Chapter One

 

Autumn stood solemnly at the window, clutching a fresh mug of coffee with both hands, the steam and aroma was rising from the rim. She stared out the window into the bleak afternoon, the fine mist of rain dimming her vision of the empty street outside. After so many sleepless nights the coffee was no longer helping. She was exhausted with worry and anxiety at the loss of her best friend nearly two weeks before. "Were going to find her, You know that right?" Jane announced as she looked up from her laptop. Jane's efforts had been aimed at putting her skills as an investigative reporter for a local network affiliate to the test for the last two weeks but she was coming up dry. She had exhausted all of her resources and was getting frustrated. But Jane wasn't the type to give up easily, especially when it was something she really wanted. "I know we will, I just hope it's soon." Autumn replied sadly.
They heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it" Jane said. When she opened the door there stood Kim. The third member of their entourage. Her clothes wet from the rain. "You going to let me in anytime today, "It's wet out here." Kim stressed coldly. "look who it is Autumn, The smartass has finally arrived." Jane responded with a smile. Autumn turned and looked at Kim and Jane and said. I'm going to get cleaned up and I'll come back and make us some lunch." Autumn walked down the hall to her bedroom to change her clothes. She looked over at her bed wishing she could fall a sleep and for all of this to be a bad dream. While she was looking at her bed Autumn saw her journal laying there. She had only recently started writing in a journal last year after Sarah had given it to her for her 25th birthday. She picked the book up and flipped through the pages, and began reading entries from a few months ago. Jan 26 2011. Last month something strange happened to me, I don't know how to explain it, I was setting on the sofa and I had this Flash of Kim, Jane and Sarah. They had gone out of town for the weekend and on there way back they had ran out of gas.
The vision had ended abruptly when the phone rang. It was Kim, and before she could tell me what happened. I said "you should have filled up before you left." She didn't understand how I knew so I told her that it was dejavu. That was the first time I had a vision, But they continued.
The last one I got was of Sarah being abducted. If I had trusted my vision or myself Sarah would be here hanging out with us right now and she would be safe. "Knock, Knock"
Kim said through the bedroom door. "Some guy named Ben just called Jane about a lead on Sarah, he wants us to meet him at bar downtown called Dirty Aces." When the girls went into the living room Jane told them that she had called Shaun to let him know what's going. And that he wanted them to wait for him before they went into the bar.
They got in the car and headed downtown. "Shaun said for us to wait to go in the bar till he got there and he sounded pretty serious so, I am guessing this isn't the nicest place in town." Jane mentioned.
As they were driving to the bar all Autumn could think about was finding Sarah. I hope we find her tonight, she thought. But if we don't I need to tell Jane and Kim about my vision no matter what they might think. Autumn wasn't worried about telling Jane, it was Kim she was really worried about.
Jane was more minded when it came to the supernatural more so than Kim was. I remember when I told her I thought my apartment was haunted, she laughed at me like it was the craziest thing she had ever heard.
"This is it." Kim said as the pulled into the driveway. "Do you see Shaun's car?" Jane asked. "Yeah there he is." Autumn replied.
Detective Shaun Bryant pulled into the gravel parking lot of the Dirty Ace and spotted Kim's Honda. At least the girls had listened to him and had stayed in the car, he thought. He parked and got out to walk over to them and stopped for a minute to cast a judicious eye at the building. Kim and Jane both watched him as he strode across the lot toward them. Jane was staring because he was the love of her life and because she thought he was sexy as hell. Kim was staring because for the moment she wanted to be Jane.
His six-foot frame was lean and muscular with moderately broad shoulders and chest. He had a strong jaw line and piercing cobalt eyes. His thick chestnut hair had been kept high and tight ever since he passed the detective's exam. Since he had become a detective, he had taken to dressing well. Often in nice charcoal suits with dark blue pressed button down shirts and the occasional silk tie and most people mistook him for some sort of executive rather than a lieutenant with the Travis County homicide division in Austin, Texas.
He had an infectious friendly demeanor and every time he flashed his boyish smile Jane would smile too. Autumn had once pointed it out to her, and Jane had said "I can't help it, no matter what I try, I just can't stop myself, Half the time I don't even realize that I am standing there like a grinning idiot with that goofy look on my face, Every time I see him he makes my body weak and I'm stricken with stupidity." Kim laughed "Oh don't blame that on him, You've always been stricken with stupidity." Even Autumn chuckled at the sarcastic observation. Kim could be a bitch when she wanted to but she made Autumn laugh and that was one of the things she liked about Kim. Though they would never admit it Jane and Autumn envied Kim's often surly view of the world and her scathing directness.
