Peripheral Vision: A Supernatural Thriller(14)

“What?”

“Emily isn’t the first.”

“What do you mean? Like not the first to disappear?”

“Yeah.” Nick nodded.

“Oh my God… how many?”

Nick pointed at the newspaper. “Six.”

“Six?!”

Nick nodded.“The first disappeared twelve years ago. The details seem to change from time to time, but the story goes that it was some hippy drifter and her boyfriend. They recovered her boyfriend’s backpack in the river. All full of soggy weed and camping gear, but they never found any bodies. At the time everyone just assumed that they drowned together...”

“This creepy,” Sarah muttered.

“Until the next girl disappeared. Jamie Billings.” Nick went on, “I did know her. We were both Homewood High Eagles. She was a freshman when I was a senior. Hell of a volleyball player.”

“I’m sorry. That’s horrible.”

“It is… but, I mean, everybody's lost somebody. It was a long time ago anyway.” Nick forced an awkward smile.

“How long ago?” Sarah asked.

“Summer of ‘02. But it’s not just here- girls have disappeared from some of the other small towns around here too. Derby lost a girl, Philmore lost two.”

“My God, Nick.”

“I mean... most of them were either new to town or just passing through. Here one day and gone the next, ya know. So, some people don’t consider them to be actually missing. There’s that chance that they just left or whatever... but it adds to the story I guess. And people like a story.”

“Well it’s a pretty big story for such a small town.”

“It is,” Nick replied, “It has a way of making people a little paranoid around here too. Most of the locals won’t even talk about it… though Walt was doing his best to kinda warn you about it last night.”

“Oh. Well, I guess it’s a good thing I met you then. You can protect me.”

Nick blushed. He turned the steering wheel and they bounced off one dirt road and onto another. “Almost there. Just down this hill and across the bridge.” They drove over an run-down, steel truss bridge which crossed the river at the bottom of the hill. “This is the Iktomi River.”

“Wow. It’s beautiful.”

“Yep.” Nick nodded and then soon the truck was turning off the dirt road and driving up the gravel driveway to an old, white, two-story house. Sarah stared through the windshield at the old, river house as Nick parked the truck. She didn’t notice him shut off the engine and get out. She just continued to stare, in a trance of sorts, as if the house was speaking to her. Nick suddenly tapped on the passenger side window and Sarah jumped in her seat.

“Oh God!” Sarah turned to the window with an embarrassed smile, shook off the cobwebs, and then opened the truck door.

“You alright?”

“Yeah... yeah, fine. I was just- let’s just go inside.”

Nick lead Sarah to the front door. They both stood there waiting for the other to unlock the door.

“Um, you have the keys.” Nick finally said.

“Oh, shit. That’s right.” The two laughed as Sarah dug in her purse for the keys. She found them and unlocked the door. The worn, wooden door creaked as Sarah opened it, welcoming them inside.

Nick lead Sarah into the house, flipping on light switches as he went. It was quite obvious that he’d been there before.

“It’s cold in here.” Sarah said as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Yeah. I’ll see if I can get it warmed up.” Nick walked over to the fireplace and began to start a fire.

Sarah left Nick to the fire making as she unconsciously decided to investigate the rest of the house. The house seemed to groan and creak “hello” to Sarah as she moved throughout the rooms. She was looking for photos of her aunt, or family, but all she found were empty picture frames and dusty furniture.

She headed up the tattered, wooden stairs to the second floor. At the top of the stairs there was a long hallway with four doors, two on each side. Three of the doors were opened, but there was one closed door at the end of the hallway. Sarah immediately knew that that was the one she wanted. She passed the opened doors of the bathroom, a closet, and what looked like a guest bedroom, before stopping to observe an empty picture frame hanging on the wall across from the one closed door. Sarah turned her attention back to the door and slowly began to turn the knob. A hand touched Sarah’s shoulder.

“That was your aunt’s-”

Sarah screamed and turned to face Nick, who was equally startled.

“Oh my God! You scared me!” She hit Nick in the shoulder.

“Ouch! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“It’s okay. Just don’t do it again.” Sarah gave Nick a wry smile and opened the door. She looked inside to find a room completely put together. The bed was tightly made and nothing looked to be out of place.

“They found her in her bed. She went peacefully in her sleep.”

Sarah looked at Nick.

“She had cancer. I’m sorry. This isn’t my place. I just wasn’t sure how much you knew about how she died. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, no, it’s okay.” Sarah’s eyes surveyed the rest of the bedroom. “I, I didn’t know. And I want to know about her.”