Author: K.L. Barnes
Category: Suspense
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She had inherited her mother’s voluptuous curves and had finally come to accept that she would never be model thin, but that didn’t mean she should just stop trying.
After visiting several stores and ordering the new furniture and shopping for a few other absolute necessities, Maeve and the girls sat down at a table near the middle of the food court and enjoyed their lunch while they watched the people go by. Maeve decided the time was as good as any to broach the subject of Claire’s dream.
“Well, the house got flooded just like in your dream.” She began, mentally encouraging Claire to take over with her own thoughts about what that might mean.
“Yeah, I guess so,” was all she got in return as Claire dunked her fries in some secret sauce and stuffed them in her mouth.
“Maybe when we get home we’ll find a briefcase with a bunch of money in it.” Torei offered happily with her mouth full of pizza.
“That’s gross, Tor, don’t talk with your mouth full.” Claire scolded her and then returned to drowning her fries in the puddle of sauce.
“So, what do you think happened, miss manners?” Maeve said with more than a little sarcasm as she watched her daughter drip a mucky combination of ketchup and mayonnaise down the front of her shirt.
“Do you think maybe you had a vision of the future?”
“I don’t know, Mom, I don’t see how that could be since we don’t have a briefcase full of money.”
“Well I think," Torei said "that Claire probably used the power of her mind to make her dream real."
“You mean like magic? Is that possible, I mean to think about something and then it happens?”
Torei warmed to her subject then. “It happens all the time you know. Like when Kenny Franchs was throwing eggs at us, and you picked one up to throw it back at him and his pants fell down? You should have seen it, Mom, it was so funny.”
“Nobody made that happen!” Claire shot back with a grin. “His pants were just too big and when he bent over to duck, they kind of slipped down. Anyway, now everybody knows that Kenny wears tighty whities. I think they call it karma or something like that.”
“I don’t think so, I think people do things like that but maybe they just don’t know it. Maybe you could think up a briefcase full of money for us, but leave out the doppelganger so Mom won’t have to worry about you getting snuffed on the toilet.”
Everyone laughed out loud and Claire grimaced. “Ooow, I just snorted ketchup out my nose.”
“What in the world is a doppelganger?” Maeve might have heard the term somewhere before but she didn’t have any idea what it meant.
“A doppelganger is someone who looks exactly like you but they’re, like, your evil twin.” She explained this with a nod and a serious look in her eye. “Everybody has one but you really don't want to meet them.”
"And where did you happen to come up with all this?"
"Internet. There's all kinds of cool stuff on there, Mom."
Maeve wasn't sure how she felt about the information Torei was interested in, but she didn't want to stifle her natural curiosity, so she kept her tone light.
“I don’t know if you’d call it magic, but some people believe that we all have the power to create our futures. They say that if you think about something enough you can actually make it happen.” Maeve informed them.
“What do you think, Claire?”
“I don’t know, maybe I’m a witch or something. Next time Torei gets on my nerves I’ll try sticking her lips together. I’ll let you know how that turns out.”
“Hey!” Torei blurted, smacking Claire on the arm.
“I think you would be better off using your powers only for good rather than evil.” Maeve preached jokingly.
“But just in case, it might be a good idea if you started thinking happy thoughts and maybe even drive away your little look alike, just to be on the safe side.”
People had the ability to do incredible things with their minds. Maeve felt that on an emotional level, but she just couldn’t get her mind around it intellectually. Even after all of these years, she had not learned anything about what it meant or how it was supposed to work. She couldn’t even count the number of times she had thought passionately about something that she wanted, or more often something she feared, and then suddenly there it was. There were many times that a vivid dream would come to her in the night, only to come back to her in reality the next day.
And how often had a name or face popped into her mind, followed very soon by a phone call or visit from that very person? It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t had a dream that she could recall in a very long time and she wondered why. And why hadn’t she noticed before now?
Maeve’s attention was drawn back to the table by Claire tugging on her sleeve. Maeve looked up to see her two young daughters staring open mouthed, pointing comically at a small group of teenagers strolling through the court area. In the current fashion of a lot of young people they were decked out in baggy torn jeans, black leather coats with skull and cross bones on the back, swastikas on the sleeves, numerous and varied facial piercings and pale skin with dark lipstick. The center boy sported a two foot tall Mohawk that swayed back and forth as he strutted alongside his friends.
“Oh– my– God,” Torei laughed and covered her face.
“Stop pointing!” Maeve said as she grabbed Claire’s hand and pulled it down.
About that time the boy with the Mohawk turned his head and grinned at the two girls, as if he had heard the whole conversation and thought it very amusing. The girls smiled back and giggled.
He was a handsome kid of about sixteen with dark hair, a tanned complexion and that James Dean sort of attitude that girls usually fall for.
At least he’s not wearing makeup, but it’s too bad about the hair, thought Maeve, as she watched the group saunter away with the wide legged stride they had adopted to keep their pants from falling all the way down.
