Layers Of Truth.



He sits her down and begins to relate to her his suspicions concerning Deputy Tyler Malloy. Slowly at first he draws her close with his theory that the white hat that Jennifer had made reference to could very well have been his. He hesitates for a moment to let Angela Watson gather her thoughts. Finally as though in complete acceptance she raises her eyes to meet his.
“There’s more that you not telling me isn’t there Daniel?”
He sits on the floor in front of her, and softly folds her hand into his own.
“Miss Watson- Angela. I saw her get into that truck. His truck. I know deep down inside of me, where I live and breath. Somehow he is responsible for this. And Jennifer is leading us to the truth. Is there anything odd that you may recall about any of his visits in the months following her disappearance?”
She rises from the sofa, her eyes slowly welling with tears. She walks to the window and stares out into the cold air. The rain is falling again. It always seems to rain here.
“There. There was one time. He came by and seemed to be strangely out of sorts. Its was particularly hot that day as I recall. I wasn’t feeling well but he insisted that he come inside to get a drink of cold water, and to visit with me for awhile. I went into the kitchen to get us some fresh lemonade, it was. Hot that day. As I recall.”
He comes up from behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder, he can see from the frosty reflection on the window pane in front of her, her tears were releasing.
“Miss Watson.”
“Funny. I never thought it all that odd until now. But when I came from the kitchen with our cold drinks he was standing in Jenny’s bedroom looking around the room, her bedding was messed up as well. Funny. No- Strange that I never recalled that until now.”
He puts his arm around her and slowly walks her back to the sofa and sits her down beside of Sharon Milner. He sits once again directly in front of her never releasing her hand.
“Angela Watson. I want you to listen to me. I am going to get to the bottom of this. And I WILL find out what happened to your daughter. Cherry Creek.Tyler Malloy.. The truck. The book. all of it is related Miss Watson. And we will find out how, all we have to do is follow Jennifer’s lead. And she’ll take us right to him.”
Angela Watson forces a smile to her face, as they try to console her tears.
“How can you be so sure Daniel? How do you know that she can lead you to the man that is responsible for this terrible thing?”
Now it is his turn to smile.
“Because Miss Watson. She was smart enough to bring me to you wasn’t she?”

Can You See Me Now?



Although according to her memories of that hot afternoon when Tyler Malloy came to visit, she hadn’t recalled seeing him carrying anything out when he left the Watson house that day. But even still they discuss the very real possibility that he may have already gotten his hands on the incriminating diary of Jennifer Watson and may have even destroyed it. Daniel Vickers on the other hand is not so convinced.
“No.” he tells them. “While its true I don’t know much about her. But from what I do know about your daughter is she wasn’t stupid.”
“So what are you thinking?”
“Well lets put things into perspective. Lets say she told him that she knew something bad about him, and that she wrote about it in the book. Well . Lets say for the sake of argument, that it was something that could get the good Deputy into some seriously hot water. So now that makes the book valuable. She wouldn’t put it someplace where just anyone could get their hands on it. She would put it someplace safe, someplace that only she would know about. Where she could get to it if need be.”
Angela Watson and Sharon Milner both now look confused at the prospect of a treasure hunt.
“So where do we look?”
He stands and begins to stretch. Angela Watson and Sharon Milner return to the coffee pot, where Sharon passes him a fresh cup.
“Well.” He tells them. “Lets look at the girl. The biggest clue has to be Jennifer herself.”
The two women are shaking their heads.
“Well think about it. What were her interests? Where did she like to go? What were some of her favorite hangouts? What did she like to do there? It Has to be somewhere outside of the house, someplace. The last place that anyone would think of looking.”
He leaves them to their own imaginations once again returning to the bedroom of his sister. It seemed he thought, that he’d come to most of his conclusions since he first entered the house in that very room. He stands once again in front of the book shelf slowly running his fingers across the face of each individual book.
“C’mon Jen.. Talk to me sweetie.. Where did you hide the book?”
He pulls the first book from the shelf and opens it to find nothing out of the ordinary. He closes the cover and returns it to the shelf, and pulls down another and opens it to the very same conclusion.
“Damnit. They’re just books.. No common thread. Just books. So what am I missing? What is the link?”
It is then that he notices something similar about the first book and the last. He leave the last book open and once again pulls the first from the shelf and opens the cover to the table of contents. There in the right hand corner he sees a light blue stamp that reads: Property Of The Pleasantville. Public Library.”
“Miss Watson?”


