Maria paused for a breath before adding a little gruesomeness to her already macabre story. She smiled and told him that there was also a rumor going around about there being blood all over the place when they’d finally found Tommy. She said she had it on good authority that it had been everywhere. Even on the tree stand that he supposedly fell out of. That was one of the things that were supposed to be such a secret, because if he fell out of the stand onto a tree then how did the blood get up there? This supposed friend of hers said the police’s shoes were drenched in it when they got done walking around looking for clues. As Jim stood with a look of mounting horror creeping across his face she quickly added that everything she was telling him was just rumors and that none of it was probably true and that if anyone asked he didn’t hear them from her. She must’ve thought the look on his face was acceptance of everything she said because she looked pretty happy about everything after that.
She was actually a lot happier about everything than he would’ve expected someone in this type of situation to be. She must've sensed something was wrong though because she suddenly let out an eep and a look of embarrassment sprang across her features. Jim had never heard anyone make an “eep” sound before now and if the situation were different he might’ve laughed but after what she’d just told and how much pleasure she’d taken in the telling he didn’t care.
“Oh!” she squeaked. “Wait a minute! You were, like, best friends or something with Tommy weren’t you?” She hadn’t waited for an answer to any other of her questions so why start now. “Oh God! I totally forgot! Here I’ve been going on and on about it like it was just regular everyday gossip, not thinking for one minute I was talking to one of his best friends. I am so sorry.” She would have stood there apologizing for the rest of the day if he’d let her and he was half tempted to but it eventually got on his nerves, plus he didn’t really think she was for some reason so he cut her off.
“Maria its ok, really,” he began, trying to keep his voice under control. “You made an honest mistake. Don’t worry about it. Really. I’m trying not to think too much about everything but I’m glad you told me what you did. It’ll give me something to ask Rob about if I ever find him. You made a mistake and now you’ve apologized. End of story. Let’s leave it at that.”
She didn’t look like she believed him but he didn’t really care what she thought anymore. He had bigger things to worry about than whether or not she believed him.
“It look it’s getting late,” he said looking at the darkening sky. “I think I should probably get back to my mom’s house before she sends out a search party. We’ve been talking for longer than I thought plus it is only my first night back so I guess I should at least go spend some of my time with her.” As he was talking he slowly began backing up hoping she would get the hint and let him escape before he said something that really would hurt her feelings. Not that it mattered. He definitely wouldn’t be hooking up with her while he was home, so it didn’t really matter what she thought of him, but he was trying to be nice.
She must’ve understood because she quickly said “Oh yeah, I understand. I really need to get back to work anyways.” She turned to go and Jim thought hoped he was free but unfortunately he wasn’t that lucky. After taking only a few steps she stopped and looked back over her shoulder.
“If you need to talk to someone or just want to, you know, go out or something, you can give me a call,” she offered sweetly. “I’m in the book or you can, you know, just come by here. I’m usually here if I’m not at home. Don’t be afraid to call me day or night. I’m here for you if you need me. Ok?”
He hesitated before replying. “I don’t know Maria. I think I’ll be ok. I’m only going to be here for a few days and I’ll probably be pretty busy. But, uh, you know, if I get a chance you’ll be the first person I call… We’ll see what happens. But if we don’t get a chance to get together, it was really good seeing you again.” As he finished he turned and started walking away so she wouldn’t have a chance to say anything else.
He almost felt bad. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her feelings too much by being so abrupt. He guessed her heart might be in the right place but after hearing her rendition of “The Killing of Tommy” he didn’t think he wanted to be around her too much. Something about her was just a little bit weird. She seemed like she just wanted to help him get through everything but you never knew with people like her.
He was about to turn around and check to see if she was watching him walk away when he heard an engine roar to life behind him. Stifling the urge to spin around he casually glanced over his other shoulder, the one he would see Maria over if she was there, and looked to see what was going on. The guy who’d been sitting in the parking lot fish tailed out onto the road and squealed tires as he raced away into the fading light leaving nothing but the smell of burnt rubber behind. Wondering what that had all been about, Jim noticed almost as an afterthought that Maria was nowhere to be seen. He again had a strange feeling that he knew the guy acting like a race car driver but just couldn’t place his name.
Shaking his head he put it aside for another time. He kept walking towards his mother’s house trying to figure out what exactly might be going on as he went. He hadn’t found Rob but that was only a matter of time. Then he hoped he’d get some of the answers for all the questions that were floating around in his head.
4
Jim woke with a start the next morning stifling a scream that was trying to rip its way from his throat. The nightmare he’d been having only moments before caused him a slight disorientation which panicked him even more. Images from it kept superimposing themselves over the familiar objects in his room. One minute he was looking at a chair the next minute it was a bush. He was still trying to orient himself when he looked at a poster that had been on his wall since he was ten but instead of the familiar movie star looking down at him it was a beast with dark red smoldering eyes. Stifling yet another scream he shook his head and looked again. This time everything was normal. Well, almost everything.
Unfortunately he was again lying in wet sheets. This was starting to be a regular thing with him. Now that his attention was finally somewhere else the dream he’d been having was quickly fading. Unfortunately, thinking about the creature he thought he saw a few seconds ago triggered part of it to come back. He could vaguely remember something about a beast of some sort chasing him through dark woods he’d never seen before. Every time he thought he’d escaped it he found the thing right back in front of him waiting with its mouth open like it was going to eat him. Just thinking about it gave him the chills. By thinking about it he realized something else. It was the same monster he’d dreamed of a couple nights ago. Having the same type of dream a couple nights in a row was really strange. At least he thought it was. Too bad there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. If only he could forget about the eyes, then he’d be ok.
He couldn’t understand why he might be having dreams like these. He’d heard somewhere that what people dreamed was a way for their minds to deal with things. What problems he might be dealing with that would make dream of monsters was beyond him though. He hardly ever dreamed of monsters. At least not since he’d been a little kid. The last time he could honestly remember doing it was back in high school.