-Anonymous
At first, there was slashing. Then there was fear and blood of the innocent on the stone paved roads. Next, there was a fallen body in the pile of crisp dry orange and brown leaves. Then there was a secret and a family to hold it. Last, was the awakening of a girl who had seen it, but not even been there. She had only felt and dreamed it, however it had happened several days ago and this was not the first time this “accident” occurred.
“Happy Halloween! Well, three days early anyway!” cried Jenny. She was happy then, and in love with a boy she liked. Thursday, the 29th was the day it all began: the dreams came after this day, this unlikely start.
“Oh, hi! I guess you’re hyped up for Halloween then, huh? Usually it’s the last day in October before Halloween to get hyped up on, but hey, Happy Halloween!” replied confused Jason. He’s the one she likes, but doesn’t know.
After a look to the side out of awkwardness he started, “Did you hear about that slaughter down town? There just seems to be more of these things happening lately.”
“Yeah, but I try to ignore it. It just makes me feel disgusted and freaks me out that there are people like that.”
“Well, see you after class!”
“Bye, Ja’!”
It was the last period of the day in their school, Jenny had social studies in H318 and Jason had science in room K721. They each did well in their classes and Jason especially excelled in the sciences department that some teachers felt he surpassed them in his methods of learning. Jenny had a lot of historical information that all her friends nicknamed her “Encyclopedia J”. She was planning to become an archaeologist/ historian, so of course she was already knowledgeable to the subject. Jen was now learning about the various cultural rituals done in the 1100’s, which ticked her off because, once again, it was on human sacrifice and war.
“All through out time there was war to determine power and control from the empires that could strive to the top. We don’t like war, but matter of the fact is, we need it to defend ourselves from other nations and countries. Modern warfare and control is a must to keep a nation safe from the others that threaten it. Today we will look at Chapter 12 in our history books. Turn to page 618.” This is all Jen remembered from the last period before she zoned out of class, dazing into a dark orange-brown and yellow abyss.
She searched for a few seconds after class for Jason, but she impatiently just left school and went home. School was only a mile away from her wooden fortress painted white, so she walked. As always, Jen picked up a few leaves to admire along the way, but for some particular reason, there was a red spot on an orange leaf she had picked up in the back of it on the top right corner. She wondered if it was just a spot like some other tree debris she finds. Jen went home and examined it under her desk lamp and the spot was blood. This was the trigger and the first clue.
“Hey Princess! Do you have your homework done? I brought pizza!” announced Albert (Al), Jen’s dad.
“Oh, thank you. But, there’s no homework today.” replied Jenny.
“Okay, come have some pizza! I bought it as a treat today, for Friday! Mom’s coming home soon, she called. Help me set the table.”
“Um, ok. But I’m not hungry.”
“Alrighty then, I’m diggin’ in to this meat munch: I got meat lovers.” he told her.
Jenny went to her room and pondered out: a setting of pink and orange stretching across the sky until it gradually fell into a light blue then indigo and plum purple to the night and ends of her vision filled the setting. The clouds had a slight mix of pink that reminded her of cotton candy. Her mother, Mary, came home and greeted her. Jen came down and watched a sitcom and fixed herself a salad. Before she knew it, it was 8:56 and it was almost time for bed. But Jenny would not go to bed tonight, never again in this life.
“Noo, no! Stop- Ahhhh!!!!!” Jen was feeling the slashes of a person being murdered. There was darkness as she walked down a street and a stranger came from the corner of a dark auburn building. There was only one person doing the slashing, but he did it ferociously and continued with series of random strikes to the body anywhere he hadn’t touched. Police came too late for she was not moving. The suspect ran away and a few said regretfully “Jack the Ripper”. There was nothing they could do to track him, no leads or clues. It was gruesome and unexpected, but all a dream. Jen woke up breathing hard and frightened. However during the dream she wasn’t moving: no eyelids bobbing, no tossing or turning in sleep, no sound whatsoever. Jen asked herself “What happened? Who’s Jack the Ripper? Does it have something to do with the leaf?” and finally the right question: Can I see and feel past deaths in my dreams? She discovered her “gift” over night, finally.
Jen didn’t eat breakfast the next day and she felt terrible. She walked mindlessly to school without stopping to admire the leaves: Jen just moved to school to tell Jason what happened.
