he put it into the trunk of her car.
“Are you ready to say goodbye to the house for a few days?” Peter asked.
“I guess that’s what I have to do, isn’t it?”
She locked the door and they got back into her car. They drove north on a side street, and west on Sixth Avenue. It reminded them of driving out to Golden, though Uncle Jeff lived in Lakewood, so they wouldn’t be going that far. They got off Sixth Avenue at Simms and drove south and a little west. Peter was guiding Laura, until he realized that they had taken a wrong turn. They drove around the neighborhood, which was mostly made up of apartments and condos, until finally they found the right street. His parent’s car and truck were already here, parked along the street. Laura pulled up in front of the truck and parked. They got out, and Peter pulled the suitcase out of the trunk. Laura grabbed Peter’s duffel bag.
They began walking towards the house when Laura noticed how much Peter was struggling with the suitcase. “It has wheels, Pete.”
He looked at her skeptically and stopped walking. He put the suitcase on the ground. Laura reached over and pushed a button on the side of the handle. The handle telescoped, and Peter was easily able to wheel the suitcase along behind him and up to the house.
They got to the step of the front door and Laura rang the doorbell. Jeff answered the door. At first, he was distant, because he didn’t recognize Laura, but then he saw Peter and was openly friendly. “Hey, Pete! C’mon in!” He stood aside first for Laura, who brought Peter’s bag in, and then for Peter who brought Laura’s suitcase in. His parents and sister were sitting around the large, oak dining room table talking about Gerald, and how he has caused them to leave their home.
“I just wish he would leave us alone,” said Sarah. “We have enough trouble in our lives. We don’t need some guy randomly singling us out.”
The conversation went from there to introducing Laura to everyone, including Jeff’s wife Karen, and then continued on for hours, drifting from one topic to the next. They frequently revisited the events surrounding Gerald’s harassment of them, but also talked about a great many other things. The family was comfortable with each other. Peter and Laura decided to excuse themselves after a while, and went into the living room, where they watched TV and sat, sometimes arm in arm, sometimes holding hands.
For dinner, they ordered enough pizza to feed twice the number of people that were in the house, which gave them a pretty good variety to choose from. Everyone sat around the table for dinner. Afterwards, Jeff showed Laura to the small guest bedroom, and told Peter that he would be sleeping on the couch, which Peter was okay with.
They felt a lot safer here than they did at home, which was a sad revelation. Once dinner was done and things had quieted down, Jeff and his wife and Peter’s parents went up to their respective rooms, leaving Peter and Laura on the couch, again watching TV. Jeff had movie channels, so they were watching Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. This was the one with Johnny Depp.
As the single Oompa Loopma was dancing around on the screen as a troop, thanks to being digitally replicated, Peter had another episode. This time, it wasn’t a pain in his chest. It was his vision. It kept slipping and blurring, causing him to look away from the television. He was able to get it back under control, but it took an effort, and it was giving him a strong headache. After a while, he was getting nauseous.
His vision was then normal for the rest of the movie. As the credits rolled, and it was getting late, Peter’s vision blacked out completely and all at once. He was lucky to be sitting down when it happened. If it were to have happened when he was driving, he would have caused an accident.
“Laura, I can’t see.”
“You can’t see anything?”
“Nothing. My vision’s black.”
“Can you fight it like you did before?”
“I’m trying.” A wave of nausea rose up, but he fought that back. “Help me get to the bathroom, just in case.”
“Okay.”
Laura stood up and helped Peter to his feet. She led him to the bathroom and lifted the toilet seat. Peter knelt next to it, with one hand on the bowl, so that he would know where to aim if the need arose.
“How’s the vision?” she asked.
“I’m... fighting through it,” he said with some effort. “I don’t feel nauseous any more, at least not right now.” He grimaced as the pain returned to his chest. As soon as it did, though, his sight returned. The brightness of the bathroom, with its lights reflecting off the mirror, was almost too much for Peter’s eyes. The pain in his chest intensified.
Peter tried something. He felt his face getting warmer.
“What are you doing?” Laura asked.
“I’m asking for help,” he said, clearly focused on something other than speaking. His face grew redder and warmer, as though he was diverting blood to the skin on his face. He looked down at his arms and saw the now-familiar aura around his arms. “Help me, Leanne,” he said.
Laura took half a step back. “What is it about you and bathrooms, Peter?” Peter didn’t react, though.
Finally, Peter took a deep breath, relaxing his mind and body. He saw that he still had an aura around his arms, but his face returned to a normal color. The pain in his chest subsided completely, and his eyesight was normal. “So this is how Aura Man does it,” he said finally, looking himself over in the mirror. “I’ve got to tell you, it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world.”
Peter grabbed a drink of water and they returned to the couch. They were both wide awake, and 12 Monkeys was just coming on, so they sat to watch it. Peter tried to keep tabs on how he felt as the movie played. He felt fine every time he checked. After a while, he stopped worrying about it.
Towards the end of the movie, they were starting to fall asleep. Laura drifted off first, leaning against Peter’s shoulder. Peter raised his arm and she leaned further over onto his chest. He put his arm around her, and placed his head gently onto hers. With his other hand, he reached the remote control and turned the television off. Then he too drifted off to sleep.
In the middle of the night, the house exploded. The shock of the light and searing pain he felt throughout his entire body all at once was almost too much for Peter. He felt like he was losing all control, as he had during the first vision when he woke up posed like a soldier with a rifle. He sat bolt upright and could faintly see around him by the dim light available in the living room. He found himself having to fight the urge to hit Laura with the back of his hand. She was now awake because of Peter’s flailing and struggling. Slowly, meticulously, he fought against the disconnected feelings and regained control over his body. It wasn’t until he was fully in control that he spoke to Laura.
“You might want to go up to your room now. That was really scary.”
“What happened, Peter? You had me so worried!”
“It is as though something inside me wants to take control over my body, and I’m not letting it. If it weren’t for Leanne being with me still, I wouldn’t have been able to stay in control. If anything like this happens again, I don’t want you near me. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t think you would hurt me, Peter. I think it’s good for you to learn what is going on with these things, these attacks.”
“But I don’t want to become another Aura Man, running around killing people.”
“You could never do that, Peter. You’re a good man.”
Her words were indeed soothing to Peter. He was once again awake, though. Wide awake. They sat in the dark holding each other until finally, Laura drifted once again off to sleep. Peter sat awake the rest of the night, fearful that he would lapse again and end up hurting Laura.
In the morning, Peter stirred and Laura woke up when they heard people coming down the stairs. Laura looked at Peter with sleep still in her eyes. “You look terrible, Peter. Did you sleep at all?”
“Not really. I might have dozed here and there, but I was too afraid of hurting you to let myself fall asleep.”
Peter stood up, stretching the tightness from sitting in one place for so long out of his limbs. Laura stretched while sitting on the couch.
“How about we go get some breakfast, and some coffee?” asked Laura.
“That sounds like a great idea. Just promise me you’ll sleep in the guest bed tonight.”
Laura smiled at Peter. “I promise, but it was kindof nice waking up to you this morning.”
Outline revamped
Over lunch, I just got done rewriting the outline for the end of the story. It still follows the outline I had before, which was pretty vague, but this version adds a bunch of details. If things go well, following this outline will put me over the 50,000 word mark. I'm anxious to write, but alas, lunchtime is over.
Almost 3k
Almost 3,000 words today. Not bad, given that I didn't really start until about 11:45 PM. So of course the words I wrote starting "today" will count on "tomorrow's" place in the bar graph. I really need to get to bed, though. It's almost 2 now. Sadly, Twitter is down, so I can't update there.
As to the writing itself, I'm not sure I like today's output. I mean, it was supposed to be a slow time in the main character's life... the calm before the storm. I hope, at least. I haven' t written the storm yet, so we'll see how that pans out. I thought the previous confrontation between the main good guy and the main bad guy was pretty kick-ass. Now I have to escalate it? Hm...
As to the writing itself, I'm not sure I like today's output. I mean, it was supposed to be a slow time in the main character's life... the calm before the storm. I hope, at least. I haven' t written the storm yet, so we'll see how that pans out. I thought the previous confrontation between the main good guy and the main bad guy was pretty kick-ass. Now I have to escalate it? Hm...
Post 23
And so it went for Peter and Laura for the next several days. Laura got the call after a day of waiting to find out that the repairs on her car would cost around $1,100. Her father paid for the repairs, but the car wouldn’t be ready for a couple days. Their parents checked on them frequently, so in order to be alone, they had to take a walk or maybe get Dan to give them a ride somewhere. With Laura’s car in the shop, it put a damper on their mobility. Peter resumed his lawn mowing, trying to save up some money to maybe get a car of his own. He cut the Sinclair’s lawn again, paying special attention to where the leash was this time. Nobody had heard from Gerald in all that time. Things were starting to quiet down again.
Laura got the call on Saturday that her car was ready to be picked up, and she immediately called Peter to let him know. “My dad is going to take me over there now, so I can come by and pick you up when we’re done.”
“That sounds great, Laura!” said Peter. He hadn’t seen her yet that day, and was looking forward to it.
