It was the middle of the night, and Abby was sound asleep in her sleeping bag.
She started to toss and turn in her sleep. She was having a nightmare.
In her nightmare, Abby was driving a car down a two-lane country road.
The car came to a wooden bridge with wooden guardrails that crossed part of a skinny lake.
A gunshot filled the air.
A vehicle bumped her car from behind.
Abby screamed while the car swerved all over the road.
The car crashed through the wooden guardrails to the left.
The car splashed into the lake.
The car immediately started sinking into the water.
Abby panicked and tried to open the car door. It would not open. She frantically tried to roll down the door window. It wouldn't open.
Water poured inside the car.
The inside of the car was soon filled with water.
Abby floated wide-eyed in the water-filled interior of the car.
Back to reality, Abby shot up from her sleeping bag in a panic while she gasped for air, thinking she was drowning.
Abby looked around the room dazed and confused. It dawned on her she had a nightmare. She felt relieved.
She felt a little discomfort then got out of her sleeping bag.
Abby walked out of her bedroom and made a left into the bathroom.
She peed.
After she was done, she walked out of the bathroom and noticed flashing red and blue lights inside on her second bedroom walls.
She got curious and went in there to investigate.
Once she was in that bedroom, she noticed the flashing red and blue lights came from the outside in the direction of Michael's house.
She got curious and rushed out of the bedroom, down the hallway, then through the living room.
She headed to the front door.
Abby rushed out her front door and into her front yard.
She looked in the direction of Michael's house and saw an ambulance and a Barbourville police car parked in the street in front of Michael's house.
She walked over to where a woman and man stood on the sidewalks across the street from the ambulance.
While she walked over to the man and woman, she noticed that all the neighbors across the street from Michael's house peered out their living room windows.
As soon as she got to the sidewalk, she saw two EMT's wheel a gurney out from the side of Michael's house and over to the sidewalk.
Michael lay on the gurney with an oxygen mask around his mouth and eyes closed.
She looked worried while the EMT's rolled the gurney and placed Michael in the back of the ambulance.
The EMT's closed the ambulance doors and rushed to the cab.
They got inside and drove away down Dorothy Avenue.
The police officer got in his car and drove away after the ambulance.
Abby looked at the woman and man on the sidewalk.
"What happened?" she asked the neighbors.
Russ stepped toward Abby. "I let my dog outside in our backyard, and I saw Michael face down on the ground by his garage doors. So I called the police," he said.
"He spent the whole night drilling and doing who knows what in his garage," Fran added while she stepped forward and stood next to Russ.
"Hi, we're Russ and Fran Stalwart. We live next to Michael. You must be the girl that moved in on the other side of Michael," she said.
"I am. I'm Abby Austin."
Abby shook hands with Russ and Fran.
"Where did they take him?" Abby asked.
"Heartfelt Care Hospital on York Avenue. That's in the northern area of town," Russ replied.
"Thank you, and it was nice meeting you, but I have to get back to bed. I have an early day tomorrow," Abby said then smiled at Russ and Fran then walked back to her house.
Russ and Fran across the street and headed back to their house.
Abby went back inside her home.
Back inside her house, Abby was in deep thought while she walked through her living room and headed into the kitchen.
She went to the refrigerator, opened it, and removed some bottled water.
She opened up the water bottle and took a drink. Something caught her eye.
She looked down at the sliding glass door and saw what appeared to be an old photo album propped up against the glass.
She placed the bottle on the counter and walked to the sliding glass door.
She unlocked then opened the door and picked up the album.
She peeked outside and saw nobody out in the darkness.
She closed and locked the sliding glass door.
Curiosity got the best of her, so she walked out of the kitchen with the photo album in hand.
She went back into her bedroom.
Abby sat on her sleeping bag, with her back against the wall and knees up. She rested that old photo album against her angled thighs.
She flicked on the lamp on the floor then opened the photo album.
On the first page, were school photos of Michael, when he was six years old and Jennifer, when she was six years old.
She glanced at a photo of Michael when he was seven years old taken in the backyard, and he had his hand on the handle of his red Radio Flyer wagon. He had a huge grin.
Abby looked at the three photos and got a strange warm déjà-vu feeling. "Why do they look familiar?"
She flipped to the second page.
On this page were photos of Michael and Jennifer during their tween years. One photo was Michael in his Little League uniform with his glove while he stood at first base.
One photo was Jennifer in her Brownie uniform at a Brownie's function. She just started wearing glasses before this photo was taken.
Another photo was Michael standing knee-deep in the Brandywine Lake, and he looked like he was freezing.
