Machinery, Take Thy Dream
Chapter 17: Mixed Messages
I lay in my bed, surprisingly alone. I couldn’t forget the way Amy put the dead girl in a potato sack and slung her over her shoulder so carelessly. The proud yet devious smile that played on her lips as she staggered under the child’s weight. I couldn’t forget her seductive offer to join her at the “ceremony” at the dam and I sure as hell couldn’t forget all the blood that dripped from the sack onto the floor. Hell, I’d tried to scrub it off for hours and even after it’d vanished, I could still see them in my mind.
“You can find me in the hidden house on Enchanted Lane.” I heard Chloe’s voice echo and not long after I found myself sitting in my car outside of her house. The front was hidden behind four large willow tree’s which encircled the house. The place looked dark and mysterious, and it thought that the place suited her very well.
I didn’t bother knocking and I tiptoed in silently. A black cat was curled up on a rocking chair, and drying herbs hung from the ceiling. I paused as I heard Chloe’s voice and that of another familiar woman coming from another room. The strange woman’s voice was husky with tears.
“I see her, Caroline.” Chloe’s voice whispers, I couldn’t help but imagine her red hair, “She’s running through a field of yellow tulips and she looks beautiful in her bright blue dress. All this was made possible because of what happened. She’s telling me that she loves you and that you shouldn’t worry about her. She’s in better hands.”
The voice laughs nervously and I now recognize it as Caroline’s, “That sounds like something she’d say. Make sure she knows that I love her and I hope she’s happier.”
I can’t stand to hear anymore nonsense and I turn to leave but Chloe calls out, “Where are you going, Connor? I feel that we need to have a talk as well.”
I stood dead in my tracks, my head hanging in frustration as I spin on my heel only to be confronted by Sabrina the teenage witch. Caroline stops in front of me on her way out and smiles before departing. I try to hide my frustration, “So this is what you do for a living?”
“Do you like the props? The black cat, herbs, and I’ve even got an iron pot hanging over the stove.” Chloe says, waving me over to her kitchen table.
“You comfort these people?” I asked.
Chloe laughs, “I used to scare the living day out of them, but now that’s your job.”
I sit down in front of her and I realize that she’s gorgeous. Her long red hair and her green eyes only accentuated her prominent freckles. Her arms and legs were covered with scars and now that I noticed, one of her eyes took on a grayish hue.
“I was a runner once.” She began to tell her story as she realized that I was staring at her eye, “The way that the town used to kill people off was way worse than what you’re doing now, Connor. Sheriff Sheldon and his boys used to play a little game of hide and seek. The runner was given a knife for their protection and they came at the runner with any weapon they chose. I was one of those few who survived. Killed a few of them myself but I didn’t escape unharmed.”
I shake my head, “Why are you telling me this?”
She pauses, biting her lips before speaking, “Because what you’re doing isn’t a bad thing.”
“You can find me in the hidden house on Enchanted Lane.” I heard Chloe’s voice echo and not long after I found myself sitting in my car outside of her house. The front was hidden behind four large willow tree’s which encircled the house. The place looked dark and mysterious, and it thought that the place suited her very well.
I didn’t bother knocking and I tiptoed in silently. A black cat was curled up on a rocking chair, and drying herbs hung from the ceiling. I paused as I heard Chloe’s voice and that of another familiar woman coming from another room. The strange woman’s voice was husky with tears.
“I see her, Caroline.” Chloe’s voice whispers, I couldn’t help but imagine her red hair, “She’s running through a field of yellow tulips and she looks beautiful in her bright blue dress. All this was made possible because of what happened. She’s telling me that she loves you and that you shouldn’t worry about her. She’s in better hands.”
The voice laughs nervously and I now recognize it as Caroline’s, “That sounds like something she’d say. Make sure she knows that I love her and I hope she’s happier.”
I can’t stand to hear anymore nonsense and I turn to leave but Chloe calls out, “Where are you going, Connor? I feel that we need to have a talk as well.”
I stood dead in my tracks, my head hanging in frustration as I spin on my heel only to be confronted by Sabrina the teenage witch. Caroline stops in front of me on her way out and smiles before departing. I try to hide my frustration, “So this is what you do for a living?”
“Do you like the props? The black cat, herbs, and I’ve even got an iron pot hanging over the stove.” Chloe says, waving me over to her kitchen table.
“You comfort these people?” I asked.
Chloe laughs, “I used to scare the living day out of them, but now that’s your job.”
I sit down in front of her and I realize that she’s gorgeous. Her long red hair and her green eyes only accentuated her prominent freckles. Her arms and legs were covered with scars and now that I noticed, one of her eyes took on a grayish hue.
“I was a runner once.” She began to tell her story as she realized that I was staring at her eye, “The way that the town used to kill people off was way worse than what you’re doing now, Connor. Sheriff Sheldon and his boys used to play a little game of hide and seek. The runner was given a knife for their protection and they came at the runner with any weapon they chose. I was one of those few who survived. Killed a few of them myself but I didn’t escape unharmed.”
I shake my head, “Why are you telling me this?”
She pauses, biting her lips before speaking, “Because what you’re doing isn’t a bad thing.”
♠ ♠ ♠
The plot thickens. I'm having so many internet connection problems I feel like I spend more time fixing the wires under the desk than I do sitting at the desk. Reward my hard efforts with a comment!