While she was picking up her car, Peter took a shower. After his shower, he got dressed and went downstairs. Laura wasn’t there yet. His mother just brought in the mail, and in it was a package for him. She called him into the kitchen to get it. It was an express box that was supposed to be delivered overnight, and it was somewhat heavy. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, and there was no return address on it. There was something in the box that crinkled, and weighed several pounds. Peter was about to open it when Laura rang the doorbell. Peter set the box down and opened the door for her, giving her a welcoming kiss. It was nothing too passionate – his mother was standing right there. She looked so much better after a couple days of healing. There was no swelling in her face, and her bruises had faded. She looked summery in her white shorts and t-shirt. It actually looked like she was starting to get a tan. They both went into the kitchen.
“I got a package,” Peter said, and picked the box up. He tore away the strip and opened the box. He couldn’t quite tell what was inside. It was encased in layers of plastic. Flicking the box forward, he slid the contents out onto the counter and was immediately aghast. Laura, who was watching, was horrified. Though the details were obscured by the layers of plastic, there was no mistaking the contents: there on the counter lay a dead gray cat, wrapped in plastic. Its fur was matted with blood, and its eyes were still open. On the plastic was a sticky note that read: a snack
Laura screamed, her hands in front of her mouth. Peter exclaimed, “Holy shit!” not remembering that his mother was standing nearby.
“Peter!” scolded Heather as she wandered into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. When she saw the dead cat on the counter, she didn’t immediately know what it was. “What is it, Peter?”
“Don’t look, mom.” This, of course, made Heather look that much closer. When recognition dawned on her, she was disgusted. “Don’t touch it!” she yelled. Peter was about to pick the contents of the package up and take it out to the trash. “We need to call the police now.”
Peter listened while Heather dialed the police and explained to them what just happened. He and Laura were waiting in the living room, away from the dead animal. They assumed it was Gerald who sent the package to them. They were trying to figure out why he sent it. What message was he trying to send to Peter? Was it because Peter accidentally gave him the spirit of a squirrel? Was he trying to prove how sadistic he could be by returning the favor in a gruesome fashion? Or maybe he was just trying to show that he could still get to Peter and his family, that he was roaming free in the world and there was nothing that Peter could do about it. Either way, Peter was afraid not only for himself, but for his family, for Laura and for Laura’s family. He had a terrible thought. “You don’t think he sent one of these packages to your house, do you?” he asked Laura.
“I don’t know. He knows where I live, so he might have, just trying to scare both of us. Can I use your phone?” asked Laura. “I haven’t been able to find mine since the fight at the parking garage.”
“Do you think Gerald still has it?”
“I’m pretty sure of it. Either that or it’s somewhere in the rubble in that garage, and it can stay there as far as I’m concerned.”
Heather hung up the phone, and Peter picked up the extension in the living room. He handed it to Laura who called her dad. “Is there a package there for me?” She listened, and breathed a sigh of relief. She held her hand over the phone and told Peter, “No package.” She went on to tell her dad that the car was working fine and that she was going to be with Peter for a while, and then she hung up.
Dan arrived at the house along with a squad car of two uniformed officers. They looked at the cat and the package, and took them for tests at the lab. When asked, Peter told the officers that he had no idea why this could have been sent to him, but he was pretty sure who sent the package. With the ongoing investigation, it wasn’t hard to convince the police of it. The police carried the package out to their squad car, but Dan lagged behind. Standing at the door, he asked Peter, “Are you sure you’ve been feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve been great.”
“Well, don’t let your guard down. This isn’t over yet with that freak still out there doing this type of stuff. He obviously still has it in for you, and we’ve seen what he’s capable of. I’m thinking we might want to get you guys to visit Uncle Jeff for a while until we find the guy.”
Peter thought about it, but didn’t want to make any decisions yet. “I’ll think about it,” he assured Dan.
Finally alone together, Peter and Laura were quiet for a time. Their enthusiasm was dampened. Just this morning, they felt like things were starting to get normal again, and then they were confronted again with the reality that there was a psychopath who had it in for them.
Laura started talking first. “Pete, this is going to sound strange, but can you get in touch with the redhead?”
“Leanne? I don’t know. I only seem to be able to reach her when I’m totally stressed out over something.”
“Have you thought about trying while you’re relaxed, to see what you can learn about her?”
“All I really get are strong emotions, or powerful images that are pulled from her memory and her life.”
“You don’t think you can get under the surface? You were able to get her name,” said Laura.
“Yes, but her name is really a big part of who she was, right? I figure that’s why I was able to get her name. And Gerald’s name. It’s always there. It’s readable.”
“Can you read my mind, Peter?”
Peter looked at Laura intently. “You know, I’m pretty sure this only works if you’re dead.”
“Very funny. But I’m serious. Give it a try. See if you can reach out to me.” Laura sat facing Peter, her hands in her lap, trying to open up to Peter’s attempt at making psychic contact with her.
Peter looked at her quizzically, then gave in. He tried to clear his mind and focus on Laura’s eyes. Looking into Gerald’s eyes was the key to his memory, so it was worth a try. Peter closed his eyes, trying to relax and reach out with his mind into Laura. He turned his head slightly as he thought he heard something ethereally speak to him, but when he listened harder, he heard nothing but his own breathing. He then heard a sharp intake of breath. When he opened his eyes again, Laura was staring at him bewildered.
“What? What did you see?” asked Peter.
“Peter, your...” Her words faded away as she brought her hand to his face and stroked his cheek. “Your face is so warm, and... Look in the mirror!”
Peter stood up and walked into the bathroom, turning the light on as he entered. He looked at the mirror and saw that his face was dark red, almost purple, like a bad sunburn. His veins weaved a network of blue across his cheeks. He called out in alarm. He put his hands to his face, and felt the heat radiating from his cheeks. Then as quickly as it rose, it retracted. Peter suddenly felt cold. This was not the same type of cold that he felt in the parking garage, where all the heat seemed to collect in his core and leave his arms and legs. This was like a fever that spread through his head quickly. The skin on the back of his neck began to stand up, and he looked down at his arms, holding them up in the bathroom light. What he saw there made him shiver. His skin took on the double-vision appearance that he saw on Gerald that day at the airport. Peter had an aura!
“Do you see this?” he asked Laura.
“See what, Peter?”
Apparently not, he thought, because this is pretty obvious to me. “Remember how I described Gerald at the airport?”
“You mean the aura?”
“Yes. I have one. Can you see it?” He held his hand out to Laura, who impulsively retreated from him. That moment recorded itself indelibly in Peter’s memory, not just because Laura seemed to pull away from him in fear, but because his own reaction caused the aura to retreat back inside his skin at the same instant. “It’s gone now,” he said, but Laura couldn’t tell the difference. She kept looking at his arms as though they may bite her.
“Are you sure?”
“Laura, I’m perfectly safe. It’s okay to touch me.”
Whether she felt more relaxed or she did it to reassure Peter, Laura did reach out and take Peter’s hand in her own. “See?” asked Peter. Laura nodded. “Nothing to be afraid of,” he said, and embraced her. She accepted his hug and even returned it. Peter felt a little self-conscious hugging her in the bathroom.
“I’m sorry, Pete. I just wasn’t sure what would happen. I remember you talking about running into Gerald at the airport and bad things happened to you. I just didn’t want... I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me, too, okay?”
“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you, either. Only one of us is allowed to be all weirded out at a time.”
Peter felt as though a barrier was broken now, that he could more freely interact with Leanne as he carried her inside him. That worried him in a way, but it also made him insanely curious what he could find out about her simply by asking.
“If you were going to ask Leanne a question, what would it be?” Peter asked as they returned to the living room.
“How did you die?” she answered, offhandedly.
“I think we know the answer to that, and given the way she’s answered questions thus far, I don’t think I want to ‘see’ the answer right now.” Peter reflexively thought back to the bloody wall at the hotel.
His outsider’s perspective on the hotel room triggered a memory from Leanne that he couldn’t suppress. “Why’d you have to hit me?” Leanne’s voice asked Peter. He didn’t fall into a vision as he had in the past. Instead, it was like a memory, filling his mind’s eye with a series of scenes of the hotel room.
Gerald hit her. Peter felt detached, like he was near them, watching from the side. Gerald hit her again and again, each impact of his fist accentuated, each draw back of his hand unseen. The bottle she held flew from her hand and landed on the floor next to the bed. The thin hotel carpeting did nothing to cushion the glass bottle from the concrete beneath. All Peter saw was that it shattered on the carpet. Then Gerald had a hold of Leanne’s hair and was yanking her violently forward off the bed. There was no transition to her kneeling on the carpet over the broken bottle. Suddenly she was there, and Gerald shoved her down, the shards of glass piercing her skin. Peter saw Gerald’s face, twisted in rage. He was yelling, but the sound of his voice was not reaching Peter’s ears in this strange vantage point. He continued to beat her while Peter watched. The brutality transfixed Peter as the scenes played in fast forward. He saw every impact, and watched as Leanne was reduced to nothing beneath him. In the end, she breathed her last, one eye sealed shut, the other eye staring off to a better world. Then the room was empty, save for Leanne’s broken body. Peter realized he was watching through the mirror the whole time. Now that mirror was tinged in red, painting the scene before him. In the next instant, the door was open again, with Dan standing at the entrance to the room. His weapon was drawn, but being knocked from his grasp by Gerald, who was crushing Dan against the door frame. Finally, Peter saw Gerald standing next to the dresser, his hand on a small video cartridge that was sitting there the whole time. Finally, the gruesome slide show was over.
“Scraps of memory,” intoned Leanne, “for you to better know me.”
