She was there ... he knew she was . . .
He also knew ... where her bones were...
“Okay Dave, when I count to three you’re going to wake up and feel great. .. okay – ready … one…two…three – wake up.”
Dave Welty opened his eyes and in fact did feel better - even though he thought this whole hypnosis thing was pure bullshit. He stifled a yawn and saw his doctor and boyhood friend Carl Jerkins starring at him with an intensity usually reserved for ogling his secretary or the teen-aged lifeguards at the pool.
“Okay…let’s take this slowly as we can… this hypnosis stuff is still new to me.” Carl intoned, trying to keep his voice slow and low like he had seen lounge-hypnotist do it. “Tell me what you remember…”
“Dammit, Carl. I already told you it’s not something I remember. It may be a dream but its not like it’s something that really happened. I know what happens in the dream and it isn’t all that much.”
“Yeah, but you keep talking about it like it was some damn premonition or something. I’m getting tired of seeing you dragging ass to the games every weekend. Look, this was your idea, you want to go through with it or not?”
“Yes… I know… it’s just that… I don’t know… let’s go on.”
“The close your eyes and relax. You’re asleep… deep asleep… relaxed. Tell me, what do you see…”
Dave paused for a long time, his breathing seemed to slack off, barely there at all, his body relaxing as he sank deeper into the couch. Finally, he began. “I’m in a clearing. Trees are all around, but none in this little area. I’m standing at the tree line, looking into the clearing. I call it a clearing but it’s hardly that, it’s heavily overgrown with weeds and thorn bushes, almost as tall as I am. There’s something in the center, I can’t tell what.”
“Do you recognize the place? It is somewhere you’ve been before?”
“No… I don’t think so.”
“Do you hear anything? Is there any sound?”
“No. Nothing. For some reason it feels like late summer, not quite September, but close.”
“You’re walking toward the center of the clearing. There is something there. Describe what you see…”
“I don’t see anything except weeds, thorns, and some old trash. I don’t think anyone has been here in a long time. The whole clearing seems to be…”
The silence in the room was palpable. Carl’s eyes burned into Dave’s face as if trying to bore into his mind. Dave now sat straight up on the sofa, tense, every muscle bulging, hairs on his arms standing straight out. He seemed ready to run.
“Whatever it is, it’s not going to hurt you…” Carl said to Dave. “Animals can’t hurt you in your dreams.”
“It’s a shack…” Dave whispered, “a fallen down, dilapidated, grayed-out old damned shack. And I’m standing at the rear of it.”
“Then why are you so afraid? Have you seen it before?”
“I don’t know why… I have been here, in my dreams. This is the place I see when I dream… but never from the back. And it’s aging. I can remember seeing this place when it could have had people in it. Now nature is reclaiming it… the roof has fallen in, the back wall has rotted away from the floor…weeds are growing through the planks on the side…”
“Go around to the front, Dave.”
“No.”
“It’s an empty shack, Dave. It can’t hurt you. Walk around to the front.”
“I’m not doing it! No Way!”
“Are you afraid, Dave? What is there to be afraid of… it’s only a shack?”
“I’m afraid… a..a..a.afraid of what might be there. I’m not sure… never sure. But it just can’t be.” The pleading in Dave’s voice plain. “This is only just a dream… it has to be! It can’t be an old memory… not this…I don’t remember any of this except the dream!”
“When you dreamed before you always dreamed of the front?”
“YES! NO! Once I was standing at the side of the shack…but I could see the front from there. Always I was standing in the yard or near the front porch…”
“Have you always been alone when you visited the shack in your dreams?”
Dave sat still on the sofa. His breathing still, barely there. He relaxed, now unafraid. “No.” he said. “Not always. Several times I have had other people with me. I brought them there.”
“Who, Dave? Who did you bring… and why”
“Just…others. People I seemed to trust…maybe the police…”
“Why?”