Books.



All in all, they pull twenty or so books off of Jennifer’s book shelf and out of the twenty, ten have the public library stamp on the inside near the table of contents.
“So where did she get these books if they belonged to the public library?”
Angela Watson recalls that one afternoon her daughter did show up with a pile of books but never said where she had gotten them. Only that she had been out all afternoon. Sharon Milner now raises her own deduction.
“Well obviously she got them from the library, so maybe we should pay them a visit in the morning.”
They discuss many different possibilities, the most likely being that she checked them out and never had the chance to return them, the theory being quickly squashed by the discovery of the word obsolete on the inside back cover of each book.
“Ok.” Sharon begins. “So we know that she at least spent some time at the library, which means someone there may have known her pretty well. So lets see if they can tell us how she happened upon these books.”
They all agree in conclusion that it’s the best place to start so they tell her that they will return to the Watson residence in the morning and together the three of them would go to the library. As they enter the Chevy she seems almost sad to Sharon Milner, and as Daniel puts the car into gear Angela Watson appears at the drivers side window, he rolls it down to see what she wants.
“Please Daniel.. I know this will seem odd to you. But I don’t think that I want to be alone now. See. It’s just that. When the two of you were here with me. I can almost feel. I. I. I don’t know.. Close to her I think. Could you possibly get your things from that dirty old motel and stay here with me tonight ? I really could use the company, and it wouldn’t be any bother.”
She gets into the car and accompanies them to the motel where Sharon Milner happily returns the keys to the creepy old desk clerk. Once safely back inside of the Chevy, she relates the story of their arrival to the ‘No Tell Motel.’ and the two new friends share a lighthearted laugh that is until a slightly agitated Daniel Vickers shows up at the drivers door.
“Danny what’s wrong?”
“My room got ransacked, they didn’t take anything, they just went through everything. I dunno its weird, nothing got destroyed either.”
“Maybe we should call the police?”
He enters the drivers side door of the Chevy and looks at both women.
“No. that isn’t an option. We would have to explain too much about why we are here. And deputy Fife already saw us with Miss Watson. Cops are naturally nosey anyways. No reason to raise suspicions. Besides how do we know that deputy Fife isn‘t the one that broke in trying to figure out who I was?. No. no police. Not yet. Not until we know for certain the good guys from the bad guys.”
Minutes later they are approaching the Watson residence and Daniel is pulling the Chevy into the driveway. They all return to the living room to resume their discussion of the missing diary. And as Angela Watson closes and locks her front door none of the three even notices as the black pick up truck slowly rolls to a stop across the street from the Watson residence and turns off its headlights.

~Scratch. A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~





^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Slightly Out of Focus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



She remembered it as being a particularly cold day on the last morning that she saw her daughter alive. Angela Watson always took a chill rather easily and wore extra clothing that morning before she’d went to the market. She’d left Jennifer there alone on several occasions and had seen no cause for alarm when she’d left her daughter standing at the doorway wearing her long white nightgown. In fact she remembered commenting to her that the air outside was much too cold for such attire and she’d needed to go back inside the house and close the door. It was the last time she seen her in five years. Even now she seemed remarkably composed as Daniel related to her in exact detail every comment she’d made to him in the dream. The Scribbling on the papers, the vivid imagery that he’d painted on the walls of his fathers den. They talked through the morning piecing things together about Jennifer.. About Evan Vickers.. They’d went over the writings several times painstakingly examining every word in an attempt to jog a familiar image in Angela Watson’s memory, but it wasn’t until Sharon Milner reminded him of the book that Jennifer had spoken of in his last dream. Angela Watson’s confusion slowly began to grow.
“A book?.. My daughter spoke of a book?”
“Yes Miss Watson. Did she collect books? She said specifically.. ‘Find The book and you will find the answers’ .”
She takes them into Jennifer’s room and they examine her book shelf. Treasure Island.. The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer.. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.. Among others. But nary a book out of place.
“And nothing is missing? Daniel asks.
Angela Watson shakes her head no.
Daniel begins to pace back and forth in front of the book case.
“The answer is here somewhere.” He tells them. “It has to be.”
Angela Watson and Sharon Milner return to the kitchen to make a new pot of coffee leaving Daniel Vickers to wrestle with the possibilities. He sits on the edge of her bed. And suddenly he begins to think of the beautiful sixteen year old girl in a new light.
“She was MY little sister.. And someone took her from us.”
His eyes slowly return to scanning every inch of the bedroom.
“Ok.. So what am I missing here?”
He returns to the parlor to find the two women laboring over his writings.. The phrase “White hats are a lie.” repeated throughout the text. Miss Watson again shakes her head.
“I don’t see the significance Daniel.” She tells him. “A lot of people around here wear a lot of different white hats.”
“No Ma’am. I think that Jennifer was talking about something specific. It wouldn’t be a ordinary thing.. It seems to me that it would be something that stands out.”
He returns to the bedroom to look over the books, once again leaving the women to ponder the significance of white hats.

