The Hunter Chronicles : The Beginning

Chapter 19

The dream begins as soon as I fall asleep and I let it in. A happy family of three, a fit young blonde girl walks to the fridge and takes out a bottle of water, her brother teases her and she playfully returns then she walks over to her father and kisses the top of his head telling him that she is going for a swim. Her father folds his newspaper and tells her to be careful. Before she goes out the door she promises that she will be, as she walks out onto the deck leading to the lake she removes her shirt then her pants and dives in perfectly. She comes up for air frowning and looking around, she shakes her head and begins her breast stroke. Something strange is in the air. The girl suddenly gets pulled down…

I wake up feeling a little dazed, I feel with my hand along Jared’s side of the bed the turn, he isn’t there. I rub my eyes and feel a chill run down my spine. I make my way downstairs when the most amazing smell hits me making my stomach growl hard. The closer I come to the kitchen I can hear Jared whistle, I peek around the corner then he looks up smiling, “Morning beautiful.” He turns to the stove grabbing the newspaper on the counter, “Oh hey check this out, a seventeen year old girl drowned, that’s terrible, isn’t it?”

“Sofia Compton.” I read then glance at her picture. I know her. “I had a dream about her just now.” Jared frowns and I fill him in on the dream.

“So do we go and check it out?” I ask but I know the answer.

“Only if you want to.”

I sign, “I’m having these dreams for a reason, right?”

Jared nods.

“Okay but first give me some of that food first, I’m starving.” I tell him and Jared fills my plate with bacon, eggs and sausages. I dig in eating more than I should.

***

On our way to Angel Lake Jared suddenly says, “I need to tell you something.”

Oh no! I immediately assume the worst. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m human.” He answers quickly.

“What?” I ask completely surprised and confused my brain, not believing my ears.

“Human. I’ve been a bit off lately. I should have been able to smell the blood of the guide from miles away and when the wendigo attacked I didn’t have the strength to fight it off.” He almost whispers.

“Are you sure?”

“I am. I feel different.”

“Are you upset that you’re human now?” I ask

“No. It’s amazing. I don’t have to worry about hurting you and besides I didn’t make a very good vampire anyways.” He smiles.

I allow myself to smile even though my head is spinning. How did this happen?

We pull up to the Compton house, it’s old and dirty yet peaceful at the same time. I recognize it from my dream. Jared knocks on the door and introduces us to the young man that opened.

Will Compton leads us out onto the edge of the deck and points at the lake, “That is where she got dragged down?”

“And you are sure she didn’t just drown?” Jared asks. We know it wasn’t otherwise I wouldn’t have dreamed about it but I understand why he asked.

“Yes. I am sure. My sister was an excellent swimmer, we practically grew up in the lake. She was safer out there than she was inside her own bathtub.” Will says. I feel so sorry for him. I couldn’t imagine the grief he must be feeling for the loss of his sister. They seemed close in my dream.

“Did you hear slashing or any signs of distress?” Jared asks.

“No.” Will replies.

“Ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?”

“No. Never. Why? What do you think is out there?”

“We will let you know as soon as we do.” Jared replies. I glance around the property and see an old man sitting on a chair at the edge of the deck, “Can we talk to your father?” I ask turning to Will.

“If you don’t mind, he didn’t see anything and he’s been through a lot.” Will replies as he looks in his father’s direction.

“Sure.” I agree and take one last look at the old man. I can’t shake the feeling that he knows something that could help us. After leaving the Compton house we make our way to the police station.

***

“Why do you care about an accidental drowning?” Sheriff McMillian asks as we take a seat in his small office. Jared successfully got us in after saying we are from Wildlife Services.

“Are you sure it was accidental?” I ask him.

“Will Compton saw something grab his sister.” Jared says.

“Like what? There is nothing big enough in that lake to pull down a person unless it was the Lochness monster.”

Jared smiles and I eye him suspiciously. The Sheriff breaks my train of thought, “Sometimes the mind plays tricks, we combed that lake and found nothing.”

“It’s the third missing body this year.” Jared says.

“I know! These are people from my town, people I care about. Anyway all this won’t be a problem for much longer.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask him, curious as to what it could mean..

“The dam.” The Sheriff simply replies as if that was supposed to explain everything.

“What about the dam?” Jared asks.

“It sprung a leak, it’s falling apart and we can’t raise the funds to repair it, in about two months there won’t be a lake or town for that matter but as Wildlife you should already know that.”