Kim didn't usually beat around the bush with people and Autumn found something comforting in that cold simplicity. But in the long run it made Kim a little too abrasive for most people. Kim didn't have many friends outside of their dysfunctional little group.
It would seem that Autumn, Jane and Sarah were the only girls in town who could tolerate her for more ten minuets at a time. When Shaun reached the car, he leaned into the passenger side window and give Jane a kiss. His faint cologne drifted over to the drive's side and Kim drank it in silently and thinking to herself "mm! Yummy!""Hey good looking" Jane said after Shaun kissed her. "I'm going to go in there and check it out, I'll come and get you when I think it's safe." Shaun said to the girls.
Shaun went into the bar. There were twelve people in the bar including the bartender. "Hey bar keep" Shaun said as he raised his hand up to the bartender to get his attention, The man behind the bar turned toward the sound of Shaun's voice and smiled. "What can I do for you?" the man asked.
As Shaun approached the bar, he noticed a fading USMC tattoo on the man's left shoulder. He could make out the date underneath tattoo. 67-68, just above the ink was a pack of luckies rolled in old school fashion into the sleeve of the man's white t shirt. Shaun clocked him to be about 58 or 59, Shaun handed the bartender a photograph of Sarah and asked.
"Have you seen this girl before?" "No, I'm sorry never seen her, why do you ask, did something happen to her?" the bartender responded. "She went missing two weeks ago." Shaun revealed. "I think the man you are looking for is sitting right over there." The bartender nodded in the direction of a lone figure sitting at the far end of the bar. "That would be Ben" John announced. He's a bit of a loner, but I am sure he doesn't know anything." Shaun glanced down the bar for a quick look and said "What makes you so sure?" "I know pretty much everything that goes on around here, I don't get the high end clientele around here as you can see, so if there is anything shady happening within fifty miles of this place I hear about it." "He's not playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean." John replied.
"No, I don't know what you mean, why don't you clear it up for me." Shaun asked. "Well he's always going on about UFO'S and what not. The guy thinks we are being taken over by Aliens, And he really believes it I shit you not." John endeavored to look serious.
Shaun sighed, "Alright, thanks for the heads up." Shaun turned to the bartender and asked "What does he drink?" Shaun nodded at the man setting at the end of the bar. "He drinks whiskey, straight up." John said In the dim light of the bar Shaun couldn't see the man's face very well. But as he approached the man the harsh reality of the man's life came into clear focus. From the parts of his face that weren't covered with dirt and wildly overgrown facial hair.
Shaun was amazed to see that he couldn't have been over twenty- seven or twenty-eight years old. But it had obviously been a long and hard twenty-eight years. His hair was long and disheveled and Shaun thought it would likely be blond if the guy washed it.
His beard made him look like a mountain man and his clothes were well worn. To all outward appearance this guy looked like a derelict or homeless man, but when he looked up Shaun was taken by surprise. Deep in the nest of fur surrounding his face were two ice blue eyes, piercing and intense. He had only seen one other person with those eyes in his life. Autumn, his eyes were exactly like Autumn's.
Shaun approached the man casually. He knew nothing about this guy except for the mindless prattle the bartender had filled his ear with. And he knew that carp would be unreliable at best. His name and his preferred poison was about the only information he was willing to take at face value at this point. He pulled out a stool and said "O.K. if sit here?" Shaun asked. The young man eyed him with caution before speaking. "It's a free country, if you believe your government."
Shaun smiled as he slide the whiskey over to him. "You don't?" Shaun responded. The man gave a short laugh and said "Lets just say I know better." But the mans humor faded and he looked at Shaun and asked, "Something I can do for you detective?"
Shaun didn't see any reason to play games or waste time denying identity. He kept telling himself that keeping things casual was the only way to go for now. "Is it that obvious." Shaun answered. "It is to me." the man looked around at a bar full of patrons drowning their various sorrows and said "I don't know about everyone else, and even if they knew they probably don't give a shit."