They finished their shopping, or at least as much of it as Maeve could handle for the day, and headed back to the hotel so the girls could take their long awaited swim. They changed into the new suits they’d gotten at the mall, while Maeve threw on a pair of soft knee length shorts and a tank top. Funny how she’d been planning to buy coats earlier in the week and now they were dressed like it was summer vacation. She wasn’t intending to swim, but she’d sit by the pool and keep an eye on the girls while she took care of some paperwork.
They stepped on the elevator and pushed the button for the main floor just as a tall, heavily built man wearing overalls and work boots came around the corner. He didn’t attempt to ride down with them, just stood with his hands in his pockets and watched as the doors slowly closed.
“That guy was kind of creepy,” whispered Claire.
“I know. I’ll bet he didn’t even have to wear a costume for Halloween,” Torei said.
Maeve was so shocked at seeing him there she was barely able to breathe. What was this man doing here? And what were the odds that she would see him here, when she had last seen him over a hundred and fifty miles away only two days ago? There was no mistaking the round jaw blending into the dense double chin that connected seamlessly with his huge neck. Now she was absolutely certain that the man from the restaurant and the man from the haunted house were one and the same, and that he was now staying in her hotel in a completely different town. This was almost too much of a coincidence to ignore and she decided to try being more aware of her surroundings from now on. As they left the elevator Maeve walked with the girls over to the glass walled pool area and opened the door.
“I’m going right over here and make a reservation for dinner, I’ll be right back.”
There were several families swimming and playing and though Maeve was still uneasy, she felt comfortable leaving the girls to walk no more than twenty feet away. They were both good swimmers and she would still be able to keep an eye on them from the counter. Her friends and family were always giving her a hard time about
being over protective, but Maeve couldn’t stand the thought of what her life would be like if anything ever happened to one of the kids.
“Mom, Mom.” Maeve looked up less than a minute later, discomposed to find Torei a little pale and uneasy, shifting from one foot to the other in agitation.
“Where’s Claire?” Maeve demanded, berating herself whole-heartedly for letting the girls out of her sight for even a second.
“She’s over by the pool, but Mom, there’s a girl who looks exactly like her there too. I think it’s her doppelgänger.” Considering their conversation earlier in the day, Maeve could understand Torei’s anxiety over this other girl and she was not about to discount her distress, so she tried to calm her while she walked quickly over to where Claire was standing in front of the glass.
“Don’t you remember, she was trying to kill Claire in her dream?”
All of a sudden Maeve felt a thrill of fear pass through her chest and down through her belly like a physical blow.
She almost ran the last few steps then as the reality hit her, the realization that Claire had seen the future, or had she created the future? Could Claire somehow be in danger?
Maeve focused on her daughter who was standing facing her with her back to the glass wall surrounding the pool. As Claire stepped away from the wall, Maeve could see someone standing on the other side with her back to the glass.
From behind, the girl had the same waist length blond hair, the same long gangly limbs, and the same lazy posture as Claire. They had been standing back to back, almost like a mirror image. As Claire came toward Maeve, grinning and obviously unaware of the twin standing behind her, she poked her finger accusingly at Torei. Asked, “Where did you go?”
“I got scared,” said Torei.“Didn’t you see her? There’s a girl on the other side of the wall who looks exactly like you, so I went to get Mom before she could do anything to hurt you.”
Very slowly Claire turned her head and looked through the glass. At the same time, the young girl on the other side turned to look out. Pale gray-green eyes stared back from a long slender face with freckles scattered like cinnamon across her thin nose and high prominent cheek bones. Claire, but at the same time, not Claire.
Maeve felt a sharp jab of adrenaline that had her grabbing both girls by the arm and racing into the stairwell. They ran as hard as they could up three flights of stairs until they reached their floor. Maeve finally began to laugh at her ridiculous behavior, but the humor had an underlying edge of hysteria that she didn’t like. The girls were laughing too when she unlocked and threw open the door. She nudged the girls inside and slammed it forcefully behind them.
“I have to get a grip on myself here,” Maeve said breathlessly, more to herself than to the two now perched on the edge of the bed.
Claire caught her breath and, her mood suddenly sober, murmured quietly.“That was the girl in my dream Mom, why do you think she’s here?”
“Well, she must be here to steal your briefcase full of cash, don’t you think?” Torei tried to ease her mind with the joke.
“Don’t be stupid, I don’t have a brief case or any money, and you know it.” Claire snapped at her sister in irritation. Then she felt bad for biting her head off when she saw Torei’s face.
“I was just kidding, you know I was really scared that she was going to hurt you and I didn’t know what to do.” Torei sat hugging her legs close to her chest, her cheek resting on her knees.
“Okay, I really don’t think an eleven year old girl would be waiting out there to cause any harm. We all just over reacted and had a moment of panic.” Maeve said as calmly as she could.
She wished she were able to shake off the nervous feelings of only a few short minutes ago and believe that she had over reacted, but the truth was she couldn’t help fearing which part of the dream would come to pass next.