“Yes of course we knew that.” Jared replies as the door opens. I turn to see a pretty brunette enter, “Sorry. Am I interrupting? I can come back later.” She says.

“No, it’s okay.” The Sheriff says then turns to us to introduce her, “This is my daughter, Andrea.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I’m Jared and this is my partner, Jessica.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” I say shaking her hand. I have to admit I have an instant liking towards her.

“They are from Wildlife Services about the lake.” Sheriff McMillian says.

“Oh.” Andrea says.

“Hey there. What is your name?” I say to a small boy hiding behind Andrea. The boy turns and walks away followed by Andrea.

“Is he okay?” I asked the Sheriff.

“My grandson, Lucas, has been through a lot, we all have.” The Sheriff replies then stands up. “Well if there’s anything else that I can do for you.”

“Now that you mention it, can you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?” Jared asks. I refrain from shaking my head. I have told him so many times that we didn’t ever have to worry about money. I had more than I knew what to do with.

“Lake Front Motel.” The Sheriff says, “Go around the corner, it’s two blocks up.”

“Thank you.” I smile and we leave. After we are checked into a small but cozy room Jared fires up his laptop.

“So there are three drowning victims this year alone.” Jared says after staring at the screen for a few minutes.

“Three, which is a lot for such a small town. Is there anything before that?” I ask, lying across the bed on my stomach.

“Yes, six more spread over the last thirty five years if there’s something out there..”

“Loch Ness monster?” I interrupt as I walk over to him.

“There’s usually a witness but here it seems that no one lives to talk about it.” Jared says pulling me into his lap.

“Wait. Look here.” I say pointing at the screen, “Christopher Barr, he is Lucas’s father.” I see a younger version of Lucas on the screen but it’s definitely him.

“Christopher Barr, took his son out for a swim. Chris died and it was two hours before they found Lucas on a floating tube.”

“Looks like we have a witness after all.” I say feeling a little sad, “No wonder that poor kid is so freaked out, watching one of your parents die isn’t something you can just get over.”

Jared looks at me but doesn’t say anything, even though I wasn't exactly present when my parents died I did see the way they died and it still haunted me.

We get into bed and I fall asleep in Jared’s arms.

***

We track Andrea down to the local playground and Jared asks, “Mind if we join you?”

“I’m here with my son.” She replies.

“Mind if I say hi?” I ask not waiting for a reply I walk over to where Lucas was drawing. I sat down opposite him.

“Hi. Can I draw with you?” I ask. Lucas is sitting with his head hung. Without looking at me Lucas slides over a blank piece of paper and I pick up a crayon and begin to draw. How am I going to get him to open up to me? “I know you can hear me and I think I know how you feel, anyway I know you might think that nobody would believe you if you told them what happened but I promise you that I will and you don’t even have to tell me you can just draw me a picture.”

Lucas says nothing so I slide my drawing over to him. “So this is my mom and my dad and that’s me.” I say. Lucas looks up for a second then returns his gaze back down to his drawing.

“See you around, Lucas.” I say and get up to walk back over to Jared and Andrea. I’m a little disappointed in myself that I couldn’t get Lucas to speak to me.

“Lucas hasn’t said a word not even to me.” Andrea says to Jared as I reach them.

“What do the doctors say?” Jared says.

“That it’s a kind of post-traumatic stress/”

“It can’t be easy.” I say looking back at Lucas.

“We moved in with my dad, he helps a lot, it is just that when I think about what Lucas went through and what he saw…”

“Kids are strong; you’ll be surprised at what they can deal with.” Jared smiles.

“He used to have so much life, it was hard to keep up with him to be honest and now he just sits and draws.” Andrea says sadly, we see Lucas walking over to us carrying a piece of paper. “Hi Sweety.” Andrea says to him bending a little forward.

Lucas holds the drawing out to me. I take it from him. “Thank you, Lucas.”

Lucas walks away from us as we all watch him sit down at the bench again. We look at the picture that Lucas had drawn for me. It’s an old house, it looks familiar but I can’t place it.

When we get back to the motel Jared decides to go out and get us some food while complaining that he is always hungry now.

“So I think it’s safe to cross Nessy off of the list.” Jared says as soon as he opens the door.

“I didn’t know Nessy was on the list.”