Dark Reflection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



They mull over it for several more hours until their tired brains can take no more, and Daniel has to take the initiative and volunteer to take the two women to dinner. To which of course Sharon Milner gleefully accepts.
“Alrighty Dan, as long as your buying.. But no more diner food, I want a nice sit down and relax dinner, and I’ll just bet the Miss Watson could use one too.”
He raises his hands playfully.
“Hey.. I know when I’m out numbered. What do you say Miss Watson. Your town.. You pick the restaurant .”
They close up the house and retire to the Chevy and Angela Watson directs them to The Flamingo Palace. A small but elegant eatery just at the outskirts of Pleasantville. As they pull into the parking lot an odd yet familiar feeling begins to tug at him.
“Man where have I seen this place before?”
Disregarding the feeling as an odd coincidence, he escorts the two ladies to the door where they enter into the establishment and are told by the Maitre’ d that they are not terribly busy and they can be seated without having made reservations shortly. And as they are being escorted to their table a faint reflection on the window pane catches the eye of Daniel Vickers. The image of a tall blonde middle aged man wearing a white flat brimmed cowboy hat with a black headband just above the brim. As they are being seated he draws the attention of Angela Watson to the hat.
“Miss Watson?.. Do you recognize that man over there?”
She trains her attention on the man in the hat.
“Why yes.. That’s deputy Tyler Malloy. He’s lived around here for almost seventeen years now. Everybody knows Tyler.”
Daniel leans forward, closer to Angela Watson.
“Miss Watson did Jennifer know him?”
“Daniel.. I would hope so.. He coached her girls soccer team for over three years.. He doesn’t do it anymore though.”
Daniels eyes never leave the table of Deputy Tyler Malloy. And as he turns towards the exit, Daniel Vickers rises from his seat and excuses himself from the company of the two women, citing that he forgot something in the car and he would return momentarily. Cautiously keeping his distance from Tyler Malloy, he follows him to the parking lot and watches from a distance, and almost as Daniel expects he opens the drivers side door and pulls himself up into the cab of the black pickup truck with the broken side mirror. The sharp cold words reverberate in the back of his mind.
“White hats are a lie Daniel.. White hats are a lie!”
Good guys wear white hats.. Bad guys wear black.. Sheriff’s.. Deputy’s.. Cops.. They were supposed to be good guys.. But THIS white hat was a lie. And now Daniel Vickers was on to him.

Words on a page.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Although he and his two companions dine mostly in silence, a thousand different thoughts are going through the mind of Daniel Vickers. He knows that he would have to be careful in his interrogation of Angela Watson from this moment forward as Deputy Malloy was possibly a friend of hers. And at the same time he needed as much information on this man as he could get. Through some well managed subtlety, he deduced through the evenings conversation that deputy Tyler Malloy was the son in law of Sheriff Leonard Davis of Pleasantville. And he’d coached the girls soccer team that Jennifer was a member of for three years up until the time of her disappearance. he had stopped by a few times in the months that followed to see how Angela Watson was doing and to see if she had heard any new news concerning Jennifer, but as time went on it seemed to Angela Watson that his attention in this matter had waned, and the visits through the years became fewer and fewer . And finally the only people that would even bother giving attention to the case were from the local division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Selma County. On a local level the case had been all but forgotten. Except for Sheriff Leonard Davis himself who would still take the time every so often to circulate missing persons pictures of Jennifer.
They return to the Watson residence shortly after nine pm. And once again Angela Watson invites the young pair to join her for coffee. they sit and the women exchange unrelated small talk leaving Daniel Vickers to his thoughts. He returns to Jennifer’s bedroom and stands in front of the bookcase. Silently his eyes slowly move over every book, searching time and time again for the missing clue. He sits on the bed and rubs his eyes. And his hands slowly return to his knees.
“So tell me.. What’s Missing?”
He yawns and stretches before once again closing his eyes.
“Find the book Daniel.. Find the book and you’ll find the answers.”
“What Book Jen?”
He rises from the edge of Jennifer Watson’s bed.
“Ok.. So lets try a different approach.. What isn’t on a sixteen year old girls bookshelf, that should be there?.. What book is so important to a six-”
He returns to the living room where he finds Sharon Milner and Angela Watson playing cards. And he leans down towards her.
“Miss Watson?”
She looks up at Daniel Vickers smiling.
“Yes?”
“Miss Watson.. Did Jennifer keep a diary?”

