Falling Into The Past

Chapter 21

SAM'S P.O.V.

 
         We stuck to the edge of the woods the entire way to the cave. As soon as we saw their 4 bikes parked in front of the entrance, Courtney's eyes filled up with tears. I don't blame her. We're no closer to finding the guys, and we're exhausted. But we need to be careful going inside. There's no telling who or what is waiting for us in there.

        "I hope the only things flying in there are Marko's birds! I swear, I'll shank the next supernatural being I see!" Courtney swears as we make our way over the battered steps and into the entrance of the cave.

          What we see actually takes my breath away. I hear Courtney inhale sharply as her hand flies to cover her mouth. Chaos is the only world that seems to fit here.

          Dwayne's books are strewn everywhere, torn pages scattered all around. Clothes are hanging from the fountain, which has a huge piece broken off of it. David's throne chair has claw like marks running all over it. Dead bird carcasses have been thrown randomly all over the room. Their blood is splattered over the wall Marko usually hangs out in front of when he's feeding them. Courtney gingerly pets a bird's head, whispering about "poor birdies". She's always had a super big heart for animals. Marko's tools are stabbed into the spare bed. Any and all furniture has been shredded, stuffing from the couch still floating through the air. It seems like the only thing that survived this was Paul's "rock box." I pick up a hammer and a wrench to use as weapons if needed. I give Courtney the wrench, and grab her free hand. We walk slowly, surveying the damage. We need to check out our room. I hope no one found our bags with all of that shit from the future in them. The closer we got to our room, the more at peace I felt. Weird.

         "You feel that? It feels different back this way. Maybe that means it wasn't ransacked like the rest of the place." Courtney whispers lowly in my ear. I nod my head and keep walking with the hammer up, ready to strike if need be.

         We get to the doorway to our room, and I stretch the hammer out to push the curtain to the side. It looks exactly like we left it last night. Nothing has been touched. Our bags are still on the bed, clothes are still in the dresser, shoes are still under the bed, bed is still completely made. Huh.

         "I don't know whether to be relieved or worried that nothing in here seems to have been touched." I murmured to Courtney as she checks our bags for missing items. She nods her head, letting me know that everything is accounted for. Same with the pool room when we checked it. Nothing touched there either. There has to be an explanation for this. I'd like to find it before we try to get some sleep for a few hours.

          I walk into the closet to pull out some clothes for us to change into. We grab our tool weapons and head to the pool room. I lit a few candles with the matches I keep in my bag. As soon as all of them are lit, Courtney jumps clear over my head to get away from something in the corner.

         "Hello, my babies!" Lavinia yells out, making me stumble back, teetering on the edge of the pool. Courtney grabs my hand and pulls me forward so I don't fall in fully dressed.

         "Lavinia! You scared the ever loving piss out of us! What are you doing here?" I ask her, holding my hand over my racing heart. I've had just about enough of having the shit scared out of me!

          "I just wanted to see how you two were doing. How did you like your room? I did the same thing to it that I did to my booth at the Boardwalk." She states with a smirk.

          "When did you do that? Those birds have been dead a while, probably since late last night. Which means someone was here not long after we left." Courtney tells her with a hint of confusion in her voice.

         "I came by just minutes after you all left last night. I've been keeping a watch on this place. Doing nightly and daily checks. I had an off feeling about last night, so I slipped in here to cover up your existence in the cave. Whoever tore this place apart never saw a trace of you girls. I covered from the start of the hallway to the pool room." I can tell she's proud of herself.

         "That makes perfect sense! Thank you so much for your help, but will that affect your prophecy in any way?" I ask her hesitantly. I kind of like her, and I don't want anything to happen to her.

         "Oh no! What is stated in a prophecy is destiny. It's bound to happen one way or another. But there's no rule that says I can't lend a helping hand to my babies every now and then. The same goes for those misfits you two like to call friends. Those fellas have proven to be a handful. But still worth saving, am I right or am I right?" She winks at Courtney who smiles at me. I smile back at her and turn to ask Lavinia if there's anything else we should know, but of course she's gone. I roll my eyes and let out a weary sigh.

          "Let's get cleaned up and get some sleep. Hopefully we'll feel better when we wake up." I start stripping my clothes off and step into the water. I feel bone tired but oddly upbeat. Like there's a lingering bit of pep left in my system. I would say that's strange, but I know at this point that anything's possible.

          We finish cleaning up, get dressed and all but crawl to the bedroom. I don't think we've ever been this tired before. We've been up for over 24 hours, and man has it been grueling. I throw Paul's jacket on and climb under the sheets. Courtney puts on David's and throws Dwayne and Marko's jackets between us. We each throw an arm over each other, our hands holding onto the others arm. I don't know why, but I want to make sure each of us is touching all of their jackets. It almost feels like they're here with us, and I know we'll sleep better that way. I feel a small smile grace my lips before falling deeply asleep.