Jared smirks for a second then gets serious, “I just drove past the Compton house and there was an ambulance there. Will Compton is dead.”

“Did he drown?”

“Yeah, In the sink.” Jared replies, taking another bite of his hamburger.

“What the hell?” I am confused. How does someone drown in the sink?

“It’s got to be something that controls water, water from the same source.”

“Like the lake?”

“Could explain the body count, the lake is draining, it’ll be gone in a couple of months.”

“If it can get through the pipes then it can get to anyone.” I say more to myself.

“We do know one thing for sure; this has got to have something to do with Bill Compton. It took both his kids.” Jared says taking another huge bite of his hamburger.

“While you were out I’ve been asking around and it turns out that Lucas’s father was Bill’s godson.”

“Let’s go and pay Mr. Compton a visit.” He says wiping his mouth.

***

We find the old man sitting on a chair by the deck. “Mr. Compton, we would like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.” I ask as sweetly as I can but he doesn’t look like he is registering a word I am saying.

“We’re from the Department…” Jared begins to say but is cut off by Bill, “I don’t care who you are with. I’ve answered enough questions for today.”

“Your son saw something in the lake. What about you? Have you seen anything?”

“Mr. Compton, Sofia and Will’s drownings must have something to do with you or your family.” I try.

“My children are dead. Gone. It’s worse than dying. Go away. Please.” He pleads and I feel for him and we do as he asks he is obviously not in the right state of mind to give us any answers.

“What do you think?” Jared asks when we get back into the truck.

“I think he’s been through hell but I also think that he is hiding something.” I reply lost in my own thoughts.

“What is it?”

“Maybe Bill isn’t the only one who knows something.” I say reaching for the drawing I put on the back seat. I gasp when I look at the picture. It’s the Compton house.

“To Lucas?” Jared asks and I nod.

***

I knock on the door, Andrea frowns when she opens the door. “Hi. I need to talk to Lucas please.” I say desperately.

“I’m sorry but I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“Just a few minutes please.” I plead.

“He won’t say anything. What good is it going to do?” Andrea asks.

“Andrea, more people are going to get hurt, something is going on here and you know it.”

“My husband, the others, they just drowned. That’s all.”

“If you really believe that then we’ll go but if you think there is even the slightest possibility that there might be something else going here then please let me speak to your son.”

Andrea says a few seconds later, “Okay. Upstairs, second door on your right.” I’m surprised my little speech worked. I don’t waste anymore time and bolt up the stairs. I find Lucas sitting on the floor drawing.

“Hi, Lucas. Remember me?” I ask kneeling down opposite him seeing multiple drawings of a blue bike.

“You know I wanted to thank you for that drawing. I need your help again.” I put the drawing of the house in front of him.

“How did you know how to draw this? Did you know something bad was going to happen?”

Lucas still doesn’t respond so I continue, “I saw something really bad happen to my parents and I didn’t feel like talking about it just like you, but the thing is I know they would want me to be brave and just maybe your dad would want you to be brave too.”

Lucas looks up at me a few seconds later then slides a drawing over to me.

“Thank you, Lucas.” I smile and get up from the floor. Andrea and Jared are standing in the doorway.

“Thank you.” I tell Andrea. She nods and we head out the door.

“Andrea said that the kid never drew like that until his dad died.” Jared tells me starting the truck then adds, “I hear lots of kids that have gone through a traumatic experience they can become more open to premonitions and psychic tendencies.”

“So he could be tapping into whatever is out there?” I ask looking at the drawing.

“Looks like we have another house to find.” Jared says.

“Problem is, there are so many.” I sign looking around as we drive.

“You know what you said about your parents, you never told me what you saw that night.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I say. I don’t want to keep reliving that night.

Jared doesn’t press me and we continue driving around for hours looking for the house that matches the one in Lucas’s drawing.

“There it is.” I point in the direction excited.

We walk up the steps and Jared knocks, “We are sorry to bother you Mam but is there a little boy that lives here by any chance?”

“No sir, not for a very long time. Pete has been gone for years, the police, I had never any idea what happened to him. He just disappeared. Losing him is worse than dying.” The woman says stepping aside so we can enter the house.

I feel so sorry for her. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child and not have any idea of what happened to him.

“Do you think we can take a look at Peter’s room?” Jared asks sweetly.

