Sunday, January 31, 2016

Broken Pipes (Part 4) nosleep

(More names changed due to privacy)

Opening my eyes, my mind was in a daze as I woke up but a second later, I was alert and jumped up from the chair as I remembered the events of last night. Looking for John in his chair, it was empty. However, I smelled bacon and walking into the kitchen, he was there making breakfast.

"Hey, I've got bacon and eggs ready if you want a plate and a fresh pot of coffee."

"Actually, do you have orange juice? I think if I drink another cup of coffee, I'm going to puke."

Heading to the refrigerator, I sat down and grabbed a plate of food. Coming back over, he poured me a glass and sat down to eat. It was quiet for several minutes as we ate, but it wasn't like I was scared of asking, at least not now. It was strange how everything seemed to change in the daytime, where there was no more fear. I wonder why people in nature don't like the darkness?

However, as I finished my OJ, I needed to know what had happened after I fell asleep.

"Did the guy come back last night?"

"No, he didn't show up. About 6:00 in the morning when it was light enough, I went to where he was standing but I couldn't find anything. It's about 8:00 right now and the cops will be coming back with their dogs in an hour or so. We can also show them the raccoon's and see if they want to take the bodies to try to figure out what happened to them."

Nodding slowly, he left the room for a second and came back before putting down money in front of me. Counting it, I was surprised to find $1000 in there.

"I thought you said $500?"

"$1000 because of what happened last night. You didn't need to stay but you did. I thank you for that. There are only a few people who I know who would stand by my side."

Giving a small smile, I finished up my food and we waited for the cops to come back. When they did, there were now seven of them with two large German Shepard's. We showed them the bodies of the raccoon's, which they took and put into a police van to have the animal control examine.

They went into the forest and searched for a little while but came back and said they were mystified. The three cops who had came last night said that the ravine was larger than they had thought due to how dark it was. They weren't sure of how someone was able to jump it.

They also examined the pipes and took them to run tests to see if there were any fingerprints on them, which had me silently hoping there would be. They were about to leave when John stopped them and showed the scarf.

"I called the other day and I asked about the disappearances on this property. I was told a girl disappeared back in the 40s. What was her name?"

Looking at the name, the cop who looked to be in charge had a strange look in his eyes.

"Ava James. It was a big case back then with dozens of people looking for the girl, but they never found her."

Breathing softly, I couldn't help but talk, a bit relieved despite the sadness of the situation.

"So, this scarf didn't belong to her..."

"No, I think it did. The girl's middle name was Millicent..."

Looking away, I ran a hand through my hair. John passed the scarf to them.

"I found the scarf where I've been putting my pipes in. I guess it's a crime scene now."

"I'm sorry, John, but we're going to have to come back out and tape the area off and dig. She may have been buried there and we'll need to see if the skeleton's there. Do you have a place you can go to?"

"Yeah, I can go to the motel for a few days..."

As they finished up, the officer called the sheriff, explaining the situation. John packed up a few things and the cops told me that they would talk to me if they had anymore questions. As John and I headed outside, I looked at him.

"John, I'm sorry..."

"I thought this was going to be nothing, but it isn't. I've got a possible body on my property and the guy who lived here before me also disappeared. Is his body on my property somewhere?"

I didn't know what to say, but he told me he would talk to me tomorrow. As I left and came back home, I fell asleep, still tired from what had happened. However, around 3:00, my phone rang. Picking it up, I didn't realize who it was until I heard a stern voice.

"You didn't call me..."

My girlfriend.

"Crap! I forgot! Look, give me two hours and I'll be over to pick you up. We're going out, remember? Night on the town?"

"Are we? You haven't talked to me, you're constantly working. What's the matter?"

"Look, we'll talk tonight, I promise."

As we both said our goodbyes, I jumped a hot shower and got dressed in a nice collared shirt and jacket before leaving. When I stopped at her place, she came outside in a beautiful dress. Getting out of the car, I opened the door for her, smiling.

"Damn, now I know what I've been missing."

Giving me a smile back, we kissed for a second before she got in and we headed off. Talking about her last few days for the ride, we finally came into the city and went to the restaurant where I managed to put my incident out of my mind for a few hours as we laughed and talked while we ate and drank.

Around dessert, she was eating slowly, looking at me.

"So, what happened? Why didn't you call?"

"It's... too strange to even say. Let's just say my mortgage is taken care of for the next two months and we can have some more fun."

As I took a bite out of my cake, I looked at her, feeling a bit foolish with my question.

"Let me ask you: do you believe in... weird stuff?"

Laughing, she gave me a wink.

"I thought that was why you started dating me."

Smiling, I pushed the food around with my fork.

"I mean, like in ghosts or UFOs or Bigfoot."

"Why, do you?"

"Heck, no! That's for little kids. Why would an adult believe in stuff like that?"

"My grandmother did. She told me when she was a little girl, she always saw the rocking chair in her room rock back and forth by itself. The woman who used to live in the house died in that room and my grandmother believed it was her spirit."

"A rocking chair ghost...?"

"I don't know. Have I ever seen anything like that? No, but I don' think we know of absolutely everything in this world. Maybe there's stuff out there that nobody knows of."

Thinking on the answer, we finished up dessert and paid the bill before heading home. I spent some time at her place until around midnight before coming back to mine when I came in. Sitting on my bed, I was wondering about the girl who disappeared and what I had seen when my phone rang.

Looking at it, it was John's number. Picking it up, I was surprised by him calling so late.

"John, it's Jake. What's up?"

"Can you take off work tomorrow?"

"Why?"

"Can you?"

"Sure, but why? What do you need?"

"I spent the day talking to people around town that I know of and I'm going to see a guy tomorrow and I'd like you to come. I'll pay you $500 just to be with me on this. I wanted some answers and I think this guy might have some."

"Who is he?"

"I'll explain in the morning. I'll come over to your place and pick you up around 7:00. It's a two hour drive where we're going."

"Alright..."

"Good, I'll see you tomorrow."

Hanging up, I fell back on my pillow, wondering what that was all about. It was like he was getting stranger by the minute. However, I wondered if he was wrong.



Submitted February 01, 2016 at 07:51AM by Arkham2015 http://ift.tt/1VAu8gr nosleep

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