Chapter 3

The room was stale at best and putrid at worst, but it was home, a home that was now being trashed by a mother’s anger fit. Aleksandr could only watch from a corner as she did. He knew this dream was different. He wasn’t cowering or trying to hide. He felt taller, larger, but the most telling part was the little boy that sat slouched over some books at the dining table, if it could be called that. His wiry frame and shaggy white-blond hair confirmed it. He was watching his past self. 

His mother entered the room slouched. Her eyes were red and shone with a streak of mean in them. This was her way. Natalia liked her drink. She would drink all day and all night until she was a bleary-eyed, staggering mess. Some days, she slept it off and woke up with a bottle in hand, and the day repeated itself. On other days like today, when she felt sorry for herself, he wasn’t so lucky. He tried to move from the hidden corner to tell his younger self to run, but he stood there frozen on the floor.

“Where’ve you been, boy?”

“Sch-school, mama,” his younger self stammered, fear choking him. 

She strode up to him, her steps remarkably steady.

“You, lying piece of shit, you went to report me. The cards told me so,” she screamed, referring to her tarot cards. Tears filled his eyes, blurring his vision. It was too hard to stop the tears, and she’d always hated the tears.

“Stop crying, you whiny brat. I clothe you, feed you, and you repay me like this?” she roared. 

Aleksandr felt rage bubbling within him. He tried to move to go to her and confront her for being a spineless witch that could only hurt a child, but like all the dreams he had featuring his mother, he stood frozen, watching as his life unfolded like a movie knowing the terrible ending but unable to do anything.

His smaller self hunched in on himself, hoping that it would be enough to distract her from him, but he knew that wouldn’t work. She was standing straighter but shaking now, the alcohol making her weak even as she towered above him, scowling. 

Aleksandr knew the thoughts going on in his teen mind, that everything was happening just like in his dreams, that he couldn’t be crazy, and he didn’t want to be crazy. His panic and fear blinded him, and when she hit him with the beer bottle she had in her hands, he slumped to the floor, dazed as she ranted and raved. 

Aleksandr flinched at the sight of the blood from his head. As he watched his younger self crawl to safety, he knew that if he didn’t, his mother would kill him.

“You, bastard, calling the cops on me!” she hurled, kicking him. Aleksandr let out a cry as she continued to kick him. Dimly, he heard the operator shout at him to hang on.

Aleksandr gasped awake from the dream, laying stiffly face up. He reached for his ribs which seemed to ache in phantom pain. Sighing softly, he sat up on the bed. 

He was lucky. He reminded himself like he always did. The police had arrived. His mother had disappeared. He should have died that night. He’d sustained multiple broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a liver, but he held on. It was a miracle, they said, but Aleks didn’t believe in miracles. All he knew was that his twelve-year-old self had wanted to live, and there was no way he would’ve let her take that from him.

He rose from his bed, rubbing at his temples. There were the beginnings of a headache behind his eyes, and his stomach cramped, reminding him he hadn’t had anything for dinner after his shift yesterday, and yesterday had been particularly gruesome. He splashed water on his face as he flashed back to yesterday’s shift.

***

Aleksandr zipped up his jacket against the cold. Some still seeped in through his clothes, whispering over his skin. He stamped his feet against the snow, hoping to increase circulation and heat. He’d lived in Gresville for almost ten years, and he was not yet used to the cold. 

He strode toward the porch of Miss Gemini, an elderly lady he liked to check in on. She was a nice old lady who shopped at the Barker’s twice a month, detested the dark, and was forever hearing screaming children in her backyard, which led to her calling the police to her small home numerous times a week. 

Most people at the station found it annoying, but Aleks saw it as a cry for attention. Miss Gemini had lived in Gresville for fifteen years. She’d lost her brother a few years after they moved here, and so she lived most of her days now on her property that was separated from neighbors by five miles of trees and snow. This was the only way he could help her by checking in on her even when she didn’t call for police assistance.

“Miss Gemini, it’s me, officer Bodrov,” he called out, knocking on the door. He rubbed his hands together, cupping them and blowing warm air into them. He knew it would take at most five minutes. He could picture her small frame as she hobbled toward the door, stopping for a kitchen knife on the way just before she pulled open said door.

“You didn’t check the peephole,” he admonished, a slight smile on his lips. She just clucked at him.

“My ears work just fine, young man.” 

He stared at the knife, brow raised. She glanced at her hand and huffed.

“Just a precaution,” she mumbled, opening the door wider to let him in.

“For my peace of mind, then, can you try, ma’am?” he replied. 

