Strange Happenings {Nathan Sykes}

Chpt.9

*Dream*

The sky was dark and this time it was raining. I was in the forest again standing in an open area amongst the trees. My hair and clothes were wet, and I felt cold.

"Crysssstal..." a voice whispered to my right.

I turned to the sound and saw a shadow move in the trees. I squinted in the rain to try to make out the shape. An uneasy feeling started to sit in my stomach as I saw the dark shape twist and reform itself. I wanted to run, but this time my feet wouldn't move. The dark shape started approaching me closer and closer.

"Crysssstal..."

I twisted so I could run the other direction. When I turned Luke was standing in front of me.

"Luke!" I screamed out of surprise. I quickly looked behind me to see if the dark shape was still approaching, "Luke, quick we have to get out of-"

But when I checked, the figure was nowhere to be seen. I turned back to Luke, "Didn't you see that? It was right there!"

Luke didn't answer and stood there staring down at me, a small smile on his face, rain dripping off his hair.

"Luke?"

But he just stood there unmoving, silent.

"Luke? Why won't you say something? What's wrong?"

His eyes abruptly left my face and looked past me. Anger suddenly crossed his face and his body tensed. I turned around to see what he was looking at. Only a few feet away behind some trees, a pair of golden eyes shone brightly amongst the darkness. I turned back to Luke. His face had become almost unrecognizable, contorted into an anger I had never seen before. Terrified, I backed away. But before I could turn around and run, two strong arms caught me from behind. I screamed and fought back. I turned back to Luke for help but he was gone. I managed to twist around to see my captor. Two golden eyes looked down at me. I immediately stopped struggling. It was Nathan.

I woke up. Golden eyes. Nathan. Was my dream confirming a hunch I had all along? I couldn't make sense of it. After a few more minutes, I shook my head and reasoned that it was a dream and nothing more. I got dressed and went downstairs. I made some necessary phone calls to my dad's work. After talking to a gal about insurance, I realized I had to dig up some more information. I looked around wondering where I might find it. My eyes settled on my dad's closed den door.

I was never allowed in there and was just fine with that. But realizing I had no choice but to look in there I opened the door. The room smelled heavily of cigarette smoke. The shades were drawn tightly as if the light of day was never allowed. Beer cans and bottles littered the side tables. His brown armchair was stained and looked as old as the small green couch next to it. A TV sat in the corner, remote on the floor. In the other corner was a pile of mix-matched cardboard boxes. I walked over there to see what was inside. Photographs of my mom and our family from better times were in there, along with a few personal items of hers. I had always wondered what happened to her things. As soon as her funeral was over, all of her clothes and pictures disappeared. My dad said he got rid of everything because it was too painful to see. Now I realized that he had secretly kept some things of hers, which only fueled his depression and loss. I wiped tears from my eyes and decided not to look anymore in the boxes. I walked over to his desk where paperwork was haphazardly strewn about. I went through the drawers and looked through the mess. I noticed many unopened envelopes from creditors. I decided to open a few and realized that my dad had not been paying the bills. A few had already cancelled his accounts. I found a letter from the mortgage company. My eyes focused on the sentence that read "foreclosure notice." My shoulders sagged. We were going to lose the house.