Dark Shadows - A New Beginning

Chapter Eight

'Wonder if David is finished with his business' - Stanley thought as he pushed back the door and stepped into the diner. 'No... I don't see him...'

Stanley went and had a seat at the counter. The afternoon waitress was a gal with blonde pigtails named Lola. She wore a short skirt, rather like a cheerleader.

"What's your pleasure honey?" she asked, winking at Stanley. 

"Coffee for now," Stanley said. 

Stanley hardly noticed that a woman had come up to the counter and had a seat on the stool next to his.

"Excuse me sir," the woman with black hair said. "I was wondering if you'd know about a place that's supposed to be around here. I've heard it called Collinwood; I believe..."

Stanley turned to her with mild surprise and found her chocolate brown eyes inviting. 

Her eyes not only invited, but seemed to make one think of pleasant things. Like if one were suddenly looking into their smiling grandmother's face, and she'd just given them a chocolate chip cookie.

Stanley blinked, and the sensation was gone.

"What a strange coincidence," Stanley said. "I work at Collinwood. Should I believe that this is just a funny coincidence, or is there something more to you?"

The brunette smiled in a mysterious way and cast her gaze downward. 

"You can believe as you like, sir. I am a stranger here. I only wished to see the great Collins estate. I'm a tourist, you see..."

"Well I'll be!" Stanley said. "Collinwood really must be famous. They tell me it is. If you wait here, someone will soon arrive, and he'll be in a better position than I to answer your questions. He's the master at Collinwood."

"Fate has favored me then - but do tell me. You said you work at Collinwood. Do you know whatever became of Barnabas Collins?"

"I think you're pulling my leg," Stanley told her with a light laugh. "You just told me you're a tourist. How do you know about Barnabas Collins?"

"Well, they talk about him a good deal around here. They also say that there's a David Collins."

"Well, they're right," Stanley confirmed. "I guess it makes sense. I've already been warned about the way people like to talk around here. I didn't catch your name. I'm Stanley."

"...and I'm Lucy. Lucy Faris."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Faris. Now what about Barnabas? What do you want to know?"

"Is he as handsome and charming as people say? For if he is, he sounds like an old school gentleman, and I haven't had occasion to meet any of those in my travels."

"Do people also interest you? You are curious, Miss Faris."

"Lucy," she corrected him, "and people interest me very much. Now, what about Barnabas?"

"I couldn't say," Stanley answered her truthfully. "Barnabas apparently left Collinwood some 10 or more years ago, and I've just arrived yesterday, so you see - I know little more about Rockport than you do."

"Rockport?" Lucy asked. "Not Collinsport?"

Lola cut in just then.

"Well, part of this area did used to be called Collinsport. That's what the old-timers still call it sometimes, but I don't think it was ever officially incorporated as a town."

"Oh, I see," Lucy said. 

The chime above the door rang as David stepped into the diner. He had a seat next to Stanley and waited politely.

"Mr. Collins!" Lola exclaimed. "Well, hello!"

"Hi Lola," David greeted with a smile. "I think I'll have coffee."

"Wait," Lucy said. "Would you happen to be David Collins?"

"That'd be me," he confirmed, with a curious raise of his eyebrow. "Do we know one another?"

"I don't think so, sir - but it has been a while since I last passed through these parts. Perhaps we met each other about five years ago..."

"Perhaps we did," David said agreeably. 

Lucy suddenly excused herself to the restroom, saying that she wouldn't be but a moment. When she had locked herself in, she extracted a candle and a lighter from her purse.

Lighting the candle, she held it up and glanced in the mirror at her own reflection.

"You are going to hear me, David Collins," she began in a low voice. "Not you, but your subconscious mind. That is the part to which I call, and as I look into this flame - I am seeing an image in my mind..."

Lucy quickly made up a scenario. Something that had never taken place, but David was to think that it had. 

She was slightly younger, and an art student. She'd passed through Rockport five years ago. She'd once met David at the counter in this very diner...

That is the false memory she gave shape in her mind, and she willed it into the candle flame.

"Hear me, little flame," she spoke again. "Remember well the image I have conveyed to you. You will spark in the mind of David Collins. You will leap to life, like a thought coming into his head. What I have revealed to you - you will reveal to him, as though it were a real memory he is suddenly having. Not too real. Just real enough. He is having a vague thought..."

With that, Lucy blew out the candle, rinsed the hot wax off in the sink, and returned it to her purse. She then exited the bathroom door with a deliberate dramatic flair - meaning to draw everyone's attention again. 

"Lucy!" David called to her. "You know what? I do remember. I think I must have met you right here, about five years ago. You were an art student then..."

"Why, that's right!" she exclaimed. "I'd almost forgotten it too."

"You're looking well. Stanley has been telling me about your conversation. Well, how about I answer all your questions? How would that be?"

David smiled and Lucy did her best to feign enthusiasm.

"Why Mr. Collins! I'd be ever so appreciative. I was just wondering whatever happened to your cousin Barnabas whom I hear about."

"He went to France, I believe," David said. "His nephew Adam came in his place and moved into the old house on the estate."

'Adam says that isn't true' - Stanley thought, feeling an uneasy doubt toward David's words. 

"Adam," Lucy said in response to David's answer. "Adam Collins, I assume? He is a Collins?"

"As much a Collins as I am," David confirmed. "Would you like to meet him?"

Lucy could hardly believe her luck. This was turning out even better than she'd hoped! David was making things easy...

"If it wouldn't be any trouble," she said. 

"No trouble," David promised. "You can ride back to Collinwood with us in my car."

Lucy averted her face from David and Stanley momentarily so that they wouldn't see her smile. Her smile was wide, knowing, and devious.

TO BE CONTINUED