DREAM MAKER
Chapter 1: Introduction
By: Tamara Fernandez
A/N: I do not own Dreamcatcher, Jonesy, Henry, Beaver, Pete or Duddits. They are all creations of the very creative Stephen King. This fanfiction is based on some of the book and most of the movie. The only character that belongs to me is Alice Marie Palmer. She is copyrighted and cannot be used for public or private use without proper consent. Thanks and I hope you enjoy the fic! Please comment. :)
1
Henry Devlin was the name of the man sitting on the cushioned seat of the dim office. Lying across from him on an oak couch was a middle-aged man droning about his marital issues. Henry nodded a few times and asked a couple of questions concerning the problem, but Henry's mind was beyond the depressing office. He was lost in thought and dark memories that he sometimes wished he'd forget — but how could you? His head flooded with pictures of Jonesy, Beaver, Pete and Duddits, three of those that had died that fateful day a year and a half ago. It had been very hard on him, since he didn't really have anyone close. Of course colleagues talked with him daily about their life, but it wasn't the same as having a strong-bonded friendship like the one Jonesy, Beav, Pete and he did. He just kept replaying what had happened over and over in his head: walking into Hole in the Wall and finding Beaver's body in the bathroom, not knowing whether Jonesy was still alive, and watching Duddits die in front of him. He remembered how Hole in the Wall had been a refuge from the hard life and how he'd lost three friends in a place he once adored so much. Those were dark times. Very dark times. He tried hard not to remember, but it was hard not to.
Henry snapped from his sea of thoughts and glimpsed down at his watch. The man's session was over. Thank God, he thought. He let the man know the time for his next appointment—which would be Monday—and what he planned to discuss then. It was Friday and he didn't work weekends. He sighed, walking to his desk as the man left out the door. He looked down at a small spot on his desk with four letters etched into the fine wood: SSDD. Another sigh ran though his dry lips his eyes focusing down at the phone. He hadn't called Jonesy for a few weeks now; he'd been quite busy with old and new patients and just hadn't found the time. Ever since that day up north of Maine he and Jonesy had become even closer. They were the only ones that had survived and, well, he wasn't about to lose his only good friend. He was like a brother to him and that's how it felt ever since they rescued Duddits back in Derry. Both Jonesy and Henry lived in Boston, Massachusetts now and had been living there for a few years. There was good and bad memories here and most were good.
He decided to drop his old friend a call after all. The man who'd just left was his last patient of the day before he went back to his empty apartment. He'd watch television while he had a few beers (he only drank on Friday's and he tended not to drink a lot before he was too tired to even keep his eyes open). He picked up the phone and quickly dialed Jonesy's work number since he knew it by heart. It rang a couple of times before a familiar voice echoed into his ear, "Jones."
"Hey Jonesy. How you doin'"
"Hey H! Eh, you know, SSDD."
It felt like an eerie déjavù. They'd said that just before Jonesy's accident. He shook off the feeling. "I was planning on calling you," Jonesy said, "did you see the line?" he asked. Henry hadn't seen the line since they got back from Maine. This time it had really been just a coincidence that he decided to call. "No, just wanted to drop a call," he replied with a smile. Jonesy chuckled, "Yeah…I haven't seen it either. Anyway, reason I wanted to call was because Carla and I are having a guest over for dinner who's new to town. She is Carla's old high school buddy. Carla thought it would be nice to introduce her to some people so she wouldn't feel so new, you know?" he explained. Henry nodded as if he was talking to him in person, "Yeah, I know. So…let me guess…you want me to come over so she could get aquainted, right?" He asked knowingly.
"Right," Jonesy echoed, "tonight at seven. I'll see you then?"
"Alright. Seven it is. See you then. Nice talkin' to you Jonesy," Henry said.
"Nice talkin' to you, too, H. Bye." Jonesy hung up hesitantly.
"Bye…" Henry followed, placing the phone down softly.