“Jason, something bad is happening to me. I-I can see, feel, and be a slaughter victim. Last night, I felt someone jab me countless t-times with a knife. I don’t-t know w-what’s going on, there was something about Jack the Ripper, but I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if it was a nightmare, but I saw something. H-Help me-e-e….”cried Jen. She let her self loose as tears rolled down her apple red cheeks. She dove into his arms and let go her own emotion.
“Jen, tell me what happened. Maybe I can help you.” he said calmly.
“I don’t know, maybe it was a nightmare. Do you know whom Jack the Ripper is? I think he was famous serial killer in the 18 or 1900’s.”
“I think that’s right, but try to forget about it. You can’t go on like this. Maybe it is a dream: maybe you’re just overreacting.”
“But I-I found a leaf.”
“What about the leaf?”
“There was a spot of blood on it. I found it while I was walking home yesterday near the old tree.”
He froze for a second and finally began, “I’m sure it’s nothing. Just forget it.” Jason said sternly.
She looked at him and said “Bye”. That was the last she ever said to him for the whole day. Jen didn’t pay attention in school and only ate some bread and drank water at lunch and dinner. Her parents were worried, and she only looked out her window for most of the time she was home. Al just told Mary she was being a drama queen, but Mary was still worried. Al didn’t buy the “bad dream” routine. Jen had yet another “dream” when she tried to fall asleep.
Sounds of rocketing projectiles ruled the air in the dark corridor she could come to perceive, it looked like the one near her neighborhood: just 6 houses from school. The first bullet shocked her thigh, then lower leg, next was her shoulder, and then kidney. She finally fell onto the rushing ground before her. They were men that found their prey to shoot at. A series of kicks and blows to the face followed by a few stabs here and there, and they were on the final process. Red was everywhere: in her eyes, through her clothing, and on the knife, it was just torture. Before the final part, a voice whispered, “Don’t love” and left. Finally, one took their gun, put it in her mouth, and shot. In an instant, Jen awoke.
“It happened again…don’t love?...Why is this happening?” asked faintly Jenny. She tried to piece it together: only at night could she see and feel the deaths of people, it was not a nightmare for she could see clearly what went on her mind, and nightmares don’t have incredibly realistic feeling in them. Lastly, there was a clear voice in it, like an angel, telling her not to love. It had to be a vision, and they were.
This time, she ate a slice of sweet bread and a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast. Her parents were less concerned then because she was eating. Jenny should’ve been more frightened, but this time she wanted to investigate. On her way to school, the little investigator spotted a scrap of paper that seemed torn with spots of small spray like dots of blood on it. It said:
“will be in debt to the Silkwood family until money is repaid in full.
-The Cantiberos’s”.
Jenny put it into her pocket and walked to school to calmly tell Jason.
“Ja’, what happened the other day, wasn’t a dream. I had visions of the past. It happened again.” Jen confronted.
“What? Oh, sorry my family is having some financial trouble, it’s just on my mind. So what happened wasn’t a dream?” replied Jason confused.
“Yes, and I found this note on my way to school. It says the Cantiberos’s were in debt to your family until the money was paid back in full. There’s…blood on it.” Jenny told him.
“Oh, I’m sure my dad just got a paper cut when he was throwing it away. It looks old.” verified Jason.
“Um, ok. Could you see me tomorrow behind the tree. I want to talk.” pushed slyly Jen.
“See ya’.”
“See ya’.”
“Stop digging. You may not like what you find.” whispered Jason faintly.
Jen ignored the school related day and spent lunch and her break at the library searching for anything related to visions. She found a book called Superstition from the Beyond and started on that. There wasn’t much specifically that referred to her case except for 3 facts: visions can be seen awake or asleep of the beholder; the beholder can see visions of the past, present, or future; the vision is a trigger or warning from the dead or a higher power for any reason that will affect the future.
“A higher power is doing this? Something in the future? What-“
A voice interrupted her, the angel’s voice.
“Stop looking. Don’t love. There is danger ahead”.
Jen paused to listen. It was quiet and tension was in the library air. “An angel….”, she whispered. “I should stop. Just stop now, but I need to know. I need to know he’s not bad.”
Jenny quietly walked home looking at the ground in depression. Fall leaves fell around her, creating a drift of autumn in the background. Birds were chirping and the path was smooth. Ever so often, would there be the crunch and patter of her hesitant footsteps. Stop, continue, love, hate, ignore? What to do?
