First Light..



It is at the edge of pitch black, a slight pause between the god awful headaches, and the burning of his eyes.. He can hear the sound almost reaching for him.. Surrounding him.. Now between pauses.. A click? A Buzz? What in Gods name?.. Click… “You have reached the home of Evan Vickers, I am not here at present, but if you leave your name and phone number I will get back to you as soon as possible.” Beeeeeep.
“Daniel Please… This is Sharon.. Sweetie I need to know that your alright.. Out there at your dads place in the country… all by yourself.. Its so isolated.. Sweetie.. Beth Simon called me today.. Said that you haven’t been at work for four days.. No one has heard from you and they were forced to let you go.. Sweetie please call me.. Or if you need.. I’ll drive out to spend a few days.. I am so sorry about your dad. Call me.” click.. He rolls slowly onto his back his eyes straining through the black, trying desperately to grab focus on anything familiar. Finally it comes to him, faint images of dim blue light that softly form a border around the edge of curtains that hang in the window. Dawn.. Here comes the light, slowly taking its place in the black, softly illuminating the room, as slowly as the light creeps in, filling up the room, he realizes that he is in his father’s den, lying on the hardwood floor. His back arches slightly offering soft resistance to the uncomfortable surface, eyes open just as he hears the low thumping sound coming from the living room door.
“Daniel?? Are you in there?? Please.. C’mon now open the door its Sharon.” No Answer.. More knocking this time with more force. She slowly looks around at the front porch of Vickers home, it looks run down, the face of the old two story Victorian has seen better days, the front porch sagging at one end, the wooden floorboards creak under even the slightest bit of weight put on them, the white paint on the outside of the entire structure, is weather worn and peeling, the hedge work is growing wild over the sides of the Porch’s hand rails, further evidence of Evan Vickers failing health preventing him from doing regular maintenance and upkeep on the Vickers home before his passing four weeks ago. She has her back to the door when it creaks slowly open exposing Daniel Vickers to her. He has no shirt on and is barefoot wearing only a pair of sweat pants. She studies him for a moment in a almost agitated state.
“Well?… are you gonna let me in? or am I gonna stay out here and freeze to death?”
He slowly opens the door and barely notices as the beautiful black haired young woman slowly glides past him. She takes out a cigarette and lifts it to her lips, her eyes never leaving him. She lights up and slowly inhales the smoke looking him up and down.
“Damn Danny.. You look a mess.. What’s been happening with you sweetie?”
“Nothing Sharon.” he lights his own and softly pulls the smoke into his mouth.
“Nothing?.. Really?.. Lets review.. Your dad passes, you come home and decide you want to stay this time, you get a job, and don’t show up for four days.. So they fire you.. Maybe it’s too soon huh?.. Maybe you need time to grieve.. Daniel.. You don’t look well.”
He sits directly across from her and lights another smoke, then pauses slightly to study her.
“I haven’t been sleeping well is all Sharon.. Been having a bad dream.”
“About your dad?”
“No.”
“Well, I guess having bad dreams would be normal considering..”
“Not dreams Shar.. Dream.. it’s the same one over and over again.”


Insomnia..



He offers to help her bring her belongings into the house but she says no, He’s only wearing sweat pants, is barefoot and has no shirt. And its been raining and its cold enough to see your own breath.
“Besides Daniel, I only brought a few things with me.” she tells him. He watches her walk beneath the canopy of the willow tree’s that seem to consume the entire front lawn of the Vickers home, as she goes to the trunk of the Chevrolet to retrieve her things.
She eyes the trees surrounding the house and then slowly returns her attention to Daniel Vickers.
“You’ve got yourself quite the jungle growing here Danny, now all that you need is an alligator pit.”
She carries her things to the guest room, and throws her bags on the bed, and then returns to the living room where she discovers that Daniel has gone upstairs to take a shower. But it is when she ventures into the kitchen that she gets the sense that something is very odd, there is precious little food, but the large round table near the breakfast nook is crowded with various containers of paint. He appears suddenly behind her giving her a start. She looks over her shoulder at him.
“So what’s for dinner Dan? Flat or enamel?”
He studies the scene on the kitchen table, and shoots her a confused look, which makes her feel uneasy.
“I-..” a long uncomfortable pause ensues.
“I’m not sure where that came from.. I don’t remember buying any paint..”
She lifts one of the containers.
“Danny.. These are art supplies.. Do you paint now?
He shakes his head no, but stares on in silence.
“Maybe your Dad?”
He doesn’t answer..
“You don’t have any food in the house sweetie, I’m going back to town to get some dinner.. So.. Do you want to come along?”
“N…No.. I think I’ll stay here and Try to take a little nap. I didn’t sleep well last night.. If at all.”
She watches him curiously, as he returns to the den to try to nap. Sharon Milner has known Daniel Vickers since they were both children and she’d never known him to possess an artistic bone in his entire body, nor his father. Something was not right here in the Vickers home, and she wasn’t going to leave Daniel alone until she found out what. She puts the Chevrolet in gear a slowly turns around in the Vickers driveway, and briefly stops to look in the rear view mirror at the front porch, and as the sound of windshield wipers slowly brush away the soft beads of rain, she thinks to herself.. This winter is going to be colder than usual.

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