6
"You didn't sleep much." Chris's voice was rough from sleep. Emma glanced over her shoulder. She was in the kitchen, standing at the back door, looking at the snow that blanketed the back yard.
"Couldn't. Wish the power was on. I could use some coffee."
"I can run out and get some." Chris chuckled. "Or not. Guess the power is probably out everywhere."
Emma watched his reflection in the window as he opened the fridge and took out a soda. The house was chilly, and she crossed her arms over her stomach against the chill.
"We need to find somewhere else to stay, since there's no telling when the power will be back." Chris set his drink on the counter and walked to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Maybe we could find a kerosene heater or something." Emma said, leaning back against his broad chest.
"We can grill our food. Live off the land." Chris kissed her ear. "I'll get dressed and see if I can't make it to a store that's open. Want to come with me?"
Emma shook her head. "I don't know if I can take another trip in this weather. Snowy roads freak me out."
"Well then I'll have to hurry up." He kissed her again, squeezed her, and left the room humming under his breath to get dressed. Emma shivered and turned to sit at the kitchen table.
To be honest with herself, it wasn't just the driving conditions that gave her the willies. There was something about being outside, about the storm in general, that left her feeling scared.
Chris left. Emma held her cell phone, wondering if she should call Eric again. It was strange that he hadn't called her back. It was unlike him. Sighing she dialed and listened as his voice mail message played.
Emma hung up without talking. It was so unlike him to not answer, to not respond to voice mails. As controlling as he was, she was surprised he hadn't been calling her every hour on the hour.
She shut her phone off and tossed it onto the table. Emma stood and paced the kitchen a few times, hers eyes drawn again and again to the windows. There was nothing to see there she hadn't seen. Snow. Houses. The oak tree in the middle of the yard. But still she was scared. It was low level, just in the pit of her stomach, but she knew what she felt. Chris seemed unaffected. She took hope in that. Maybe it was just the weather bringing her down, not some strange and sudden ability to sense things.
**
"We shouldn't have left her there alone."
Mark glanced at Glen as he guided the SUV through the drifted snow. They'd had a reprieve, but apparently it was ending. More snow was beginning to fall. The wind had stopped for the time being, so it wasn't nearly as bad as the night before. Not yet anyway.
"She'll be fine in the house."
"Can't guarantee she won't go outside." Glen mumbled.
"You told her not to."
"Doesn't mean she'll listen. There's the motel..." He pointed. Mark nodded and pulled in behind the snow covered Jeep.
"I'll go to her place, get her things. You head on back." Mark left the engine running and stepped out into the cold. Glen slid over and looked at him with an unreadable glint in his eyes. "What?"
"Nothin'." Glen smirked.
"Spit it out. Haven't got all damn day."Mark shoved his hands in his pockets and waited.
"I said nothin'. Just funny to see you worryin' about a girl."
Mark grunted and slammed the truck door. Glen laughed and put it in gear, cutting a path through the nearly knee deep snow that covered the parking lot. With a sigh Mark turned toward the Jeep. From what he could see, the vehicle was damned near an antique. He spent fifteen minutes knocking snow off the windows and hood before actually getting in.
It took a few tries but the engine groggily turned over. Mark shook his head, wondering if the Jeep would make it even the short distance he was going to push it. He put in in reverse and listened to the engine whine, already picturing in his mind what it would take to fix it. He had an affinity for fixing things, especially engines. It passed the time until he got to Jamie's apartment. He almost passed it up, not really looking for the building to be a house like all the others on the block.
He left the engine running, not wanting to risk restarting it. Jingling her keys, he climbed the stairs and let himself into her apartment.
The place was tiny and freezing cold. The living room was on the right, the kitchen on the left. There was a short hallway with three doors. One was a bathroom, one a closet, the last her bedroom. Mark started there, opening her closet and taking out a bag she'd told him was there. He went to her dresser and made quick work of packing things, trying not to notice that his hands were touching her underthings. He felt like the worst kind of lowlife, pawing through her drawers. The thought made him grin ruefully at the double meaning.
Finished with that, he went to the bathroom and glanced around. She'd already brought most of her toiletries, so he didn't see anything she'd need.
Mark shouldered the bag and headed toward the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob, his attention pulled to a picture hanging near the exit. In it, a younger Jamie stood smiling next to a man who faintly resembled her. Her hair was longer, hanging past her shoulders in dark waves. Her gray eyes were full of happiness. The man was grinning as well, his muscular arm slung over Jamie's shoulder.
