Vision of Shadows (26 page)

Finally
, Payne and I climbed inside the beautiful, black car. Payne pressed the start button and the engine came to life. Payne pulled away from the curb as Zack yelled, “Be careful of crossing cattle!”              

“You want to tell me what that was about?” I asked Payne. “What in the world did you talk to Grandpa about?”

Payne grinned. It took all of my will power to not hit him.

“I mean,” I continued, “it’s not that I don’t get the idea of trying to get on his good side. I do. I’m just not sure he
has
a good side.”

“Bristol,” Payne said, “that wasn’t just me trying to get in good with your grandpa. He and I have something in common that I wanted to talk to him about.”

“Oh please!” I complained. “What could you two possibly have in common, besides football and leaving the toilet seat up? And don’t tell me either of those subjects came up during your little
tête-à-tête.”

“Don’t underestimate,” Payne responded, “the ability of men to bond over sports and toilet habits.”

I groaned.

“We were talking about you.”

“Me?” I was flabbergasted. “Payne, what have you done?”

Payne took my hand. “I did what had to be done. Bristol, there’s something out there that’s trying to kill you. It’s not right to keep your family in the dark. So I went to your grandfather and brought him up to speed.” Payne waited a beat. “More or less.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Payne, please tell me that you didn’t tell him about me.”

“Of course not!
I would never do that. It’s your secret. It’s up to you who you share it with.”

I breathed out a huge sigh of relief. If Grandpa knew, it would only be a matter of time before Uncle Mark and the boys
found out. 

“Can I ask,” I said, “what you
did
tell him?”

Payne pulled off the highway and dr
ove down a dirt road. We came to a stop near a small patch of water that ran over a rock fall. Turning off the engine, Payne repositioned himself to look directly at me. 

“Look
, Bristol,” Payne said. “There’s something out there that wants you dead. I don’t know what, or why it’s trying to kill you, but clearly, that’s its intention.
My
intention is to do whatever it is I have to do to keep you safe. I went to your grandfather for his help. He’s going to try and see if anyone has any knowledge of these shadow creatures.”

“You told him about the shadow creatures?” I asked. “Payne, how did you explain them?”

“I didn’t,” Payne answered. “I just told him about them. He didn’t ask any further. I got the impression he assumed it was Hunter who had that ability. I didn’t correct him. I’ll make sure Hunter knows.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he’d check if anyone in your family has ever heard of such a thing. See if there was any information on how to fight them. In the meanwhile, we agreed you shouldn’t be alone. So I’m going to pick you up in the morning for school, take you home afterward. If you’re not with me, you’re with your family. We’ll do what we can to defend you.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

Payne looked taken aback. Clearly, he didn’t expect me to react that way. What did he think I was going to do, swoon and fall at his feet? I don’t
do
swooning. And I think it was about time Payne understood that.

“How dare you!”
I launched myself out of the BMW. Payne followed. I paced back and forth near the rock face. “You and Grandpa
agreed
I wouldn’t be left alone? What if I don’t want to be passed back and forth between the two of you like a hot potato? I don’t appreciate the fact that you took it upon yourself to just dictate to me what will happen.”

I expected him to back off, hands up, pleading for mercy. Instead
, he stormed forward.

“I took it upon myself,” Payne countered, “to see to your safety
. Bristol, there’s something out there that nobody understands, and no one seems to know how to fight. But it’s real. It’s deadly. And it’s coming for you! Now, I have no intention of crowding you. I have no desire to dominate or take away your freedom. But whatever these things are, they’re responsible for Jared being killed as much as Weeder. I’m not going to lose you, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

We stood glaring at each other, each of us defiant.

“Oh dear,” said a female ghost that just appeared. “He really means well, but he just went about it wrong. McKnight men tend to be very strong willed.”

“You mean pigheaded, don’t you?”

“I didn’t say anything about pigheaded,” Payne complained. “Not that it’d be inaccurate.”

I glared at Payne. “I wasn’t talking to you, thank you very much.” I turned on my heel and looked at the ghost. She was a pretty woman in her thirties. Her light brown hair was down around her shoulders
, and her hazel eyes seemed filled with both amusement and kindness. She wore blue jeans and a pink and white flowered shirt. “Pigheaded
and
conceited, can you believe him?”

“Well, I understand his point of view,” the ghost said.

“What are you doing?” Payne asked. “Is there… is there someone here? Like…
someone dead
?” His eyes darted around the clearing, searching for some sign of the spirit.

“Well duh,” I said. “Now hush
.”

The ghost laughed. “Oh what a joy it is to see Payne like this. So passionate and flustered. Even as a boy he always took the weight of the world on himself.”

I looked at Payne, who was so stunned by this turn of events that his mouth was hanging open. “Yeah, I get that about him, but he needs to rein it in. I’m not used to being told what to do. If he thinks I’m going to respond favorably to that, then he’s as stupid as he is wrong.”