Peter didn’t know what to say. The entire episode took maybe ten seconds. The impact of everything he saw during those ten seconds was slow to penetrate his mind, which was, of course, a blessing to him. He shook his head in disgust. “Show me something else!” he exclaimed.
“What did you see, Peter?” asked Laura.
Another memory was starting for him.
It was Leanne, playing in a field overgrown with grass and wildflowers. She was just a child here, maybe four or five. The bright sun shone down on her as she laughed the enchanting laugh of a happy child.
Something insidious wormed its way into this vision, though.
The grass and the flowers all faded. The child disappeared, replaced with a desolate nothingness. The sun shone overhead still, but in an oppressive way. Peter saw a house before him, a child at play in the dirty streets – a young boy. Before he could take in the details of the scene, the house was replaced by a blinding flash of light that engulfed the child.
Peter winced at the sight of so much light in his eyes. This was more like the visions he had in the past, immersive and uncontrollable.
The final scene showed a boy laying in the street, bleeding from many cuts caused by flying debris.
“Iss-me Wassim.” A man’s voice spoke to him. “Anna min l-shark l-owsat.” Peter could barely hear the voice speaking to him. The flash of light pulled him out of this vision and back to the living room next to Laura. He only heard the man speaking because he tried to stay in the vision, but his own mind wouldn’t let him stay there.
“There was a man. I think his name is Wassim. He’s the one I shot and killed in the vision I had in Dan’s hospital room.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because he is here with me, too.”
“You have two people inside you?”
“Yes. I think this is who Gerald was looking for when he tried to have me trade for you.”
“Why do you think he’s so important to Gerald?” asked Laura.
“I don’t know, but I have no intention of just giving him up. I’ve seen some of what Gerald is capable of, and he doesn’t deserve to be alive.”
Peter thought of the cat that was delivered to his house, and about how he heard that people who are cruel to animals will also go on to be cruel to other humans, even their own kids. He wasn’t sure if Gerald went through that progression or if he only recently started hurting animals, but someone had to have seen the warning signs before. What could possibly have driven him to start killing people and animals? Peter got a sudden urge to get them both out of the house.
Laura got the call on Saturday that her car was ready to be picked up, and she immediately called Peter to let him know. “My dad is going to take me over there now, so I can come by and pick you up when we’re done.”
“That sounds great, Laura!” said Peter. He hadn’t seen her yet that day, and was looking forward to it.
While she was picking up her car, Peter took a shower. After his shower, he got dressed and went downstairs. Laura wasn’t there yet. His mother just brought in the mail, and in it was a package for him. She called him into the kitchen to get it. It was an express box that was supposed to be delivered overnight, and it was somewhat heavy. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, and there was no return address on it. There was something in the box that crinkled, and weighed several pounds. Peter was about to open it when Laura rang the doorbell. Peter set the box down and opened the door for her, giving her a welcoming kiss. It was nothing too passionate – his mother was standing right there. She looked so much better after a couple days of healing. There was no swelling in her face, and her bruises had faded. She looked summery in her white shorts and t-shirt. It actually looked like she was starting to get a tan. They both went into the kitchen.
“I got a package,” Peter said, and picked the box up. He tore away the strip and opened the box. He couldn’t quite tell what was inside. It was encased in layers of plastic. Flicking the box forward, he slid the contents out onto the counter and was immediately aghast. Laura, who was watching, was horrified. Though the details were obscured by the layers of plastic, there was no mistaking the contents: there on the counter lay a dead gray cat, wrapped in plastic. Its fur was matted with blood, and its eyes were still open. On the plastic was a sticky note that read: a snack
Laura screamed, her hands in front of her mouth. Peter exclaimed, “Holy shit!” not remembering that his mother was standing nearby.
“Peter!” scolded Heather as she wandered into the kitchen to see what the fuss was about. When she saw the dead cat on the counter, she didn’t immediately know what it was. “What is it, Peter?”
“Don’t look, mom.” This, of course, made Heather look that much closer. When recognition dawned on her, she was disgusted. “Don’t touch it!” she yelled. Peter was about to pick the contents of the package up and take it out to the trash. “We need to call the police now.”
Peter listened while Heather dialed the police and explained to them what just happened. He and Laura were waiting in the living room, away from the dead animal. They assumed it was Gerald who sent the package to them. They were trying to figure out why he sent it. What message was he trying to send to Peter? Was it because Peter accidentally gave him the spirit of a squirrel? Was he trying to prove how sadistic he could be by returning the favor in a gruesome fashion? Or maybe he was just trying to show that he could still get to Peter and his family, that he was roaming free in the world and there was nothing that Peter could do about it. Either way, Peter was afraid not only for himself, but for his family, for Laura and for Laura’s family. He had a terrible thought. “You don’t think he sent one of these packages to your house, do you?” he asked Laura.
“I don’t know. He knows where I live, so he might have, just trying to scare both of us. Can I use your phone?” asked Laura. “I haven’t been able to find mine since the fight at the parking garage.”
“Do you think Gerald still has it?”
“I’m pretty sure of it. Either that or it’s somewhere in the rubble in that garage, and it can stay there as far as I’m concerned.”
Heather hung up the phone, and Peter picked up the extension in the living room. He handed it to Laura who called her dad. “Is there a package there for me?” She listened, and breathed a sigh of relief. She held her hand over the phone and told Peter, “No package.” She went on to tell her dad that the car was working fine and that she was going to be with Peter for a while, and then she hung up.
Dan arrived at the house along with a squad car of two uniformed officers. They looked at the cat and the package, and took them for tests at the lab. When asked, Peter told the officers that he had no idea why this could have been sent to him, but he was pretty sure who sent the package. With the ongoing investigation, it wasn’t hard to convince the police of it. The police carried the package out to their squad car, but Dan lagged behind. Standing at the door, he asked Peter, “Are you sure you’ve been feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’ve been great.”
“Well, don’t let your guard down. This isn’t over yet with that freak still out there doing this type of stuff. He obviously still has it in for you, and we’ve seen what he’s capable of. I’m thinking we might want to get you guys to visit Uncle Jeff for a while until we find the guy.”
Peter thought about it, but didn’t want to make any decisions yet. “I’ll think about it,” he assured Dan.
Finally alone together, Peter and Laura were quiet for a time. Their enthusiasm was dampened. Just this morning, they felt like things were starting to get normal again, and then they were confronted again with the reality that there was a psychopath who had it in for them.
Laura started talking first. “Pete, this is going to sound strange, but can you get in touch with the redhead?”
“Leanne? I don’t know. I only seem to be able to reach her when I’m totally stressed out over something.”
“Have you thought about trying while you’re relaxed, to see what you can learn about her?”
“All I really get are strong emotions, or powerful images that are pulled from her memory and her life.”
“You don’t think you can get under the surface? You were able to get her name,” said Laura.
“Yes, but her name is really a big part of who she was, right? I figure that’s why I was able to get her name. And Gerald’s name. It’s always there. It’s readable.”
“Can you read my mind, Peter?”
Peter looked at Laura intently. “You know, I’m pretty sure this only works if you’re dead.”
“Very funny. But I’m serious. Give it a try. See if you can reach out to me.” Laura sat facing Peter, her hands in her lap, trying to open up to Peter’s attempt at making psychic contact with her.
Peter looked at her quizzically, then gave in. He tried to clear his mind and focus on Laura’s eyes. Looking into Gerald’s eyes was the key to his memory, so it was worth a try. Peter closed his eyes, trying to relax and reach out with his mind into Laura. He turned his head slightly as he thought he heard something ethereally speak to him, but when he listened harder, he heard nothing but his own breathing. He then heard a sharp intake of breath. When he opened his eyes again, Laura was staring at him bewildered.
“What? What did you see?” asked Peter.
“Peter, your...” Her words faded away as she brought her hand to his face and stroked his cheek. “Your face is so warm, and... Look in the mirror!”
Peter stood up and walked into the bathroom, turning the light on as he entered. He looked at the mirror and saw that his face was dark red, almost purple, like a bad sunburn. His veins weaved a network of blue across his cheeks. He called out in alarm. He put his hands to his face, and felt the heat radiating from his cheeks. Then as quickly as it rose, it retracted. Peter suddenly felt cold. This was not the same type of cold that he felt in the parking garage, where all the heat seemed to collect in his core and leave his arms and legs. This was like a fever that spread through his head quickly. The skin on the back of his neck began to stand up, and he looked down at his arms, holding them up in the bathroom light. What he saw there made him shiver. His skin took on the double-vision appearance that he saw on Gerald that day at the airport. Peter had an aura!
“Do you see this?” he asked Laura.
“See what, Peter?”
Apparently not, he thought, because this is pretty obvious to me. “Remember how I described Gerald at the airport?”
“You mean the aura?”
“Yes. I have one. Can you see it?” He held his hand out to Laura, who impulsively retreated from him. That moment recorded itself indelibly in Peter’s memory, not just because Laura seemed to pull away from him in fear, but because his own reaction caused the aura to retreat back inside his skin at the same instant. “It’s gone now,” he said, but Laura couldn’t tell the difference. She kept looking at his arms as though they may bite her.
“Are you sure?”
“Laura, I’m perfectly safe. It’s okay to touch me.”
Whether she felt more relaxed or she did it to reassure Peter, Laura did reach out and take Peter’s hand in her own. “See?” asked Peter. Laura nodded. “Nothing to be afraid of,” he said, and embraced her. She accepted his hug and even returned it. Peter felt a little self-conscious hugging her in the bathroom.
