Come Get Me Page 6

  She looked slightly offended after hearing his words but quickly covered it up by talking again. “The rumor going around is that he was killed by some kind of bogeyman or something. They say he was out in the woods all alone and was killed but nobody knows how. I heard he was really messed up. Stuffed on a tree or something like that. Now, I don’t know if it’s true or not but I guess it could be considering all the other rumors going around. The sheriff is trying to keep it all quiet but I don’t think it’s working to well.” She looked around, then in a slightly lower voice said, “I also heard that it looked like someone pushed him but they don’t have any proof.”

  “What do you mean all the other rumors and what about someone pushing him? I hadn’t heard that before,” he asked. Maybe he would get some use out this conversation after all. If nothing else he would have a few more questions to ask Rob when he found him.

  “Well,” she began whispering as if there was anybody else in the general area that even cared, “everybody is saying how he was pushed out his tree stand. At least, that is, all the people I’ve talked to. I don’t see how that could’ve happened though. I mean a tree stand is pretty small isn’t it? I don’t know. Anyways, the rumor going around is that Tommy was doing something with one of the boys in towns’ wife and he kinda caught them at it. He got him back though by going out to Tommy’s stand and killing him. Yup, pushed him right out of it they say. Then to make it look like an accident he tossed him on a tree or something. I don’t know what the big deal is about falling on a tree is though. I mean falling on a tree isn’t that big a deal. I’ve seen a lot of people fall out of trees and on them too.” She said all of this as if it was an everyday occurrence. Jim almost pitied her for being so stupid. Not seeming to know any different she stepped even closer than she already was and told him it was all being kept quiet because the tree Tommy had landed on was way to far away for him to have made it there by himself. There was no way he could’ve reached it without help. Everything Jim was hearing, even considering the source, was making it harder and harder to believe Tommy’s death had been an accident.

  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 be
ast 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.

  It was around the same time as…well that was funny. He couldn’t remember. One second he’d been trying to remember a childhood dream and the next thing he knew it was gone. No more memory. He tried to grab hold of it again but it was too elusive. He didn’t know if he should be glad or not. The need to figure out what was going on still gnawed at him. It wasn’t like him to have dreams like that.

  Putting dreams aside for later pondering and tiring of lying on wet sheets, he finally rolled from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. He’d planned on going back to town today to see if he could find out what else had changed since his departure. There was also the matter of finding Rob to deal with. He really hoped he could find him today. He needed to find out more about Tommy’s death and Rob was the only other person he could ask.

  He thought sleeping on it might make him feel better about the whole thing but it had done the exact opposite. He just couldn’t let it go and accept that it was all just an accident, especially after hearing what Maria had to say. She was weird, but she did give him some more questions to ask when he found Rob. He didn’t know exactly what he thought Rob might tell him but it would still be more than what little he already knew.

  On his way down the stairs he heard plates clinking together and guessed his mother was already there making breakfast. Looking at his watch he corrected himself. She was probably making brunch. He didn’t realize he’d slept so late, that definitely wasn’t like him. With his job back in the city he was usually up early everyday so even when he was off on the weekends he didn’t sleep in very late. Now it was almost noon if his watch was to be believed. Dream or not he’d somehow manage to sleep almost half the day away. Mom was at the stove cooking something as he walked into the kitchen.

  “I thought you might want something to eat," she said glancing over her shoulder as he took a seat. “Ya know something? You don’t look like you’re eating enough. You’re gone all skin and bones since you were here last.”

  It was the same thing every time he came but he was used to it by now so he didn’t even try protesting her observations. It wouldn’t have done any good anyways. Jim had always been skin and bones, his mother just hadn’t seemed to notice. To her he was always too skinny and in need of more food. For being a twenty nine-year-old man he didn’t think he was doing half bad. He still had a full head of light brown hair, hadn’t gained a lot of weight and could still play a game of basketball with guys ten years younger than him. How many guys his age could say that? Most of them were bald with no hair and sat on their butts doing nothing all the time. He’d seen a lot of them while on the job.