“Hey,” Payne said
. “I am not stupid
or
wrong. I did what needed to be done. I don’t care if you like it or not. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. And I don’t appreciate interference from Casper the budinsky ghost sticking their non-corporeal nose into our business.”

“I said hush,” I ordered. “Do you see what I have to put up with? Huh? He doesn’t get that he should have come to me first. I don’t like the idea of dying, but he can’t protect me all the time
.”

Payne shook his head. “This is unreal.”
He started to pace.

“No,” I countered, “this is my world. I have ghosts drop in on me all the time. I can’t control it. If you can’t handle that
, then maybe you shouldn’t be spending so much time with me. You know, before I came here, I spent a lot of time alone just so I could avoid this kind of thing.”

“Well,” Payne said, “you’re not alone now and like it or not, I’m not going anywhere.”

We stared at each other for several seconds, neither of us backing off. 

“Sweetheart,” ghost lady said
. “He means well. You need to take it down a notch and talk to him. Make him understand how you feel. He’s just scared.”

I rolled my eyes and backed away from Payne. “Scared? He’s not acting scared
. He’s acting like a horse’s ass!” I turned and leaned my own ass against the car. “What does he have to be scared about?”

Payne looked around for something to hit, but we were in an open field. His face was a mixture
of frustration and despair, but I saw a shadow of panic on his eyes.

“You want to know what I’m scared about?” Payne asked. “You
, Bristol! I’m scared of losing you. I’m terrified that something is going to happen to you. Do you not understand that? I’ve lost too many people that matter to me. I’m not going to lose you as well. And I’m sorry if I handled this badly, but maybe if you weren’t so damn stubborn yourself, we wouldn’t be arguing.”

“Hey,” I said, much more softly
. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out, okay? Together.”

Payne closed his eyes and nodded. I placed my hand on his chest and felt his heart beat like thunder. When he opened his eyes, the storm was over. Slowly, he leaned in and kissed me in a
way that was both gentle and strong. 

“I’m so happy he found you,” ghost lady said. “You’re just what he needs. Unfortunately, I have to go now. I wish I didn’t, but I do.
Tell Payne I love him, and he shouldn’t blame himself. I hope I can come see him again with you. Be good to my baby.”

As her last words penetrated, I pushed Payne away from me and reached out
to the ghost. “No, wait!” But it was too late. “Damn, she’s gone! I can’t believe this. Oh Payne, I’m so sorry, but she’s gone.”

Payne shrugged. “Ok
ay, she’s gone. Is that a problem? Is she someone you knew?”

“No
.” I looked at Payne, feeling my heart break for him. I desperately wished I hadn’t just squandered an opportunity to help him reconnect with his mother. I felt like I was faced with a young child who was about to realize there’s no Santa because I forgot to put any presents under the tree. “But I think you did. Payne, I think it was your mother.”

Payne looked stunned beyond belief. His face was that
of the same lost and lonely little boy I’d seen in my dreams for years. 

Having A Blast At Aunt Breanne’s

“I’m so sorry
,” I said. “If I’d known it was her… oh, Payne, I would have stopped that stupid fight and talked to her for you. I can’t believe…”

“It’s ok
ay. It’s all right.” Payne shushed me. “That fight was just as much my fault as it was yours. But she came to you for me. She saw I was out of line, and she came to you for me, didn’t she?”

He looked into my eyes
, and I nodded. I forced a smile.

Payne stepped back and dug into his back pocket. Pulling out his wallet, he fumbled out a picture. 

“Yeah, that was her,” I confirmed. “But she was wearing her hair down, and she was in jeans and a pink and white flowered top. She looked nice.” 

“Yeah
,” Payne said. “Wow. You saw her. You really saw Mom. She came because she loves…” Payne’s face went from amazement to horror in a second. “Oh, Bristol. Oh, I’m so sorry. Your parents…”

Now it was my turn to shush him. “Let’s just not go there today. What’s important
is your mom
did
come for you. I’m so sorry I didn’t spend more time talking to her about the things that matter, but let me tell you what she
did
say.”

I linked hands with Payne and the two of us went for a walk together. It was precious little info
rmation I could relay, but I did my best. When I was done, Payne told me a few stories. Soon enough, Payne opened up to me like never before.

We made our way back on the road. “You hungry?” he asked.

“Silly question,” I said. “I’m never going to be one of those girls that eats nothing but salads.”

“No, that’s Hunter,” Payne said. “I like a girl who can keep up with me. So will my aunt.” Payne pulled off the highway and headed into a small development. 

“What do you mean your aunt? Payne, where are we going?”

“To see Aunt Breanne, remember? I told you I wanted you to meet her. She’s important to me.”

“I know she is,” I said. “But I hate to just drop by unexpectedly.” 

