Only a dream

Chapter 17

I stare at James in disbelief. My heart is pounding and my head is spinning. What just happened?




"James?" I whisper.




He lets out a chuckle, "No need to hush, dolly. We're the only ones here!" He props himself up on his elbows and gestures to the gaping forest.

I stare all around us, at the dark, slender evergreens that jut into the eerie black sky, obstructing my view of the strange crimson moon.




"James, we aren't alone." I say quietly.




He chuckles again, a deep laugh that echoes out of his scratchy throat. "Oh, love, but who is here if your the only other I see?"




I look at him in confusion. "Do you not recall what just happened?"




"I was asleep."




"No."




"Daydreaming?"




"Uh-uh."




"Well gee, darlin', what happened then?"




I bite my lip and think. Should I tell him about Valerie? He deserves to know, she was inside of him. But he killed her...so maybe I shouldn't.

As I contemplate this, something rustles in the thicket of strawberry bushes ten feet behind me. It's muffled, but it makes me jump nonetheless.

James whips his head around and jumps into a crouch. I smirk, even in a strange situation like this. The man may be old, and insane, and a murderer, and a nutcase...but he still has the agility of a cheetah.




"Who's there?" He growls, which is a foreign sound from his mouth. "C'mon, who's in those bushes?"




I turn around and stand up. Something feels weird. It's as if a rope is tied around my neck and I'm being dragged toward those bushes. I can't stop it. I can't control it. I, drawn to it.

I take a step forward. Then another. And another. I'm not five feet away, half way there, when James reaches out for me. His thin, boney fingers gnarl around my hand and stop me from moving.




"Muffin, what'ayou doin'? Samantha? Stop! Samantha stop! Sto-"




I pull out if his grasp and continue forward. I'm compelled to. There is no turning back now.

I step in front of the mess of berries and leaves and stop. James doesn't move. The bushes rustle. I take a breath. Everything goes by in excruciatingly slow motion. My hand reaches out and grabs a fistful of the plant. I pull it aside. James holds his breath. As do I. We stare at the thing perched on one of the branches. It's thin, delicate, intricately patterned wings flap and it flutters off into the breath. I watch the creature as it goes. It seems to glint and shimmer in the disoriented moonlight.

James gasps quietly. "No. No. No. No." I whispers, over and over again.

A butterfly. It was a butterfly. A bright blue butterfly. The patterns weaves onto its wings were that if two eyes. Two bright green eyes.