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The lead gray sky threatened rain and the grass bent
in the stiff wind. Nick ran against the rain, calling out
desperately. “Julia!”
Julia seemed not to hear him. Nick would not know
this until some time later, but his lover was already dead. “Julia,
no!” he cried again, but to no avail.
The sky opened up and a bolt of lightning shot through
the sky, striking the cross with tremendous force. Still nothing
from Julia, though her convulsing body made it all too clear to Nick
what was happening to her.
“Julia!” he shouted in horror.
Then without warning, she looked towards him.
Nick stopped short, gaping with open shock and horror.
Julia was gone. In her place was a charred
skeleton, tendrils of smoke rising from the ruined skull. The skeleton
opened its mouth and spoke. “Nick.”
“No,” Nick whispered, unable to move.
“Oh, Nick, I love you, Nick. Nick, no Nick,
I love you, don’t leave me please, don’t leave me. Nick-“
“Nooo!” Nick cried, bolting upright in his bed.
He was trembling violently, his whole body racked with shudders, and he
buried his head in his hands.
“Nick!” Rachel rushed into his room, concern written
all over her face. “Oh, Nick,” she said comfortingly as she realized
the reason for his outburst. “Oh, Nick,” she repeated, running
her hand over his damp head, which rested gently against
her chest.
“Rachel, what is it?” Derek asked, stepping into
the room.
“Nick’s just had a nightmare,” Rachel replied.
“He’ll be alright.” Derek nodded, taking Rachel’s reply as a dismissal,
and closed the door behind him.
Nick’s trembling had subsided and he now leaned
against the headboard, his face pale and drawn from the horror of
his dream. “Do you want to talk about it?” Rachel asked.
“Julia,” he answered, closing his eyes. He
opened them again quickly as he was hammered with visions from the
dream.
Rachel nodded, looking on sadly as Nick fought the
coming tears. “I miss her so much,” was all he said, though, and
he already seemed to be composing himself.
“I know you do,” Rachel said, and kissed Nick softly
on the forehead before leaving his room. She found Derek still
standing outside, leaning against the wall across the hall.
“How is he?” he inquired, obviously concerned.
“Upset, but that’s obvious. He had another
dream about Julia.”
Derek appeared startled. “He hasn’t dreamt
of her in months.”
“Not to our knowledge he hasn’t,” Rachel remarked.
“But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t. This is just the first time we
caught him.”
Derek felt a guilty pang as he realized how much
they had neglected their colleague lately. “Well, it doesn’t do much
good to stand here worrying about it. We all need rest.
We can continue this discussion in the morning.”
Nobody did. Alex, completely oblivious of
the previous night’s incident, only sat in watchful silence as her friends
stared
into their cups and plates, avoiding eye contact with each other.
“So, anyone got plans for the day?” she inquired,
sipping at her tea.
Derek and Rachel looked up at her, but Nick only
continued to stare into his coffee cup. “I have to pick Kat up at
ten,”
Rachel replied. “She’ll probably want to come back here with
me. She’s been really homesick in Minnesota.”
“I thought she liked Monika and Joe.”
“Oh, she loves them. But they pale in comparison
to Nick,” she continued with a smile. There was still no response.
“We have work to do,” Derek said shortly.
“Kat’s welcome to stay here, of course, but we’ve got an important case
just
in. It’ll need our full attention.” He got up from the
table and walked briskly to the parlor, where he sank into a recliner
beside the piano.
“What’s with him?” Alex asked after he had left.
“He had a late night,” Rachel answered, stealing
a glance at Nick.
Nick finally lifted his eyes. “I should get
going,” he said, standing up.
“Where’re you going?” Alex asked.
Nick rubbed at his eye. “I have to see a guy
about that case Derek was talking about. There’s been a series of
disturbances at an elementary school in Santa Mira. Sloan thinks
there might be a Legacy case hidden somewhere in
there. Probably just some kid pulling another prank.”
Alex’s eyes widened. She had never heard Nick
dismiss a case so quickly. “You never know Nick,” she started.
“Exactly,” he retorted. “Sounds like a hoax
to me.” He turned and left the room.
Alex looked over at Rachel. “He’s in a good
mood,” she remarked, then followed suit and left Rachel alone in the
kitchen.