“I’m sorry, Pete. I just wasn’t sure what would happen. I remember you talking about running into Gerald at the airport and bad things happened to you. I just didn’t want... I didn’t want the same thing to happen to me, too, okay?”
“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you, either. Only one of us is allowed to be all weirded out at a time.”
Peter felt as though a barrier was broken now, that he could more freely interact with Leanne as he carried her inside him. That worried him in a way, but it also made him insanely curious what he could find out about her simply by asking.
“If you were going to ask Leanne a question, what would it be?” Peter asked as they returned to the living room.
“How did you die?” she answered, offhandedly.
“I think we know the answer to that, and given the way she’s answered questions thus far, I don’t think I want to ‘see’ the answer right now.” Peter reflexively thought back to the bloody wall at the hotel.
His outsider’s perspective on the hotel room triggered a memory from Leanne that he couldn’t suppress. “Why’d you have to hit me?” Leanne’s voice asked Peter. He didn’t fall into a vision as he had in the past. Instead, it was like a memory, filling his mind’s eye with a series of scenes of the hotel room.
Gerald hit her. Peter felt detached, like he was near them, watching from the side. Gerald hit her again and again, each impact of his fist accentuated, each draw back of his hand unseen. The bottle she held flew from her hand and landed on the floor next to the bed. The thin hotel carpeting did nothing to cushion the glass bottle from the concrete beneath. All Peter saw was that it shattered on the carpet. Then Gerald had a hold of Leanne’s hair and was yanking her violently forward off the bed. There was no transition to her kneeling on the carpet over the broken bottle. Suddenly she was there, and Gerald shoved her down, the shards of glass piercing her skin. Peter saw Gerald’s face, twisted in rage. He was yelling, but the sound of his voice was not reaching Peter’s ears in this strange vantage point. He continued to beat her while Peter watched. The brutality transfixed Peter as the scenes played in fast forward. He saw every impact, and watched as Leanne was reduced to nothing beneath him. In the end, she breathed her last, one eye sealed shut, the other eye staring off to a better world. Then the room was empty, save for Leanne’s broken body. Peter realized he was watching through the mirror the whole time. Now that mirror was tinged in red, painting the scene before him. In the next instant, the door was open again, with Dan standing at the entrance to the room. His weapon was drawn, but being knocked from his grasp by Gerald, who was crushing Dan against the door frame. Finally, Peter saw Gerald standing next to the dresser, his hand on a small video cartridge that was sitting there the whole time. Finally, the gruesome slide show was over.
“Scraps of memory,” intoned Leanne, “for you to better know me.”
Peter didn’t know what to say. The entire episode took maybe ten seconds. The impact of everything he saw during those ten seconds was slow to penetrate his mind, which was, of course, a blessing to him. He shook his head in disgust. “Show me something else!” he exclaimed.
“What did you see, Peter?” asked Laura.
Another memory was starting for him.
It was Leanne, playing in a field overgrown with grass and wildflowers. She was just a child here, maybe four or five. The bright sun shone down on her as she laughed the enchanting laugh of a happy child.
Something insidious wormed its way into this vision, though.
The grass and the flowers all faded. The child disappeared, replaced with a desolate nothingness. The sun shone overhead still, but in an oppressive way. Peter saw a house before him, a child at play in the dirty streets – a young boy. Before he could take in the details of the scene, the house was replaced by a blinding flash of light that engulfed the child.
Peter winced at the sight of so much light in his eyes. This was more like the visions he had in the past, immersive and uncontrollable.
The final scene showed a boy laying in the street, bleeding from many cuts caused by flying debris.
“Iss-me Wassim.” A man’s voice spoke to him. “Anna min l-shark l-owsat.” Peter could barely hear the voice speaking to him. The flash of light pulled him out of this vision and back to the living room next to Laura. He only heard the man speaking because he tried to stay in the vision, but his own mind wouldn’t let him stay there.
“There was a man. I think his name is Wassim. He’s the one I shot and killed in the vision I had in Dan’s hospital room.”
“How do you know this?”
“Because he is here with me, too.”
“You have two people inside you?”
“Yes. I think this is who Gerald was looking for when he tried to have me trade for you.”
“Why do you think he’s so important to Gerald?” asked Laura.
“I don’t know, but I have no intention of just giving him up. I’ve seen some of what Gerald is capable of, and he doesn’t deserve to be alive.”
Peter thought of the cat that was delivered to his house, and about how he heard that people who are cruel to animals will also go on to be cruel to other humans, even their own kids. He wasn’t sure if Gerald went through that progression or if he only recently started hurting animals, but someone had to have seen the warning signs before. What could possibly have driven him to start killing people and animals? Peter got a sudden urge to get them both out of the house.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Fragmented
My last two posts were small advances in the story. Don't worry - it's not going to go into all-out sex from here or anything. I didn't want that for the story. I just wanted a little of that tension. But what I would really like is a couple hours of uninterrupted time to write. I may not get it soon, though.
Post 22
Their kissing soon turned to petting, though they occasionally had to stop or reposition because one would put a hand on the other’s bruise, cut or scrape. It didn’t slow them down too much, though, and before he knew it, Peter’s left hand was under Laura’s shirt, delicately tracing the edge of her bra, wondering if he had the nerve to move it out of the way. He surprised himself with his boldness when he pulled the bra down and cupped her breast, skin on skin. She moaned softly as she returned his passionate kisses. Peter adjusted how he was sitting so that he was facing her more directly, and placed his right hand on her left breast. He wasn’t sure if he was being more bold now because of the vision he had, in which he, as Gerald, was having sex with Leanne. He suspected that may be the case. It also made him a little self conscious knowing that somewhere inside of him was some essence of Leanne. Was she watching him? Could she?
Laura reached down for the button on Peter’s pants and just got it undone when out of the blue, Knickers started barking frantically, making them both jump out of their skin. Peter’s hands were back on the outside of her shirt in a heartbeat and he stood up. He felt his pants slide down a little and reached to button them up again while Laura stood up to see what Knickers was barking at. They heard a car door slam. Peter’s adrenaline rose. Was Gerald coming after them? He didn’t realize until that moment how on edge he was since Gerald made a clean getaway.
Laura went into the house to see who was there. Peter followed. She looked out the front window and didn’t see anyone at first. Then she looked to her right and saw her father’s car. “It’s my dad. He has the car backed up to the garage.”
“Is he coming in?” asked Peter, his mind still reeling between being flooded with adrenaline borne out of fear and hormones from their petting. He got right behind Laura ostensibly to look out the window. He saw that Alan was still in the car, and likely couldn’t see in the window where they were standing. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand on her breast, the other on her stomach, and ground his erection against her backside. Laura pushed back against him and sighed lustily.
The sound of the garage door opening brought them back again. Alan got out of the car and was unloading something into the garage as they broke the embrace. Laura walked out the front door to see if her father needed any help. Peter followed along after adjusting himself when nobody was looking. They helped him with the bags of dog food that remained, replenishing the bin in the garage. With the smell of the dog food filling the air of the garage, Peter was glad that his family didn’t have a dog.
Alan invited Peter to stay for dinner. How could he decline when that meant he got to spend more time with Laura? He stood outside the garage and called his mother to let her know.
Laura reached down for the button on Peter’s pants and just got it undone when out of the blue, Knickers started barking frantically, making them both jump out of their skin. Peter’s hands were back on the outside of her shirt in a heartbeat and he stood up. He felt his pants slide down a little and reached to button them up again while Laura stood up to see what Knickers was barking at. They heard a car door slam. Peter’s adrenaline rose. Was Gerald coming after them? He didn’t realize until that moment how on edge he was since Gerald made a clean getaway.
Laura went into the house to see who was there. Peter followed. She looked out the front window and didn’t see anyone at first. Then she looked to her right and saw her father’s car. “It’s my dad. He has the car backed up to the garage.”
“Is he coming in?” asked Peter, his mind still reeling between being flooded with adrenaline borne out of fear and hormones from their petting. He got right behind Laura ostensibly to look out the window. He saw that Alan was still in the car, and likely couldn’t see in the window where they were standing. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand on her breast, the other on her stomach, and ground his erection against her backside. Laura pushed back against him and sighed lustily.
The sound of the garage door opening brought them back again. Alan got out of the car and was unloading something into the garage as they broke the embrace. Laura walked out the front door to see if her father needed any help. Peter followed along after adjusting himself when nobody was looking. They helped him with the bags of dog food that remained, replenishing the bin in the garage. With the smell of the dog food filling the air of the garage, Peter was glad that his family didn’t have a dog.
Alan invited Peter to stay for dinner. How could he decline when that meant he got to spend more time with Laura? He stood outside the garage and called his mother to let her know.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Post 21
After their statements were given, Dan drove them home. Laura’s father was extremely happy to see her home in one piece. Her mother had come home as well, and she was introduced to Peter and Dan. They thanked the boys for helping return Laura home safely before they went inside. At his house, Peter received a similar welcome from his parents. They were proud of their son for being able to fight this guy off and get out of the situation safely. They all knew it could’ve gone much worse.
In the morning, Dan showed up at his father’s house and picked Peter up. From there, they picked up Laura. When they got to Laura’s house, Peter got out and met her halfway to the car. As he approached, he noticed that one side of her face was a bit swollen and bruised. He gave her a careful hug, not wanting to hurt her, then walked her over to Dan’s car. He held the front door open for her, then got in the back. From there, they drove back to where they had left Laura’s car the night before. They talked on the way over.
