The Veil

Chapter Four

End of July

The next few weeks passed in a blur, we were all working so much that we didn't see a lot of each other in the day, I only had one unexpected day off, the weather turning too cold and wet for Emma and Joe to take another day off and hike. 

I'd gotten so tired from not sleeping well because of my dreams, that couldn't really be described as dreams anymore, they were flashbacks, memories with twists, that I'd started to see things, shadows out the corner of my eyes, the TV turning itself on, but when I looked up it would be off again, things moving themselves, shadows moving beside me. 

I even saw that girl, Lindsay, but only ever walking away from me, but when I'd try and catch up she'd disappear. It was really weird, I'd had one conversation with her and still I was seeing her rounding corners and ducking into doorways all over town, just like before I talked to her.

 One night I'd even imagined her in my room. 

I'd woken up from the memory of my mom and me walking Sky in the woods, at first I kept my eyes firmly closed, but then when I opened them and jumped so much that I knocked my phone off my bedside table, I picked it up and looked back to the chair I thought I'd seen Lindsay sat in, but of course she wasn't actually there. 

I had no idea why I was seeing her everywhere, I'd only had one conversation with the girl.  

I tried to find her on Facebook but just typing 'Lindsay' into the search bar really wasn't helpful at all, I asked Jade if she'd seen her around and she said she'd not seen anyone new at all.

I didn't know why I couldn't stop thinking about her, but I really wanted to know more about her, where she'd come from, I wanted to be nosey and curious, thinking it would help with the sightings of her around. 

Maybe if she wasn't such a mystery my brain would stop imagining her everywhere. 

I didn't know how to stop everything else though, the dream memories, the objects seemingly moving on their own, the shadows.

I decided if I couldn't see her, I'd go and see Miss Krakauer, her family had been here since the town was built, she was a tiny blind lady that lived in the centre of town, she knew everyone and everything that happened in town. 

Sometimes I even think she knew about my parents, she always seemed to guess at things about people, with scary accuracy.

When I'd first met her, it was two weeks after I'd decided to stay in Tom's house, I was just leaving the tattoo shop after talking myself into a job and I'd bumped into her on the street, I dropped my backpack as I was trying to stuff the contacts I'd just signed in there, I sighed before I went to pick it up, to find a hand already holding it out for me. I jumped slightly but smiled, "Thank you." 

I grabbed my backpack and looked at the elderly lady, her hair was grey and thinning, but still long enough to reach her shoulders. 

Her eyes were dulled and faded, but you could tell they were once hazel, she was small and thin, she looked frail, but I could just tell from her energy and they way she held herself she definitely wasn't. 

"You're welcome Lily." She smiled back at me, almost like she was looking in my eyes but not quite, I didn't know she was blind though, not until I'd gone home and told Jade I'd spoken to her. 

I didn't question how she knew my name without me telling her, most of the town knew who I was by then. 

She asked me how I was liking the town and if there was anything I needed. 

I reassured her I was fine and that I actually loved the town. 

Just as I was leaving she whispered to me, reaching towards me like she wanted to grab me.