*
Nick slammed the door behind him as he left the house.
He wasn’t really upset with Rachel, Alex, or Derek, but he
didn’t know how else to vent his frustrations over losing Julia.
He felt as if he was experiencing her death all over. He
stopped in front of his Mustang and leaned against the top of the car.
He shut his eyes and felt the world spin uncaringly
around him.
I gotta get outta here, he thought, and jumped into
the car. As soon as the engine roared into life, he backed out of
the
driveway and sped off, his tires squealing wildly.
The drive helped some in calming him, but not nearly
enough. Even as he sat down to order at the small café he
felt
the anger rising inside of him. He imagined stares from everywhere
in the room on his back. He turned around just in
time to see a beautiful young woman enter, and rose to greet her.
“Hi,” he said as she walked by.
“I’m sorry,” the woman replied, and pushed down
her glasses to observe Nick over the lenses. “Do I know you?”
“No,” Nick replied, the ghost of a smile appearing
on his face. “I just can’t pass up a beautiful woman without at least
saying hello.”
The woman blushed. “Oh-“ She laughed nervously.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, “I’ve never been very good at
accepting compliments.”
“Well, I don’t see how.” Nick’s smile was
much stronger this time. “I’m sure you must get a lot of practice.”
“Only the occasional whistle and wave,” she disagreed.
“By the way, I’m Julia Reeves.”
Nick jumped. He couldn’t believe what he just heard.
“Julia?” he whispered.
“Are you alright?” Julia asked, lightly touching
his arm. “You’re white as a sheet.”
“Sorry,” he apologized. “I just felt a goose
walk over my grave.” Or Julia’s grave.
“It’s alright.” She paused. “Looks like
the tables have turned,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Nick asked, recovering from
his initial shock.
“At first I was the shy one.”
Nick just stared, trying to guess at what she could
mean. Then he realized he hadn’t even told her his name. “Oh,
I’m
sorry. Really, I must be making a terrible impression.
I’m Nick Boyle,” he introduced himself, extending his hand.
“Well, Nick Boyle, it’s a pleasure to meet you,”
Julia replied, smiling brightly.
Nick made a weak attempt at a smile. “You
too. Look, I really should get going, but why don’t we get together
sometime?” What he really wanted was to never see her again.
He stared at her, realizing for the first time how closely
she resembled Julia. But she is Julia, he told himself.
Julia blinked. “Are you sure we haven’t met?”
she asked. “You seem so familiar.”
“I’m sure,” Nick replied.
“Oh,” she fumbled. “Well, whatever.
As for getting together sometime, I’d love to. How about I give you
my number
and you call me when you get a chance?”
“Sure,” Nick agreed. “But I’m not sure how
soon that’ll be. I work with the Luna Foundation, and we tend to
keep
ourselves pretty busy.”
“The Luna Foundation?” Julia’s eyes widened.
It’d been so long since she’d heard that name. “Never heard of it,”
she
said carefully, trying to conceal her surprise.
“Well, we don’t advertise too much. Here’s
my card. I think it might be better if you call me. I’ve been
really swamped
lately. Not too much time for dating,” he admitted.
Julia took the card, and stared at in disbelief.
Not the Luna Foundation, she corrected herself, The Legacy. She
smiled. “You’ll be hearing from me,” she said, and turned to
leave.
Nick stood at the counter for another minute, still shocked by
his meeting with Julia. She’s so much like her, he thought.
“Who was that?” a woman asked him.
Nick whirled around to see a fat waitress staring
at him. “What?”
“That woman. Who was she? She didn’t
even order anything.”
Nick paused, realizing the waitress was correct.
“I don’t know,” he responded, then nodded and walked toward the
door. “See ya later,” he called, and left.
“Wait!” the waitress yelled after him. “You
didn’t order either,” she said to his receding back.
*
Derek began to worry when Nick had still not come
home by afternoon. He was worried that Nick had gone and done
something foolish, but he didn’t know how to voice his unease to his
associates.
“Derek, will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“I wish I could Alex.” He walked to the window.
“Nick still hasn’t dealt with the loss of Julia. Last night he dreamt
of her
again. Rachel’s positive this is the worst it’s been in months.”
