Prophetic Dreams

Chapter 4

James was standing on the hill over looking the old homestead.  His heart was racing so fast he thought it might explode through a hole in his chest.  There was more too it this time, the place had changed.  The dilapidated old house didn't look as run down as it had been in the past.  The strips of siding that had been missing were now in tact.  Most of the old single pane windows were whole again.  James was bewildered.  He didn't understand how or why the house was improving with time.  Even the dead lilac trees in the front yard were beginning to show new life.  He wondered if maybe the barn had changed too, as well as what was inside.  He wanted to run there, to see if maybe she was gone, but he couldn't run.  Like all the times before, he would have no control here.  As he neared the barn he realized that it too was in better shape.  The wood was taking on a new luster.  James turned too look into the barn, he wanted to vomit.  The scene within was not the same as before.  The red light was there, as it had been all the other times, and she was there as well.  This time you could smell her as well as see her.  She seemed, like the rest of the place, to be going through decomposition, in reverse.  He watched as the beetles replaced what they had once removed.  Her fingernails were once a good nine inches long and were now down to three.  A small trickle of blood was beginning to form in the corner of her fleshless mouth. 

 *****

James awoke to a loud thumping sound.  It was the restaurant manager, "Hey buddy, you can't sleep here," a red-faced man was yelling through the glass.  James just realized that he was still in his car at the restaurant.  It was dark and he scrambled to check the time.  It was 10pm, he was late.  He reached for the shifter knob and jammed his car into reverse. He stomped on it whipping out of the parking spot leaving a very befuddled manager standing pressed against the Toyota Camry that had been parked beside him. 

James pulled up to Michael's apartment.  He looked up at his window to make sure the light was still on and he had not gone to bed.  At first he didn't realize what he was seeing, and then it clicked.  Michael was hanging from the window of his second floor apartment.  James rushed upstairs with hopes there might be a chance of saving him.  When he got to the apartment it was in shambles, utterly destroyed.  Michael had not even opened the window before he jumped and the floor was covered with broken glass.  On the wall above the small couch was written 'HER' in blood.  James was in shock, he needed to do something, but there was nothing he could do, he was too late. 

James made an anonymous phone call to 911 from a phone booth across the street.  He said that a man had jumped out a window and hung himself at the Cherry Heights Apartments.  He passed the authorities on his way home for the night.

James sat on his couch that night wondering what had happened and what was in the file.  When he reached down for the remote to turn on the TV he noticed that the book was on the coffee table and the amulet was again hanging from around his neck.   James was no longer startled by this phenomenon, stuff like this was becoming routine.  He didn't want to read the book.  There were things in life that were better left alone.  The book rose from the table and floated over to his lap and set down.  He guessed this was not one of those things.  James took the amulet and fit it into the lock on the book.

The bloody letters on the cover turned to liquid and ran across to the lock and slipped within the pages, staining the horns of the amulet red.  The serpents began to spew fire from their mouths, each igniting the other in hell fire.  The woman on the upside down cross began screaming in agony as she hung upside down, blood running from her nose to the pages within.  Her scream slowly became a gurgle as a froth of blood streamed from her mouth.  The entire book was turning crimson red from the blood that continued to flow.  James tried to throw the book, to be rid of it, but he could not release the grip he had on it.  Some unseen force held his hands tight to the cover.