  He found his looks had never been anything to write home about, but they were his and he was used to them and he had gotten his share of compliments throughout his life so he couldn’t be that bad. Mostly he heard about how cool his eyes were. This would usually be a bad thing if the only thing a girl could find good to say was that she liked his eyes, but he’d heard it his whole life. He didn’t know what was so cool about them though. The only thing he could think of was that they had a tendency to change color depending on his mood. When he was calm they were a nice, normal green but when he got upset or pissed off they changed to a blazing greenish-blue. If that was what women thought was cool then more power to them and good for him. Unfortunately his mother wasn’t mesmerized by his eyes. As far as she was concerned he was who he was and was always in need of more food so he could put some meat on his bones. She was always telling him that women liked being able to feel something when they hugged a man, and if all he had were his pokey bones then that explained why he didn’t have a girlfriend. He would just keep his mouth shut and let her say her piece. He wanted to tell her it was a bit more complicated than just gaining some weight but he didn’t. She needed to think it was something and not just the fact that not that many girls were interested. There’d been a few over the years but none that wanted to stick around for a while. She prattled on and on while he ate. He didn’t pay it much mind. In one ear and out the other, just like when he’d been little.

  While he was eating, his mother asked what he was planning to do that day. Not wanting to speak with a mouthful of food he held a finger up telling her to wait a minute. He never understood it but his mother had always been big on talking at meals. Most parents back when he was growing up, wanted their kids to be seen and not heard. Not his mother. She conducted most of her daily conversations in the kitchen during a meal of some sort. That was one of the things his friends had liked about his mom. She was laid back unlike other parents. They ate over at his house every chance they got.

  Since he hadn’t had a chance to tell her about it before, he told her in between mouthfuls about his unlucky meeting with Maria from the day before. When asked how he’d known her, he told his mom she was an old acquaintance from high school. Even with a day to think about it he still only had vague recollections of her and from those he didn’t think she had been or ever would be what he would call a friend. After telling her some of the things Maria had gleefully told him concerning Tommy’s death he asked to hear her thoughts on the whole thing. She agreed that it sounded strange but that maybe she was just excited about seeing him again. She also told him again that he should find Rob and get information from someone that would know and quit listening to gossip.

  With that advice barely out of her mouth he finished his last bite of food and told her that was exactly what he was going to go do. He put his plate in the sink, planted a kiss on her cheek and was out the door before she could say anything else.

  He was greeted by a slightly overcast morning that just about accurately reflected his current emotional mood. Dark and melancholy.

  Yup, that was him to the bone.

  As if to echo the tears that had been falling from his eyes recently it looked like it might turn to rain at some point throughout the day. Not really caring if he got wet he decided to walk to town. It was only water after all.

  He wandered down the road and memory lane thinking about his childhood and the things they’d done as they grew up. He was really looking forward to finding Rob. If nothing else at least then he’d have a more familiar face to see. He hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to locate him. He could probably ask around or go to the police station if worse came to worse but if he did that he might run into the sheriff. He wanted to put that off as long as possible, if at all. Hopefully Rob would know something. The two of them weren’t as close as they’d once been, time tended to do that, but he hoped it hadn’t changed things too much.

  As he walked towards town he e
ventually passed the restaurant Maria worked at. Glancing at the windows he quickened his pace a little. Hopefully she wasn’t there and if she was she wouldn’t see him. Just in case he walked a little faster, almost running, until the place was safely behind him. Maria was definitely a strange one he thought looking back over his shoulder making sure she wasn’t there. He still didn’t remember too much about her but he was pretty sure she hadn’t been as weird as she was now when they were in high school. The most he could remember was that she’d been one of the quiet kids who would get excited just by someone saying hello to her. That and the tagging along behind him stuff, but that wasn’t that big a deal. She sure had changed. Now it seemed like she was Dr Frankenstein’s younger sister or something. She seemed just a little too enthusiastic telling him the circumstances of Tommy’s death for Jim’s comfort. It was almost like she’d been bragging or something. She’d really seemed to enjoy talking about it that was for sure. Oh well, he thought shuddering, that’s just how some people are. He didn’t have to like it. He would just make sure he avoided her for the remainder of his stay. It wouldn’t be that hard. He wasn’t really going to be home long enough to do anything so there shouldn’t be a problem. After he was gone he wouldn’t need to worry about her or her gruesome enjoyment of death anymore and that was just fine with him. The sooner everything was over the better.