“So he had a bad dream. What does that have
to do with you?”
Derek paused. “Nothing really. But we
all feel partly responsible for her death. It’s just so hard to look
at him without
thinking about her.”
Alex put a comforting hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“There’s nothing we could do about it then, and there’s nothing we
can do about it now,” she said gently.
“Yes, I know,” Derek replied. “But I still
wish he would come home.”
*
Nick pulled to a stop in front of the castle.
He dreaded going inside. He already knew Derek, Rachel, and Alex
would
be waiting for him, and he wasn’t sure he could handle a confrontation
with them now. Then he remembered
something. “Kat!” he yelled, bursting through the front door.
“Nick!” Rachel exclaimed as he entered the foyer,
“keep your voice down. Kat’s asleep.”
Nick’s face fell.
“Well, what did you expect, coming home at this
hour?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s ten after one,” Rachel answered, and moved
to take his coat. “You’re soaked. Didn’t you notice the rain?”
she
asked.
Nick stared at her with his mouth open, shocked.
He hadn’t noticed it was raining. He looked down at himself,
wondering jut how drenched he was. “Well,” he said, nearly shouting.
“A little water won’t hurt anyone.”
Derek walked into the room, followed closely by
Alex. “What’s all the shouting about?” Derek asked, looking toward
Rachel.
“Who’s shouting!” Nick shouted.
“He’s plastered,” Alex muttered.
“Nick, are you insane?” Derek cried. “Driving
at this time of night in this condition. You could’ve gotten yourself
killed.”
“Or somebody else,” Rachel added.
“Well I didn’t!” Nick yelled. “I don’t know
what you’re all worried about. I can do whatever the hell I want!”
With that, he
ran up the stairs to his room, and slammed the door behind him.
The others stood in shock after he left, staring
at each other in silence.
“I should check on Kat,” Rachel said.
*
Nick sat bent double on the edge of his bed, cradling
his head in his hands. He really had had too much too drink, he
realized. But it had seemed like a good idea at the time.
He heard a quiet knock on the door, but did not move to answer
it.
“Nick,” he heard a familiar voice call. “Nick,
let me in.”
Nick looked up in surprise and shock, unable to
believe what he was hearing.
“Please Nick, let me in. I need to see you.”
“Julia?” Nick, whispered, leaning his face against
the door. “Julia, is that really you?” He could feel his heart
soaring
nearly out of his chest.
“Nick let me in.” Suddenly the tone and the
voice changed, and a man’s voice shouted at him through the heavy wood
door. “Nick, you let me in right this instant!”
Nick thought he was going to vomit. He pulled
away from the door with lighting speed and looked at it as if it was the
devil itself. “Go away,” he tried to call out, but his voice
betrayed him.
“Nicholas Boyle, you open this door this very second,
or there’ll be hell to pay!”
Where was Derek, he wondered. And Rachel and
Alex. Surely they could hear all the shouting. The shouting
and
pounding on the door continued. Nick leaned against the opposite
wall, trying to shut out the sound of his father’s
thundering shouts. He prayed somebody would come to aid him soon.
“Nick-open this door! At once! I don’t
know how many times I’ll have to tell you! LET ME IN!”
Nick slid down the wall, watching the door across
the room with tense apprehension. He knew it would not be long
before his father burst through the door. Then he didn’t know
what he would do.
“Nick!” Nick responded to the shout by jumping
to his feet, and pulled the chair out from under his desk. He started
to
prop the chair under the doorknob when he heard another familiar voice.
“Nick? Hey, Nick, what’s going on? Open
this door.”
“Alex!” Nick shouted in relief. Then he paused.
“Is he gone?” he asked in slightly tremulous voice.
“Is who gone?” Alex sounded confused.
Nick flung the door open and stared in open horror
at the figure facing him. His body swayed, and he collapsed in a
heap at Alex’s feet.
*
“I think he’ll be just fine.”
“Are you sure? We’ll be needing him over the
next few days.”
“I’m sure, Derek,” Rachel replied. “He just
needs plenty of rest and in the morning-plenty of aspirin. He’ll
have a
terrible hangover.”