He didn't know why, but Mark reached out and touched the picture. His fingertips tingled faintly. Dead. The man was dead. His name had been John, he was Jamie's twin brother. Mark felt his stomach flutter as the distinct sensation of falling came over him. He pulled his hand back and the feeling stopped as soon as it had begun. Careful not to touch the actual picture again, he pulled it from the hook on the wall and put it in his coat pocket. He still didn't know why. He just knew he would end up needing it.
Now that the picture was off the wall, the apartment took on a decidedly abandoned feel that hadn't been there before. Mark couldn't help but think that Jamie would never return there. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. It was another of his gifts. With another sigh he left, locking the door behind him. He still had to get back to the house in one piece. Thoughts of driving in the snow pulled his mind from thoughts of Jamie's dead brother.
**
Jamie sat curled up in a comfortable leather armchair, looking out the window as snow once more began to fall. Someone had started a fire. It crackled cozily to her left. She had looked at the titles of the books lined up against the wall, but hadn't really felt like reading. They practically had a library here. She had to keep reminding herself she was only staying until the power came back on, and not to get too comfortable.
She also couldn't read because of the strange warning Glen had given her about going outside while the brothers were gone. It was strange because although he had made it sound like a joke, something in his demeanor told her that he was deadly serious. Jamie shivered and rubbed her arms, wondering just what in the hell gave her that idea.
After about an hour, she got up and headed for the kitchen to get something to drink. The house was too quiet, it was freaking her out a little bit. Too bad they didn't have a television, the background news would have soothed her nerves.
Jamie glanced out the window and jumped as something moved outside. She laughed at herself as she realized it was just Glen, returned from town. He came in the door and stomped snow off his shows, grinning at her. "I don't know why I'm bothering. I'm soaked to the elbows."
Jamie smiled and took a seat at the table. "Did it start ok?"
"As far as I know. I didn't see it parked at the motel on the way back from the store."
"Oh...well, do you need help carrying anything in?" Jamie was already rising.
"No, no. It's stuff for Mark anyway." Glen shrugged out of his coat and hung it up before sitting across from her. "Anything exciting happen while I was gone?"
"Not unless you count me throwing some wood on the fire." Jamie took a sip of her soda and shrugged. "I'm getting the distinct feeling that something is going on here beyond a couple of brothers living in the woods, though."
"Oh yeah?" Glen got up from the table and went to a cabinet. He pulled out a bag of pretzels and grabbed a soda for himself on the way back. "What gives you that idea?"
"I dunno. Just a feeling."
He munched a pretzel thoughtfully. "Nothing in life is ever what it seems. I think I read that somewhere."
Jamie smirked. "So you're saying there is something strange here?"
"Did I say that?"
"You implied."
"I barely opened my mouth. Implying would imply that I rambled."
"Well then you implied that too." Jamie laughed. "So what is the deal?"
"There is no deal. We moved here because it's quiet." And that, Glen thought to himself, was the absolute truth.
"A little too quiet." Jamie deadpanned. "I'm used to being in town I suppose. Never thought I'd miss the sounds of traffic and the people in the building."
"The quiet grows on you." Glen smiled and held out the bag. Jamie took a pretzel and eyed him.
"Am I in some kind of trouble here?"
His eyebrow went up. Apparently her direct question had momentarily thrown him. "I couldn't say." He finally responded. "Are you?"
"I don't know why I would be, but..." Jamie shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just nervous around strangers."
"You work in a bar. Can't be much stranger than that." Glen said grimly. He really shouldn't freak her out, he knew it, and Mark probably wouldn't like it, but he did not like to lie. And she seemed to be picking up on it no matter how he tried to joke around. "Maybe there is something going on. I don't know what exactly yet."
"Something bad?"
Glen shrugged. "Don't know. It's not always bad..."
"What isn't?"
He smiled sheepishly and sighed. "Look, you should talk to Mark."
"I should?"
"He could explain it better...he's..." Glen struggled to find words, but they weren't forthcoming. It was always so hard to talk about what they were, what they did. Especially for him. But Mark had met Jamie first, and obviously Mark was worried about her. It was possible Mark was attracted to her. It was easy to see why. Jamie was a knockout. But she obviously didn't think so, she wasn't smug in her beauty like other women that Glen had known. It was her eyes especially, they were an unusual shade of gray. He had never seen eyes even close to that color outside of cosmetic lenses.
"I get the feeling that he'll like my asking even less than you do."