Shaun didn't put his hand out, but thought an intro was prudent. This guy was guarded and Shaun needed to get him talking. "Name's Shaun, Shaun Bryant, Travis Co homicide division "Who died?" Ben asked. "No one" Shaun turned up the intensity just a bit and finished by saying "Yet." The man smiled and said "O.K. detective I'll go along, after all you did go out of your way to buy me a drink instead of waving your badge and gun around to get what you want." "My name is Ben, and the only reason you would have come here would be because of a phone call I made, and since you didn't come blazing in an official capacity I am gonna hazard a guess and say your a personal friend of the young lady I contacted." Ben paused for a moment and squinted one eye slightly as if he were further analyzing the officers presence and continued "Actually I would say your more than just friends." Ben glanced at Shaun's left hand, "Not your wife, not yet anyway, but definitely more than just friends. Shaun was taken a little off guard by all of this. "We could use a guy like you on the force Ben." Shaun said.
Ben shook his head and replied "Id never pass the psych test." and gave Shaun a sly grin. "Your being pretty open considering I haven't even asked you any questions." Shaun said.
Time is short detective and I don't have the luxury of beating around the bush, believe it or not I have her best interests at heart just like you do. So why don't you call the gang in so I can save their lives because believe me when I say that in spite of your badge, gun and deep desire to protect her, what I have to tell her is way beyond you. And without my help you will loose her.
Shaun walked outside to get the girls. When they walked in the bar they saw Ben sitting at a table in the back corner. "Hello Ladies." Ben said. Jane and Autumn nodded "Hello to him, but Kim was still unsure about Ben and said nothing. "Don't take it personal Ben she's like that to everyone she meets for the first time." Jane said.
"Look, the simple truth is you have absolutely no reason to trust me or to believe anything I say, but considering how old this headline is." He tapped the newspaper on the table in front of him. "You are running out of time and options too fast to take the chance of ignoring me, The clock is ticking, not just for your friend, but for the four of you." He focused on Autumn and for one breathless moment she was caught in his gaze. "Follow the lead, find the proof for yourself, learn the truth of what I am saying, only then will you understand." "Maybe then you will see that I am actually your friend, just be careful because if I'm right it's not just Sarah who is in danger, all of your lives are at risk."
Autumn's defenses were dropping and against all better judgment something was telling her that the man in front of her truly wanted to nothing more than to protect her some how, to help her. "O.K." say we believe you Kim responded. Lets say we find something that leads us to our friend, what do you get out of all this?" That remains to be seen, but I'm not asking for anything." he replied. "What if we needed to contact you, what if we have more questions?" Jane asked.
"Your questions will be answered when you're ready to accept the truth, right now you're not." He said matter of factly. "And as for me." he paused, and finished his drink and as he stood up to put on his jacket he said "I'll be around. "Wait a minute we have more questions." Autumn replied. He turned and said "Then go find the answers." He held out his hand palm out and a sudden flash of light invaded their minds, when it disappeared he was gone and all four of them were standing in the parking lot near Kim's car. "What the hell just happened?" Shaun said looking around the parking lot.
As Autumn started to move toward the car she felt a pinching sensation on her leg and stopped. She reached into her pocket and grabbed what felt like a key. She never carried her keys in her pocket and was wondering when she would have put it there as she pulled it out. This isn't one of mine she thought. It was an oddly shaped double sided key and loosely attached to it, by what appeared to be a twisty tie from a loaf of bread, dangled a hard piece of clear plastic containing a plain white piece of paper. She held it up close to her face to read the faded type print. Her friends could clearly see the look of confusion on her face. "What does it say?" Jane asked. "I don't know I've never seen it before and its hard to make out." Autumn answered. Straining to see in the dim light she fished around in her purse and produced a small flash light. "1861 Dresden Ln. Underneath it says 18R, 21L, 32R, 71L, 63R, 42L." "What does that mean?" Jane asked. Shaun interrupted "It's a combination for a lock." "What lock?" Jane asked. "I guess Ben expected us to run into a couple of locks at this address." Kim concluded. Suddenly the color began to drain from Jane's face and her legs felt weak. Her ashen pallor did not go unnoticed. "Jane are you alright?" Autumn asked. "I feel dizzy and sick to my stomach." "Why don't we take you home and deal with everything in the morning when you are feeling better." Autumn suggested. Jane looked at Autumn and said, "Don't you get any ideas and go to that address without us." "Fine. I wont" Autumn reassured her in a disappointed tone that told Jane that was exactly what Autumn had been thinking. Shaun took Jane by the arm and helped her into the car. "I have to go back to work, I hate leaving you like this." he said. "It's alright, I have my girls here." Jane replied.
Okay, just tell me you'll be careful if you do decide to check out the address." He looked and Kim and Autumn and said, "All of you." "We promise." the girls answered in perfect harmony.