Alex stood apart from the other two, watching the
slow rising and falling of Nick’s chest. “Why will we need him?”
she
asked Derek.
“There’s a case I’ve just started working on.
There’s a problem with the elementary school in Santa Mira. It’s
an
especially small town, so the trouble at the school has got the entire
town in upheaval. Sloan asked me to look into it.”
“So you want to take Nick with you?” Alex inquired.
Derek nodded. “He’s perfect for the job.”
“And you’re sure he’s up to it?” Rachel asked, looking
up from her sleeping patient.
“He’ll have to be.”
*
Nick awoke the next morning with a splitting headache.
He sat up slowly, trying to fight the dizziness that threatened to
overcome him. He threw one arm out toward the night table, and
felt for the journal he knew he would find there. He
wanted to see if he had made an entry the night before. He could
hardly even remember his own name.
There was a quiet knock on his door. He got
a sudden sick feeling in his stomach, but ignored it and called out, “Come
in!”
Rachel pushed the door open and stuck her head in
the door. “Good morning,” she said carefully.
“Morning,” Nick replied with a small grunt.
“What time is it?”
“Eleven-thirty,” Rachel responded, and waited for
the response.
“Eleven-thirty? It isn’t morning! Why
didn’t you wake me up?” he asked, rubbing at his eyes bitterly.
“I thought you might be tired.”
“Thanks a lot Rachel. Now that you let me
sleep half the day away.”
Rachel just watched Nick in wonder. He didn’t
seem to remember any of the events of the previous day. “I guess
I’ll
leave you alone then,” she said. “Come downstairs after your
shower. We all slept late.”
Then Nick surprised her. “Is Kat still here?”
he asked.
“Her sitter picked her up for school earlier this
morning. Apparently Kat did remember to set her alarm.”
“Maybe she should give us pointers,” Nick said with
a small laugh.
Rachel smiled and left the room.
*
“Good morning, Rachel,” Derek said, looking up from
his paper.
“Good morning.”
“So…”
“How’s Nick?”
Derek nodded at the psychiatrist. “He’s fine.
He doesn’t really act like he remembers much of yesterday, though.
He
asked about Kat, but other than that, he acted as if everything were
just a normal day.”
“Hm.”
“My thoughts exactly. Where’s Alex?”
“She went out to begin research on that school I
was telling you about last night. We couldn’t find much on our
database, so she’s seeing what she can find at the library.”
“Are the computers down?” Rachel asked, frowning.
“No,” Derek replied. “It’s just that nothing
of significance has ever happened at the school before. It’s just
a nice, normal
school.”
“No wonder Sloan wants you to look into it.”
“Well, whatever reason Sloan has for us taking on
this case, I think it’s a good idea. Some of the incidents just don’t
go
together right.”
“Do you really think we’re dealing with the supernatural?”
Rachel asked, somewhat skeptical. “I mean, kids pull pranks
all the time.”
“Not in Santa Mira.”
*
Nick pulled his shirt over his head and looked at
his reflection in the mirror. Despite his long night of sleep, his
eyes
looked bloodshot and tired, and there were small circles shadowing
the bottom of his lids. He rubbed at the bridge of his
nose, trying to erase the memories of the night before. He couldn’t
get his father’s voice out of his mind.
He combed his hair quickly and got ready to leave
the room. Then he noticed a small slip of paper beside his wallet
on
the dresser.
He picked it up, and nearly dropped it just as quickly.
Julia 748-9329
His jaw dropped. Then his mind flashed back
to the meeting in the café and he relaxed. She hadn’t given
him her
number, though. He shook his head, perplexed. Maybe a she
had slipped it in his pocket and he didn’t notice. He
doubted that. Oh well, he thought, maybe I’ll call her.
He walked downstairs and entered the kitchen.
Derek and Rachel sat at the table, talking quietly. They stopped
when
they noticed him walk him. “Good morning, Nick” Derek called.
“Morning.” He sounded much more cheerful than
he felt. “Look, I’m sorry about last night,” he said.
Rachel and Derek looked at each other. “Don’t
worry about it,” Derek finally said. “It was just a bad night.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Nick argued. “I should’ve
had more control. I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
“He said to forget it, Nick,” Rachel said.