*****
Joseph watched her get on the elevator and recognized the uneasiness in her deep, ever changing grey blue eyes, wondering at the power she must possess. He waited, then pushed the down button and rode the elevator to the lobby and the pool area.
The young thin girl with long blonde hair walked toward him warily, carrying a towel and looking at her feet as she moved.
“They’re going out to dinner pretty soon,” she said, making sure to keep her eyes trained on the floor so she wouldn’t have to see the satisfaction on her father’s face.
“It won’t be long now, Faye, and everything will be as it should be,” replied the man, placing a possessive hand on her shoulder.
*****
Chapter 5
She was a Dolphin, swimming rapidly through the muddy water in search of her shoes. Suddenly, the sparkling sandals were in her hand and she shot up out of the water, silver droplets glittering in the sun as they fell from her sleek body and flew through the air. Then hands were grabbing at her to pull her out of the water and she was laughing, they were all laughing joyously as they splashed back into the cool, bubbling spring.
It must be almost twenty years now since Maeve’s family said goodbye to the beautiful rock gardens that bordered the irrigation canal. She thought of the smile that formed that day, recalling the time she had fallen in to the gently flowing aqueduct. Her grandparents had put the fear of God in them and cautioned about getting too near the water.
Every year at least one person would drown in the icy spring runoff and so it was a constant worry that the channel would claim one of the children as its victim. Maeve and her sisters were always conscious of the danger but the ever flowing water held an attraction that couldn’t be denied.
They would walk down the bank and sit on the bridge, enjoying the floating sensation as they swung their legs out over the flow. One day Maeve was admiring her freshly polished nails through the open toes of her new sandals when all of a sudden one of them dropped with a plop down into the water. She squealed and jumped up, running down the ditch bank, determined to catch up and rescue the thing. Her sisters ran after her and they quickly passed the floating sandal, then stood waiting for it to pass. It was resting on the current, floating slowly closer and closer to the steep bank where it would be a simple matter of reaching out to grab it.
“Hold onto my hand,” Maeve ordered her older sister, who grabbed onto her and planted her feet firmly in the soft marshy bank. Maeve squatted and reached out, grabbing the sandal with her two middle fingers. Elated by her success, she started to stand with the prize in her hand and then whoosh, she found herself in over her head in the water.
I’m going to die, she thought frantically for about a half a second before her feet found the muddy bottom. She pushed up with every ounce of strength she could muster. Maeve shot like a cork clear out of the water and instantly felt two sets of hands grabbing at her. She nearly levitated back onto the road in her rush to get out of the water and heard her older sister laughing.
“You are going to be in so much trouble,” she goaded, and then they were all rolling around, completely overcome by a fit of relieved hilarity.
“What are you smiling about?” Her sister had asked from the seat next to her.
“Remember that time I fell in the canal,” Maeve had answered her with a giggle.
Sitting on the bed now, braiding Torei’s thick red hair and thinking about her first experience with the dreams that showed her glimpses of the future, Maeve smiled a knowing smile.
Torei had such beautiful hair, strawberry blonde some said, with dark auburn woven between the lighter colored strands. She was an exceptionally pretty child with alabaster skin that looked almost transparent at times.
“Earth to Mom, Earth to Mom,” Claire chanted, pulling Maeve’s thoughts back to the present.
“I was just thinking. Since I didn’t get around to making a reservation, where do you two want to go for dinner tonight?”
“Sushi!” They both shouted at exactly the same time. Maeve had introduced them to her favorite food a few years ago, not thinking for a minute that
either one of the girls would really enjoy it. But she couldn’t have been more wrong and now every time they had a choice, there was no doubt they would vote for California rolls and salmon sashimi.
They decided to turn dinner into somewhat of an event and dressed in some of their new clothes. Maeve changed into a pair of black loose flowing gaucho slacks and paired them with a long ivory lace t-shirt top, while the girls dressed in almost identical low-waisted jeans embellished with beads, and sixties style blouses with bell shaped sleeves. Maeve often teased them that they might as well have been twins, as they always chose clothes that were alike, with only small differences in color or fit.
She remembered once when they were still so small, only four and five. They were with her at the office, enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with Bill, who at that time had been Maeve’s boss, when he asked them if they were twins.
Torei answered him in all seriousness.“We’re not twins, we’re just the same children.” Laughter brought tears to Bill’s eyes and he entertained himself for weeks with the memory that still brought a smile to Maeve’s face and lightened her heart.
As adorable and funny as the statement had been, it wasn’t all that far from the truth. Sometimes they seemed as if they were each one half of a whole, though at the same time they were true individuals. Claire broke into her reverie with her typical zeal.
“I’m starving, Mom, let’s go. I want to see if they still have that coconut drink with the little umbrella.” Claire and Torei always looked forward to the imaginative drinks and the restaurant's exotic atmosphere as much as they did the food.
They reached the lobby and left through the front doors, passing by a couple of teenagers standing outside on the curb.
“Hi.” Claire greeted the boys cheerfully as they passed on their way to the parking lot.