A pair of red shoes fell to the ground, blurring as they melted into a hardwood floor so that there was nothing but a blood red puddle left behind. I could hear sirens wailing in the distance, echoing from my left ear to my right ear until the pitch changed and remained constant. I could see that I was in a dark room, staring at a window that had a streetlight situated right outside that flickered on and off occasionally. Suddenly a broken down car glitched in and out of the room as if it was stuck between two channels, unable to keep reception long enough to remain in my sight. Writing appeared on the floor nearby me, trying to make out the words but it was all written in a strange language yet in beautiful cursive handwriting. I heard footsteps approaching, jumping up from the floor and spinning around to see a figure stepping up to me. The figure was indistinguishable, but they held a knife that caught the light in it's reflection, shining into my eyes. I shielded my eyes from the light, feeling the figure lunge at me until I was knocked onto the ground, struggling underneath it's grasp. I panicked, throwing my hands up in front of my face as the knife came down, but nothing happened. The figure had disappeared.
Suddenly I heard the same sound of the shoes hitting the hardwood, turning my head over to the left to see them melting once more into a puddle of red on the floor. The same scene played out a second time – the wailing sirens, the flickering streetlight, the car glitching in and out, the writing on the floor, and the figure with the knife. I shoved myself off of the ground, backing away from the figure.
"Who are you?" I whispered, my voice shaking as I stood in front of the blackened figure.
There was no response, instead it stood motionless in front of me. I looked around once more, everything had come to a halt. With one careful step, I bridged the distance between the figure and myself, reaching out to touch the side of it's face. Suddenly it snapped at my fingers, causing me to jump backwards as it lunged towards me. A face appeared, and suddenly the blackness that surrounded it lifted. Standing in front of me with long graying dreads hanging around her head, no top teeth to be seen and long yellowing fingernails clawing towards me was no other than Mahala.
The world around me faded out of view for a moment before being replaced by trees, gravel, and jutting rocks all around. Mahala bared her bottom teeth in a frightening smile, one that gave me chills down my spine. I looked around, realizing that I was back in the present time. My vision was still blurry and slightly distorted, everything was slowed down as it was before. I wasn't by the stream any longer and I couldn't see John anywhere, beginning to panic as I spun around a few times to get my bearings. I stopped and turned back to face Mahala, who had now disappeared.
I could hear my name being called out in the distance, unsure of what was going on. The sun was beginning to set and soon it would be dark, feeling unnerved about what I had seen. It was unlike anything before, not quite a premonition but not a dream either.
"Ellion!" John called out, his voice nearing with every passing second. "Ellion, where did you go?"
I looked around for Mahala, not sure if I had actually seen her or if I had hallucinated the entire thing. I couldn't figure out how I got to this place or what I had just seen – I was sure it wasn't a premonition, but I felt as though I was awake. Finally I saw John emerge from some of the trees as he ran through and made his way to me, checking me over a few times to make sure that I was alright.
"You scared me, Ellion, you just took off," John said, his voice slightly panicked as he took another moment to search me over. "Are you okay? Why did you run off?"
His words came out in a jumbled mess when in reality he had spoken with perfect clarity, unable to comprehend most of what was going on. I shrugged, feeling tired like I was going to have to crawl from here on out. My knees buckled beneath me but John caught me, quickly swooping his arm behind my knees so that he was carrying me. He spoke softly to me as he walked back to the stream, but I couldn't understand the words that he was saying. Instead I was focused on the image of Mahala that seemed to be imprinted in my mind, and the vision of the ruby red T-strap heels melting into the floorboards.
~~~
"She ate the entire bag?" Freddy gaped, watching as Jannie placed a cool cloth on my forehead, dabbing it a few times. "I'm actually surprised she was able to walk, let alone run."
"She's never touched drugs before, I'm surprised she made it as long as she did," Jannie remarked, tucking some of my hair behind my ear. "You feeling okay now, Ellie?"
Physically I was tired, the effects of the mushrooms were starting to taper off after having spent a long time waiting for a park ranger to find us at the stream, but mentally I was fried. I couldn't get the images out of my mind, still seeing flashes of Mahala's face along with the melting shoes, unable to figure out what any of it meant. Had I actually seen Mahala or was it a hallucination? I kept trying to blink it all away, as if that was a solution, but they kept reappearing the same way that a negative image of the sun burns into your vision if you stare at it for too long. Jannie noticed my reservation and asked if she could have some time alone with me, waiting until John and Freddy were out of earshot before attending to me once more.
"You look like you've had a premonition, is that what happened?" Jannie asked, watching my face carefully.
"I don't know," I whispered, almost unable to find my voice in the midst of the sirens continually wailing in my ears. "I've never seen anything like it before."
"What did you see?" She asked and I explained to her the best that I could, still feeling as though I wasn't doing what I had seen any justice. There wasn't a clear way to explain everything, so I did the best that I could. She pondered it for a moment, nodding a few times before leaning back in her chair. "Do you think it's a message? Maybe it's a warning – I don't know, really. But it has to mean something, doesn't it?"