“How are you feeling today, Laura?” Dan asked.
“I’m a lot better. I was pretty shaken up last night,” she answered. “How about you, Peter? Are you feeling alright today?”
“Actually, I am. I didn’t get any nosebleeds or anything, and I slept pretty well. Everything seems to be normal today, or at least as normal as it gets with me.” He chuckled. “Have you heard anything more about Gerald?” Peter asked Dan.
“I checked in this morning before I picked you guys up,” Dan said. “There was no sign of the guy after everything happened last night, but they did find an abandoned car that was registered to Leanne. They assume it was what he was driving that night, and that he ditched it in his getaway.”
“That’s just great. So we have no idea where he might have gone?”
“No, although according to the report I got, Leanne actually took a fair bit of cash out of her checking account late last week. We can only assume that went to Gerald.”
“Fantastic,” Peter said sarcastically. “So we don’t know where he went, and he has enough cash that if he wanted to do something bad to us, he could.”
“We’re doing what we can, Peter,” said Dan. “I’m sure you’re both going to be safe.”
Peter laid a hand on Laura’s shoulder. “I hope you’re right,” he said. Laura looked back at him over her shoulder. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment.
Traffic was light, and they got to Laura’s car pretty quickly. Peter got out and got into her car to take it to the garage for a repair estimate. Laura stayed with Dan at Peter’s request. He wasn’t sure how well the tire would hold up, and didn’t want her to be in the car in case something happened. He didn’t think anything bad was going to happen, but he just wanted to be sure she would be okay.
Dan led Peter around on some side streets until they emerged on a bigger east-west street. Dan then led Peter directly to the garage. They went inside to hand over the keys and let the workers know what needed to be done. Peter took the lead. “I hit a pothole with the back tire, and it kindof bent it in a little.”
The mechanic went out with them to look at the condition of the tire. “Boy, that had to have been some pothole to bend your tire like that. And how did you get it to bend in sideways? Were you sliding around or something?”
“I was backing out,” Peter said.
The mechanic said something under his breath that Peter didn’t hear. “Alright, we’ll take a look at it. We’ve got your contact information, so we’ll be in touch.”
They said goodbye to the mechanic and got back into Dan’s car. From here, Dan took them back to Peter’s and his father’s house. Peter and Laura went inside while Dan left to follow up on whatever information he could find out about Gerald’s whereabouts.
They didn’t live that far apart so it was not a big problem that they didn’t have a good way of getting around for the moment. They spent some time talking at Peter’s house. After they had some lunch, they walked over to Laura’s house. Her parents were away, so they went around to the back porch. Peter remembered his first time standing in the back yard of her parent’s house and all the things that happened to him that day. They sat on the steps behind the house, going over the various injuries they sustained in the fight against Gerald. As they explored each other, they edged closer and closer together. Then they began kissing and holding each other close. With the privacy fence in the back yard, nobody could see them, and they were a little more bold with each other.
In the morning, Dan showed up at his father’s house and picked Peter up. From there, they picked up Laura. When they got to Laura’s house, Peter got out and met her halfway to the car. As he approached, he noticed that one side of her face was a bit swollen and bruised. He gave her a careful hug, not wanting to hurt her, then walked her over to Dan’s car. He held the front door open for her, then got in the back. From there, they drove back to where they had left Laura’s car the night before. They talked on the way over.
“How are you feeling today, Laura?” Dan asked.
“I’m a lot better. I was pretty shaken up last night,” she answered. “How about you, Peter? Are you feeling alright today?”
“Actually, I am. I didn’t get any nosebleeds or anything, and I slept pretty well. Everything seems to be normal today, or at least as normal as it gets with me.” He chuckled. “Have you heard anything more about Gerald?” Peter asked Dan.
“I checked in this morning before I picked you guys up,” Dan said. “There was no sign of the guy after everything happened last night, but they did find an abandoned car that was registered to Leanne. They assume it was what he was driving that night, and that he ditched it in his getaway.”
“That’s just great. So we have no idea where he might have gone?”
“No, although according to the report I got, Leanne actually took a fair bit of cash out of her checking account late last week. We can only assume that went to Gerald.”
“Fantastic,” Peter said sarcastically. “So we don’t know where he went, and he has enough cash that if he wanted to do something bad to us, he could.”
“We’re doing what we can, Peter,” said Dan. “I’m sure you’re both going to be safe.”
Peter laid a hand on Laura’s shoulder. “I hope you’re right,” he said. Laura looked back at him over her shoulder. They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment.
Traffic was light, and they got to Laura’s car pretty quickly. Peter got out and got into her car to take it to the garage for a repair estimate. Laura stayed with Dan at Peter’s request. He wasn’t sure how well the tire would hold up, and didn’t want her to be in the car in case something happened. He didn’t think anything bad was going to happen, but he just wanted to be sure she would be okay.
Dan led Peter around on some side streets until they emerged on a bigger east-west street. Dan then led Peter directly to the garage. They went inside to hand over the keys and let the workers know what needed to be done. Peter took the lead. “I hit a pothole with the back tire, and it kindof bent it in a little.”
The mechanic went out with them to look at the condition of the tire. “Boy, that had to have been some pothole to bend your tire like that. And how did you get it to bend in sideways? Were you sliding around or something?”
“I was backing out,” Peter said.
The mechanic said something under his breath that Peter didn’t hear. “Alright, we’ll take a look at it. We’ve got your contact information, so we’ll be in touch.”
They said goodbye to the mechanic and got back into Dan’s car. From here, Dan took them back to Peter’s and his father’s house. Peter and Laura went inside while Dan left to follow up on whatever information he could find out about Gerald’s whereabouts.
They didn’t live that far apart so it was not a big problem that they didn’t have a good way of getting around for the moment. They spent some time talking at Peter’s house. After they had some lunch, they walked over to Laura’s house. Her parents were away, so they went around to the back porch. Peter remembered his first time standing in the back yard of her parent’s house and all the things that happened to him that day. They sat on the steps behind the house, going over the various injuries they sustained in the fight against Gerald. As they explored each other, they edged closer and closer together. Then they began kissing and holding each other close. With the privacy fence in the back yard, nobody could see them, and they were a little more bold with each other.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Much is revealed
A lot is revealed in Post 20. I'm not sure if it's too much at once or if it's just right. I'll have to gauge that when I read it later. For now, though, I need to keep going full-speed-ahead as much as I can. I'm getting close to the end!
Current word count: 36,208. That means I have 13,792 more words to go!
Current word count: 36,208. That means I have 13,792 more words to go!
Post 20
Gerald limped forward ominously until he was even with the back of Laura’s car. His face was covered in blood from the gash in his forehead. He wiped it away absently, leaving a dark smear across his face. Peter looked at the car door, still standing open, and thought about the baseball bat in the back seat. Carrying Laura, there was no way he could get to it in time. Gerald stepped even closer. If Peter was going to do anything, he had to put Laura down first, and he was running out of time. He knew the ground was covered in debris – he kicked some out of his way as he made his way from the far wall with Laura in his arms. He had to hope that when he put her down, she didn’t land on anything that would hurt her.
In Peter’s ear, Laura whispered, “I’m so scared, Pete.” In the now quiet garage, her voice carried further than she wanted. It may have been coincidence, but she was sure Gerald heard her when he laughed a sinister laugh.
Gerald spoke again. “You’re not getting away until I get what I want, and I will get what I want.”
Peter looked back at Gerald for a moment. He didn’t seem to have any weapon in his hands. He was hurt, and he had a limp. There was a slim chance he could pull this off. He spun to his left, turning his back on Gerald, and bent over to set Laura on the concrete. As he did, he heard Gerald rush him, his irregular footfalls moving faster than Peter expected. He was too late! In his haste, he dropped Laura to the ground from nearly a foot up. Her body hit the ground with a thud, and she called out in pain. At the same time, he felt all the heat in his body retreat to his core. His arms and legs felt frozen and clumsy. He fell forward and braced himself with his arms on the ground on either side of Laura.
Gerald was upon him, knocking him over Laura’s body violently. The force of their fall forward drove Peter’s knee into the side of Laura’s head. She was knocked over, but stayed conscious. Peter and Gerald wrestled for a moment, but the much stronger Gerald was able to pin Peter to the dilapidated concrete floor quickly. Peter felt even colder than before, numbingly cold. He barely felt the sharp edges of broken concrete that dug into his neck, back and legs deep enough to make him bleed through his clothing. Laura was screaming, “Let him go! Get off of him!” Her shrill cries echoed off the garage walls as the alarm had moments before. Peter looked over to her, resigned to his defeat. He reached a hand towards her only to have Gerald crush his forearm under his knee.