“We already have.” He could see the lie in her eyes.
“No, you haven’t,” Nick disagreed. “I just—I
can’t stop thinking about her,” he admitted.
“Julia.” It was not a question.
“Yes.” He kept his eyes downcast. “I’m
sorry Derek, but every time I hear you say her name- It reminds me of that
day.”
“I know. And we both know how hard it is for
you to think about her. But you have to heal Nick, and sometimes
it isn’t
going to be easy.”
Rachel watched as the two talked, glad to see some
truth finally come out. She hated to see Nick try to hide his
feelings, especially when it came to Julia.
“I really don’t want to talk about this,” Nick stated.
He sat at the table. “Anything new on that school?” he asked, directing
the question at the Precept.
“Alex is working on it right now.” He stopped
and looked appraisingly at Nick. “Do you think you’re up for some
field
work?”
Nick nodded. “I always am,” he said with a
smile. He wasn’t so sure, though. “I’ll get packed right now,”
he said. “But
first there’s somebody I need to talk to.” He turned and left
the kitchen and walked to the phone in the parlor.
He took Julia’s number out of his pocket and dialed.
He waited for several rings and then hung up as he heard her
answering machine pick up. He stared at the phone for a moment,
then stuffed the phone number back in his pocket. He
ran upstairs to pack.
*
Derek looked over at Nick. His face was pale,
and dark circles ringed his eyes. “Rise and shine,” Derek said, nudging
him.
“Is it morning already?” Nick asked, rubbing his
eyes.
Derek nodded. “We’re almost there.”
“I don’t see why we couldn’t take a plane,” Nick
complained as he sat up straighter in his seat.
“Why do you care?” Derek asked. “I’ve been
doing all the driving.”
“It’s a matter of principle. No sane person
should spend two days in a car.”
“We haven’t spent two days in a car.”
Nick looked annoyed. “You know what I mean,
Derek. Fifteen hour drive, plus rest and food stops. This hasn’t
exactly
been my idea of a good time.”
“You’re too restless. You can’t spend your
whole life running around.”
Nick sighed and closed his eyes. He was having
a lot of trouble waking up lately. “How much further is it?”
“We’re here,” Derek replied, turning into a small
parking lot.
Nick read the sign in front of the motel.
“Bates Motel? Man, this looks like something out of a Hitchcock film.”
Derek looked at his partner and shook his head.
“Bates isn’t that uncommon of a name,” he stated.
They stepped out of the car. The wind gusted
a little around them, but other than that it was completely silent.
“Doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo doo-doo,” Nick chimed, “You are now entering
the Twilight Zone.”
Derek laughed. “It is a little eerie, isn’t
it?”
“You noticed.” A broken doll lay discarded
near the front door. One of the eyes was missing. “I wonder
how often they
clean this place,” Nick said.
“About as often as they get customers.”
“That’s comforting.”
They walked through the door into the motel office,
and looked around for a manager. “Hello?” Derek called. “Hello!”
He hit the call button several times.
There was no answer. “Great service,” Nick
muttered.
Then a man walked in from a back room. He
was about sixty years old, with whispy white hair and dark, beady eyes.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“We need a room,” Derek replied. “Or two,
if you have them.”
“I got nineteen empty rooms,” the old man said,
then leaned over, hacked, and spit onto the dirty floor.
“Hey,” Nick started, but was cut off by the old
man.
“You can have two rooms, but I’ll have to charge
you extra, on account of you’re not from around here.”
Nick sighed in exasperation. He spoke to the
man through clenched teeth, “If we lived here, we wouldn’t need a room.”
The old man said nothing. “Forget it,” Derek
whispered tightly. “We’ll take two rooms, then.”
“Alright.” He handed two keys to Derek, eyed
Nick suspiciously, then walked back to the other room.
“Great choice,” Nick muttered as they left the office.
“I’m sorry if you disapprove,” Derek said sarcastically
and kept walking as Nick stopped to watch his back.
Nick stood after Derek left, a sick feeling in his
stomach. He turned back toward the office. The old man was
staring at
the window at him, the tip of his tongue protruding slightly from his
mouth. Nick stared back at the man for a moment and
then turned away with a shudder and ran after Derek.
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