“Heidi, are you okay?” I asked, glancing over at my best friend,
who was sitting alongside her husband and staring blankly into the fire.
“Huh? Oh, sorry, Julie,
what did you say?” she asked dazedly.
“I just asked if you were okay,” I replied. “You’re acting sort of strange tonight.”
“Oh. I’m sorry, I just have
a lot on my mind,” she replied, looking back towards the frames.
I frowned. She hadn’t
really answered my question. Something
was wrong; I could tell. But what was
it?
“I’ll be right back, Mom; I have to pee!” Jess called suddenly as she ran up to the
house.
I nodded absently, deep in thought. If Heidi wanted to talk about it with me, I
knew she would. I wasn’t going to pester
her about it.
A few minutes later, Jess broke my train of thought again.
“Mom!” she yelled, running towards the group. “Mom!”
“What? What’s wrong?” I
asked, jumping up. I could sense panic
in her voice, and she looked pale in the flickering firelight.
“Hallie just called. She
and Sonny are at St. Joseph’s. Hallie’s
car-“
“Oh my God! What
happened?!” I interrupted, going into panic-mode.
“Wait, just let me finish!” Jess cried, her voice rising over
mine. “Hallie and Sonny are fine. But Hallie’s car blew up in the movie theater
parking lot!”
“Oh my God!” I gasped.
Heidi, Chad, and Josh all jumped up in alarm, and Jess relayed the
story to them again.
“Somebody needs to go pick them up,” she said.
“I’ll go,” Josh volunteered.
“Be back pretty soon, okay guys?”
“Okay,” I said, frowning as he hurried into the garage to get his
car. Hallie’s car had blown up? In the parking lot? How could something like that happen? I was confused and a little unnerved by the
whole thing, but I tried not to think about it.
All I wanted was to see my daughter and make sure she was really okay.
***
I had never been as happy to see someone’s face as I was the
moment my dad walked into the ER, where Sonny and I were waiting. We had been there for at least an hour,
getting questioned and checked over. We
both had some bruises and minor scrapes, but for the most part, we had been very
lucky.
“Hallie!” Dad called when he saw us, hurrying over.
“Daddy!” I cried and ran to him, throwing myself into his
arms.
“Baby, are you all right?” he asked, pulling me back to look at
me.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” I replied.
“Just shaken up, I guess.”
“I bet you are. You had
your mother and I so worried,” he said, and I knew that had to be the
truth. I could see the total relief in
his face.
Suddenly, all the stress of the past hour and a half overwhelmed
me, and I broke down in tears, sobbing against my Dad’s chest. He just stroked my hair and back and hugged
me tightly, not saying anything. He
didn’t need to; just being in his arms was enough to comfort me.
***
When we got home, we were immediately surrounded by everyone
else. Together, Sonny and I told
everyone exactly what had happened. They
were just as confused as we were. What
could have made my car just blow up like that?
It wasn’t that old of a car, and it was in good condition.
When the police had questioned us, they had asked us if we had
noticed any suspicious looking people near my car and things like that. I think they were thinking maybe it was a
bomb or something. And that freaked me
out even more than the thought my car had just malfunctioned and blown up. Just the idea that someone could have
planted a bomb in my car, the car Sonny and I would have been inside just
seconds later, was terrifying.
Our guests didn’t stick around for too much longer after
that. Sonny and I were both exhausted
after all we had been through, so Heidi and Chad wanted to take him home. Plus, Heidi seemed to be acting sort of
weird, not her usual friendly self. So
they were the first to leave. Brian,
Leighanne, and Sean left shortly after that.
Then Dad put out the fire, and Jess helped him clean up, while Mom and I
went inside.
I went to bed early that night and fell asleep almost immediately,
just hoping I wouldn’t have any nightmares about what had happened that
night. Little did I know that what I had
just experienced was nothing compared to what was to come.
***
Julie’s POV
It was a Sunday morning, and I was trying to be the perfect mother
and make a big breakfast for my family.
As I was frying bacon, the phone rang.
“Hello?” I asked, as I picked it up.
“Julie, is that you?” came a familiar sounding voice.
“Yeah…” I replied, trying to place the voice.
“It’s Nick.”
“Nick!” I cried happily.
That was it! It was Nick Carter,
one of my good old friends, who I rarely even talked to anymore. He lived all the way out in California, so
except for the occasional email, we barely kept in touch. “How are you doing?” I asked.
“Not too good,” he replied.
I frowned. That response
surprised me. Sure, for a long time
after his wife Sammy died, he had been pretty depressed as he mourned for
her. But it had been seventeen years
now, and he had gotten over it. At least
I thought he had.
“What happened?” I asked.
Nick sighed, and I knew something was very wrong. “You should see what I got in the mail
yesterday,” he said.
“What?” I asked cautiously.
“A nice little letter and some pictures of Sammy,” he replied, but
he sounded very sarcastic and upset.
I swallowed hard.
“Pictures?”
“Uh-huh. Some nice little
memorabilia for me to add to my scrapbook.”
He sounded close to tears, and I could feel my heartbeat increase. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know what the
pictures were of. But I had to ask.
“What kind of pictures?” I asked.
“Well, one especially memorable one was of Sammy’s body in the
hospital morgue. Isn’t that sweet?” His voice cracked, and my heart broke.
“You’re not serious!” I gasped, but deep down, I knew he was. Why would he lie about such a sick thing?
“Oh, yes I am,” he replied, his voice choked with tears. “Yes, Julie, I really got pictures like
that. Pictures of Sammy in the hospital
before and after she died. I… I don’t
know what to do…” He trailed off and
broke down into tears. I could hear him
crying over the phone, and that set me off.
“How could anyone get pictures of that?” I asked, blinking back
tears. “Who would have been let into
her room besides one of us?”
“Doctors… nurses… people disguised as doctors or nurses…” he said
dully. “So you haven’t gotten anything
sick like that?”
“No, not at all,” I replied.
“Maybe they’re just after me then.”
“Who is? Who’s after you?”
I demanded, my palms getting sweaty.
“I don’t know. The note
was made to sound like it was Justin back from the dead or something.”
I almost laughed at that.
“Really? Maybe it’s just some
kind of sick joke then.”
He sighed. “That’s what I
thought when I read the note. But then I
saw the pictures, and now I don’t know.
I just can’t figure out where someone would get pictures like this.”
“What did the note say?” I asked.
He took a deep breath and slowly read it to me.
But
instead, your dear Sammy lost her life
Think
people can’t come back from the dead?
Sammy may
not have, but I sure did
You got me
killed, but I’ve been revived
And now I
will end all your lives
But now I’m
back for my sweet vengeance
“Oh my God,” I whispered, shocked and disgusted by the note. Who would do such a thing? Little did I know that the same kind of
thing had been happening to others that I cared about, and it would continue
to, until “sweet vengeance” was achieved.
***
I spoke with Nick for just a couple
more minutes, unable to hold much of a conversation with him because of his
emotional state. It killed me inside to hear what someone had done to my
friend; a friend who would never hurt anyone. As soon as my shaking
subsided I continued to make breakfast for my family, hoping that the simple
actions would help keep my mind off of what had happened.
***