Well, atleast now there was something to look forward to. Atleast it was some kind of change from his boring and repetitive schedule. He looked down at the digital clock on his desk. It was four thirty and estimating how long it would take him to get home, get ready and leave he'd have atleast ten minutes spare. Good enough right? Yeah right. He jolted from his seat, grabbed his suitcase, turned off the lights and darted out of that office like a dog on heat.
2
Henry finished knotting his black velvet tie as his eyes took a quick glimpse at the clock on the wall. It was six twenty-six and he guessed it would take him about fifthteen minutes to get to Jonesy's house without traffic. It had taken him one hour to get home because of the heavy traffic clogging the freeway. By the time he got home it was five forty. Showering took him twenty minutes, which brought him to six o' clock (he has very good hygiene and likes to be presentable, thus leading to taking his sweet-ass time doing things). Finally, twenty-six minutes getting dressed and ready to leave. Then again, even if he took forever he always managed to be atleast ten to five minutes early.
One final check in the mirror and he was finally ready. Move your ass! He scowled at himself. He wondered who Carla's friend was. He'd met most of her friends, many that she'd hanged with in high school and college, others just colleagues from work. Then he remembered Jonesy saying this girl was 'new to town.' Either way, he'd attend the dinner of course. He'd never break his word, especially to a good friend like Jonesy.
As he drove down the almost empty highway (oh, wasn't he so damn lucky?) towards Jonesy's house, his mind slipped into those unwanted memories. Beaver, how he missed his friend. Beaver had been the life of the party, the comedian, with his use and comical foul language that they creatively called Beaver-isms. Henry still tended to say a lot Beaver-isms: Jesus-Christ-Bananas, Fuck me Freddy, Doodlyfuck, and others that slipped from his mouth from time to time.
He pulled into Jonesy's driveway his eyes darting down to his wristwatch. He chuckled to himself, "Oh you son of a bitch." He was five minutes early, just as estimated. He stepped out of his car and looked around to see if he saw an unfamiliar car, but didn't. Guess she's not here. Either that or she got lost and decided not to come, he thought as he rang the doorbell. Carla answered the door, smiling broadly she wrapped her arms around Henry and planted a kiss on his left cheek, "Glad to see you again Henry. You look nice," she chirped, "please come in." He walked into the cozy home when Jonesy emerged from the dining room. Henry smiled—so did Jonesy—as they walked up to each other and embraced tightly.
"Hey man, good to see you."
"Same here, Jonesy." They stepped back, still smiling. "You made it. Knew you would," Jonesy grinned nudging Henry in the rib. The three of them walked into the dining room as Carla continued to do what she was doing before she answered the door, which was placing plates around the eight seating table (three on each side, two on each end). Jonesy went into the kitchen to bring out the food they'd have. The coziness of the house brought a peaceful feeling to Henry's heart. He'd never experienced living in a house full of love and warmth from a family. Henry had only been married once, to a woman he had loved very much named Rhonda. Of course all marriages have problems, but it seems they weren't able to stick together and work it out, bringing it to an abrupt end. But that was years ago and he'd gotten over it. Jonesy, so it seemed, had been the only one to maintain a working marriage. Henry hadn't really considered dating…then again he should. In all honesty, he didn't want to die old and alone with no kids and no wife. It was funny how he thought now. Just a year and a half ago he was plotting ways to kill himself and just end this life, but after the indecent up north those thoughts of suicide dissipated…especially after he'd seen so much death. When he lost Beav, Pete and Duddits he'd felt the worst pain ever imaginable. Losing someone you loved so much was the worst and he wasn't about to do it to Jonesy. Never in this lifetime, buddy. After experiencing it first hand, he knew that suicide had to walk out the door.