Defeated, and now having lost sight of Laura, Peter looked at Gerald’s face again. It could have been the dim lighting, but he swore that Gerald’s face looked dramatically different than it had before, as though he were someone else. Gerald was able to hold Peter down with his body weight, and had an arm free. He placed his free hand on Peter’s chest, where Peter began to feel a sharp sensation. It wasn’t so much a pain as it was a drawing out of Peter’s spirit. At least that’s how Peter thought of it. It was as though Peter’s life force was being drawn away from his body. Peter felt a ripping sensation coming from that energy, and didn’t know what to do about it. Nothing he had experienced lately, even the strangest things that happened more recently, prepared him for this sensation and how to fight against it. In the end, he could only succumb. The tearing was an unbearable sensation until suddenly, a piece of Peter tore free. Peter lay transfixed, watching Gerald take some part of him. With the car light behind Gerald, Peter was able to make out the same type of shape that Peter had seen at the hotel, the one that was absorbed into Peter’s hand. That very same shape danced on the fingertips of Gerald’s right hand. His chest ached, and the coldness refused to subside as he watched the energy absorb into Gerald’s skin.
Gerald grinned as he watched it going in. Suddenly, his expression changed. The pressure on Peter’s arm diminished as Gerald’s balance was thrown off. The look on his face was at first perplexed, then pained. Then Peter’s arm was free as Gerald grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, seemingly to prevent this energy from entering his body.
“What the hell did you give me?” Gerald screamed at Peter, his voice tinged with pain.
Peter twisted his body and pulled his legs out from underneath Gerald. The warmth and feeling was starting to return to them. He planted his feet firmly on Gerald’s chest and shoved the larger man back. Gerald landed on his back and rolled to his side, writhing in pain and screaming. Peter took his chance. He got up and ran to Laura, helping her up. He pulled her over to the driver’s side of the car and opened the back door. He then placed her carefully inside. Nearby, Gerald was screaming incoherently. Peter did not know what he had done to him, but he was thankful as he closed the back seat door and jumped in the front.
He started the car and backed it up, into what used to be a parking spot. The headlights had come on and now illuminated the scene in front of him. Gerald was on the ground, and debris was everywhere. It’s a wonder that the garage held the weight of the cars. Laura’s car jumped all over as it traversed the rough, broken ground, causing the light from the headlights to jump wildly in front of them. Tires chirped as the car fell hard as the back right tire entered a deep rut in the floor. Peter’s neck was snapped back by the sudden stop.
Peter turned the wheel hard to the left, trying to aim the car up the ramp again. He stepped on the gas and the tires chirped again as the car lurched forward some, but it was stuck in the rut. He let off the gas and the car rocked back into the rut. Next, he gunned the gas pedal all the way to the floor. The car jerked forward spasmodically, front tires screaming, finally breaking free of the hold that the pothole had on the tire. The car raced forward, nearly careening into the concrete wall. Peter hit the brake to get the car under control and glanced to his right. The light was much dimmer now, with the headlights aimed in another direction, but he could see that Gerald had gotten to his feet and was beginning to come after them. With the car now under control, he hit the gas and drove up the decrepit ramp. He turned the car hard to the right, around towards the exit, and drove out across the building’s parking lot to the street. They made it out!
Peter was very tired, but he felt like he could breathe again. He had no idea where he was going, though. As long as it was away from Gerald, he didn’t really care.
“Are you alright?” he asked over his shoulder to Laura.
“I’m bruised up a bit, but I think I’m going to be just fine,” she answered.
“Do you want me to take you to the hospital? Rose is just a little ways north of here.”
“I don’t know, Peter. I don’t want him catching up to us. It’s bad enough he knows where we live.”
“How the hell does he know that?” Peter asked.
“He followed your dad from the hospital to the graduation ceremony. That’s how he was there. After that, he followed your mom to the restaurant, and then to my house to drop off my dad, and then on to your house to drop off Sarah. He couldn’t have picked a better day.”
“He told you all this?”
“Yeah, while he was holding me. He felt all sure of himself. Peter, he told me he was going to kill you and make you live on watching everything he did to me.”
“What the hell does that mean?” asked Peter. He wished he could look into Laura’s eyes while they talked, but he had to keep driving. He was going south on Colorado Boulevard now, heading for the highway.
“I don’t know, Peter. I...” She was starting to cry. After a moment, she said, “I just don’t know.” Peter knew tears were falling from her eyes. He turned right down a side street and drove for a couple blocks before turning north again and parking on the side of the road in a residential area. He got out and opened the back door, helping Laura to her feet. She had gotten the ropes undone from her legs, and Peter helped her get the other ropes undone from her arms.
Peter looked up to see someone watching them from the front window of their house. “Someone’s looking at us,” he told her, then gave her a hug. She winced in pain from the pressure of his hug, and he loosened his embrace for her. “Sorry,” he whispered. He helped her around to the passenger side of the car and to sit down. She was bruised and bleeding slightly, as was Peter.
Peter closed the door and began to walk back around to the driver’s side. As he did, he walked past the back tire on the passenger side. It looked odd to him. It wasn’t flat, but the tire was sitting at a slight angle, which it wasn’t doing before. He wasn’t going to be able to drive far with the car in this condition, he knew. He walked around to the driver’s side and got in.
“We need help,” he said plainly. “I’m going to call my brother.” Laura nodded at him.
Peter took the cell phone from his pocket and dialed the number. He was actually surprised that the phone survived the encounter with Gerald. After three rings, Dan answered.
“Dan, it’s Peter. We just saw him again. We’re in Laura’s car near Glendale, and he might still be in the parking garage. Laura and I are hurt, but not bad.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Dan. “Slow down, man. What’s going on?”
Peter started again. “That guy you saw on the plane? He kidnapped Laura.”
“What?”
“I got her back, but it was a fight.”
“Where are you, Peter? Did you call the police?”
“I’m near Glendale. You’re the only one I’ve called so far. He’s in the parking garage on...” Peter looked at the map that Gerald supplied. It didn’t have any street names. “Damn, I don’t know the street, but it’s only a few blocks east of Colorado Boulevard.”
“Do you see a street sign near you?”
“Yes, we’re just north of on Arizona on Jackson.”
Dan thought for a moment, then said, “I know where that is. Stay where you are. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
Dan hung up the phone, and Peter was supposed to wait. With the person that was watching them from the window, he didn’t feel comfortable staying here, so he did a U-turn and drove them a block south, just far enough away that the person who was watching them wouldn’t be able to see them now.
While they sat, they looked at each other and talked about what they went through.
“Peter, you’re hurt,” said Laura, her hand on the back of his neck. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know. It’s not bad. Did he hurt you?”
“He hit me a few times, a couple times in the head, and a couple times in my stomach. He’s pretty violent, Peter. He’s dangerous. I’m glad you called your brother.”
“So what did he say while you were with him? You mentioned something about killing me but making me live on as a witness to what he does to you.”
“I didn’t understand that. He’s not all there in the head, y’know?”
“It has to mean something, though. This guy has something similar to what I have.”
“You mean with the visions and stuff?”
“Yes. Remember at the hotel, when I saw that shape on the ground that you couldn’t see? It went into my hand.”
“I remember,” said Laura. “To be honest, I didn’t know what to make of that, because I couldn’t see anything.”
“He did something like that in the garage. I could barely make it out because it was so dark, but he pulled something like that right out of my chest and it went into his arm. It’s what made him start screaming.”
“Do you feel any different, Pete?”
“No, I don’t think I do.”
“What about your visions?”
“Well, I haven’t had one since then, but I haven’t tried to, either.”
“Why don’t you try now?”
“No, I’m too tired.” Peter remembered the vision he saw right before he went to the parking garage. “Hey, there is something. One of those visions saved my life, I think.”
“How?” asked Laura.
“Remember the hotel room? I saw myself walking into that room, but I wasn’t Gerald. I was the woman with Gerald. The one from the airport. I sat down on the bed, and he walked up to me and took a swing at me. He threw that very same punch in the parking garage, but this time, I was almost expecting it, and was able to duck. I think that saved both our lives.”
“Where did the vision come from?”
“You know, I had just asked myself the question of what I was going up against with this guy, and like an answer, the vision happened.”
“You mean, it was like talking to someone and they answered?”
“It was exactly like that,” said Peter.
In the lull in the conversation, they heard a police car siren going by on a nearby street. “That sounds like it’s coming from Colorado Boulevard, doesn’t it?” asked Peter. Laura wasn’t sure.
They were quiet for a moment. Then Laura said, “Do you think the redhead’s still alive?”
Peter turned his head abruptly towards Laura. He thought about the blood in the hotel, and the fact that Gerald and the redhead were staying there. Then he thought about the coroner’s vehicle, and the strange shape he saw outside the room, and how it jumped into his hand. He connected this with Gerald’s words to Laura, when she talked about him living on after death. He knew then that the redhead’s spirit was bound to him, at least for a while. Because after all, Gerald did take something from him, something comprised of energy that was torn away from Peter’s own energy. “No, she’s not.” Peter felt very sad admitting this to himself and to Laura. He got the sense from what the redhead had shown him in visions that she was a passionate, loving woman who just fell for the wrong guy, and it cost her.
Peter leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes for a moment. Laura reached over and touched his leg. He placed his hand on top of hers. Twenty seconds went by with them just sitting and holding hands. Then Peter opened his eyes and sat up straight. He squeezed Laura’s hand as he looked into her eyes. “Her name was Leanne, and she’s still with me,” he told her, smiling. “Gerald got the squirrel! That’s why he didn’t know how to handle it.”
Laura giggled at the thought of Gerald expecting to pull a person’s spirit from Peter and ending up with a squirrel. Then Peter chuckled. Then they both broke into peals of laughter over it! They were still laughing when Peter looked in the rear-view mirror to see his brother’s car turning left, moving away from them. “There’s Dan,” he said. He started the car and turned it around to meet up with him. As he was driving, his phone rang. Dan was calling him to see where he was.
