A woman walked out of the bathroom as I was walking in, leaving it empty for the moment, so I set my purse on the bathroom counter then turned on the rusted faucet. Cupping my hands underneath it, I splashed the cold water on my face, feeling my cheeks instantly flush.
I looked at myself in the broken mirror while patting the rough paper towel on my face. “Everything is going to be okay. Davin will be here for you soon.” Why was I talking to myself? My reflection wasn’t going to answer back -- at least I hoped not.
My cell phone twinkled elegantly inside my handbag. I hoped more than anything it was Davin, or even Sully, so that I could just go home. I was tired and starting to feel sick to my stomach.
Xander’s name blinked in bold letters on the screen. My heart pumped faster as I fumbled to answer it, almost dropping it in the sink. “Xander! Hello?”
Static sounded on the line, then his voice broke through.
“Adelay... Adelay are you there?” His voice crackled. “Where am I?” He was questioning himself, or something I couldn’t hear or see. “I need you Adelay. Now!” His voice was distant like wind was whipping through the speaker breaking his voice in and out.
“Xander, where are you?” Even though he had asked that same question a second ago, my mouth still blurted it out. I wanted to know just as much as he did. I strained to hear him. No answer. “Xander, answer me! Are you okay?”
“I…I don’t know.” He paused for a moment, before the rustle on the phone mimicked the melody of a buzzing mosquito loitering by my ear, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “I don’t know where I am. I think it’s a cemetery or something. I don’t know how I got here.”
I shuddered remembering my vision that day at Brando’s Coffee Shop, chasing Xander into the cemetery I never truly stepped foot into. I squeezed my eyes closed, praying that maybe the accused drug that had been slipped into my drink was causing me to dream while I was still awake, similarly to the time before, and when I reopened them no one would be on the other end. I peeled them slowly open again, seeing the phone still pushed tightly against my ear in the dingy mirror.
“Let go of me! Ouch! Dammit that hurts!” Xander’s distressed voice was still there. The phone call was real, and there was pain present now. “Holy shit! What the fuck are you man?”
The phone crackled once more and a deafening scream shot through my ear followed by the drop of his cell phone on the ground.
“Xander what happened! Xander answer me! Hello…”
Absolute silence indicated the phone call had ended. A woman walked into the bathroom, looking at me in aghast from my shouting that echoed through the bathroom.
“What?” I screamed at her before running out the door. I rushed past Robbie and Gretchen, who had been waiting on the couches for me to come back.
“Adelay, where are you going?” Gretchen hollered after me.
I didn’t bother to answer her. I had to get to Xander as fast as possible. He was in trouble, and I didn’t have time for any hold ups. I wrestled with the buttons on my phone, punching in Sully’s number.
Figures -- it went straight to voicemail. So I pressed Davin’s, hoping for better luck; again, there was no answer.
What were the odds that Xander would show up in dire straits, and neither one of my protectors would be around? This was the epitome of what Davin had warned me about when he told me not to go off trying to be little miss noble, which was exactly what I was unintentionally about to do.
I pushed open the heavy steel door leading me straight into the dark alley. The neon sign above still made its zapping sound, as though it was on the verge of blowing out from its many nights of use. Light snow was now falling, so the bouncer had set up base inside the door to stay out of the cold, leaving me by myself in the dark, shadow ridden backstreet.
I stumbled clumsily off of the last concrete stair that led me away from the underground club, landing my high heel on something squishy that was obviously not the expected hard gravel.
A sopping wet newspaper stuck to the bottom of my patent leather shoe. Welcome to part one of my vision.
The words were too smeared to make out any of the print, but if it was a current one, then there was no doubt something about the attacks or disappearances strewn all over the front page before the rain and snow had turned it into shoe mush. I didn’t have to read it, to be reminded of the danger I was walking into.
Plucking it off, I tossed it back onto the ground giving my hand one last shake to flick off any excess water. A sudden burst of wind swept through the alley, rustling a couple of metal trash cans that rested against the wall, startling me and making me trip over my own clumsy feet. This was the scene of a horror movie waiting to happen.
I was unsure exactly where to go from here, but if my apparition from Wednesday was correct, then heading straight down the alley should lead me directly into Hanover Cemetery.
My veins pumped incessantly with adrenaline, so fear hadn’t had its chance to set in -yet- nor the cold. I descended down the narrow path, wondering how stupid I could possibly be to willingly venture off on my own, when every other time