3
The doorbell rang softly, snapping Henry from his whirlpool of thoughts. He turned toward the door. "Can you get it, H? Must be our guest," Jonesy called from the kitchen then walking into the dining room and placing down a bowl of mashed potatoes—no doubt made by Jonesy. "Sure," Henry replied walking to the door as the bell rung again. He opened the door and his jaw almost dislocated, Fuck me Freddy…He gawked at the beautiful woman standing before him. She had long golden-brown hair, ivory skin (with pink cheek), and almond shaped light-brown eyes. Suddenly a soft, almost angelic voice drifted into his ears, "Um…hi. Is this the Jones residence? I think I might've—"
"This is the place. Come in. Sorry about that…"
"Thank you…" the pretty brunette said shyly, smiling at Henry warmly. Oh, could he have wanted anything more? He almost burst a nut there and then…shit, he could've just sprung a boner for all it mattered. That single smile sent a blast of shivers down his spine. This girl—this woman—was absolutely gorgeous. He hadn't felt this way since the day he'd first met Rhonda (which he later married and then divorced).
Clara appeared from the kitchen (again in the kitchen…good Lord, you're not feeding a damn army!) and gasped loudly, "Alice…oh my God!" she sprung forward wrapping her arms around the shy brunette, hugging her tightly. They held one another for what seemed an eternity. "God, I can't believe how much you've changed! It is so good to see you again! Really…wow." Clara said cheerfully. Alice giggled softly, "Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself even with four kids!"
"Oh, thanks. Just workout and eating right, but really! I can't believe its really you. You don't look anything like you did in high school." Clara remarked as she smiled and took Alice's hand and walked over to Jonesy and Henry who had been watching their reunion. "This is my husband, Gary, but we all just call him Jonesy," Clara said. Alice bashfully took Jonesy's extended hand and shook it, giving him a small smile, "Hi."
"Hello, Alice. Nice to have you," Jonesy shot a smile back. "And this is Henry Devlin, Jonesy's good friend," Clara continued. There was a pause and then Henry reacted and took Alice's hand—she'd been holding it out waiting to Henry to shake it—and smirked, "Hello. Pleasure to meet you, Alice." There was a sort of distance in Henry's voice, but maybe that's because he could've just kissed this girl the second he lay eyes on her. "Thank you, Mr. Devlin," Alice said in an almost whisper. Good Lord and the girl has really good manners! Take a hold of yourself Henry…you don't even know if she's married. But he knew she wasn't. There was no wedding band or engagement ring or anything of the sort, "You can call me Henry," he said. "Okay," she replied. Alice smiled at him again, her cheeks flaring a dark pink. She was so cute! He really really hoped she wasn't too young. She looked young and that was for sure, maybe around twenty-five or twenty-eight or so. He was thirty-eight, his late thirties, almost forty. To him it would feel wrong to date someone ten years younger than him…since he'd had a lot of patients who'd cheated on their wives for young little vixen's up to twenty years younger than them. In reality, could he really have a shot with such a beautiful woman? She could easily be a super model. But a lot of the time the most beautiful women dated the ugliest guys—not that he thought he was ugly of course. He was good looking in his eyes and very attractive for his age. Suddenly another thought came barging into his head…if he was supposedly so attractive, why wasn't he attracting? Maybe it was because he didn't really want to date or didn't really notice if a girl was looking at him or not. Now he was just confused.
Even though he didn't know this girl (not even her last name!) he felt this heavy attraction for her. He wanted her, that was for sure…but it wasn't lust—like he'd felt with a lot of other women in the past. It was this passionate kinda feeling where you just want to make her happy and feel her skin against yours, the warmth of her body. Rhonda came into mind again. He hadn't felt like that since he'd met Rhonda and started dating her and finally married her. In the end things didn't work out and it all ended in divorce. Could divorce happen twice? Or would he be able to work things out if they weren't going right? His head was jumbled and if he were to put another thought in there it would burst. He closed his eyes and shook off every thought and feeling he had. He needed to be on earth if he wanted this girl to notice him. He'd already made an ass of himself by not letting her in and just staring like she was some sort of alien — ugh, now the thought of aliens brought more to his mind. Stop thinking so much and do something!
