His eyes snapped open before dawn from a long restlessness.
He had fought for too many hours to stay dreaming, and he knew there was nothing left to do but get up. He got up, turned off his alarm to spare his sleeping sound, and stumbled into the living room, where he stood in front of the window for several minutes, scratching his bare belly. He went outside.
The cold wasn't the biting but the slow seeping kind. He wished he had brought his slippers but didn't want to return to his room to get them. He felt he was doing something important, surveying the land, taking in something he saw only a few times per year: the darkness before dawn.
The feeling of restlessness, the deaths of his parents, who he was, and who he became. His consciences started to bother him.
Maybe his dad was not that bad after all, all he had was a sister, and now they were sharing a place with Nicole, so much had changed, he had left his phone in his room, that dream had woke him from his deep sleep, conscience can consume you, the woods the screams the cries, the whispers, what was happening to him.
Jack walked over to the table in the kitchen, pouring a glass of water as he stood in the darkness staring outside the window, recapping the day he was almost attacked, and Marcus stepped in. If only Marcus had known he had everything under control.
Shadows leaped between the darkness as echoes came along with silent cries of dawn approaching. Calmness is all he ever wanted; the price of calmness came too high, so it would be risky to turn him back and walk away.
Thoughts of regrets, we all have that fear, the fear of change, and decisions we make in our everyday lives, our secrets, tie us down to guilt where we choke on our thoughts, heart races as he closes his eyes, taking a deep breath, things will he be okay he told himself.
Something moved in the dark shadows as the spotlight went on. Jack reached under the kitchen drawer removing his pistol. The light shining across the lawn, showed revealed nobody but a single leaf blowing across the lawn, with the sound of the window echoing.
Jack had walked over to the door holding his pistol upright, placing his ear to the door. He saw four figures creeping out of the darkness. They moved silently like a lion hunting its prey; they wore balaclavas covering their faces.
Jack knew who they were. That dream had warned him; that's why he woke up sweating, and it was not just conscience; it was dangerous, and only he could stop it.
Jack opened the backdoor, locking it from the inside; as he walked around the corner, a guy stood there trying to look through the window.
Jack placed his arm around his neck and choked him. He moved swiftly alongside the wall and caught up to the second guy. The guy had a gun on the ground while tieing his laces; without hesitation, Jack moved in fast, sliding the sharp knife across his neck, letting him bleed out.
Without wasting a minute, he moved around to the side of the house. A guy stood there looking through the window with the blind up.
He was staring at Nicole in her shorts, tight asleep. Jack placed his hand over the guy's mouth and stabbed him. The fourth guy was lying on the lawn with a hole in the back of his head. That's when he bumped into his sister. She had a silencer on a 9mm.
"What are you doing here.?" Jack whispered.
"I saw this asshole staring through my window."
"What are you doing here, Jack?"
"Cleaning up a mess."
"What mess," Jack told his sister to follow him, and Angela was surprised by how many guys there were.
"Did you do this all on your own?"
"Yes, I couldn't sleep and saw the four guys in the yard."
"Mom taught you well, brother."
"How are we going to clear up this mess? We can't have cops on our doorstep," Jack had a plan when killing them; he wanted to call his contacts, but now that his sister was awake, she couldn't know who his contacts were.
"Well, I have done this before when rescuing Nicole. We will have to dump the bodies down the mountain. We will put the bodies back in the car, drive to the mountain, and push it off the cliff with all four of them in it to make it appear like an accident."
"Great idea," Jack and Angela got dressed, loaded the heavy bodies, drove to the mountain, and pushed it off the cliff.
"So what now?"
"We have to head back. We can't leave Marcus and Nicole alone. Who else might come?"
It was 06h45am when they arrived; the sun was up, and Marcus and Nicole were still asleep, "what do you think those guys wanted?"
"It has to have something to do with earlier, or they are after Nicole."
"Are you still taking her for that checkup?"
"I thought you were taking her?"
"We could go together, Jack?"
"No, we can't. Marcus would want to come."
"Okay, I will take her, but can you have the appointment done for 11 am?"
"It's a doctor, Joshua; they make the appointments."
"Where must you go anyway?"
"Claire, she called me over to help her move some furniture."
"Well, that can at first; let's have Nicole checked out."
Jack returned to bed and lay in silence as the sun shone through his window. He stood up and covered his curtain with a dark cloth; while climbing back into the bed, he received a notification on text. It was a message from Claire, asking him to see her. He closed the text and dozed off. This time it was different, a different dream.
Beyond the darkness were the trees, and they were shrouded in it, wore darkness like great cloaks, and before the trees was a field full of dark-colored grass. He could not see the grass, though.
He just knew it was there like he knew the trees were there and like he knew his wife lay sleeping inside, nerves lay underneath his skin, and cold was seeping through them and into his bones. Like he knew he must go inside soon.
But there, beyond the trees, stood that red glaring light tower he did not know. It flashed on and off.
He looked into it, and he did not know why it was there or why the darkness seemed to gather around it as moths gather around light even though they're beaten back again and again by the heat. Yes, the dark was darkest around that red light, and he couldn't go inside but just stared into the darkness, trying to memorize its shape until Claire's face appeared in front of him.
She smiled as she walked over to him, touching his hand with her soft hands. Her hair was braided, and as she walked with him towards that red light, he could not see where he was walking to as the darkness had no ground.
He looked up and saw what seemed like a red eagle. Claire looked back, showing a broad smile. She wore a red dress and black boots, and he was lost in her big blue eyes as she showed her perfect teeth.
"Where are you taking me to, Claire?"
Thats when he felt no ground under him and fell down. He saw large brown rocks as he tried to cover his hands over his face and saw the car of the four dead bodies, "Jack, wake up. It's only a dream."
Jack opened his eyes, and there Nicole stood, staring at him, smiling, "it's almost 8 am. Where is your sister?"
"She is not in her room?"
"She isn't." Jack frowned.
He saw her moments ago "where could she be?" He was hoping she was not dumb enough to go after those men alone, "would you mind giving me some privacy while I get dressed, please?"
"Sure, but I did see blood on the lawn, actually not me; Marcus did."
"That was not a dream? Killing those four men, it happened."
Jack put on his shoes, ran out the door, and saw Marcus on one knee, feeling the place with his thumb and index finger.
"Have you seen this here on the grass?"
"No, I haven't. Have you seen my sister?"
"No, she was out before we woke up."
Jack saw something shiny in front of the corner. It was her chain. How did this get here? He wondered as he looked at the chain. "Does that not belong to your sister? The blood and this?" Do you think she is in some trouble?"
Jack stood up, walking past Marcus, "she is fine. She will be back."
"And how do you know this for sure?"
"Because it's my sister, I would know if she went missing. We give it until ten before we start jumping our horses."
"Of course, I agree."
They sat around the table and had breakfast when they heard a car pull up outside, "who could that be?"
Nicole walked over to the window, "it's two policemen?"