“Hey, Dan. I’m just behind you. I thought someone was taking a bit too much of an interest in us, so I moved.”
“Alright,” said Dan. “Keep following me up to the hospital so we can get you two checked out. We’ll have a welcoming committee when we get there.”
“What about mom and dad’s house? He knows where that is,” said Peter.
Laura reminded him, “He knows where my dad’s house is, too.” Peter relayed this to Dan.
“Don’t worry. They got the heads up. Hopefully this guy is dumb enough to show up there. That’ll make him easier to catch.”
“We might have to ride with you. I kindof messed up Laura’s car.” Laura looked at him with concern. He held a finger up to her, saying he would explain it to her soon.
Dan pulled over to the side of the street, saying, “Okay, I’ll give you guys a ride up.”
“Did you call the cops about the parking garage?”
“Yes, I did. They got there pretty fast, but your friend was already gone. They started to search the lower level and saw some definite evidence of your visit. There was tape, blood marks and a pretty healthy stripe of rubber where somebody tried to leave in an awful big hurry. I assume that was you and that’s why you need a ride now?”
“Yep. I’ll see you in a sec.”
Peter hung up the phone and told Laura, “your back right tire is a little bent. I don’t think we should be driving on it.”
“All things considered, that’s okay, Peter.”
They pulled up behind Dan and parked. They got out of Laura’s car and walked up to Dan’s. Peter opened the front door for Laura, who sat down in the front seat. Peter then got in the back seat.
“You guys are a mess,” said Dan.
“We would’ve been much more of a mess if your brother didn’t kick this guy’s butt,” said Laura.
Dan looked in the rear-view mirror at Peter. “See? All those years of picking on you paid off!”
“Actually, it was baseball that did it. I beaned him with a chunk of concrete better than I got Tommy Fincher.”
“Nice one, Peter P...” Dan caught himself. He had new respect for his brother.
“Are you able to drive with that thing?” asked Peter, indicating the cast on Dan’s arm.
“It’s a little more challenging, but it’s not bad. I’ve only got to wear it for a few weeks, they tell me.”
On the drive to the hospital, Peter recounted his story about the lower level of the parking garage. When he finished, he started to talk about the connection to the hotel room. He wanted to lay out as much as he could at once to gauge Dan’s reaction. “Just out of curiosity, the woman that died in the hotel room on Sixth and Federal: was she a redhead named Leanne?” asked Peter.
“How did you know that? Wait, how did you know anything about that?” Dan said.
“Nice poker face, Dan,” said Laura.
“You know about it, too?” Dan asked. Laura nodded.
“So it’s true, then. It was a redhead named Leanne?”
Dan hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes, and we’re a little short on leads last time I checked. So how the hell do you know so much about it?”
“It’s the same guy. The guy that kidnapped Laura and attacked me in the parking garage is the one who was staying at the hotel room.”
“There’s no way, Peter. The guy that was on my flight back from New York? No way. I got a look at that guy. He came back to the room because he left something, and he looked nothing like him.”
“What? How is that possible? What did he leave behind?”
“I have no idea. I mean, whoever it was that attacked me appeared out of nowhere, hit me like a bulldozer and I was out like a light.”
“You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. I’d hate to carry you around like that for the rest of my life,” he said cryptically.
They got to the hospital and both of them were checked over and bandaged up. Police were there to take a statement from them about the kidnapping and the fight in the parking garage. They both left out any sort of supernatural explanations, sticking to simple facts: Peter hit him with rocks. They wrestled a little. Peter kicked him away and they got away in Laura’s car while he tried to chase them on foot.
In Peter’s ear, Laura whispered, “I’m so scared, Pete.” In the now quiet garage, her voice carried further than she wanted. It may have been coincidence, but she was sure Gerald heard her when he laughed a sinister laugh.
Gerald spoke again. “You’re not getting away until I get what I want, and I will get what I want.”
Peter looked back at Gerald for a moment. He didn’t seem to have any weapon in his hands. He was hurt, and he had a limp. There was a slim chance he could pull this off. He spun to his left, turning his back on Gerald, and bent over to set Laura on the concrete. As he did, he heard Gerald rush him, his irregular footfalls moving faster than Peter expected. He was too late! In his haste, he dropped Laura to the ground from nearly a foot up. Her body hit the ground with a thud, and she called out in pain. At the same time, he felt all the heat in his body retreat to his core. His arms and legs felt frozen and clumsy. He fell forward and braced himself with his arms on the ground on either side of Laura.
Gerald was upon him, knocking him over Laura’s body violently. The force of their fall forward drove Peter’s knee into the side of Laura’s head. She was knocked over, but stayed conscious. Peter and Gerald wrestled for a moment, but the much stronger Gerald was able to pin Peter to the dilapidated concrete floor quickly. Peter felt even colder than before, numbingly cold. He barely felt the sharp edges of broken concrete that dug into his neck, back and legs deep enough to make him bleed through his clothing. Laura was screaming, “Let him go! Get off of him!” Her shrill cries echoed off the garage walls as the alarm had moments before. Peter looked over to her, resigned to his defeat. He reached a hand towards her only to have Gerald crush his forearm under his knee.
Defeated, and now having lost sight of Laura, Peter looked at Gerald’s face again. It could have been the dim lighting, but he swore that Gerald’s face looked dramatically different than it had before, as though he were someone else. Gerald was able to hold Peter down with his body weight, and had an arm free. He placed his free hand on Peter’s chest, where Peter began to feel a sharp sensation. It wasn’t so much a pain as it was a drawing out of Peter’s spirit. At least that’s how Peter thought of it. It was as though Peter’s life force was being drawn away from his body. Peter felt a ripping sensation coming from that energy, and didn’t know what to do about it. Nothing he had experienced lately, even the strangest things that happened more recently, prepared him for this sensation and how to fight against it. In the end, he could only succumb. The tearing was an unbearable sensation until suddenly, a piece of Peter tore free. Peter lay transfixed, watching Gerald take some part of him. With the car light behind Gerald, Peter was able to make out the same type of shape that Peter had seen at the hotel, the one that was absorbed into Peter’s hand. That very same shape danced on the fingertips of Gerald’s right hand. His chest ached, and the coldness refused to subside as he watched the energy absorb into Gerald’s skin.
Gerald grinned as he watched it going in. Suddenly, his expression changed. The pressure on Peter’s arm diminished as Gerald’s balance was thrown off. The look on his face was at first perplexed, then pained. Then Peter’s arm was free as Gerald grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, seemingly to prevent this energy from entering his body.
“What the hell did you give me?” Gerald screamed at Peter, his voice tinged with pain.
Peter twisted his body and pulled his legs out from underneath Gerald. The warmth and feeling was starting to return to them. He planted his feet firmly on Gerald’s chest and shoved the larger man back. Gerald landed on his back and rolled to his side, writhing in pain and screaming. Peter took his chance. He got up and ran to Laura, helping her up. He pulled her over to the driver’s side of the car and opened the back door. He then placed her carefully inside. Nearby, Gerald was screaming incoherently. Peter did not know what he had done to him, but he was thankful as he closed the back seat door and jumped in the front.
He started the car and backed it up, into what used to be a parking spot. The headlights had come on and now illuminated the scene in front of him. Gerald was on the ground, and debris was everywhere. It’s a wonder that the garage held the weight of the cars. Laura’s car jumped all over as it traversed the rough, broken ground, causing the light from the headlights to jump wildly in front of them. Tires chirped as the car fell hard as the back right tire entered a deep rut in the floor. Peter’s neck was snapped back by the sudden stop.
Peter turned the wheel hard to the left, trying to aim the car up the ramp again. He stepped on the gas and the tires chirped again as the car lurched forward some, but it was stuck in the rut. He let off the gas and the car rocked back into the rut. Next, he gunned the gas pedal all the way to the floor. The car jerked forward spasmodically, front tires screaming, finally breaking free of the hold that the pothole had on the tire. The car raced forward, nearly careening into the concrete wall. Peter hit the brake to get the car under control and glanced to his right. The light was much dimmer now, with the headlights aimed in another direction, but he could see that Gerald had gotten to his feet and was beginning to come after them. With the car now under control, he hit the gas and drove up the decrepit ramp. He turned the car hard to the right, around towards the exit, and drove out across the building’s parking lot to the street. They made it out!
Peter was very tired, but he felt like he could breathe again. He had no idea where he was going, though. As long as it was away from Gerald, he didn’t really care.
“Are you alright?” he asked over his shoulder to Laura.
“I’m bruised up a bit, but I think I’m going to be just fine,” she answered.
“Do you want me to take you to the hospital? Rose is just a little ways north of here.”
“I don’t know, Peter. I don’t want him catching up to us. It’s bad enough he knows where we live.”
“How the hell does he know that?” Peter asked.
“He followed your dad from the hospital to the graduation ceremony. That’s how he was there. After that, he followed your mom to the restaurant, and then to my house to drop off my dad, and then on to your house to drop off Sarah. He couldn’t have picked a better day.”
“He told you all this?”
“Yeah, while he was holding me. He felt all sure of himself. Peter, he told me he was going to kill you and make you live on watching everything he did to me.”
“What the hell does that mean?” asked Peter. He wished he could look into Laura’s eyes while they talked, but he had to keep driving. He was going south on Colorado Boulevard now, heading for the highway.