"Let's get you in and get you something to eat." Kim said.
With a little food Jane seemed to regain some of her strength and color. As they ate Autumn told Jane and Kim that there was something she need to tell them. It was time, no it was past time. She knew she should have done this already. She turned to Jane "If your not up to talking right now Ill tell you in the morning" "No, it's Okay. I'm feeling a lot better now." Jane replied. "Go on Autumn, what is it?"
"Can you guys keep an open mind to what I am about to tell you?" Autumn asked pensively. "We'll try" Kim answered. "Do you remember that day you were both with Sarah and you guys ran out of gas, and I had to bring you some?" "Yeah" Jane replied. "It kind of freaked me out.".
"Well that wasn't the only time something like that has happened to me. In fact its happened more times than I care to admit at the moment." "So its been happening to you for a while now" Jane wanted to confirm. Autumn nodded. "Yes." She paused "Sometimes its little things like knowing five seconds ahead of time that the doorbell is going to ring. Other times it much more intense like deciding at the last moment not to pull out into an intersection and then watch as someone runs the stop sign at fifty miles per hour and slams into someone else instead of me." Jane and Kim remained silent each thinking the same thing, that they too had been experiencing strange events that they had not planned on sharing. Autumn grudgingly continued. "The last one was of Sarah being taken. If I had told someone or done something she might still be here." Autumns eyes became glassy. "I was just scared to tell anyone. I didn't want you to think that I was crazy."
Kim looked at Autumn and said "We don't think your crazy sweety." "You don't" Autumn replied looking at Kim than back at Jane. Jane shook her head and answered "No we don't, and don't even think that it's not your fault that Sarah went missing there is no way you could have stopped it." "Even if you did you might have gone missing with her." Kim said "Has anything strange happen either of you?" Autumn asked hoping she wasn't alone.
"Well, Jane paused. Then spoke up slowly, "there was this one thing that happened, I'm really not sure how, but for a minute I read Shaun's mind, I knew what he was going to say before he said anything." "What did he say?" Autumn replied. "He said I really love this girl, and I'm going to ask her to marry me this weekend." "Get out! Kim replied. "That is so cool." Autumn said. "Not really, I wanted to be surprised when he asked me Jane answered. "So did he ask you yet?" Kim asked. "Not yet, and don't worry you both will be my bridesmaids." "Hey, you stay out of my mind Jane" Kim insisted playfully.
Both Jane and Autumn turned and looked at Kim, "What?" Kim said
"Well has anything like that happen to you?" Jane asked "Yes, but I was really hoping that it was a dream, but now after hearing what you both just said I can't be in denial about it any more, It was a week ago when it happened I was in bed the rain woke me up because it was coming down really hard, it was around one in the morning and when I woke up I was floating over my bed, it scared the living hell out of me, I broke out into a cold sweet and my heart was beating so hard I thought I was going to die." "Has it happened again? the girls replied. "No, and I hope to God it doesn't." Kim said.
"Wake up Kim!" Jane insisted. "What? "What time is it? Kim asked.
"It's nine in the morning." Jane replied. "That's way to early for me." Kim said and put the covers back over her face. "It's never to early to find Sarah." Autumn snapped. "So get up or I will poor cold water over your head." "You wouldn't dare" Kim replied. " Try me" Autumn said and walked off. "Okay, Okay I'm up." Kim said.
Kim set up on the sofa and asked Jane "What's here deal?" "How should I know?" Jane replied. "She's your roommate, you know her better than anyone." Kim said. "She is my best friend and I love her like a sister "But just because we live together doesn't mean I know what's going on in her head half the time." Jane paused for a minute and said, "But I think she's having a hard time with Sarah being missing she still feels like it's her fault because she was scared to tell us about her vision, she blames herself." Jane added. "Will I kind of liked it when she was sad instead of being bitchy, That's my job" Kim smiled at Jane. Then added "She's not the only one taking this hard, Sarah is our friend too and I want to find her just as much as she does."