He still wasn’t used to the fact that people left their doors open. He’d lived in the big cities all his life, but small towns were quite safe, or so he’d been told, but to him, safety was a relative term. It could only last so long.

“Call me Lydia, boy. Come in,” she urged, shuffling inside. “You do take your time. I called you hours ago,” she complained, and he hid a smile. 

It had only been a few minutes. He closed the door locking out the cold and sighed as hot air filled his nostrils.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” he said, ignoring the affronted look she tossed his way for not calling her name.

“I heard a voice screaming; it kept calling a name,” she muttered, leading him towards the kitchen to her back door.

“What name was that?” he asked, trailing after her. She glanced back, whispering conspiratorially.

“Adelaide. Which is mighty weird cos Adelaide’s been dead for ten years now,” she said, leading him to the backdoor. 

Aleks had to suppress a grimace. He liked miss Gemini, but he wasn’t quite an avid fan of her love for the paranormal.

“Then you couldn’t have heard her name,” he countered, laying a palm on her shoulder to stop her. He turned the doorknob. “I’ll check outside and see if I can find anything. You stay inside, okay?” he ordered. 

She looked like she was about to argue, but then she paused and stared at him for what felt like minutes. She sighed, patting his arm.

“You need to open your mind,” she moved away from the door. “I’ll make you some tea,” she offered and turned away back to her kitchen.

He watched her until she was safely away before he walked out, turning on his flashlight. He was certain he wasn’t going to find anything this far into the woods. One was more at risk of finding wandering animals than screaming humans. 

He peered into the dark, his flashlight a tiny blimp in the unwavering darkness, loping across the yard for his satisfaction. He made certain there were no sounds and no movement and, with a sigh, turned around to go inside back to the warm room and drink the promised tea, even if that wasn’t his preferred beverage. It would be hot, and that was all that mattered. 

He turned around and strode back to the house. He was just at the door when a stabbing pain in his head almost brought him to his knees. He staggered, his head becoming heavy. There were bright lights and thunder, loud and booming just behind it. Hailstones dropped from the cloud as large as rocks. He raised his arm to cover himself, trying to block his face. 

A teenage girl appeared with blood smeared over her face in a gritty display. A young boy lay on a floor that seemed to fade from polished wood to frozen snow. The boy was bleeding out as a voice muttered in some strange language Aleks couldn’t understand. He staggered forward, trying to reach the boy, but his feet were heavy like they’d been infused with lead, and then there was screaming, the sounds of a little girl as she screamed and screamed and screamed.

The scream was so loud he thought his head would split into two. He slumped against the wall, forcing himself to breathe deeply. He felt something dripping down his nose, and he dabbed at it, his fingers coming away stained with red blood. He leaned on the wall trying to regulate his breathing. The sounds got muted, and the visions disappeared slowly like they were being obscured by mist and shadows. He huffed. This was not a welcome development. It had been years since he had a vision. There was a part of his past, and having one while on the job was not his idea of a good time.

“Aleks, are you okay?” Miss Gemini called out. He winced, her voice loud in the aftermath of the vision. His head was throbbing.

“I’m coming,” he mumbled. Stumbling on his feet, he steadied himself against the wall. Standing straighter, he shuffled toward the door, turned the knob, and entered the house, locking the door and the cold behind it.

“There’s nothing outside, ma’am.”

“Oh well, that’s good, I guess,” she said sullenly, and he grinned softly.

“Yes, ma’am, that is good.” 

He took the cup of tea she handed to him.

“The Kadnnon girl is back in town, I heard,” she mumbled into her cup

“Who?” he asked.

“Oh. The girl who was convicted of murder,” she murmured, and he nodded, sipping his tea and sighing at the warmth. He looked at her. 

Miss Gemini gazed at him, too. Her brown eyes were soft with warmth but had a steely glint to them that spoke of a woman who didn’t suffer fools easily.

“Why are you telling me this, ma’am?” 

She shot him an exasperated look.

“Adelaide’s come back for revenge. Of course, the girl didn’t kill those people, and frankly, I never believed it. She was always such a sweet child,” she said. 

He didn’t know the whole story, but sweet girls could become murderous. Anyone was capable of doing bad things.

“I wouldn’t know, ma’am, and if she is back, I’m sure it isn’t to cause trouble,” he offered. “I’ll take my leave now. I’ll see you in a couple of  days.”

“Alright, thank you, Aleks. Have a good night,” she said, opening the door.

He stepped out. “You too, ma’am.” 

She smiled at him.

“You’ll get there,” she murmured before shutting the door behind him and locking it.

***

He turned off the tap and straightened, looking at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn’t sure why the visions had come back after so long, but he didn’t care. He’d had enough of them in his youth, and he had no time for them.