"H? Are you ok?" Jonesy's voice said in some distant plain. Henry felt his body being shook gently and then he heard Jonesy's voice again, "C'mon, H, snap out of it…" Henry came to as if he was in some sort of coma. He looked over at Jonesy and then to where he thought Alice was standing. Jonesy and Henry were still near the stairs, which were in front of the door and Clara and Alice had gone into the dining room. "H, what's a matter with you? You totally zoned out," Jonesy snorted, patting him on the shoulder. Henry looked at Jonesy; completely unaware that he'd been so lost in thought that he'd literally frozen in place. "Sorry about that Jonesy. I was just thinking…"
"Well, Jesus Christ…what the hell are you thinking so much about that you were totally out of it?" Jonesy asked with sarcastic hints in his voice, "I…don't know. Just thin—" For a split second Henry saw the line right in his face like a rush of cold wind and then he knew that Jonesy saw it, too. They were connected for just seconds and they both just stared at each other. "What the hell?" Jonesy grunted, holding his head. "That was…strange." Henry whispered and then noticed Jonesy glaring at him, "Geez, now I know what you were thinking about…" Jonesy chuckled coolly. Henry grinned nervously as he quickly walked into the dining room without another word from his lips.
4
They had started dinner and by the time they were finished, the table was still full of different dishes: peas, mashed potatoes (Henry had eaten most of those), green beans, Meatloaf (the main dish), corn and other smaller dishes that were barely touched. Henry still thought they'd made too much food, but he remembered Jonesy and Clara had four growing kids and they were probably just used to making so much.
"Anyone want dessert?" Clara asked loudly. Alice, Jonesy and Henry simultaneously shook their heads. "Oh no, thank you!" Alice said softly, "No thanks, honey…I'm stuffed." Jonesy groaned, "That's alright. I've had my fill." Henry said with a wave of his hand. Clara shifted in her seat and took a sip of her red wine, "So, Alice, how did you do it?" she asked softly. Henry wondered what she was talking about when Alice did the honor of asking his question, "Do what?" Alice's voice was so soft and tender and low. She hadn't said anything loudly, but maybe she was just being courteous to the sleeping kids upstairs. Clara smiled, placing her wineglass down, "Lose all that weight and look as good as you do! I want your secret!" Henry watched Alice's expression change to confusion to being just plain embarrassed. "Oh…um, well. When I graduated high school and went into college to get my Secretary degree I told myself I wanted to change. Since I was really big and—"
"Wait, no way, you were a big girl?" Jonesy interrupted, "I don't believe that." He said jokingly. Alice smiled at him softly and nodded, "Yes I was. I was one of those girls who you saw hanging out by themselves at lunch, reading a book or drawing. Um, wait, I think I have a picture of myself when I graduated in my purse…" Alice got up from her seat and walked over to a small chair where she'd placed down her coat and purse. After a few minutes of digging through the small black leather bag she pulled out an old graduation shot that Seniors usually took on their last day of school. She pressed it against her tummy and grinned nervously, "I know you won't believe this is me, but it was…" Alice gently handed Jonesy the picture and his eyes grew wide. He looked up at Alice and then back down at the picture and blinked a few times. "That's amazing…you look nothing alike. Looks like you might be sisters, but it really is you. You really have changed. Carla was right in that department," Jonesy complimented while Alice took her seat. "Thank you…" Alice blushed softly, lowering her view and fiddling her thumbs. "I told you. Why do you think I was so surprised when I saw her? But, Alice, you're just as beautiful," Carla said, smiling. If Alice got anymore red Henry swore she'd look like a tomato. Jonesy handed over the picture to Henry and he was just as shocked as Carla and Jonesy. The girl in the picture couldn't even be compared to this beautiful girl sitting across from him. The girl had thick black glasses (the kind that Beaver wore his whole life and Henry himself had wore as a teen), short light brown hair, chubby and had a small double chin. He looked up at Alice and saw a girl with no glasses, average weight and long light brown hair. Of course it wasn't such a big deal, not to him anyways. People tend to change over the years especially if they are unhappy with their appearance. He should know…he was a shrink and he'd worked with many cases before. He handed the picture back to Alice as Jonesy continued the conversation.