The girls got in the car and headed to the address Ben had given them. On the ride there Jane had been messing with the radio trying to land on a good station, but so far there was nothing but commercials on every station. "Are you kidding me she out loud." and turned the nob to the radio off really hard in her frustration. "Hey don't do that Jane, I know you're frustrated but this is my car, not yours so please don't break my radio." Kim said. "Sorry Kim, I just hate commercials it's bad enough we have to deal with them on TV, but do we really need them on the radio too." Jane replied
When Kim pulled into the driveway Jane took in just how nice the house was. A beautiful two story brick home with double sided Palladium and bow windows and an ornate glass front door framed in teak wood. She thought to herself if this was her house she would have cautions on the door so no one could just look in, but when they got closer she saw that the door was frosted. "That's much better she said out loud. "Did you say something?" Kim asked. "No, just talking to myself." Jane answered. She also noticed that the door had double industrial dead bolts. "You don't see this very often Jane said. She turned to Autumn and asked her for the key Ben had given her. Autumn pulled the key out of her pocket and handed it to Jane. "Help me look for another Key." Kim said as she began scanning the surrounding area. "There might be one of those hide-a-key objects around here, like a fake rock or lawn gnome or something." "Seriously?" As Jane turned the first key and found that the second lock was secure she said " Yea, you would be shocked how many people keep spare keys near the front door." But the owner of this home didn't seem to be so careless. They looked everywhere, but couldn't find another one. "Now what?" Kim said. "Don't worry, I have tools for this kind of thing." Jane revealed as she reached into her bag. "Tools?" Autumn asked half expecting her friend to produce a hammer to smash the glass. Jane pulled out a set of lock picks. She paused and said "Every investigative reporter should have a set of these."
She had a big grin on her face. "Jane! you bad girl. What else have you been holding out on us?" Kim replied "I just hope that there aren't any alarms because I don't have tools for that." Jane added with a laugh. She put the lock pick into the lock and turned it and said "That's how it's done." When she pushed the door open a stack of mail that was against the door scattered across the polished granite floor of the foyer. Kim picked up envelope so she could see who it was addressed to and showed it to Jane and Autumn. "Mark Jones" Autumn read out loud and turned to her friends and asked "Who is Mark Jones?" Jane shook her head and said "don't know" then turned to walk into the living room. It was obvious that the house has been empty for some time. A layer of dust had settled on everything in the room. She also noticed newspapers laying all over the floor. Some of them dated back 5 years. "I thought I was a pack rat." she said to herself. She looked back at the girls and said "We should split up and look around for any clues. Kim you look up stairs and Autumn you can start in here. I'll check in the Kitchen." "What the hell do you expect to find in the kitchen." Kim blurted out. "You would be surprised what people throw out." Jane answered. "Your the expert." Kim said under her breath. And went up stairs. "I guess it's just me." Autumn said standing in the living room alone. She started looking for anything she could find that might be helpful to her, Anything that would help find Sarah. Nothing really stood out, but she did notice that there were no photos of any kind anywhere in this room. A house like this usually has at least a few photos hanging on the wall. Kim had found what appeared to be the master bedroom. It appeared to much like the living room Spartan and neat. A bed, night stands and a lamp, but nothing much else she moved to the closet and found only the unwanted remnants of what was probably a large wardrobe of a single man. Rows of empty hangers lined both sides of the walk in. She the bedroom frustrated and walked down the hall to what had likely been an office of some kind.. She noticed that Mark who ever he was had had left a desk and chair behind both coated with the same layer of dust that covered everything else. There was a painting of a cabin hanging on the wall. She moved to the desk and opened the top drawer. Inside was a small black date book, filled with expired entries. Near the back she found an appt that this Mark fellow had for next week. It read Dr. Marcus 11:15 am Feb.2, 2011
She flipped the book shut and headed back down stairs to see if Autumn and Jane had found anything. When she got to the bottom of the stair she saw that Autumn was on her way up. "Did you find anything." she asked Autumn. Autumn shook her head and replied "No how about you, did you find anything up there?" "I found this date book." Kim answered showing Autumn the book. "He made an appointment with a Dr. Marcus for next week."
