Red Dreams of Ravenswood

No matter how hard she tried, for the past nine days, Peggy couldn’t get over the sound of screaming that echoed in the early hours of the night. Not long after midnight, with the screaming long suppressed by sleep, sometimes in the gloomy, oppressive darkness in the other cells, she could still hear a few of them weeping, pain became their only companion in this dark hell. She, too, had spent her first few days here crying into the night, but not anymore. It was a complete useless waste of energy. Not knowing where she was or why they had taken her. At least she wasn’t alone. In her cell there were four others, men, who shared the same floor space with her since there weren’t any beds on which to sit or sleep. They too were tortured in some fashion, examined and then marked. On her wrist, she bore the mark of two crooked lines; she didn’t know what it meant. All that she knew was that her time in that other room―the room in which those men dressed in robes probed her in the most painful ways possible―was over. In time she would make one last trip into another place within the confines of this hell where her time on Earth would come to a dreadful end; but not just yet. Hardly any light made its way into the cell when they dimmed the lights in the passageway at night, and it wasn’t hard to imagine the ghosts of those who last occupied this space sitting beside her. What secrets did they have to share if any, or were they forever lost in the misery that ended their lives? Peggy did not want to die, not here in this place especially. Sleeping nearby were the four men she did not know nine days ago. The one closest to her was Jesse. Level-headed and kind, he provided the support, which she needed. If it weren’t for him, by now she would have gone insane simply out of fear. The lights of Ravenswood were quickly fading as the fishing vessel Savannah sailed into the darkness with eight men on board. The three week cruise was just beginning. With the captain manning the wheelhouse and the crew down below there wasn’t much to do for the next eight hours but wait until it was time to drop the nets for a payday of fish. The vast ocean bounty wasn’t as it had been before; now it took time and luck. The early morning darkness had become mysterious. Disturbed by bad dreams Reverend Kendall woke. In his bedroom, they stood nearby his bed hidden in the darkness―not the darkness that filled his bedroom but something like a thin veil separating his reality and theirs. He could not see them, but as before, he could feel that they were there. And across the room, sitting on a chair, she was there. She first appeared over a month ago, marking the moment when his sanity started to slip. She was always masked in darkness. Only her features where visible in silhouette. Speaking to her did no good. He had tried it a few times. When she appeared to him, it was always the same: those piercing eyes of hers gazing towards him, filled with fire? Who was she? Two and a half years ago, Maggie was a happy, carefree, and beautiful young woman with glowing blonde hair and jeweled blue eyes. While Maggie was on vacation with her boyfriend and a few of her friends, a collector for the church was spending his day sucking down a tall cup of birch beer and a tub of boardwalk fries smothered in vinegar, just relaxing at the beach. It’s hard to believe people like him actually find the need to relax, but there he was when he caught sight of her. Two and half years ago, her life was no longer. He could have, at this point, pushed the throttle and cut a hard turn returning to the safety of the open water, but in doing so a hail of bullets would have rained down on them. Besides, the boat was running on fumes, a fact he didn't share with Peggy. He turned to Peggy and wrapped his arms around her, giving her a passionate kiss. It was a farewell kiss, but it was also his way of expressing his feelings for her. Pulling away, he said, “Sorry.” She smiled and nervously said, “Don’t be.” “I guess when it comes to the heart, it’s hard for me to say exactly what I’m thinking.” “We been through a lot and I guess the only shred of light we have is how we feel toward each other.” She then returned the kiss; she too felt this was good-bye for both of them. He said, soft and tenderly, “I love you.” With a sigh of regret, she said, “If we just had the time.” “Do me one favor.” “What?” “Get somewhere safe.” In the outer office, Denise closed a file she was working on and walked into the private bathroom. The wiring in that brilliant head of hers kept misfiring. It first started with a headache this morning, and then a bad case of the jitters, and now … Denise wasn’t crazy—that is, not now. Her personality hadn’t shifted to a degree like that of her boss Jonathan. He had been acting goofy lately. It was anxiety, a disquieting illusion of doom pouring over her. Somewhere in her subconscious, where all her secrets lay buried, a part of her was waiting for something, but what? At the sink, she doused her face in a wash of cold water. Knock, knock. There went the lock.