"Does it? I'm not sure anymore. I was seeing it all through my own eyes, not someone else. It was weird, like some sort of abstract painting that was moving before my eyes and yet it still felt like a premonition. It could be because of the drugs, but I don't know – it felt too real."
"Do you think it's about John? You died in the same way that he did, right?"
"I think so, but it wasn't John – it was me."
Jannie paused, trying to reserve her panic as she thought through everything I was saying. "Have you figured out who would want to kill John?"
"I feel like it could be his uncle Fletcher, but at the same time I'm now questioning whether it could be Mahala," I took a second as the image of her face burned into my vision once more. "I don't know how to solve any of this, Jannie, I'm not a detective and I don't know where to start looking. I don't want John to die, but I don't have much time left to figure out who would want to kill him. I'm at a loss."
Jannie shook her head, placing her hand over top of mine and squeezing it gently. "No, you're not at a loss, you just need a second set of eyes. Let me help you, I don't know how much I can do, but maybe we can figure this out together. He doesn't deserve to die, you're right. There has to be some way we can stop whoever wants him dead."
"Is it okay if I go lie down? I can't think straight right now, and I'm pretty sure I'm still high," I said, washing my hands over my face as I leaned forward in my chair. Jannie nodded, helping me to stand up before leading me over to my tent.
The second my head met the pillow I fell asleep for the rest of the night into the next day until it was time to leave. John had preoccupied himself by spending time with Jannie and Freddy, who made an effort to make sure he wasn't alone while I was resting. I felt bad that I had abandoned John, but he would later tell me that he more than understood after what had happened. The drive home wasn't much more exciting as I was still feeling really tired from the trip, but my mind was also heavy with the images of what I could only assume was a premonition. Freddy dropped John and I off at Fletcher's house but not before Jannie said that she wanted me to be back at her place soon, which was her way of saying that she was going to help me out with John. I needed all the help I could get, unable to figure out any of it on my own. The clock was rapidly counting down and I still didn't have anything to base my suspicions on other than the fact that John owed Fletcher money.
John wanted to put his stuff away before taking me back to Jannie's house, so he invited me inside of Fletcher's house. He went into the guest bedroom to unpack a few things and left me to wander the downstairs, eying the pictures that hung on the walls. There were numerous pictures of Hadley in various dresses as well as her graduation picture, followed by a few of Fletcher's extended family. I scanned through the faces, noticing a younger version of John standing beside what I could only assume was his mother. This picture must have been taken before the accident as John's mother seemed perfectly normal. She had soft blonde hair that was cropped beneath her ears and deep brown eyes just like John's, her smile was the brightest in the picture. I reached forward to gently brush away some dust that had collected on the one side of the picture and in that brief moment where my hand met the frame I had forgotten the images that continuously cycled through my mind. I heard shuffling coming from the other room and the creaking of a door closing.
"Listen, I can get a copy of his papers in my office, but I'm not there right now. I'm leaving town for a few days on business, I'll be back Wednesday evening by the latest," I heard Fletcher whisper from the other room, not realizing that he had been home the entire time. "No, listen to me – John's good for it, he is. He's got his mom's savings that he can dip into, I'm sure of it. You don't have to worry about him, it will all be sorted out soon," Fletcher paused again, listening to the person on the other end of the phone. "Please Marik, just give me until June and we can have it all figured out – no, she doesn't have to know. She doesn't even know how bad it is and we can keep it that way, right? Hadley doesn't have to know, okay? Please – please."
The fear in Fletcher's voice was quipped and panic stricken, almost as though he was begging – pleading – with whoever was on the other end of the phone. "This is between you and I, no one else. I told you that I'm good for it, I just gotta figure out when my nephew can get the money. It'll be fine, I swear," Fletcher listened in, sighing before answering again. "There's no need for you to come here, no one needs to get hurt. He doesn't know about you, I promise, he just knows I owe money to someone...wait, no – I told you I'd get the forms for you on Wednesday. Come on, just give me some time – hello? Hello?"
Fletcher cursed under his breath as he slammed the phone down on the kitchen counter, stomping away towards the hallway where I stood. I tried to make a quick exit before he saw that I was there, but it was too late. He came to a halt and I turned back to face him, baring a nervous smile despite my attempts not to. He looked confused, eying the staircase before meeting my gaze again.
"You waiting for John?" Fletcher asked, clearly put off by the fact that I had been in the house the entire time, not to mention John was just upstairs.
"Yeah, we're just stopping in for a minute so that he can unpack some things," I replied, clearing my throat as I shifted on either foot. "We'll be out of your hair in no time."
There was an awkward silence between us as Fletcher weighed through a few things in his head, but I quickly broke the silence as I stepped back up to the picture of John and his mom to ask if that's who it was. Fletcher was timid as he responded, saying that it was. I did my best not to seem awkward even though it was clear how nervous I was. Did he care that I had overheard his phone call? He was quiet for a few seconds as he thought something through, ultimately easing off as he shrugged his shoulders. John came down the stairs and greeted Fletcher before leading me out of the house. I couldn't help but look over my shoulder to Fletcher as I closed the front door behind me, noticing that he was watching me as I left.