Kim was about to ask Autumn if Jane was still in the kitchen when they heard Jane call out to them. "You guys, you should come take a look at this." Jane yelled out. They looked at each other. When they went to the kitchen they noticed that Jane wasn't in there. "Jane where are you?" Kim called out to her. "I'm down here?" Jane answered. When they got to the bottom of the stairs that lead to the basement they saw Jane standing in front of another door. "What is it Jane?" They asked. Jane stepped aside so the girls could see the door more clearly. "What the hell" Autumn said
"Yeah, that's what I said too." Jane replied. "It looks like a vault, but that's something you see in banks or in movies not in someone's house." Autumn replied. "How do we get in there?" Kim asked. " Jane looked at Autumn and asked "do you still have that paper with the combination on it?" "Yeah" Autumn answered then took the paper out of her pocket. As Autumn stood there waiting for the vault door to open. Her mind drifted momentarily and she began to visit a better time. She drifted back to the day that she had met Sarah for the first time. Autumn had been working for the dept of health and human services while she was attending the University of Texas and there were days when the stress overwhelmed her. She never realized that being assigned to family services would become so emotional for her. She often found herself wanting to adopt every abused child she came in contact with. And sometimes she found herself wanting to hurt those responsible for inflicting so much pain an innocent little kids. Her supervisor had once tried to help her with it after seeing Autumn crying in the ladies room after a molestation case that had hit her especially hard. Her name was Ruth and she had been there for a little over ten years. She had come into the ladies room and approached Autumn who was standing in front of the mirror watching her mascara run uncontrollably down her face. "I know sweetheart, I know." Ruth said as she placed a comforting hand on Autumn's shoulder. "Can I offer a little advice?" Ruth had asked kindly. Still unable to speak Autumn simply nodded. "It's a curse sugar. Your heart is just a little too big and every time you see a sweet innocent child in pain or in shock from what they've survived or been through it just breaks that giant heart wide open, I know I've been there. Now I know what I'm going to say will sound a little backwards, but I need you to listen and believe. If you want to help more you have to care less." Autumn had really thought that was a cold and calloused way of looking at things. But Ruth continued. "I know what your thinking, when did this old woman become so bitter and jaded. The old broad has just lost it and grown a heart of stone, Right?" Autumn let a little chuckle come to the surface and said "Something like that." In a quavering voice. "Well child I cant tell you how wrong you are. I learned the hard way that if you don't steel yourself and put up some defenses it will wear you down to the point you will not be able to help anyone. Case in point, your in here in the bathroom feeling all bad for that last little girl when right now there's another one waiting and who needs your help. But you've let yourself get drained and you wont be at a hundred percent when the next file comes across your desk. And that's not fair to anyone. Not you, not them and definitely not me cause I'm supposed to be on my coffee break and instead I'm in here mopping up your tears." Ruth said. Autumn laughed a little more and started getting a little strength back. Ruth smiled and said "And believe me child I love my coffee breaks cause they come few and far between." Ruth's kind words gave Autumn the lift she had desperately needed and after a quick cosmetic replication she had returned to her desk with a new attitude and determination. She had no more than returned to her desk when she was informed that the police had just arrived with a young girl. The child had been removed from her parents due to ongoing sexual abuse. The girl was in a state of shock and dismay. Unsure of what was happening the little girl was panicked. Screaming, crying and wildly uncontrollable. Autumn had never seen anything like it. The little girl was taken to an interview room, but she could be heard all over the office. Autumn first instinct was to look around for Ruth but then it hit her that Ruth would likely be gone for another fifteen or twenty minutes. After all she did like her coffee breaks child. Autumn briefly mused. A couple of other social workers had tried to help but they were both men and every time a man went into the interview room the girls screaming had only grown louder and her agitation grew. Autumn had no choice but to try something, anything before the girl hurt herself and they were forced to restrain her somehow. Then suddenly the screaming stopped. Autumn's first thought was the child had somehow hurt herself. She ran to the room and looked through the window. Inside was a woman. Autumn had never seen before sitting next to the girl who had not only calmed down but who was now smiling. The woman was facing away from the window but Autumn could clearly see that she was speaking softly to the child and the little girl was nodding and smiling. She handed something to the girl gently. The woman got up and started for the door. Autumn could now see that the woman was actually very young. No older than Autumn herself. Eighteen or nineteen at most. Beautiful auburn hair framed her doll like face. Her brightly lit green eyes noticed Autumn standing there at the window and she smiled. When she opened the door she looked at Autumn and said "She should be okay now." "Who are you?" Autumn asked. The woman smiled and said "Sarah Chapman." as she extended her hand for a proper introduction. "I was just here to meet with Ruth Myers to work out the details for a fundraiser. "I am sorry if I overstepped by going into the room with the girl, I only wanted to help." still a little amazed Autumn said "No it's okay I'm grateful. "I'm Autumn, Autumn Stevens, Ruth should be back in a few minutes." Sarah turned back to the girl and Autumn and said "She should be okay I told her that I would come back when I'm done and say bye to her." The little girl looked up at both women and smiled and waved to Sarah. Sarah returned the gesture. The little girl spotted a stack of coloring books and a box of crayons and seemed content for the moment. "Why don't you come to my desk and wait for Ruth?" "Thank you." Sarah replied. And that was that. Autumn couldn't remember a time after that when they had not been the closest friends. For the last six years they had been close like sisters. She was silently praying that Ben had not sent them on a snipe hunt. She couldn't imagine never seeing Sarah again and she damn sure didn't want to attend her funeral until they were both old, bitter, divorced women who always went grocery shopping together and supported one another's bitching about everything from the price of preparation H to the ungrateful grandchildren who never came to visit.