Glen smiled. And got the feeling that Mark's attraction might be mutual. It wasn't unheard of. Knowing Mark though, he'd fight it to the death. Glen didn't know why. He thrived on his relationships, no matter how short of long they were. Mark could not seem to grasp the theory himself.
"He'll get over it." Glen finally said. "Do you play cards?"
"What kind of cards?" Jamie let the subject drop. She understood Glen would tell her nothing more than he already had. So that left his brother. It gnawed at her, wondering what was really happening, but she would manage to quell her curiosity. At lease for a little while.
**
Click, click, click.
Kayla snapped pictures in rapid succession, aiming her camera into the line of trees where the snow seemed to glisten in the dim light like diamonds. More snow was falling, but she hardly noticed. That happened sometimes when she was, as Jeff put it, in the zone. She loved photography, loved capturing perfect moments on film. Her mother had accused her once of being born with a camera in her hand. She wished. That would have made for some strange pictures.
The only bad thing was she was using her digital camera. She preferred the decidedly old fashioned camera she'd had for fifteen years. She knew every lens and effect with it, knew exactly how far she could shoot, and how crisp the pictures would be even before she developed them. The digital was better for travel though. It was smaller. And she didn't worry so much about it breaking.
Kayla checked her memory card and found she'd snapped well over two-hundred pictures already. She was getting hungry too. She tended to lose track of time when she was working. That thought made her smile. She turned to head back to the house, pressing the buttons on the camera to pull up the pictures she'd just taken to get a preview.
She'd only taken one picture of Jeff's house, from the ground near the deck in the backyard. Two rabbits, both of them as white as the snow around them, had been hopping across the expanse of snow covered yard. Kayla smiled and thumbed the button, scrolling pasts shots of the trees, the ground, the sky. She'd found a clearing in the woods, small and nearly perfectly round where some deer were grazing. Unfortunately she'd scared them off before taking the pictures, but there had been something about that place...
Kayla had stood at the edge of the clearing snapping pictures, and without realizing it had walked to stand in the center. An overwhelming feeling of absolute peace had overcome her. Her finger had stopped pressing the button for several minutes as she stood in snow to her knees, wondering what it was that made that place so special.
There was no way to capture that feeling on film. She knew it. But she had hoped for something.
The pictures looked like pictures. There were seventeen in all, each from a different spot as she'd walked. One clearly showed the tracks made by the deer. One of them focused on the trees on the other side of the clearing.
There was something there, among the trees.
Kayla stopped walking, bringing the camera closer to her eyes. Yes, there was definitely something there, something next to one of the trees. There appeared to be two legs. Her first thought was a bear, but...there was no hint of color. Not black, not brown, not gray. The camera had picked up something that was as white as the snow, yet outlined in the shape of a person. A man. Even without magnifying it, she could tell.
And it wasn't the guy she'd met the night before. The one in the picture didn't look nearly tall enough.
Kayla finally pressed the button one more time...and nearly dropped her camera in the snow. The figure from the trees had come dramatically closer. He was less than fifteen feet away, every detail clear and precise. He appeared to be wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. His hair was cropped short. He was smiling broadly.
But he was still all white.
It took a moment to realize why.
He was not solid.
She could clearly see the snow covered ground through him, the trees behind him. "Holy shit..." Kayla whispered. She pressed the button again. This time the man was directly in front of her, close enough to reach out and take the camera from her. He was still smiling. There was nothing malevolent about him. He looked as if he were greeting an old friend, that smile as open and welcoming as any she'd ever seen.
Kayla could see a hint of color in this photo. A slight bit of red on his shirt. Dirty blonde hair. Blue eyes. She could still see through him though.
She looked up and glanced over her shoulder. That made her laugh. As if she expected to see the guy behind her. She hadn't 'seen' him in the clearing, why would she spot him now?
She pressed the button again. It was the last shot of the clearing. The man was gone. She thumbed through the pictures again, staring down in wonderment. Kayla finally forced herself to shut the camera off. She wanted to hurry back to the house and print the pictures so she could get a better look. She knew there was no possible way what she had seen was some kind of camera defect. It had only happened on three of the pictures she'd taken. And she'd been using that particular camera for three years. She would have noticed something like that by now, surely.
Kayla pocketed the camera and trudged quickly through the snow. The longer she stayed at Jeff's, the stranger things got. And the stranger things got, the more Kayla loved it. She wasn't one to shy away from a good mystery, and she was not a skeptic in the least. She kept one hand in her pocket with the camera and already in her mind was plotting out exactly what she was going to do when she got back.