The moon glimmered on the water, causing a soft reflection to cast out over the entire lake. The sound of frogs and crickets carried through the air, each one singing its own song and yet harmonizing with the rest in a gentle cacophony. There was something so still and yet so alive about the area that it took me a moment to realize that it wasn't just myself and nature as a figure approached. I felt the comfort of a pair of hands weave around from behind me, pulling me into the safety of his embrace. John leaned his chin on my shoulder, staring out over the lake with me as we admired the peace that surrounded us, watching the slow moving waves lap against the shore. He whispered something to me but I didn't hear the words, instead I understood by the tone of his voice – I love you. I was content in not hearing the words and yet feeling every ounce of emotion that drained from John into me. I didn't have to say it back because I had already said it in the way my hand clasped around his, my fingers lacing between – that was more than enough for John as he held me, his heart warming with mine at the shared knowledge that we were at peace with one another, that we belonged. There was a steady stream of fresh love between us, twisting and turning in every fibre of our being until it reached the final destination of where it belonged. John kissed my cheek and I melted into it, bringing my hand up to run my fingers through his hair, feeling every single strand pass against the underside of my hand. There was nothing else in the world that I needed – he was it for me.
But as my fingers began to relax and gently slide down the side of his face, down to his neck, I felt something warm and wet touch me, soaking into my skin. I almost ignored it, wanting to be wrapped up in this moment and to forget about anything else, yet something inside made me bring my hand out to look at. My hand was covered in crimson blood, smudging my fingers together as I tried to figure out where it had come from. I wanted to ask if John knew what had happened, why I had blood on my hand, but instead I turned to look at him. His face was pale, his eyes faded and blood pouring from a wound in his throat. I gasped, stepping back as I stared at a true dead man walking. I called out his name, my feet unmoving as I waited for his reply. He stared at me without saying a word, something in his face said all there was to say – help me. Suddenly he fell to the ground with a thud, landing half into the water on the shore. I screamed.
In an instant my eyes opened, taking in a sharp breath as I looked around at my dark living room. The menu screen for the movie was playing softly in the background, barely lighting up the room. I shook my head as I sat forward, turning around to look out of the front window to see streetlights on. What time was it? I checked my wristwatch, seeing that it was a quarter after seven in the evening. I had slept for quite a few hours, rustling my hair around on my head as I turned to look beside me, noticing an empty space on the couch. At first it didn't dawn on me that John was gone, it took me a minute to realize that it was still the same day and that I had been in such a deep sleep, not to mention that my mind was still reeling from the nightmare – until suddenly it hit me: John was gone. Today was his premonition and I was supposed to keep him with me all day.
I wanted to scream, scattering from the couch as I darted around the house calling out John's name, half hoping that he had just gotten up to walk around or maybe use the bathroom. I frantically searched every square inch, but he was definitely gone. I panicked, running my fingers through my hair as I paced back and forth in the living room. Where could he have gone and why would he leave without saying a word? I thought it all through, one minute I had been watching the movie and my eyes were getting heavy but I was sure that I only closed them for a second. I was mad at myself for not staying awake to protect John, it was only a few hours to make sure he was safe and then everything could go back to normal. How could I be so stupid? I wanted to cry and breakdown, to give up because it might already be too late – but something inside of me said that it wasn't too late, I could still make things right. I had to move fast.
I rushed to the front door and began slipping on my shoes, reaching to grab the keys to the van when I noticed a note left underneath. I slowed down and picked up the note that read,
Went to help Fletcher for a bit. I'll be back soon,
John xx
If there was ever a moment in my life that I wanted to disappear from existence, it was this one. The insurmountable pain of knowing how badly I had messed up, that I was going to lose John and that I could have put a stop to it – it made me feel as though I couldn't go on. I wanted to fall down onto the floor and cry until my body would no longer allow me to, but instead I pulled myself together and promised myself that I would not lay down to die, I wasn't going to let him go that easily. I had to be strong.
I drove so fast that if a police cruiser happened to go by me and use their radar they would have impounded my car right away, but I was lucky that the roads were nearly empty. I dashed through town, immediately heading over to Fletcher's house. I didn't waste any time beating on the door, but there were no lights on. I kept hoping that maybe my premonition was wrong, perhaps I hadn't seen it properly or maybe it had changed – could it change? I tried to think of everywhere I could find Fletcher and John, seeing as how John had twenty more minutes until his premonition came true. I had twenty minutes to intervene, which wasn't giving me a lot of time. Harrow Hall was a mediocre sized town, but with the speed I was searching I could find them if I kept looking. I decided to go to all of Fletcher's haunts, first heading over to 2nd Haven Apartments where Hadley lived to see if she had heard from her father, but even she didn't answer her door and her car wasn't out front. I went to Atheson's apartment and there was no response, wondering where everyone was. I wasn't sure where else to look, deciding to head over to Nancy's Diner to see if Fletcher had stopped in for his usual dinner.
The waitress, Laura, said that Fletcher had been in like he usually was about ten minutes ago she figured, but this time he had company with him – which was very unlike Fletcher. She said he liked to eat alone mostly because he liked to flirt with the girls who were working, so it was weird for him to bring someone else with him to the diner. I described John and she immediately lit up, saying that was who she had seen. She went on to comment about how handsome John was, but I wasn't in the mood to discuss anything like that with her – I cut her off and immediately asked her if she knew where they were going. Laura mentioned that she overheard Fletcher say something about picking up a car from the junkyard, but that was about all she caught from their conversation, they had kept their voices very low the entire time and even sat at a booth instead of at the counter. I thanked her before departing the restaurant, jumping into my van and making a beeline down Fischer Street towards the edge of town where the junkyard was.
I started to feel hopeful that I could intercept Fletcher before he could take John to the final destination of the evening. My headlights raked down the road until I noticed a set of brake lights that I was closing in on, seeing yellow flashing lights on top of the vehicle. It was a tow truck pulling along an old beater car that was just leaving the junkyard, heading down to make the first turn onto county road three leading towards Lake Newberry. I stepped on the gas and floored it down the road, making a sharp turn that squealed my tires as I did to try to catch up to the tow truck. It had to be Fletcher, he was towing a car from the junkyard which was exactly what Laura said he was going to do. Finally I came right up to the rear of the car being towed, laying on my horn to try to convince Fletcher to pull over. At first the brake lights shone brighter as he slowed down, but he must have thought I was just being rude and honking for no reason. He rolled down his window and threw his hand out of the window, flipping his middle finger at me. I continued to hit the horn, but he refused to pull over and continued to drive, this time picking up his own speed. He turned down the next county road and I followed him, now he honked back at me and again put his hand out the window to motion for me to pass him. I refused to take my hand off of the horn, blaring it as I followed closely behind him. He was just as stubborn and would not pull over on the side of the road, instead he stared to speed even more as he tried to lose me, his wheels kicking up gravel on the road at my van. I wondered if he thought that maybe I was one of the loan sharks coming for him and that was why he wouldn't pull over for me. He crossed over the Red Bridge on county road four until he finally slowed and turned into the parking lot at the furthest side of Lake Newberry. Usually people parked closer to where the Red Bridge was, which was close to where John was going to be murdered.
I jumped out of my van and Fletcher hopped out of his truck, both of us rounding our vehicles to come face to face.