Jane had a sudden rush of nervous excitement as her hand slowly dialed the numbers into the combination. Part of it was the excitement she always felt when she was on the verge of a discovery when she was working on a big story. But this time it was more than that. This time the excitement was rolling up from deep within her. She couldn't explain it. The feelings were mixed as if a great truth was about to be uncovered but a sense of foreboding at what that truth would mean for her and her friends. The pounding in her chest grew loud in her ears. Autumn and Kim had fallen silent their attention focused on Jane as if they could sense the power of what she was feeling as it spilled out of her fiercely beating heart all she could hear now was the click, click, click of the turning dial and the tumblers of the internal locking mechanism as they fell into place one by one. Finally there came a loud clank as the final tumbler fell and they all aligned unlocking the door. She reached for the primary release handle and was almost hesitant to turn it. She breathed deeply and pulled. The two thousand pound vault door released and moved gently on its precision hinges. She turned to the others and said in a solemn serious tone "Lets pray that this leads us one step closer to finding Sarah."
"I really don't want to go in there." Kim revealed to her friends. She looked at Jane and Autumn and said "What if their are dead bodies in here?" Autumn looked at her friend and said in a soft voice "It'll be alright. There is nothing to be afraid of." "Thank you Autumn" Kim said and the girls walked into the room.
The room was far bigger than any of the girls had expected. A long row of fluorescent lights ignited one after the other, flickering to life and slowly revealing the depth of the room. "Whoa!" Kim exclaimed "No way this was part of the original blueprints on this house." Autumns eyes were wide with wonder "What would you need all this space for?" she asked. The girls moved slowly into the massive room entranced and overwhelmed at all of the equipment and devices lining the walls. Further down in the center of the room was a large table filled with all manner of test tubes, glass beakers, and interconnecting tubes filled with unidentified liquids and unlit bunsen burner. "It's like a chemistry set on steroids." Kim said. "This place just screams mad scientist."
Jane replied. Autumn thought of all the old black and white B movies she had seen and began to visualize an unattractive odd looking man in a long white lab coat and black rubber gloves pouring bubbling chemicals from one test tube into another and laughing hysterically with that gleam of insanity in his eyes. She realized how ridiculous it was but she just couldn't help it. She smiled at the thought.
Autumn stared at the lengthy rows of specimen jars lined up on the shelf and began to form a picture in her mind of one of those old side show freaks attractions people would see when they visited the traveling carnivals. She saw a barker standing on a worn platform in front of a large ratty old tent worn from being put up and torn down a thousand times. Wearing his straw hat and making over exaggerated gestures with his thin bamboo cane bellowing his huckstering cries to a gathering crowd. "Step right up folks, come one come all to see one of the most morbid collections of natures abominations, scientific failures, evolutionary dead ends, and genetically induced deformities in all the world. Admission is only one thin dime and your promise not to puke in the tent! Yes sir gaze upon man kinds attempt to play god in the name of science but be warned folks this exhibit is not for the faint of heart and will likely scar you for life. You will be sure to have nightmares for years to come. Yes sir you can't get family entertainment like this anywhere else!" The girls stood in silence until Kim said "Wow! Insane much?" Jane's attention was drawn to a row of file cabinets against the opposite wall. Autumn and Kim were still mesmerized by the jars. Kim was actually pretty frightened by what she was seeing. "What have we gotten into here?" she thought. She came to a jar that had been covered by some type of black cloth and her curiosity overpowered her rational mind which was screaming. "Just leave it alone." She thought to herself, but she reached out and tugged gently at the cloth. It slid off the jar and revealed an image that would be etched in her psyche for years to come.
