Chapter 23

The small 10 year old walked through the woods, crying and calling out, "MOTHER, mother." All around was darkness, shadows in the night and the wind howling. Turning around, he saw a small house in the distance, burning. "HOME," he screamed. "MOTHER, where are you?"

"David," a male voice said behind him.

The boy spun around and saw a dark silhouette with a cloak draped over the shoulders. He could not make out the face but the voice seemed familiar to him. He wondered whose voice it belonged to.

"David, come here," an arm reached out for him. The young lad stepped back, afraid of this strange shadow in the night. "Come, I must take you home. Everyone has been looking for you."

"NO, go away," young David screamed, stepping back against a tree. "GO away, don't touch me." He screeched when the hand grabbed his shoulder. Looking down at it, the boy saw it was white and felt cold.

"David, no one wants to hurt you, now come with me," the shadow said.

"NO, NO! I'm waiting for my mother," the boy cried.

"No David, your mother is dead." The strong hand grabbed the fabric of the jacket and lifted the boy easily into the air. "Now come." Crying and wildly swinging his arms, he hit the strong arm that restricted him and suddenly fell to the ground.

As he opened his eyes and looked around, the lad sat on a hard wood floor. Leaping to his feet, he recognized his room, his bed, the dresser and the small Tiffany window. Looking closer at the window, a shadow appeared and started to bang on the glass.

"NO, stay out," screamed the boy. He started to remember something that was just out of reach. "NO, go away!"

The window swung open and a huge black bat flew in and circled his head. The lad covered his face and squealed for help. He felt the wind from the huge wings flapping above his head and realized no one was coming to help. He ran to the door and after opening it, he realized there was nothing beyond but blackness. Turning around, young David saw the huge bat changing into a large dark shadow.

"GO AWAY," he screamed.

"David," a voice called out to him repeatedly.

"NO." He closed his eyes in fear of the approaching figure, felt a hand on his shoulder and heard his name called out. "NO," he swung as hard as he could and hit something soft. Hearing a crack, he opened his eyes.

David sat up, looked over to his left, and saw a small, petite figure on the floor. Jumping out of bed, David rushed to Carolyn's side who sat on the floor, holding her face.

"Oh my goodness, Carolyn, I'm so sorry," David said, kneeling down to help his cousin get up. He looked around the room and let out a sigh of relief that he was no longer 10 years old. Still dazed by the experience, David helped Carolyn to his bed.

"David, are you ok?" Carolyn inquired, rubbing her cheek where David had slugged her. She was always concerned about her nephew whenever he had nightmares. Once it was a common occurrence, but he hadn't had them for decades.

"What?" He was still dazed and confused as he looked around his room. Walking over to the window, David hesitated to open it. Touching the knob, he turned it and swung it open quickly. The window hit the wall hard and made both of them jump.

"David, what's wrong?" Turning around to face his older cousin, David sat down next to her to think. What day is it? What happened yesterday that would have given him such a nightmare? The answer was just beyond his reach.

"David," Carolyn called after a few moments of silence. "We need to talk about yesterday. Maybe that's what's bothering you."

"Carolyn, I'm sorry I hit you. I thought you were someone else. I was scared he was going to hurt me."

"Who David; who did you think was after you?" Carolyn asked sympathetically.

"I don't know," David said truly puzzled. "I just saw a large shadowy figure, following me and telling me things, probably lies."

"What lies?" Carolyn asked concerned. There were things in his past that they never told him and she wondered if his dream revealed anything important.

"Carolyn, my dream was so jumbled up," he said and processed to tell her his dream, every detail he could remember. He could actually smell the burning wood as he told the story. When he got to the part of the stranger who sounded familiar, he shuttered from the image in his mind.

"Do you know who that person was?" Carolyn asked trying to steer away from talking about his mother. She remembered Barnabas' story from yesterday, but how much did David? Could that have created David's nightmare?

"No," he said, but he had his suspicious it was obvious to his cousin. Since his mind was still groggy from his experience, he knew eventually he'd remember too. "Why did that mysterious person tell me my mother was dead? Carolyn, what did happen when I was ten?" David's memory of the dream was slowly fading from his mind and he wanted to know all he could while he still remembered some of his dream.

"David, it was just a dream. You don't believe dreams tell you the truth, do you?" Carolyn dreaded this day would come and she would have to tell him about his mother. She had always hoped she would not be the one to reveal the story to him. Besides, she didn't understand it all either.

"I don't know Carolyn. It felt so real and I think I actually experienced both events." David sighed. "I remember Miss Winters telling me that my mother went away and would never come back. I think my dad told me she died." David fell quiet and he stared at the floor. "Also, I vaguely remember being scared to death when a bat came into my room long ago and no one believed me." Then he started to remember Barnabas' story from last night and shivered. As the events of yesterday continued to become clear, he said sadly, "my father is dead."

Carolyn hugged David as he silently wept. They both had a good, long cry. Feeling it was her responsibility to tell David the story about his mother, Carolyn told of her departure from Collinwood. They never speak of it again, but David was grateful that she told him. He felt a closure now that both parents were gone.