“Follow me.” she smiles. I’m surprised that she hasn’t asked us who we were. We went through everything in Pete’s room, Jared finds a picture and calls me over, two small boys smiling. He turns it over and reads, “Billy and Pete, 1970.”

“So this little boy vanishes and it’s somehow connected to Bill Compton.” Jared says.

“And all the people he loves are being punished.”

“Do you think Bill did something to Peter?”

“What if Bill killed him?” I ask feeling sick.

“Pete’s spirit would be furious, it would want revenge.”

We thank Pete’s mother for her time. I can’t help myself. I give her a big hug.

We make our way back to the Compton house determined for answers. We get out the truck and see Bill drive his boat out onto the lake, we run and call for him to stop but he ignores us. The boat suddenly flies up into the air and gets dragged down. I can’t believe what I see. Jared holds me back when I want to go and help.

***

We burst into the police station. I’m caught off guard when I see Andrea and Lucas there. “Jared. Jessica. Didn’t expect to see you here.” She smiles.

“So you are on a first name basis now? What are you two doing here?” The Sheriff asks annoyed sitting on the edge of his desk.

Before we can answer Andrea says, “I heard about Bill Compton. Is it true? Is there something going on with the lake?”

“Right now we don’t know what the truth is but it might be better if you and Lucas went home.” The Sheriff says softly. I know he cares about them a lot.

Lucas runs to me and tugs my arm. “Lucas, what’s wrong?” I ask but he gets taken away by his mother. I have a feeling there is something he needs me to know. I watch them leave as the Sheriff says. “So you believe that something attached Bill’s boat?”

“Yeah.” Jared and I reply in unison.

“And I’m supposed to believe this even though I’ve swept that lake and what you’re describing is impossible and oh yeah, you’re not really with Wildlife Services.”

We glance at each other not saying a word.

The Sheriff continues, “I checked up on you, the Department has never heard of you.”

“We can explain…” Jared starts but the Sheriff holds up his hand, “Enough please. The only reason you are still breathing free is that one of Bill’s neighbors saw him steer that boat out just before you go there, so we have a couple of options here, I can arrest you for impersonating a government official and hold you as witnesses to Bill Compton’s disappearance or we can chop this up all up to a bad day and you get in your truck and put this town in your rear view mirror and you don’t ever come back here again.”

“Door number two sounds good.” Jared mutters.

“That's the one I’d pick.” The Sheriff smiles.

I want to argue but I know it won’t help. We get in the truck and when we reach the town limits I turn to Jared, “We have to go back, it isn’t over yet.”

“If Bill killed Pete then he got his revenge and the spirit should be at rest now.”

“What if we missed something and more people get hurt?”

“Why would you think that?” Jared asks.

“Cause Lucas was really scared; I just don’t want to leave until I know he is okay.”

“You sure? It’s pretty late.”

“I’m sure.” I reply I have never been so sure about anything before. Jared turns the truck around. Before I am able to push the doorbell, the door flies open and Lucas comes running out breathing heavily, he looks up at me and runs up the stairs.

“Lucas! Wait! Lucas!” I call as I run in after him Jared close behind me.

We see water coming out underneath the bathroom door, Jared kicks the door open and we run inside. He pulls Andrea out the tub while I hold onto a crying and shaking Lucas. I wrap a towel around Andrea and take her into her bedroom. I help her get dressed and we make our way into the living room.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Jared asks.

“No it doesn’t make any sense. I’m going crazy.” Andrea cries. I take the opportunity to snoop around the Sheriff’s house. I know I’m missing something. I picked up an old photo album.

“You’re not crazy. Tell me what happened.” Jared coaxes.

“A voice said come play with me.” Andrea frowns.

I find a few photos and walk back to them, “Do you know any of these boys?” I ask. Handing the pictures to Andrea.

“Only my dad.” She replies pointing at him, “He must have been twelve in these pictures.”

“The connection wasn’t between Bill and Chris it was between the Sheriff and Chris!” I exclaim.

“What are you talking about?” Andrea asks confused.

“Lucas, what’s wrong?” I ask looking over to him, he opens the door and walks outside. We follow him calling out to him but just keeps walking. He leads us to the backyard and stops in between two bushes near the lake. He looks at the ground then up at me. I turn to Andrea, “Take Lucas and get back into the house. Stay there please.”

Andrea nods and she and Lucas leaves us, Jared hands me a shovel he took from the shed and we begin digging. My shovel hits metal, I look at Jared and we get on our knees, with our hands we dig further. Jared pulls out a blue bicycle.