At first it just didn't register in her mind. Those first few seconds her brain was employing some ancient primordial defense mechanism by refusing to recognize the visual input. Choosing instead to feed an image of some benign object that would require little or no additional thought or action. So at first it actually looked like a simple lump of nondescript matter suspended in some random liquid. But the inevitable realization rushed in and landed on her brain like a flaming
jet liner in a crash landing. Back instinctively trying to increase the distance between herself and the jar. There in this giant sized jar was an impossibly large human head. Far bigger than any normal persons head. But this observation quickly gave way to even more disturbing details. The decapitated craniums left eye was popped out and floating freely near the forehead tattered by a thin and withered optic nerve that wound it's way into the black gaping eye socket like some pink tinted worm boring into the skull. A row of large sutures that looked more like black yarn trailed from the hair line to the chin in a snaking pattern that ran down the middle of the face. Just above that hair line it became clear that the top of the skull had been removed fully, exposing it's brain. The mouth, which was obviously locked by rigor mortise, hug wide open with the lower jaw offset at an insane angle. It made the head appear to be screaming in some nightmarish combination of terror and pain. Kim wasn't handling what she was seeing quite well as Autumn. In her mind she began seeing images of her own head in a jar sitting right next to the decapitated heads of Autumn and Jane as well. Three perfect jars perfectly in line on one of these shelves. She couldn't scream. Gasping for air she started to hyperventilate. A sudden uncontrollable impulse to run hit her like a bolt of lightning. She started for the exit in a blind run. She plowed right into Autumn as if she couldn't see her and knocked Autumn into the shelf. The shelf rocked and the large jar teetered on the edge of it's perch. Kim fell to the floor from the collision and was trying to get up when the jar finally lost it's brief battle with physics and shattered across the concrete floor just inches from her head.
The smell of the formaldehyde filled the air. It was very strong and it almost made Autumn sick. She quickly covered her face up with her shirt. Kim was worried about her new shoes getting brain matter on them to notice the smell. Kim was still on the floor when she noticed her shoes were covered with the content of the jar. She let out a cry of absolute terror. "Get it off, Get it off!" she started kicking her legs around trying to get the gray gelatinous goo off them. Autumn would have laughed at Kim if the smell wasn't so overwhelming. "You really shouldn't be worried about your shoes." Autumn said "And why not?" Kim shot back at her. "Because you have some of it in your hair." Kim stopped kicking her legs and started to swat at her hair as if she had a hundred spiders living in there. This time Autumn couldn't help but laugh at her. "It's not Funny Autumn!" Kim said dancing around the room. "We told you not to wear those shoes here." Autumn replied. "Yeah, well now's not the time for I told you so Autumn." Kim cried out. "You know Autumn, pay backs a bitch, you just wait." Wait for what, I wasn't the one who bumped into the shelf and made the jar fall." "No, but you laughed at me." Kim said. "The two girls started yelling at each other and Kim was just about to slap Autumn until Jane stepped in and said "That's enough!" Jane yelled out to her friends. "She started it." Kim said. "What, are you like in the forth grade now?" Autumn snapped. "I really don't care who started it, we have more important things to think about like finding our friend. Autumn help Kim to the kitchen so she can get cleaned up." Jane replied. Kim snapped "I don't need help getting to the kitchen. What I really need help with is finding better friends." "What the hell did I do? Jane asked. Kim scowled, but couldn't hide the grin struggling to take control of her lips when she said "You were here, that's enough!" She turned and stomped up the stairs. Autumn and Jane make a mock angry faces at each other and smiled, then Autumn turned to follow Kim up to make sure she didn't bust her ass on the stairs. "That's all I need, Kim is at her limit and would turn into a complete uncontrollable bitch if she suffered another embarrassing near death experience today." She thought.
Jane quickly turned back to the file cabinet and began rapidly shuffling through each drawer selecting and file that seemed relevant and shoving them into her satchel. She raised her head for a moment as she picked up in a faint beeping sound. It was coming from a part of the room where there were no lights, she followed it to the back of the room where she found a large canvas tarp draped over what appeared to be an old desk. She pulled on the corner and it slid to the floor under it's own weight revealing a monitor. "Holy God this thing is old." she thought. It had just ended it's start up cycle which had began when they had turned the lights on. The soft glow of the ancient monitor cast an Erie glow over the desk. Only one word blinked repeatedly in a warm amber tone. Password. I don't have time to hack this dinosaur she thought. But she noticed a small box labeled project fire star. The box looked like it hadn't been touched in years. She pulled it across the dust covered desk and popped it open. "Wow, I should have guessed." She thought sarcastically. Inside the box was a perfect row of about twenty 5½ inch floppy disks.
TO BE CONTINUED

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 24.01.2011

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