Another photo was of Jennifer while she had a birthday party with her friends.
The last photo on this page was of Michael in his pajamas on his bed filled with toy P-38, Mustang, Thunderbolt, Typhoon, Corsair, Wildcat, Tiger Shark, Hellcat, and Spitfire airplanes. Michael held up a B-17 Flying Fortress in his hand, pretending he was flying in the air.
Abby thought that picture was cute.
She got another strange warm déjà-vu feeling while she glanced at all those photos again. She felt as if she knew Jennifer but didn't have a clue of her name.
She flipped to the third page.
On this page were photos of Michael and Jennifer during their teen years.
One photo was of Michael in the Barbourville Bears High School football uniform with Kenneth, with a face full of pimples, and other buddies Mark Owens, Jack Curtis, Joe Pappas, and Wendell O'Donnell posing on the field. They were all sixteen years old. Of all the guys, Kenneth was the only one that was not that attractive.
One photo was of Jennifer as a Barbourville cheerleader with friends Maris Sommers, Linda Maharis, Diane Turley, and Gail Abbott also a cheerleader.
Abby recalled those fond memories when she was a cheerleader back in Orlando. But the girls in this photo suddenly felt familiar to Abby. She could not explain it; she felt as if she knew these girls.
One photo was of Michael while he sat behind the wheel of his father's 1946 Chevy. Michael held up his newly obtained driver's license. He looked so proud.
The last photo on this page was of Jennifer and Michael in Michael's living room. They were going to their Senior Prom.
He wore a black suit, white shirt with black tie.
Jennifer wore a long blue beautiful dress. They looked so happy.
Abby did a double-take with the photos on the first, second, and third page. She couldn't believe that Jennifer was the spitting image of herself except for the darker hair, glasses. "No wonder he thought he knew me," Abby said while she stared at the photos on the third page again.
Abby flipped to the fourth page that showed pictures of Michael and Jennifer during their college years.
One photo showed Michael and Jennifer kissing while sitting on the shore of the Brandywine Lake while having a picnic.
Abby had another strange warm déjà-vu feeling. She touched her lips while she stared at the kissing photo. It was as if she felt Michael's young lips touching her lips.
One photo was Kenneth, with visible acne pot marks on his face, standing next to Jennifer's right while they leaned against the driver's door of her brand new blue 1960 Corvair. Kenneth had his left arm around Jennifer's shoulder while she had her arms crossed in front of her body. He looked so happy.
There was something about that photo that bugged Abby and gave her an eerie feeling while she stared at it. She suddenly got his creepy chill throughout her entire body.
She flipped to the fifth page and saw a wedding invitation for Michael Christopher Osborne and Jennifer Kathy Stodden for May 20, 1961.
She got another warm déjà-vu feeling while she looked at that invitation. And then she felt sad for some unexplained reason.
Abby set the album down then got off the sleeping bag.
She rushed across the room and headed to the closet.
She opened up the closet where her clothes hung. She reached down and grabbed her black backpack off the floor.
She rushed back across the room to her sleeping bag.
She sat back down on the sleeping bag then unzipped her backpack. She reached inside and removed her HP laptop. She opened it up and turned it on.
After a few seconds, she navigated through her computer using her index finger on the trackpad. The song Angel Baby by Rosie and the Originals started playing on her laptop. Abby set the laptop down on the floor next to her.
She picked up the photo album and turned to the fourth page. She glanced at the photo of Michael and Jennifer, kissing on the shore of the Brandywine River.
Abby reached over to her backpack. She reached inside and removed a photo.
That photo showed Abby with her boyfriend Rich arm in arm on a Florida beach filled with people. Behind them was the ocean, and up in the sky was the Space Shuttle being launched.
She turned the photo over, and it had "STS-123 Discovery launch, May 31, 2008" written on the back in her handwriting.
She placed that photo next to the photo of Michael and Jennifer kissing.
"My heart skips a beat, I can hardly stand on my own two feet," Abby sang along with the Angel Baby song while she stared at the two photos.
She stopped singing along with the song. Her eyes welled up while she stared at the two photos and listened to the song.
After the song was over, Abby shoved the picture of her and Rich back into her backpack.
She powered off her laptop then shoved it back inside her backpack.
She got up and placed her backpack back in her closet.
She walked back to her sleeping bag, turned off the lamp.
She lay on her sleeping bag and stared at her ceiling. The thoughts of today's events filled her mind.
Why did he leave me that photo album? The question ran over and over in her mind. She could not come up with a viable answer, and she was soon sound asleep.