~Scratch.. A.B.T. copyright © 2008.~

One More Clue.



It is now harder than ever for him to tell the difference between what is real and what is part of the dream. It seems to him that the images that she shares with him are becoming more complex , the messages contained in the images more convoluted. It is a warm sunny day here, although he can’t feel the warmth, the air still seems cold as he follows her through the alley’s of Pleasantville. He calls to her but she doesn’t answer, finally he catches up to her in the alley next to the drug store. The air becomes colder now.
“Jennifer please wait.”
She slowly stops and turns to face him. Daniel Vickers approaches the beautiful young girl, and she doesn’t move.
“You have to tell me what happened to you sweetie.. I’m flying blind here.. There’s so much that I-”
She smiles.
“You will know why you Daniel soon.. Very soon.”
He bends down and slowly extends his hands to her, his fingers barely touch her hair when the tall dark figure appears suddenly from behind her and wraps its arms around her waist and begins to pull her into the shadows. Daniel grabs hold of her wrist, and tries in vain to pull her free from it. Slowly the shadows begin to take her and as he feels his bare feet sliding along the cold wet surface. He knows that he can’t save her, her wrist slips free from his grasp, and as he falls He sees it from out of the shadows towering above her, a white cowboy hat. He can feel her voice again.
“The answers are in the book Daniel.. Find the book and you will find the answers.”

Calling Miss Watson.



It is 6:00 am in Pleasantville. And Daniel Vickers finds himself standing next to the phone booth nearest Spencer’s hardware store just a half of a block from Main street. He ruffles through the pages of the phone book that dangles from a chain attached to the booth. He stops at the W’s, and slowly moves his right index finger down along the column of names. He pauses to look up to see if Sharon Milner has met with success in finding them some quarters to make phone calls with. Finally he sees her as she turns the corner and moves along the side walk towards him. The look of discomfort on her face almost draws a smile to his lips.
“Well.. Good morning again sunshine.. I trust you found some quarters?”
She thrusts the small pile of coins into his waiting palms, as she makes a small uncomfortable grunting sound.
“There.. That’s all I could get.. Thank God that this shit hole has a twenty four hour 7- 11. Who would have thought that we would both have the same piece of crap Cell phone and both batteries would be dead at the same frickin time.”
He pauses to study her through the soft plume of misty breath emanating from her lips. She gives him a irritated look, and jerks both hands up in frustration.
“So? Did you find any names?”
“There are seven listings in Pleasantville for the name of Watson. Two of them are male.”
“Ok.” she tells him. “But here’s the drill sweetie pie. If anyone answers. You can’t say ‘Did You have a daughter named-’ you have to speak of her as if she’s still alive. They may not know what happened to her Dan. We have to be respectful. You may only get one shot at this. I have a feeling in my gut Danny. Its going to be her Mother that we find.”
He tries the first three numbers. The two males have no idea what he’s talking about. The third is a woman that remembers reading the name of Jennifer Watson in the newspapers about five and one half years ago, but is not a relative and doesn’t have any knowledge of that particular family. He looks down at the remaining quarters, and then turns to Sharon Milner.
“Four left..”
He drops two more quarters into the slot and dials the number for Miss Angela Watson of 334 Rivercrest drive. A middle aged female voice softly offers him a hello.
“Hello? Umm. Miss Watson? Ma’am.. You don’t know me, but I have to ask you an important question, ma’am please don’t hang up.”
He fumbles to find the right words, when he just comes out and asks the complete stranger on the other end of the conversation if she has a daughter named Jennifer who has been missing for five and one half years. But it is when he can almost feel the pain in her voice that he knows he has found Jennifer’s mother. She reluctantly agrees to meet with them and gives them directions to the Watson residence.

The Reason.



