Forgotten

Chapter 3

I found myself in an unfamiliar house that was the picture of perfection. As I walked through the rooms I found that I was alone and my panic set in. There was a strange vibe throughout the place, something evil, but in classic dream world fashion, I couldn't figure out what. I turned a dark corner and Elizabeth was standing there reaching out to me. She smiled brightly at me and I ran to her but as I approached she whispered, "Find your way," and then quickly faded. In her place was a tall dark haired man who grabbed a hold of me and covered my mouth. I tried to scream, but couldn't. I looked into his eyes and knew he was there to kill me.

  I jumped out of bed quickly, not wanting to wake my sister. My ever-faithful dog Maximus followed along. Maximus was one of those fearless dogs, always willing to lunge at anything to protect me. If you could weigh arrogance, he would be a heavy weight. Classic Shih Tzu. At a mere 13lbs, he can't do much damage. In fact I have many times rescued him from the horrors of such evil as the wind and his shadow. But there was just something about him that gave me comfort. I scooped him up and headed down to the lake.

  The lake was so peaceful in the morning. So smooth there was a mirror image of the mountains and trees on the water. 

  Maximus and I settled into one of the Adirondack chairs on the dock, watching what looked to be a bear with cubs across the lake. The air was so fresh and clean. I closed my eyes and let the scent of pine trees and wild flowers drown away my fears.

  I felt the dock sway and opened my eyes as Emily walked towards me. "Hey."

  "Hey back." Emily sat down in the chair beside mine. "What should we do today?"

  "This" I replied, and closed my eyes again. I just wanted to get back to my dream where the beautiful stranger gave me a brown velvet box containing an amber necklace. It was rare for me to have any delightful dreams and this one was headed towards fantastical.

  "We have plenty of time for that. We should go into town and do a bit of shopping," she said pulling me up from the chair.

   "Okay, I'll go get ready." We walked back up to the cabin to change. I threw on my favorite pair of jeans and a white tank top, and twisted my hair it up into a big curly chaotic bun and headed for the Jeep.

  The town was nestled in the valley of the mountains, so the roads were very windy. As we drove around the last bend into town, we could see the mural Elizabeth had created on the exterior of one of the buildings. Painted in various shades of grey, the huge train looked as though it would burst from a black and white photograph into the town below, the people surrounding it cheering it on, capturing perfectly the sentiment of the newly built railway. The animals, as ever, watched quietly from the lush shadows of the painted forest.

  Emily and I both smiled as we looked up at it.

  "I love how the wolf is looking back at them as he walks up the mountain. Like he can't help but wonder what all the fuss is about," I said.

  "I think he's admiring the dapper gentlemen and ladies in their polished fifty's attire." Emily joked. She was a huge fan of bygone eras.

  I laughed, "That must be it." Either way, I felt a surge of pride. It was a glimpse of her talent for the entire world to see.

 The traffic in front of me slowed to a stop. In the city that would be no cause for alarm, in a little town you knew something was up. I pulled out to the side to get a better look and saw police cars blocking the road. After a few minutes the cars began to move slowly. As we approached the police we saw that they were searching all of the vehicles as they passed.

  When it was our turn to stop, I recognized the officer as someone I had gone to school with. "What's going on?" I asked as he walked up to the window.