HAVEN BLACK - complete

SNOWFLAKE WISH

Chapter 19 – SNOWFLAKE WISH

"What is it Jake?" Jill asked, softly pressing her hand on my shoulder.

"Um... See that street over there with the flickering lights?" I replied still staring shakily though the binoculars at the long black car that was parked along the curb between some steaming vents; the car remained stationery, and there were no signs of anyone around the car but I could sense a dark sinister presence from within it.

"Yeah...I see the street. It's a little strange that it's the only street without lights – but what do you see Jake, through the binoculars?"

Wanting to blurt out that I was seeing the seedy car from the other night, the night I thought I had seen an intruder in Jill's room, I resisted and stopped short as I wasn't sure how Jill would receive my confession, hell I wasn't even sure the vehicle was even really there!

"Have a look and tell me what you see," I said to Jill as I handed the small binoculars to her.

"Okay?" Jill replied sounding a little unsure. She looked through the binoculars and moved them from side to side, and up and down in search for the street.

"Okay... Found the street," Jill quickly said a short moment later.

I suddenly found myself breathing faster and harder in a dreaded anticipation that Jill might (or might not) confirm the existence of the strange car.

"Do you... Do you see it?" I blurted out eagerly, waves of anxiety started to painfully grow inside my chest.

"Um not sure... What am I looking for –"

Without warning, a whirring noise sounded from below us and our carriage clunked back into motion swaying us in our seats a little roughly.

"Argh...lost it...lost the street!" Jill mentioned sounding a bit disappointed as she put the binoculars down and onto her lap. "What did I miss? Was it good?"

"It was just a cool car, that's all," I replied somewhat discouraged and a little disjointed.

Lying to Jill was not something I wanted to do, but I felt it was necessary to protect her from whatever I was experiencing, whether the sightings of this car and the intruder were real or not.

"Oh, that's cool..." Jill said with a tone that suddenly lacked her usual peppiness. "Did you want to keep these?" she continued as she jabbed the binoculars uncomfortably into the side of my ribs.

"Ouch, okay, I'll borrow them then... If you insist," I replied rather cautiously having sensed the negative shift in Jill's demeanor.

The Ferris wheel ride finished shortly afterwards and a hushed restlessness fell between us and after checking her phone, Jill suggested that we should head back home. It didn't sound like Jill had given me a choice, so I agreed and we both walked between the food stands, past the festival's dwindling crowds, and out past the exit gate.

Cold air awaited us outside the festival gates and it undoubtedly felt much chillier than it did on the walk here. The pale yellow lights from the streetlamps above us guided us on our walk home; tall, age-old trees cast shadows of odd finger-like shapes from their contorted branches across our path. The moon's dim light hazed through a thick layer of fog from beyond the trees and through their withering, leafless branches. I constantly glanced up at the street lights, anxious that they might start showing signs of anything out of the ordinary.

Jill walked stiffly and at an increased pace towards home, and it seemed as though I was always trailing a step behind her.

"Are you okay Jill?" I asked breathlessly as I ran past her, turned a half circle, then started jogging backwards. Jill looked at the pavement and increased her pace slightly, murmuring in a feeble grumble towards the ground with her chin against her chest.