The house is white and is surround by a slightly faded picket fence, and has neatly manicured shrubs that outline the small stone porch that leads them to the front door of the Watson residence. He pauses to catch his breath as Sharon Milner takes in the surreal scene. She nods, and Daniel rings the door bell. almost immediately they are greeted by a very slender well groomed middle age woman with long blond hair, who offers them a seemingly forced smile and lets them into her home. At where Daniel tells her the whole story about the dreams and all of his vivid images of her daughter, and she sits patiently and surprisingly collected as she listens to Daniel Vickers tale.
A silence falls over the room as he finishes the whole story. She doesn’t ask them to leave.
“Mr. Vickers.. I don’t know you.. I don’t know why or how you can describe my daughters image so vividly. Now let me tell you my story. I have known for- well.”
She pauses.
“Since the very beginning really.. I know my daughter is dead.. And I also know that someone.. Somewhere.. did a terrible thing to her.. And that person is still walking amongst us free as a bird. And now here you are.. Out of the blue. A complete and utter stranger to me.. And you say that you have seen my daughter in your dreams.. And she has asked you to come here from god only knows where.. To do what Mr. Vickers?”
He stands looking at her.
“To find out what happened to her.. Miss Watson.. I don’t expect you to believe me.. Hell.. I can barely believe it myself. But I know I can’t rest until I figure this whole thing out.. I- no.. we, came all of the way from Beaumont Miss Watson, all because your daughter asked this of me , she wants justice, and whether anyone believes me or not, I have to find out what happened to her. Because the longer this goes on Miss Watson, I can’t do this simply because she cries out for justice.. I have to do this because she deserves justice.”
A curious look comes over the face of Angela Watson.
“Beaumont..” she says softly as if talking to herself. “Jennifer’s father lives in Beaumont. I haven’t heard from him in years.”
She rises and offers them a cup of coffee as he wanders over to a wall of pictures. It is there that he and Sharon see the first real images of young Jennifer Watson. Angela brings them the coffee and Sharon Milner thanks her as she pours Daniel and herself a cup.
“Danny? Sweetie The coffee is ready.”
Silence.
“Danny?”
He turns to face them, his face slowly turning slightly pale.
“Miss Watson?.. Who is the man in this picture? The one standing with you in front of the Victorian?”
She walks up beside of him.
“That man Mr. Vickers?”
He slowly Nods.
“Why That’s Jennifer’s daddy.. Evan.. Evan Daniels.”
He turns to face her fully.. The color slowly coming back to his face.
“Miss Watson.. This is going to sound crazy to you.. But I now know why your daughter contacted me.”
She blinks giving him a blank stare as Sharon Milner now appears at his side.
“Miss Watson.. The man with you in that picture… his name was Evan Vickers not Evan Daniels. I know this because he was my father.”

~Scratch.. A.B.T. Copyright © 2008.~

Distant warning.



It has almost reached the point to where it has become an expectation for him. Every time that he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep, familiar images begin to take shape in the world of Daniel Vickers dreams. Each time taking a different tone. Now there is no sound, there are no voices to answer his questions, this time it is almost as if he is there in the heart of Pleasantville. Even though he knows that he has never been. The images that he sees this time are very different, they are outlined with the faint remnants of a white haze, as though he were looking at a faded picture. It is almost dark here as he sees the black truck with the broken side mirror, pull into the alley behind Tanners drug store off of Main street in Pleasantville. It slowly rolls to a stop and he sees the arm of what appears to be a male extend itself from the drivers side window. The hand beckons to someone that he doesn’t immediately see, until the form of young Jennifer Watson appears at the side of the vehicle. She seems to recognize the unseen occupant of the truck and smiles as she walks around to the passenger door and slowly opens it. Almost as if on cue, she looks back in the direction of Daniel Vickers and offers him a smile as well. He feels his entire body freeze in place as he tries in vain to move towards her, to prevent her from getting into the vehicle. He tries to call out to her but he cannot. “Jennifer dear god No!! don’t get into the truck!” he tries to muster the words, but in vain, his voice falls silent. And Daniel Vickers now finds himself in an all too familiar posture. He is on his hands and knees on the cold wet surface of the alleyway, in the pouring rain, sobbing uncontrollably.. For he knows that he has just witnessed the final moments of Jennifer Watson’s life.

The Road Of Crows.