“The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging.”
-Anonymous
She opened the wooden slab that unlocked her den. Lasagna was for dinner, and it would be her last. Food was picked at and hardly eaten. The crisp and mild flavor of a tomato sauce was not recognized, and neither was the flat egg noodle, lightly salted and flavored mozzarella, or the comforting and spicy mixed hamburger meat cooked perfectly. It was a wonderful meal, but wasn’t enjoyed by her. Al and Mary tried to ignore the strange behavior their daughter had, but it stuck to them like jelly on bread. Jenny went to her room at 8. She tried to fall asleep early, knowing if she did there would be another vision. Our sad maiden had her last sleep, the night before Halloween.
Emotion came first: confusion, fear, regret. There was a tree nearby and a hole. Only a few seconds running and she was on the ground, hit by a shovel. She scrambled to her feet, but the person with the shovel hit her again, on the back. Leaves and rain rustled and blew around them, moonlight lithe background of ominous white, plain. She fell to the hole and stumbled in asking “Why? Why are you doing this, why?” The angel’s voice came again and said “It’s too late” like before. It sounded sad and regretful, spontaneous. The figure answered only with two words: Happy Halloween. Two shots pierced her heart and brain and it was over.
“Hey, it’s October 31st and there is showers of candy coming into these trick ‘r’ treaters’ bags! But it isn’t just candy coming down; it’s pouring on Halloween! Everyone is absolutely drenched but the spirits are up in this town. Happy Halloween! Back to you Tom:” It was the news station all over the rainy Halloween story on Saturday the 31st. This would be the last good news she would hear. She spent the day doing nothing but spending time to nothing. She waited for the dark to come for Halloween to start. It was 8:30 pm.
“Okay Mom, I’m going to go meet a friend. Bye!” announced Jenny.
“But it’s pouring outside! You just watched the news: just wait a bit honey.” pleaded Mary.
“I’ll be okay. Bye!” answered Jen.
“Okay, bye.”
Those would be the last words from her parents. She should’ve waited like she asked, but it was too late. She walked to the tree and waited for Jason. He came 18 minutes after she did. There was a small hole near the tree, about the size of one to put a medium tree in. He came with a shovel and a pissed look.
Jason started, “More visions, or did you give up?”
Jenny replied softly, “More visions, and voices. Telling me it’s too late, don’t love, and stop looking. I think”-
“They were right. Tell me, do you love me?” interrupted Jason.
An intermission came between them. She finally admitted the suicidal truth.
“Um, yes. Yes, I do. What do you mean they were right? Did you and your dad kill someone?”
“You should’ve stopped. You really should’ve stopped and ignored it. Everything would be better, we could’ve even been together.”
“What? What do you mean together?” questioned Jenny.
“You keep looking, finding clues that I missed.”
“What?”
“The leaf, the note, they were part of a debt from the Cantiberos’s! You said you had visions of past deaths, right?! The angels warned you and you disobeyed. Because the father could not pay back the right amount in time, we had to sell our car. We waited for them to pay back but we found out they had more than enough to pay back full! We demanded they give us back but they didn’t. We were pissed and so we chased him to an alley, shot him a few times, stabs here and there, and finally shot his brains out. Do you know the reason why I’m so great in science? I’m the one who cleans up after it! Give me the leaf and scrap, it’s better that way!” He paused, realizing he said more than he was supposed to. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this, you know more now!” yelled Jason. Rain fell upon them but that didn’t make them cold, it was the cold facts.
“My visions were clues…”
“Yeah, they were! Do you love me enough not to tell anyone about this?”
A pause came between them. Rain filled the void and continued the conversation. Jen tilted her head down, signaling a silent no to the answer.
“Thought so…” regretted Jason.
Another voice, same one, told her one last piece of advice: Run.
She dashed in any direction she could, but he threw his shovel at her and she fell. Blood spewed from her back as she tried to survive, but Jason got the shovel again and hit her into the hole: she stumbled in, paralyzed like a fly in a spider’s inescapable web.
“Why? Why are you doing this, why?” cried Jen.
Jason loaded his gun and merely told her “Happy Halloween”.
It was all over with two miserable shots from the loved one, until it was to be done again for the next Halloween.
-Anonymous