“Unexpected?” Payne said. “She
is
expecting us. Not my fault that you forgot.”

“I didn’t forget!” I insisted, though I had. “I just have a lot on my mind. You know, shadow creatures and possessed cows.”

“Well,” Payne said, “there will be no shadow creatures here, and unless Aunt Breanne is serving burgers or steak, no cows.”

He pulled into the driveway of a pretty yellow cottage
with a traditional white picket fence and nicely tended garden. Payne rushed to my side of the BMW and opened my door. I let him take my hand and lead me to the house.

“
Wait,” I said, a feeling of panic taking over. “What if she doesn’t like me?”

“She’ll love you,” Payne assured.

“
Why
would she like me?”

“Why
wouldn’t
she?”

“What if I say something stupid?
Or if I offend her? Or if I accidently set her house on fire?”

Payne took my face in his hands. “Bristol, if you say something stupid, we’ll all laugh and move on.
It’s unlikely you would ever say anything to offend my aunt because as much as I know you’re going to like her, I also know she’s going to like you. But if you do, you’ll apologize, and that will be that.”

“You seem to have an answer for everything,” I remarked.

“I do,” Payne agreed. “And just on the off chance you do set her house on fire, which I must admit is a smidge more likely, we’ll call the fire department and have them put it out. She has insurance.”             

I narrowed my eyes and started to prepare what I’m sure would have been a scathing retort
. But before the words formed, the front door opened and out stepped a lovely woman with strawberry blonde hair and the sweetest smile I’d ever seen. About two inches shorter than I was, she was dressed in a yellow sunflower dress and was barefoot. 

“So, this is Bristol?” she said with twinkling blue eyes and open arms that demanded a hug. “Come here.”

Helpless, I allowed myself to be pulled into an embrace that I returned despite myself. When she pulled away, she held me at arm’s length and gave me a good look. 

“My boy here is nearly seventeen years old,” she said with a smile and a wink
toward Payne. “And in all this time he never bothered to notice any one of the girls in town. Ever since he met you, he’s had nothing
but
you on his mind. Somehow, I get the impression that you didn’t just throw yourself at his feet with the rest of them.”

“No, Bristol did not,” Payne said. “In fact, the first time we exchanged words, she was rather mean to me.”

Aunt Breanne slanted an eyebrow toward me. “Were you now?” Her tone was amused, but there was a definite look of protectiveness there. “Did he deserve it?”

I looked over to Payne
, who shrugged. Well hell, I thought, this was his idea. “You tell me. I was down by the stream when he came crashing out on his dirt bike. Wrecked the bike and scared the heck out of me. He was lucky he didn’t break his neck.”

Aunt Breanne’s eyes changed to anger, aimed directly at Payne. “You know how I hate when you do that. I beg you all the time to stop. Why won’t you promise me you’ll be more careful and cut out all this reckless nonsense?”

Payne moved to his aunt and pulled her into a hug filled with love and understanding despite the comical fact that Payne towered over the little woman. When they separated, he kissed her cheek sweetly, rested his forehead on hers, and nodded. “I give you my word, Aunt Breanne. No more recklessness.”

Quickly, Aunt Breanne pulled away and studied her nephew. “You’ve never been willing to say that. I can’t believe you’d lie about something you know is so important to me. So why all of a sudden…” Her eyes drifted away from Payne and locked onto me. “It’s you. You got him to promise to stop doing such things, didn’t you?”

I was left speechless by the look of utter gratitude that appeared on his aunt’s face. Her tiny frame pulled me into such a powerful embrace, I felt shaken down to my soul.

Not to mention, mortified. 

I looked to Payne for help, but he just stood there wearing this big, stupid grin. Great, just great. I patted Aunt Breanne on her back and after a bit, decided to bite the bullet and return the hug. 

Finally, Aunt Breanne pulled back. She still had tears in her eyes and a trembling lip. She
held my hand almost as if she was afraid I might bolt. I wonder how she knew it had crossed my mind.

“Oh look at me,” Aunt Breanne said, “embarrassing you like that. Please come in. We have so much to talk about.”

She drew me inside and closed the door, blocking off any chance of escape. “What would make you think I was embarrassed?”

She pulled me into what must have been the living room and directed me to sit. 

“Sweetheart,” Aunt Breanne said. “It’s written all over your face.”

M
y cheeks grew hot. “Yeah, well, um.”   

I looked around the room. It was a simple space. A light brown covered the walls
, with soft leather chairs that matched the couch I was sitting on. There was an old TV in the corner that didn’t look like it was used very often. On the mantle were lines of pictures, all of Jared. In the middle was a single white, lit candle.

“I wanted to tell you in person how sorry I
am about Jared,” I said. “Payne told me about him. He sounds like he was a wonderful boy.”

