Chapter 9: Pursuit
“I dream of rain… I dream of gardens in the desert sand. I wake in pain, I dream of love as time runs through my hand. I dream of fire … Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire. And in the flames… Shadows play in the shape of a man's desire…” - Sting, “Desert Rose”
Nick walks home from school the next day. His mind still confused about all the recent events. The fire, the dreams that have started again for no reason, that girl in the grocery store that for whatever reason, sparked intrigue within. He always knew he wasn’t normal, but this is starting to go beyond what he’s used to. Now Alex and Howie were more worried than ever and he was lucky if he got time to himself. Which is why he left a few minutes early, so he could enjoy the walk home, maybe stop by the beach, sketch a few tourists. His ocean eyes takes everything in, the bustle around him, the familiarity of it all. Las Vegas has nothing on this city.
He hums to himself softly. There’s question’s nagging at the back of his head. Things forgotten that demanded to be seen. Nick sighs, he doesn’t want to know. No, that was a lie, part of him wants it more than anything; while the other half, happy with the simplicity doesn’t.
He walks, glad tourists don’t often come over there. They preferred the shop infested paths.
Footsteps.
He stops. The footsteps stop.
He hurries along, a bit nervous about it all. Maybe he’s paranoid. After all that’s happened in his life, could anyone possibly blame him? Then there was that girl at the grocery store. He hadn’t mentioned it to AJ. Or even got the chance to say a thing for the girl had left the store so quick after the power surge of the store. But she was the one from the drawings. The drawings he could never remember doing. He wants to know who she was. Why she keeps visiting his mind so often without an invite. Yet, it was just another question to add on to the list. His minds leave him when he starts hearing the footsteps once more. He makes a turn to the crowded paths he knows better.
As he passes by the beach, he pauses and turns behind him. He could have sworn he was being watched. Followed.
But… that was ridiculous, right?
************
Her dream this time came in jumbled parts.
Nicky? Her mind asked as they both stood once more in the clearing of the woods. Was this their meeting place? She doesn’t understand. She just knows it is his mind controlling this. Even when he’s not dreaming, his subconscious is there, searching for her as he was deep in thought.
“Who are you?” He asks, coming out into the moonlight. Night, always at night it seems to be for them.
“You should know, this is your mind.”
“You’re a figment in my mind?” He questions, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No, trust me, I ain’t that. As far as I get this shit, this is a safe place in your mind. You invited me here. You’re the one who decides what I can’t answer. Subconsciously anyway. I think. Fuck this is confusing.”
“You’re telling me. Yet I get it… why can’t we go to your place?”
She shrugs with a laugh. “I have no idea how, that’s why. You do. You said this was your fave dream last time right? “
The shaggy blonde haired teen nodded.
“Then you’ve had it forever. I want to tell you who I am. Soooooo bad.” A sigh. “But something in your head won’t let me. Prolly cause it knows.”
“‘m just as lost as you are. I want to find you…” He says, wistfully, unsure of why he said it. Yet his heart knows it true.
The girl spies a dark mist invading the dream and her eyes widen. It begins to surround Nick in a sinister matter. Her twin was in danger. “Nick!” She runs towards him. “NIIIICK!”
Suddenly the ground vanishes under her.
Falling.
Falling to her end.
Or would the end never come and she would fall forever?
She screams.
Then, suddenly, the falling stops and she is by the beach of sunny Huntington Beach, California.
“Nick!” She cries. She has to find him. Now.
Lost within a dream Jessica runs through the crowds, pushing them by with an extreme sense of urgency. She was searching for something. No. Someone. All she knows here is that she must find him. Find him now. Before it was too late.
Gunshots blast around her.
The mob of people becomes suffocating.
Someone is in pursuit of her as well as the person she is seeking. He was getting close. Blood streams carelessly from the innocents caught in the chaser’s path. She runs faster, feeling the energy build within. She can’t stop or she would faint and he would catch her. She cries out when she spies a flash of blond hair.
“NICKY!”
He vanishes into a building. She makes a sharp turn, following him as well. She had to catch him before it was too late. She senses something she knows his innocent heart does not.
“NICKY!” She screams again, her voice feeling hoarse. She keeps racing after him, scratching her arm roughly against the wall as she does and not caring a bit. Her short blonde hair blows behind her from some unknown breeze. Her stomach felt ill, it was close. Time was almost out. Nick was about to go into a trap.
Nick…
Was In Danger! Her mind screams as she shoot out of the stiff hotel bed. She breathes rapidly as her heart pounds within her chest. The dream.
Kevin is sitting on the bed, watching her with those caring jade eyes. “Jess, I’ve been trying to wake you up for awhile now. Are you alright?”
“It was just a dream… Just, the dream had felt… “She glanced at her sore arm. A deep scratch stood out, and her eyed widened. “So real…”
“What is it?”
“I can’t wait till its safe from Mike’s eyes to find Nick.”
“Calm down.”
“No, I…I can’t. Trust me.”
“You’re not making sense!” The eighteen year old tries to reason, pushing a raven lock away from his brow.
Her hair is matted to her forehead, as the beads of sweat glitter on her forehead like stars. She is serious, and knows what she feels is true. Her dream is half muddle, half clear. No matter right now. She has to convince Kevin so he can convince Brian. “Nick is in danger.”
************
“Karona, you mean to tell us you have lost her? Do you realize the importance of your project!?” A voice bellows through the cheap phone in Mike Karona’s home.
The stepfather tries not to rage back at the incompetent man. He knew far far better than he did. Silly man. His onyx eyes glimmer in the pale light. of the bathroom. His wife, lay in her bed, in the peacefulness of a drugged sleep…
No one could interfere now that Jessica had slipped his grasp.
“Yes I know. I have an idea where she could have gone.”
“You realize the others likely have already started tracking her down.”
“I had thought the brat had tried to scare me. So I gave her a few days. She knew I’d keep my threats if she ran. I’m slightly impressed the bitch tried it anyway. “
“Now the others are seeking her and the other half of the project.”
“I’ll find it first.”
“And you know that how!”
A deadly smirk appears on the ruler of the Karona home. A snicker escapes Mike’s throat, sounding far more like a cackle. “I have a hunch on where she is. No doubt she brought her idiot neighbor friends with her. I’ll have her by sundown. I might just take the second project with me.”
“If you can’t get her back, the project will be terminated and we will go on to the solution to this possibility. Operation B.”
“Operation B will prove shit. You need me to get her back in normal society and you know it. I WILL HANDLE THIS!” He slams the phone down harshly, so much that the pale phone cracks in two, sparks jumping out excited.
“Believe me, I will.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
I know I don't update the way I should. :( I'm in college now and work full time so that ends up always taking up my time. I'm trying though. Any who read this sill and enjoy it, thank you :). Reviews are spiffy.
