Page 15 of Dead

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Out in the human world…

Jeph poured creamer into his coffee, the unease he’d felt for days still playing at his mind. He stirred the coffee absentmindedly as he stared out the truck-stop window. Big rigs, cars, and trucks blasted by on the Interstate a few hundred feet away, past the huge array of gas pumps. A slight drizzle made everything gray and bleak.

It had felt gray and bleak for the past few days.

“You gonna eat or what?” Nick asked mid-chew.

After a quick peek at Nick and Griffin, Jeph looked down at the huge platter of eggs, bacon, grits, and pancakes, not sure why he’d ordered it all. He’d barely been able to eat recently, which was decidedly out of character. He laid the spoon from his coffee down, and then picked up his fork and knife. Jeph began to cut his eggs, the bright yellow yokes leaking out upon the cream-colored plastic plate.

The same yellow as his eyes.

Jeph paused, the thought that had slipped through his mind making him dig deeper.

Memories lingered at the far edges, just out of reach. Something had happened to them. He couldn’t remember it. Griffin and Nick had blown it all off, refusing to talk about it.

Questions kept circling and re-circling in his mind. How had they gotten in that field in the middle of Mississippi? What had brought them there?

Why did he feel like he was missing someone?

Someones?

He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but there was supposed to be more than the three of them. Jeph was sure of it. He could feel the presence in his heart and soul, but when he tried to remember, he came upon a blank spot where someone belonged.

Family.

“What is it?” Griffin asked.

Jeph lifted his stare to the pair across from him. “We left someone behind in that field.”

“Not this again,” Nick muttered. He sat back in his chair and glared at Jeph. “Who did we leave behind?”

“I don’t know… but I know someone else is supposed to be here. Two more someones if I’m right. I keep trying to remember them, and it’s like something is forcing me back.”

No one spoke for a moment. The air was heavy around the table, charged with ire and fear and the unknown.

“Does the name Hart mean anything to either of you?” Griffin suddenly asked.

Fine hair lifted on Jeph’s arm. “No… but I think it should.”

“I dreamed of some guy named Hart last night… we were all in college… and he and some other guy were with us. I didn’t get the other guy’s name, but one—Hart—he spoke to me. It felt so fucking real.”

“You, too?” Nick turned and asked.

Jeph showed Nick the goose bumps coating his arm. “We still don’t know why we were in that field out in the middle of nowhere. All three of us suddenly wake up and can’t remember how we got there? Do you have an answer for that, Nick?”

Nick was silent a moment. He sighed and shook his head. “No. I don’t.” He fished his phone from his pocket and flicked a finger over the surface. “And I don’t have an answer for this, either.”

Nick showed them the screen. It was a picture of the three of them…

And there were two darkened figures just behind them, their faces blurred in movement.

Griffin took the phone. “That was the night I dreamt about.”

“I took out my phone last night at the hotel and searched through everything again, looking for some kind of answers as to why we were there. I have no calls, no emails… nothing… for a span of about eight days. It’s like someone cleared my phone. So I went through pictures—and there are huge gaps there, too. Months pass between me taking photos and that just doesn’t feel right. It feels like chunks of my life are simply… gone. Then I came onto this one… their faces were darkened, so did whoever cleared my phone miss this one?”

“We need to go back,” Jeph said pointedly.

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