“I don’t know!!” Dave cried. “I don’t know why! I’ve always felt there was something there, hidden. Something that wasn’t supposed to be there and I was always afraid that if I knew it was there then maybe I put it there and I know I didn’t but maybe no one would believe me and think I did it anyway…. Oh God…why??”
Carl sat and watched his old buddy Dave’s body rack with pain. He didn’t reach out to touch him, didn’t say anything that might console him. He simply waited until the sobbing stopped and Dave had been quiet for a few minutes, relaxing back into the sofa.
“In your dreams, did you ever find what you were looking for? Ever show those people why you brought them there?”
“Ahhh…no. I made it seem as if we were just hiking around and would come upon the old place by accident. What was I supposed to do… act like a psychic and all of a sudden grab my head and moan ‘Oh No! There’s something there!’? Besides, I’m not sure there is something there…”
“So, in your dreams, no one knows of your secret fear? And there’s no one you can tell, right Dave? You’ve never told anyone for real, have you? This is the first time you’ve ever mentioned it, right?”
“NO ONE KNOWS!! That’s the problem! I didn’t do anything…why do I feel I did? Why can’t I be sure?? WHY DO I KNOW THERE”S A SIGN PAINTED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SHACK THAT SAY”S ‘No Humping’?”
“Go around front, Dave. Look at the front, Dave.”
Dave suddenly sat upright on the sofa, his hands clutching and releasing as if choking someone. “You can’t make me go,” he hissed. “You did one time … but never again.”
“What do you mean I made you go one time? You were forced?”
Dave’s head turned until his eyes lined up perfectly with Carls. “You know exactly what I mean – you… and the others. I went back once for all of you – but not again. We’ll all die first.”
“What the hell are you afraid of, Dave? You dream of the damned place but swear you don’t remember it. Now you act as if you have been there and it’s somehow my fault. GO ON AROUND FRONT AND SEE IF ITS REALLY LIKE YOU REMEMBER, DAMNED YOU!”
“NO!”
“Then she’s still there, isn’t she? She’s exactly where you put here, isn’t she? That’s what you’re afraid of, isn’t it?? That she was real and may not be a dreaml!??”
Dave leapt and grabbed Carl by the throat. His hands holding tight but not really squeezing. Carl fell backward, hitting his head hard against the carpeted floor. Dave was nose to nose with Carl, starring deep into his eyes. “Oh, she’s there all right. She always has been. I think all of you believed she was. Now you know. And you’re right, I am afraid of her. You’d be a fool not to be.
But old buddy of mine, it’s worse that that… oh yeah … much worse. You see… she may be there alright, but now HE’S THERE TOO!”
“He.e.e. No…you don’t mean … it’s not possible!”
“Bring me back home NOW, Carl! Get me the fuck out of this place!”
“Alright! Alright.. I’m going to count to three, when I do, you will wake up, feeling refreshed and wonderful. You will not remember any of the things you said or did while you were asleep. You will not remember where you were. You will not remember our meeting today except that you stopped by to chat about that new boat of yours. You will not dream about the things discussed here today. But Dave, listen carefully… When I and only I say the word mangos to you, you will remember her… and him. Now go back and sit on the sofa. Good… ready? One… two… three! Wake up!’
Dave blinked. He didn’t remember having a doctor’s appointment. What the hell’s going on, he thought as he looked around Carl’s office. Carl had his back to him and was rubbing his neck vigorously as he spoke “…so you’re going to put her in the water this weekend, huh? That’s great. Holly and I will be honored to help christen it with you. What did you name it again?”
“Huh… Oh! Ummm I think I’m going to call her the MANGO… what do think about that one Doc?”
“Dunno, not much of a Lady’s name though.”
Dave laughed. “Maybe you’re right…don’t know why that name popped into my head anyway. I’m going to name her the ‘Killeen’, meaning she’s straight, narrow, white, and more than a little thin across the beam.”
