The Dreamstalker (5 page)

“Yeah, I always know what she's thinking.” Kerr grinned at Karen.

“You do not. What am I thinking right now?” Karen threw out the challenge good-naturedly.

Kerr shut his eyes, concentrating for a minute. Everyone got quiet, except for Kaziah, who giggled. “You're thinking I can't do this, and you're thinking about Jesse and—”

“Stop there.” Karen felt her face heating up. Kerr was going to make up a lot of stuff. He'd be only too happy to embarrass her.

“Ooooh, Karen, let him go on. I want to hear this.” Kaziah put her arm around Easy. “But don't anybody try such a thing on me.”

Without wanting to, Karen remembered her dream about Gordon Anderson. She decided to share it. Maybe it would help her forget it.

“While we're on this subject, guys,” she started, “this is really spooky, but I dreamed about Gordon dying the other night—the night he really died.” She told them the dream in detail. When she finished, she realized she was squeezing Jesse's hand. Alysia had moved to sit on the other side of her.

“Wow, that
is
scary, Karen,” said Lucy. “Did you tell Professor McArthur about it?”

“Yes, I thought he might have some ideas.” She didn't tell them that she'd told the professor and Captain Martin at the same time. “He was really puzzled, too. He said to let him think about it, but he asked me if I was close to Gordon or had talked to him the day before.”

“If you were close to Gordon Anderson, I don't want to know about it.” Jesse pushed Karen away playfully.

Everyone started teasing her. She'd made a mistake in sharing her dream. Telling hadn't made it go away. It made it come back, more vividly than ever. She wanted to scream at them to forget it, stop talking about it. Finally, she tried to laugh with them. Laughing kept her from crying.

“I don't know why we rented a movie, Sis.” Kerr was laughing harder than anyone. “You could go on
Entertainment Tonight
with that little hummer. You and Gordon Anderson—I love it. Here you guys were thinking Karen and I could communicate, and it was her and Anderson all along. I've been edged out.”

Karen kept trying to laugh, but she knew she was going to lose control any minute. “I'm ready to go home, Jesse. Will you take me?”

“Sure.” Jesse hurried to find their coats, while Karen thanked Mr. and Mrs. Cole for having them there.

Jesse helped her with her coat. As she pulled on her boots, she took a vow of silence. This was the last time she would go spilling her guts to this crowd. Sharing the dream only brought back the horror of it and made her understand the why of it even less.

Maybe she was losing her mind, like that psychic thought she was in the novel Lucy had read. She hoped she wasn't going to start seeing people die on a regular basis.

Chapter 6

As usual, the next morning Karen couldn't remember any dreams, but she woke feeling vaguely uncomfortable, as if she hadn't gotten enough sleep. When she was awake enough, she reached for the phone on her bedside table and punched in Alysia's number. She knew Alysia would be awake. Her whole family had this awful habit of getting up at dawn.

“Alysia, hi. Have any plans for today? I was hoping we could go to Denver, but I guess the roads are too bad.”

“I'm writing a paper for English, but I'm nearly finished. We could mess around in town, get some lunch somewhere. Are you all right?”

“Sure. Why shouldn't I be all right?”

“I mean, after last night. Obviously you never should have shared that dream with that bunch of nerds we run around with.”

“It was my fault. I should have known that. I guess I needed to talk about it. It was bugging me.”

“Forget it, Karen,” Alysia advised. “Write it off to some kind of freaky Friday thing.”

“Yeah. Pick me up in, say two hours. Will that be long enough?”

“Plenty of time. I wanted to get this assignment off my mind.”

Karen found her old fuzzy red robe, off its hanger and on the floor of her closet. She pulled it on and went down to the kitchen. Kerr was sitting in the breakfast nook, reading the newspaper. He lowered the sheet and glanced at Karen.

“I made a new pot of coffee.”

“Thanks.” She poured herself a cup and a glass of orange juice, and slid onto the bench opposite Kerr.

“Storm over?”

“This one. Another's behind it. But I'm not reading about the weather.”