“I don’t know, Peter. I...” She was starting to cry. After a moment, she said, “I just don’t know.” Peter knew tears were falling from her eyes. He turned right down a side street and drove for a couple blocks before turning north again and parking on the side of the road in a residential area. He got out and opened the back door, helping Laura to her feet. She had gotten the ropes undone from her legs, and Peter helped her get the other ropes undone from her arms.
Peter looked up to see someone watching them from the front window of their house. “Someone’s looking at us,” he told her, then gave her a hug. She winced in pain from the pressure of his hug, and he loosened his embrace for her. “Sorry,” he whispered. He helped her around to the passenger side of the car and to sit down. She was bruised and bleeding slightly, as was Peter.
Peter closed the door and began to walk back around to the driver’s side. As he did, he walked past the back tire on the passenger side. It looked odd to him. It wasn’t flat, but the tire was sitting at a slight angle, which it wasn’t doing before. He wasn’t going to be able to drive far with the car in this condition, he knew. He walked around to the driver’s side and got in.
“We need help,” he said plainly. “I’m going to call my brother.” Laura nodded at him.
Peter took the cell phone from his pocket and dialed the number. He was actually surprised that the phone survived the encounter with Gerald. After three rings, Dan answered.
“Dan, it’s Peter. We just saw him again. We’re in Laura’s car near Glendale, and he might still be in the parking garage. Laura and I are hurt, but not bad.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Dan. “Slow down, man. What’s going on?”
Peter started again. “That guy you saw on the plane? He kidnapped Laura.”
“What?”
“I got her back, but it was a fight.”
“Where are you, Peter? Did you call the police?”
“I’m near Glendale. You’re the only one I’ve called so far. He’s in the parking garage on...” Peter looked at the map that Gerald supplied. It didn’t have any street names. “Damn, I don’t know the street, but it’s only a few blocks east of Colorado Boulevard.”
“Do you see a street sign near you?”
“Yes, we’re just north of on Arizona on Jackson.”
Dan thought for a moment, then said, “I know where that is. Stay where you are. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
Dan hung up the phone, and Peter was supposed to wait. With the person that was watching them from the window, he didn’t feel comfortable staying here, so he did a U-turn and drove them a block south, just far enough away that the person who was watching them wouldn’t be able to see them now.
While they sat, they looked at each other and talked about what they went through.
“Peter, you’re hurt,” said Laura, her hand on the back of his neck. “You’re bleeding.”
“I know. It’s not bad. Did he hurt you?”
“He hit me a few times, a couple times in the head, and a couple times in my stomach. He’s pretty violent, Peter. He’s dangerous. I’m glad you called your brother.”
“So what did he say while you were with him? You mentioned something about killing me but making me live on as a witness to what he does to you.”
“I didn’t understand that. He’s not all there in the head, y’know?”
“It has to mean something, though. This guy has something similar to what I have.”
“You mean with the visions and stuff?”
“Yes. Remember at the hotel, when I saw that shape on the ground that you couldn’t see? It went into my hand.”
“I remember,” said Laura. “To be honest, I didn’t know what to make of that, because I couldn’t see anything.”
“He did something like that in the garage. I could barely make it out because it was so dark, but he pulled something like that right out of my chest and it went into his arm. It’s what made him start screaming.”
“Do you feel any different, Pete?”
“No, I don’t think I do.”
“What about your visions?”
“Well, I haven’t had one since then, but I haven’t tried to, either.”
“Why don’t you try now?”
“No, I’m too tired.” Peter remembered the vision he saw right before he went to the parking garage. “Hey, there is something. One of those visions saved my life, I think.”
“How?” asked Laura.
“Remember the hotel room? I saw myself walking into that room, but I wasn’t Gerald. I was the woman with Gerald. The one from the airport. I sat down on the bed, and he walked up to me and took a swing at me. He threw that very same punch in the parking garage, but this time, I was almost expecting it, and was able to duck. I think that saved both our lives.”
“Where did the vision come from?”
“You know, I had just asked myself the question of what I was going up against with this guy, and like an answer, the vision happened.”
“You mean, it was like talking to someone and they answered?”
“It was exactly like that,” said Peter.
In the lull in the conversation, they heard a police car siren going by on a nearby street. “That sounds like it’s coming from Colorado Boulevard, doesn’t it?” asked Peter. Laura wasn’t sure.
They were quiet for a moment. Then Laura said, “Do you think the redhead’s still alive?”
Peter turned his head abruptly towards Laura. He thought about the blood in the hotel, and the fact that Gerald and the redhead were staying there. Then he thought about the coroner’s vehicle, and the strange shape he saw outside the room, and how it jumped into his hand. He connected this with Gerald’s words to Laura, when she talked about him living on after death. He knew then that the redhead’s spirit was bound to him, at least for a while. Because after all, Gerald did take something from him, something comprised of energy that was torn away from Peter’s own energy. “No, she’s not.” Peter felt very sad admitting this to himself and to Laura. He got the sense from what the redhead had shown him in visions that she was a passionate, loving woman who just fell for the wrong guy, and it cost her.
Peter leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes for a moment. Laura reached over and touched his leg. He placed his hand on top of hers. Twenty seconds went by with them just sitting and holding hands. Then Peter opened his eyes and sat up straight. He squeezed Laura’s hand as he looked into her eyes. “Her name was Leanne, and she’s still with me,” he told her, smiling. “Gerald got the squirrel! That’s why he didn’t know how to handle it.”
Laura giggled at the thought of Gerald expecting to pull a person’s spirit from Peter and ending up with a squirrel. Then Peter chuckled. Then they both broke into peals of laughter over it! They were still laughing when Peter looked in the rear-view mirror to see his brother’s car turning left, moving away from them. “There’s Dan,” he said. He started the car and turned it around to meet up with him. As he was driving, his phone rang. Dan was calling him to see where he was.
“Hey, Dan. I’m just behind you. I thought someone was taking a bit too much of an interest in us, so I moved.”
“Alright,” said Dan. “Keep following me up to the hospital so we can get you two checked out. We’ll have a welcoming committee when we get there.”
“What about mom and dad’s house? He knows where that is,” said Peter.
Laura reminded him, “He knows where my dad’s house is, too.” Peter relayed this to Dan.
“Don’t worry. They got the heads up. Hopefully this guy is dumb enough to show up there. That’ll make him easier to catch.”
“We might have to ride with you. I kindof messed up Laura’s car.” Laura looked at him with concern. He held a finger up to her, saying he would explain it to her soon.
Dan pulled over to the side of the street, saying, “Okay, I’ll give you guys a ride up.”
“Did you call the cops about the parking garage?”
“Yes, I did. They got there pretty fast, but your friend was already gone. They started to search the lower level and saw some definite evidence of your visit. There was tape, blood marks and a pretty healthy stripe of rubber where somebody tried to leave in an awful big hurry. I assume that was you and that’s why you need a ride now?”
“Yep. I’ll see you in a sec.”
Peter hung up the phone and told Laura, “your back right tire is a little bent. I don’t think we should be driving on it.”
“All things considered, that’s okay, Peter.”
They pulled up behind Dan and parked. They got out of Laura’s car and walked up to Dan’s. Peter opened the front door for Laura, who sat down in the front seat. Peter then got in the back seat.
“You guys are a mess,” said Dan.
“We would’ve been much more of a mess if your brother didn’t kick this guy’s butt,” said Laura.
Dan looked in the rear-view mirror at Peter. “See? All those years of picking on you paid off!”
“Actually, it was baseball that did it. I beaned him with a chunk of concrete better than I got Tommy Fincher.”
“Nice one, Peter P...” Dan caught himself. He had new respect for his brother.
“Are you able to drive with that thing?” asked Peter, indicating the cast on Dan’s arm.
“It’s a little more challenging, but it’s not bad. I’ve only got to wear it for a few weeks, they tell me.”
On the drive to the hospital, Peter recounted his story about the lower level of the parking garage. When he finished, he started to talk about the connection to the hotel room. He wanted to lay out as much as he could at once to gauge Dan’s reaction. “Just out of curiosity, the woman that died in the hotel room on Sixth and Federal: was she a redhead named Leanne?” asked Peter.
“How did you know that? Wait, how did you know anything about that?” Dan said.
“Nice poker face, Dan,” said Laura.
“You know about it, too?” Dan asked. Laura nodded.
“So it’s true, then. It was a redhead named Leanne?”
Dan hesitated for a moment, then said, “Yes, and we’re a little short on leads last time I checked. So how the hell do you know so much about it?”
“It’s the same guy. The guy that kidnapped Laura and attacked me in the parking garage is the one who was staying at the hotel room.”
“There’s no way, Peter. The guy that was on my flight back from New York? No way. I got a look at that guy. He came back to the room because he left something, and he looked nothing like him.”
“What? How is that possible? What did he leave behind?”
“I have no idea. I mean, whoever it was that attacked me appeared out of nowhere, hit me like a bulldozer and I was out like a light.”
“You’re lucky he didn’t kill you. I’d hate to carry you around like that for the rest of my life,” he said cryptically.
They got to the hospital and both of them were checked over and bandaged up. Police were there to take a statement from them about the kidnapping and the fight in the parking garage. They both left out any sort of supernatural explanations, sticking to simple facts: Peter hit him with rocks. They wrestled a little. Peter kicked him away and they got away in Laura’s car while he tried to chase them on foot.
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