"So why did you decide to move to Boston?" Jonesy asked.
"Well, I was offered a really good paying job as a secretary here and since I didn't have any close friends or relatives in New York I thought it would be great to move here and start a new life." Alice replied, that smile frozen on her face. Even when she talked her smile was always present. Henry looked at her and wondered what she meant by starting a new life. Maybe her life in New York wasn't all that great. Subconsciously he thought, Well if you plan to get into a relationship…I'll be the first one at your door. He could already tell he was absolutely smitten with this woman and he'd do everything he could just to get her to notice him.
They talked the rest of the night about how she'd changed her life, her divorce (which came to a complete shock Henry), how she wished she had a family and her age (that also shocked him). He swore this girl could pass for twenty-five, but he'd found out she was thirty-six and still looking quiet young. Reason being, she told them, was the fact she had always been against wearing makeup and getting all dressed up if there was no special occasion. Even now her makeup was light, but her natural beauty was enough for Henry. The old Grandfather clock in the dining room struck midnight and you could tell everyone was getting sleepy. Not only did all the food make them drowsy, but all the talking and laughing drained their energy as well. Jonesy got up from his seat and stretched slowly as he yawned, "Well, its late and we all need our beauty sleep," he snorted a laugh. Carla followed getting up and stretching followed by Alice and then Henry. Alice walked over and grabbed her coat and purse and turned towards them, "It was very nice of you to have invited me. I really feel welcome. Thank you so much." Alice said softly walking over to Carla and hugging her. She then walked over to Jonesy and extended her hand, but he took her hand and pulled her in, hugging her gently, "No problem! Mi casa es tu casa." Alice really did look like a ripe tomato now. Henry smiled as she turned towards him and they shook hands, "Hope we'll meet again," he said. They said their final good-byes and Alice was out the door and walking down the driveway towards the street to her silver Volkswagen Jetta sitting on the side of the street. Henry walked out after her as Carla closed the door behind them.
5
Henry stared at her, how her body swayed in perfect rhythm. How her hair bounced with each step. How her arms were wrapped around herself as she tried to keep herself warm from the cold Boston air. He felt like walking up to her and keeping her warm. Holding her against his chest and feel her beating heart against his. It was this feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. Even when he was in high school and had those crushes he'd never felt like he did now (although almost every girl wanted to be with him). Even then he couldn't do a thing, but walk to his car, open the door, slide in and watch her drive away. Who knew when he'd see her again? He sighed deeply and placed his forehead on the steering wheel. He wasn't about to obsess over a girl he just met and barely knew. That wasn't who he was. He respected women and always thought of them to be superior (the ironic thing about it was he almost died because of a woman). Henry's mind was mixed with thoughts and memories again. I should really stop thinking so much. But, there's so much on my mind I can't really get out. Oh, Henry, sometimes you're a disgrace to yourself. You're a shrink for Christ's sake!
Henry drove home in silence and no thoughts in his head. He'd done enough thinking and he was scared if he did anymore he'd blank out just like he had at Jonesy's house — and that wasn't a good thing when you were driving in the middle of the night. He pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex and quietly rode the elevator to his room. Vapor formed in front of him after every breath…it got rather cold, rather quickly, but that wasn't a big deal in Boston. It usually got very cold in this time of year that was near the end of fall and the beginning of winter. He preferred hot weather to cold weather any day. As he unlocked the door to his apartment and entered the darkness his mind flooded with those somber memories and endless line of thoughts. He wasn't contemplating his death anymore (like he had before) nor was he stressing over patients and what he'd do with them to make them better…he was thinking of Duddits, the Beav and Pete. He just couldn't get over their death and how he missed them. It had been hard on Henry, very hard and sometimes he wondered if he'd really get over it. He'd always tell himself to let them rest in peace and move on with life. Only life wasn't that much brighter than the dark room he stood in, but maybe…just maybe he could change that around and lighten his life with the essence of a beautiful woman…