Karen waited for Kerr to tell her what he was reading. He lowered the paper and grinned at her.

“Did you really dream about Anderson?” He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it, laughing all the while.

“I told you I did, twice now.” She studied the cream swirling in her coffee, turning it the color of caramel. “It was awful. I never should have told everyone last night. Why would I remember that dream, Kerr, when I haven't remembered any others?”

Kerr shrugged. “You wanted to remember it.”

“No, I didn't. I want to forget it.” She massaged her forehead and ran her fingers through her hair, as if she could erase the memory from her mind.

“The police have gone over the Anderson house and Gordon's room. They can't find any evidence of a break-in. They figure someone came in the open window. And there's no explanation for the way someone left Gordon.”

“You mean—the paint—the flowers?” Karen said.

“Uh-huh. They've ruled the death accidental unless some other facts come to light. They don't think the flowers choked him. They think it was the asthma. The flowers were put there afterwards. I guess a guy with asthma would have a fear of suffocating.”

“Of course he would. I don't want to talk about it.”

“It'll help you get rid of the dream.”

“No, it won't. It just keeps reminding me.” Karen lifted the heavy coffee mug with both hands. The hot liquid didn't warm her. She pulled her robe tighter.

Kerr was silent, reading again. The house was quiet, too quiet. Karen guessed her mother was still in bed, reading if not sleeping. Outside the kitchen nook window, the blue spruce were clothed in white blankets. Sun sparkled the tops of drifts, leaving the undersides in blue-gray shadow. The incredible beauty was wasted on Karen. She had something else on her mind.

She took a deep breath. “Kerr, stop bugging me and Jesse. You're being silly.”

“Are you in love with him?” He stared at her, his dark eyes searching hers for an answer.

“I don't know. I like him a lot. I've never been in love before, so I'm not sure what it feels like.”

“Would you marry him if he asked you?”

Karen shook her head. “I'm not ready to get married. I have to finish high school, go to college, find something I like doing. If Jesse is still in my life after that, then I'll make a decision.”

“I'm not going to get married. Look at the mess Mom and Dad are in.”

“That doesn't have to be the way things turn out, Kerr. Look at the Coles. And Alysia's parents. They're happy. I wish you'd ask Alysia for a date.”

“She wouldn't go. She hates me.”

Karen had to laugh. “Hates you? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“The way she looks at me. Maybe she thinks I'm good-looking, but she doesn't like me the least bit. I can tell.”

She knew there was no talking Kerr out of his idea about Alysia. Over the years, he'd often gotten it into his mind that someone didn't like him—kids, teachers, people they knew. She had never been able to budge his opinion once he settled on it. It was some kind of funny quirk he had.

“Mom and Dad hate me, Karen,” Kerr played with his spoon in a cereal bowl, not looking at her now. “They just wanted you. I was as afterthought, an accident of nature. You're the only one I can count on to love me. I guess I do get jealous sometimes. I can't help it.”

Karen took both Kerr's hands in hers. “Kerr, I'm not going to stop loving you just because I love Jesse. I've got enough love for more than one person. I love Alysia, and I love Mom. I guess I even love Dad, even though he's hardly ever around. I just don't like him much. I think that's okay, don't you? You don't have to
like
people in your family. It's an accident of birth that you ended up with them.”

“I read that you chose the parents you want to be born to.”

“That's hard to believe. I really don't think I'd have chosen Mom or Dad. Do you?”

“Of course not. I'd have chosen someone who wanted me.”

She left the subject alone. There was really nothing to be gained by talking about it. “I have to get dressed. Alysia and I are going to mess around in town.”

“You need the car?”

“No, she's coming for me. What do you have on tap for today?”

“I don't know. Maybe I'll go downtown, too, and sit and watch people. See if I can find out what they're thinking. Practice my psychic powers.”

Karen laughed. But she realized she didn't know how Kerr spent his time lately. Even though he had plenty of admirers, he didn't have any one close friend like she did. He spent a lot of time alone. “Why don't you get a weekend or after-school job?”