He slowly pulls the cigarette to his lips as he ponders Sharon Milner’s question. “And throughout the dreams.. She never mentioned a name of who may have possibly killed her?” He exhales the smoke and slowly shakes his head no.
“She only got close enough to speak to me a couple of times in the dreams.”
“And you don’t recall her ever mentioning a name”
“No.. she never does.. The first time I heard her speak, it was like she was playing some kind of child’s game and she kept repeating ‘White hats are a lie, don’t ever believe them’ she kept saying it. Over and over again. Then the last time she spoke of Justice.”
She pulls over the Chevy just twenty five yards from the turn onto Crow’s Crossing Road, it is the only way for them to reach Pleasantville from there. But Sharon Milner has heard many a strange tale of the road of crows, and its Daniels turn to drive so she would rather sleep through the experience. They both get out to stretch their legs, the rain has momentarily stopped, they both slowly walk over to the road sign and stare silently down at the lonely two lane black top. It almost seems deserted, there are no vehicles coming or going, and the horizon seems dark to Sharon Milner, dark and ominous. She turns to face Daniel Vickers.
“It’s your turn to drive Danny.. I ain’t tackling C.C.R.”
She pauses to light her own cigarette and jerks her thumb at the green and white road sign.
“Do you suppose that Cherry Creek could be somewhere on C.C.R.?”
He Shrugs his shoulders.
“I dunno Shar.. its just a road to me. Get in.. I’ll take it from here.”
They switch places after he assures her that he is now very much awake and capable of taking the wheel. She slowly eases into a restful position and he pulls onto the turn as she drifts off to sleep. Daniel himself has heard the stories of this magical stretch of road as well, and as his thoughts return to Jennifer Watson, her wonders to himself how her story will someday fit into the lore of the haunted stretch of highway called Crows Crossing Road. It almost seems too peaceful to him here, as the rolling hills and the seemingly endless miles upon miles of woodlands slowly roll by as he takes them closer to Pleasantville. In the back of his thoughts he returns to the words of the beautiful young girl he has come to know as Jennifer Watson, he once again can almost feel her cold crisp breath roll across his warm skin in a soft whisper.
“Tell me Please.. What do you want from me?”
“Justice Daniel.. Give me… Justice..”

Pleasantville.



He is surprised to find that Pleasantville looks very much like it did in his last dream. It has a slightly southern picturesque quality, and yet has that unmistakable underlying creepiness to it that keeps tugging at one’s subconscious. He doesn’t take them directly into the city limits right away, he instead decides to try his hand at getting them both rooms on the out skirts of town. It is a place called “The No Tell Motel” he smirks to himself at the obviousness of the title and softly nudge’s Sharon Milner on the shoulder. She sits up slowly and stretches her muscles. She smiles at Daniel Vickers.
“Honey… We’re home.” He says jokingly.
She winks at him.
“Well.. You picked one hell of a place for us to spend our honeymoon.”
They enter the motel office and are almost immediately greeted an older gray haired gentleman named ‘Stanly.’
“What can I do for you Kids?”
He offers them a less than friendly smile through tar and nicotine stained teeth. Daniel steps forward.
“We’ll be needing a couple of rooms if you have any vacancies.”
Sharon Milner offers the conversation little in the way of interest as her eyes slowly scan over the view of the town from the motel office’s doorway.
There is a church steeple that looms atop the middle of the small gathering of buildings that form the general downtown area of Pleasantville. A mixture of fog and clouds loom just above the rooftops, the whole scene casts a disturbingly dark shadow over the entire image, that makes her want to crawl into a deep pit and hide.
He steps up beside of her and dangles her room key in front of her face.
“Well there isn’t much to it is there kitten?”
She rolls her eyes at him.
“Lets just hope they have a decent place to eat Dan. I would hate to have to choke you to death before our wedding night.”
He smiles.
“Now that’s the Sharon Milner that I know and love.”
He helps her with her bags before retrieving his own from the trunk. They lock everything into the rooms and return to the Chevy. Where Sharon drives them to the first diner that they find. Pleasantville is as dark and dreary up close as it is from a distance she thinks as they enter The Main Street Diner where a short pudgy middle aged waitress almost immediately ushers them into a booth. They both settle in as she brings them hot coffee. And Sharon irritably begins a soft low rant about the creepiness of the whole situation until she notices that Daniel Vickers either isn’t listening or is no longer capable of hearing her. A familiar stare crosses over his face as he slowly rises to his feet, and when the black pickup truck with the broken side mirror slowly rolls past the front window of the Main Street Diner, Daniel Vickers face looks as if he’s seen a ghost.