Aunt Breanne nodded. “He was. He was so full of life. So happy. Jared loved everyone
, and everyone loved Jared.” She rose and walked to the fireplace and picked up a picture frame. Considering it for a moment, she brought it over to me.

I took the frame and studied the picture. It was Jared when he was only about six. He shared the picture frame with a ten
-year-old Payne.

As I handed the picture back to Aunt Breanne, I saw a big, black dog streak in the room. “Eli!” I called. “I wondered what happened to him.” Eli came over and nuzzled my hand, demanding me to pet him.

Aunt Breanne left for a moment and returned with a tray of cheese and crackers. She dispatched Payne into the kitchen to fetch a pitcher of lemonade and some glasses. 

“Your uncle brought Eli to me,” she explained as she poured three glasses. “He wasn’t sure if I would want him
, but of course I did. I almost feel like I have a little bit of Jared back.”

So there we sat, nibbling on cheese and crackers, Payne “accidentally” dropping a fair share
toward Eli. We spoke of Jared, but the stories weren’t sad. Aunt Breanne smiled through them all. Somewhere along the line, she segued into stories about Payne. She told tales of his misadventures while Payne squirmed and offered lame defenses such as: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

By the time we sat down to dinner, I was completely comfortable. Dinner was fantastic. She served turkey with homemade stuffing, stuffed mushrooms, peas
, and carrots. After dinner, Aunt Breanne refused any help in the kitchen for cleanup from either me or Payne. She warned me that next time she would take me up on my offer. I was so proud of myself for not even cringing at the thought of a next time. 

Soon she
brought out carrot cake and coffee. As Aunt Breanne passed out plates, she looked over at me and smiled. “You don’t like talking about yourself that much, do you?” 

“Nothing much to say,” I answered. “I’m boring.”

“I doubt that,” Aunt Breanne responded. “I wanted to thank you for whatever your part was in finding Jared’s remains and discovering the truth. Next weekend I’ll finally get to lay him to rest. I hope you’ll be there.”

“Of course,” I answered. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you.”

“It’s been difficult. It hurts every day. But I believe my Jared wouldn’t want me to just sit around and cry. I’ve always known he was gone. I knew he wasn’t ever coming home to me.”

I took her hand. “Mother’s intuition?”

“To a great extent, yes,” Aunt Breanne said. “A mother knows. Your uncle always told me not to give up hope. Such a sweet man. He still comes to check on me, you know. Poor man, it hurt him so much to have to come to tell me when Jared was found. I knew why he was there the moment I opened the door.”

I could feel the overwhelming sadness within her welling up. This was a woman who refused to let resentment and grief control her life
simply because she knew her son would never want it to.

“Then there was Payne’s Uncle Kayden,” Aunt Breanne added. “He came to see me. Do you remember him?”

“Yeah,” Payne answered. “He was the wacky one. Loner. I remember he’d talk to himself whenever I saw him. He died the same year Jared disappeared.”

“Yes, he did,” Aunt Breanne confirmed. “That was a few days after he came to see me. Kayden told me that he wasn’t talking to himself but rather to ghosts
, and he’d seen Jared’s not too far from here. In fact, it was where Jared was found, now that I think about it.”

“Wait, I’m sorry,” I said. “This Kayden could to speak to ghosts?”

“That’s what he told me,” Aunt Breanne said. “I know how silly that sounds, but I think he really could. Of course, here in Spirit there are lots of things that sound crazy, but are true. Oh, now I’ve gone and convinced you I’m crazy.”

“No, I don’t think you are,” I told her. “Really. It just took me by surprise.”

Aunt Breanne smiled. “Do you think it’s possible? For someone to speak to the dead?”

Wow, what a question.

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, Kayden said he could,” Aunt Breanne explained. “I don’t think Kayden ever talked to anyone about what he could see. I was going to try to talk to him again. See if he could find Jared and talk to him, but before I could, Kayden killed himself. So tragic.”

“He committed suicide?” I asked.

“Well, that’s certainly what it appeared to be,” Aunt Breanne said. “Your uncle was never
one hundred percent sure. He went off a ledge of one of the McKnight buildings. It could’ve been an accident, but why was he up there to begin with?”

As the night went on, I kept thinking about Kayden McKnight. Was it an accident or a suicide
? Or were the shadow creatures behind his death as well? Could talking to the dead drive someone so insane that he or she would take his or her own life? And if so, would that happen to me?

I had enjoyed my time there far more than I ever thought I would, but I was grateful when it was time to go. I wanted to talk to Payne alone. 

As she saw us out, Aunt Breanne shooed Payne off. She wanted a few moments with me. Payne told me he would wait for me at the car. As he stepped off the porch, Aunt Breanne turned toward me.

“Bristol,” she said
. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you and Payne are together. He means the world to me. And anyone can see how he looks at you.”