Amelia's Children

Chapter 6

I blinked, then continued staring at him. Reminding myself to close my mouth, I swallowed, trying to force down the uncomfortable sensation that was rising up from my gut. I had no idea what to say to him, but I had to say something. The silence was threatening to swallow up the both of us.

"What do you mean in your dreams?"

"I mean exactly what it sounds like. All my life I've had these dreams. About a river, and four men. The four men I had lunch with today."

"Men? So it's not related to Amelia Davis, because Will and Benny were kids then."

"Well, see, I don't know, because I've seen them my whole life and it's like they've grown up with me."

It took me a moment to understand.

"So, wait, you mean when you were a kid you had dreams about my brother when he was a kid, but now you have dreams about him as an adult?"

"Yes, but he's always at the river."

"Have you been to the river yet?"

"I have. I rented Mack's place, like you suggested, so I've done a good bit of exploring."

"And does it look the way it does in your dreams?"

"Well, yes and no. I mean I can tell it's the right river, but it's not exactly the same."

"What do you mean it's not exactly the same?"

"I don't know. Just little details. The locations of trees, the width of the river, things like that."

I thought for a minute and then had an idea.

"You're staying at Big Mack's you said?"

"Yeah."

"So you must have his number."

"Yeah, I programmed it into my phone, why?"

"Give him a call."

"What?"

"Give him a call."

"About what? Why am I calling him?"

"Because you're gonna ask him to take us to the place where they found the body."

******

Mack agreed to meet us at the cabin, so we got into David's car and headed toward the river. On the way I continued asking him questions. Now that I was finally getting some answers, I wasn't about to waste the opportunity.

"Okay, so how exactly did you find us?"

He thought for a moment before responding. "It was really kind of a coincidence. I've had these dreams for as long as I can remember. For a while I just ignored them. I assumed everyone had dreams like that. But eventually I came to realize that this was not normal. I literally had the same dream every night for years. A few details would change here and there, but basically it was the same dream. I was always at the river, and those four guys were always there. Of course I didn't immediately conclude that it was telepathy or prophetic dreams or anything like that. For one thing nothing ever really happened in the dreams. It was just the place and the people that I remember seeing. But the things I saw changed sometimes."

"Changed how?"

"Well sometimes we'd be walking through the woods and we'd come to the edge of the water. Or sometimes we'd be in a car on a road that looks a lot like this one—probably because it was this one—and we'd drive right up to the bank. And sometimes the dream would start near the water and then we'd leave and go back into town. And I saw the name of the town on the sign."