I ask the question knowing the answer, “It’s Pete’s bike, isn’t it.”

“Who are you?” Sheriff McMillian says pointing his gun at us.

We put our hands up. “Put the gun down.” Jared instructs and I hope that the Sheriff doesn’t shoot, if he really was human now he won’t heal.

“How did you know that was there?” The Sheriff demands to know.

“Why did you do it?” I asked the Sheriff.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“You and Bill killed Pete thirty five years ago. That’s what the hell we are talking about!” I say disgusted by what I know happened.

“Dad?” Andrea calls softly behind him.

“Now you’ve got a seriously pissed off spirit, it’s going to take Andrea, then Lucas, everyone you love, it’s going to drown them and take them god knows where so you can feel the same pain that Pete’s mother felt and then it’s going to take you and it won’t stop until it does.” Jared says putting his hands down.

“How do you know that?” Sheriff McMillian asks lowering his gun.

“Because that’s exactly what it did to Bill Compton/” I sat dropping my hands to my sides.

“Listen to yourselves. Both of you are insane.”

“I don’t give a s**t what you think about us but if we’re going to bring this spirit down, we need to find his remains and burn them. So please tell me you buried him somewhere and not just let him go out in the lake.” Jared says.

“Dad, is any of this true?” Andrea asks with tears in her eyes.

“No. Don’t listen to them, they’re liars and they’re dangerous.”

“Something tried to drown me. Chris died out on that like. Dad, look at me. Tell me you didn’t kill anyone.”

“Billy and I were at the lake, Pete was the smallest so we always picked on him, but this time we got rough,we held his head under too long and he drowned. We let the body go and it sank. We were just kids and so scared but to say I had anything to do with these drownings, with Chris because of some ghost, it’s not rational.”

“Listen to me, all of you, we need to get you as far away from this lake as we can, right now.” Jared says.

Andrea gasps and we turn around, Lucas is kneeling at the edge of the deck reaching for something in the water, we run to him calling his name but he is grabbed and pulled into the water. The Sheriff stops running and I run past him taking my jacket off and throwing it on the ground, without thinking twice I dive into the water.

“Stay there!” Jared calls to Andrea and dives in after me.

I can hardly see in the dark water, when I surface for air I see the Sheriff take his jacket off, “Pete, if you can hear me, please, I am so sorry.” He walks into the lake crying.

“Sheriff, no!” I scream and swim to him but he gets pulled under before I can reach him. The only thing we can do now is to find Lucas. I really hope he is still alive.

I dive back down searching for Lucas, I resurface for air and shake my head at Andrea, she starts sobbing and I know I can’t give up. I am just about to dive again when Jared surfaces holding Lucas, his eyes are closed and I fear the worst.

****

We are busy packing our things into the truck when Jared says, “We’re not going to save everybody.” I know that but there are still a lot of lives lost.

“Jessica! Jared!” Andrea calls and we walk up to her.

“Lucas insisted on making you a snack for the road.”

“Come on, Lucas, let’s put this in the truck.” I smile taking the container from Andrea and with my other hand I take Lucas’s hand and we walk to the truck.

“How are you holding up?” Jared asked Andrea.

“It’s going to take some time to sort through everything.” Andrea replies.

“Andrea, I’m sorry.”

“You saved my son, I can’t ask for more than that, dad loved me, he loved Lucas and no matter what he did I just have to hold on to that.” Andrea says as Lucas and I return.

“Take care of mommy, you hear.” I say bending down on one knee and hugging Lucas.

“Thank you for saving the town.” Lucas says looking up at me when I stand.

“What are you talking about?” I asked flushed and surprised that Lucas spoke.

“We got an anonymous donation to repair the dam. It seems that this town has gotten a second chance.” Andrea says.

Jared smiles and I shake my head. I have no idea how Lucas knows it was me.

“Thank you. The two of you make a great team.’ Andrea says and they walk off, Lucas turns around and gives me a little wave that I return.

When we are inside the truck, Jared says, “So is that what you were doing the other night at three in the morning?”

“No one was supposed to know.”

“Not even me?” He asks pretending to be hurt.

“It’s not a big deal, really, can we just drop it please.” I blush.

“Fine, but we’re not going back to the Ranch just yet.”

“Why not? Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He grins.