~Scratch… A.B.T. Copyright © 2007.

Face To Face.



The light here shines most brilliant, but it seems cold to him even though he is numb and has no feeling in his entire body. It is a vision that Daniel Vickers has become accustomed to. But he is no longer sure where the dream ends and his reality begins. The light slowly dims but he can still see his breath and then ever so slowly images through the light begin to take shape. There are the trees again and the very same stream or creek that travels slowly through the images without sound. It is then that he sees the visage of young Jennifer Watson standing before him . She is close enough that he can almost see a trail of breath emanating from her mouth. he is certain that he is dreaming. His hands and feet slowly dig into the wet grassy soil and Daniel struggles just to get to his knees.
“I know that this is a dream.” he tells her. “Tell me what you want of me!”
He can barely see her lips moving but there is again no sound. He lowers his head as the terrible cold begins to weave its way through every muscle in his body. Every movement becomes difficult . She suddenly appears at his side. Her words seem as crisp as the air around them, and resonate with a cold metallic ring.
“Daniel.. My life was not a dream.. I lived once.. Until the white hat took me.. Find me Daniel.. Please… Find Me.”
It is the first time that he hears her cold voice, and her words tear through his unconscious mind. He is no longer fearful as he looks into the eyes of the beautiful young girl..
“Tell me.. Please.. What do you want from me?”
She is almost touching him now, as he hears her words roll across his cheek in a cold whisper.
“Justice.”

Eye's Opening.



When he wakes up he is sitting in Sharon Milner’s car. It has stopped at a roadside gas station/diner. she appears at the passenger window and he rolls it down to see what she wants.
“Good your awake now. We’d best get something to eat here, and if you have to pee you’d better do that now too sweetie, the attendant tells me that there aren’t too many places to stop before we hit Pleasantville, and we’re still three hours away from that.”
He gets out of the car and pulls his jacket up and around his shoulders as his sleepy eyes slowly begin to move across the landscape. It is now late afternoon here, wherever here is. His eyes lock onto Sharon Milner’s.
“Cherry Creek is about two and a half hours from here, don’t ask me how I know that Sharon.. I just do.”
They sit in silence for what seems like forever to her. The waitress brings them hot coffee and takes their orders. Sharon holds the cup fully in her palm as though her hands needed the warmth. Her attention slowly moves back to Daniel Vickers, who is staring out the window at the cold wet scenery outside.
“I know what she wants from me now.” he tells Sharon Milner.
She leans towards the conversation almost wide eyed. He now has her full attention.
“What is it Danny?”
It is his turn to lean towards Sharon Milner.
“I think that she was murdered Shar. And she wants me to find whoever did it.”
“Why you Danny?”
“I.. I.. I.. Don’t know Shar.”

Signs.



She puts the car into drive and slowly pulls back out onto the wet asphalt of the interstate. The attendant tells her that they must go in the same direction for another thirty miles and then watch for the signs to take them to Pleasantville, after that they will need to head east. They drive on as Daniel fiddles with the radio stopping at the local weather report.
“Damn.. They’re calling for even more rain. It seems like that’s all that it ever does around here is rain. It’s like sunshine is a disease or something.”
They share an uncomfortable laugh as if trying to lighten the mood. But underneath, both of their thoughts return to the young girl Jennifer Watson.
“Danny.. If she was murdered, we could be stepping into some deep shit here.”
He nods in agreement.
“I know.”
“It could be big Danny.”
“I know.”
He turns to face Sharon Milner from the passenger seat.
“She chose me Sharon. For whatever reason she chose me. Maybe she needs someone outside of her circle to come in and find the truth, maybe she didn’t have anyone else. Maybe its all just a completely random thing. Maybe I’ll never know why she contacted me.. But she is trusting me to find the truth and reveal it.. And I know now that I have to at least try to help her.”
Sharon Milner smiles and puts her hand on Daniel Vickers.
“Well.. She picked the right guy for the job.”
Out of the corner of her eye she sees a streak flash across the window through the rain. And she slams on the brakes and the car slides to a stop across the wet asphalt. She concludes that it is dusk now, and the failing light is playing tricks with her eyes. Now he puts his hand on hers.
“No Shar.. There’s something else here.”
They get out of the car and slowly move towards the partially covered road sign.
Crows Crossing Road 3 miles.

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