“That's not a bad idea.” He folded the paper over to the help wanted classifieds and ran his finger down the column. Karen left him to explore the world of part-time employment.

She and Alysia hung out downtown till late afternoon, then called Jesse and Bill and the four went bowling in Bergen Park that night.

The school routine resumed on Monday. Only the special psychology class was really interesting. Except for football, of course. If you were around Jesse and Bill, you had to be interested in football—or at least pretend you were.

This Friday night's game was against Evergreen's arch rivals, the Lakeside Tigers. Anticipation built until Jesse was impossible to be around.

“I know there'll be a lot of scouts here from the colleges, Karen,” he said at lunch on Friday. “I have to be wonderful.”

“You'll be fantastic, Jesse. You always are. You've had the media's attention for two years. There's no way you won't get a scholarship someplace.”

“I'll probably choose CU. You're going there, aren't you?” Jesse took her hand, ignoring the fact that they were in full view of everyone in the lunchroom, which meant practically the whole school. His green eyes flirted, said to Karen, you're my girl.

“I probably will. I don't think I can afford to go out of state. You think you'll have time for me if you're playing college football? There'll be ten times as many women to choose from.”

“I've made my choice. I won't even see them.”

“I'll believe that when it happens.” Karen laughed. “I'll be this fading friend you knew in high school.” She knew better, but she liked to tease Jesse. And she was trying to distract his mind from the game. He was a bundle of nerves. Holding his hand made her feel how tense he was all over. “Try to relax, Jesse. And be careful tonight.”

She said that every week, but she really meant it today. Jesse was more wound up than she'd ever seen him. His case of nerves crept under her skin, and she wasn't going to be able to get rid of it the way he would on the field.

She and Alysia left together after school. Karen was going to Alysia's for dinner and then they'd go to the game.

“Boy, Jesse was wound tighter than a jack-in-the-box.”

“I'm feeling the same way. Maybe we should have been cheerleaders so we could jump up and down instead of watch. Bill wasn't any calmer.”

“You like him, don't you, Alysia? I mean, really like him.” Why had Karen been so blind?

“That's funny, isn't it? I've known Bill Jergens since fifth grade. Something clicked into place Saturday night for us both. Suddenly I can't think about anything else.”

The pair broke into laughter and hugged each other. Later, Mr. Holland dropped them off at school, and they headed for the football stadium. They were early enough to get seats on the fifty yard line, and then all there was to do was wait.

“We have a better team than Lakeside this year. We should win.”

“What do you mean, should? We
will
win.” Karen opened the thermos Alysia had brought and poured herself some chocolate, mainly to have something to do.

They pulled a blanket over their laps and another over their shoulders. It was really getting cold. When the stands filled it would be warmer.

Finally the game got under way. Jesse heaved a long pass to Bill on the first play, and Bill outran a Lakeside tackle for a touchdown. Incredible! The stands went wild. This was going to be a rout.

It wasn't. Lakeside scored on its second possession after holding Evergreen to only one first down. When the visitors got the ball again, they kicked the extra point for a tied score.

“Oh, no,” Karen moaned. “They may be a better team than we thought.”

The game seesawed back and forth until half time, when Evergreen went ahead by a three-point field goal. Sitting and waiting for fifteen minutes was impossible, so the girls fought the crowd in the bathroom, talking to everyone they knew about their chances.

On their way back to their seats, they passed Dr. McArthur. “Hello, Karen. Good game, isn't it?”

She was surprised to see him there. “Sure is.”

“I think Dr. McArthur has a crush on you, Karen.” Alysia laughed softly.

“He does not. He's just being friendly.”

“Did he say, ‘Hi, Alysia?' No, he only spoke to you.”

“Don't be silly,” Karen said, and forgot it.

Kaziah and Lucy were sitting behind them until the second half resumed. They moved down, so now there were four tense girls leaping up and down, screaming until they were hoarse. Easy and Bill played wide receiver. Jesse had his choice on every pass, unless he handed off to Marvin Rollins, Lucy's current love. Marvin could run the ball through any defense. Single-handedly, he made up Evergreen's running game.