Donovan and Jodi did not see each other for the rest of the day.
That evening, Donovan ate a light dinner at a small café along Lake Haney. He enjoyed eating along the lake and started to like the peaceful life Haneyville had to offer. He had thoughts about his time spent with Jodi this morning. They were joyful thoughts. But Donovan did not have a clue that Rock had his eyes on Donovan the whole time he was at the café.
Donovan’s iPhone rang from the top of his table. He looked and saw that Lindsey was the caller. “Hello, honey,” he answered the call.
“Where are you?” replied Lindsey from his iPhone and sounded a little pissed.
“I’m up in Haneyville, Tennessee,” he replied.
There were a few seconds of silence from his iPhone. “Haneyville, Tennessee, what the hell are you doing in Haneyville, Tennessee?”
Donovan opened his mouth to reply then it dawned on him. He cringed, knowing he was in deep trouble with Lindsey, as he forgot to tell her he headed up north. “Ah, I’m working on a story,” he said.
“What’s so important that you had to drive all the way up to Tennessee to work on a story?” she replied, and her voice was a little louder and more fire.
“It’s a story that’s really important to me.”
“More important than not showing up for dinner with mom and dad?” Lindsey snapped back a little louder.
Donovan cringed the second he realized that tonight he was supposed to have dinner with her parents. “I’m sorry honey. I just got so wrapped up with this that I,” he said but Lindsey suddenly disconnected her end of the call. “Forgot,” he said, completing his sentence.
Donovan placed his iPhone back on his table and thought about Lindsey. Then he started to think about Jodi, and for some strange reason, he began to feel that the opportunity to get to know Jodi was more critical. Way more important than dinner with Lindsey and her parents.
Meanwhile, Jodi ate at the Perkins restaurant, as she did not feel like driving around Haneyville again. While she ate, she also had thoughts of her time spent with Donovan this morning. They were also joyful thoughts.
Later that night, Donovan hit the bed and was asleep in no time. He immediately started to dream.
In his dream, Donovan was on his back in the woods. The full moon peeked through the branches of the trees. He had excruciating pain in his chest while he lay on the dirt.
Donovan was able to crane his neck, and he could watch that mysterious man wearing a ski mask and overalls down to his ankles unzipped the bell-bottom blue jeans of the brunette girl.
“Please don’t!” the brunette girl cried out while that man lowered her blue jeans down to her ankles and slid them over her sandals.
Donovan tried to move to help the girl, but the pain in his chest was too excruciating and kept him down in the dirt.
“Please don’t do this again,” the brunette girl cried out while that man slid her white cotton panties down and over her sandals.
Then the mysterious man slapped the brunette girl across her face a few times. “Shut the fuck up, or I’ll kill you now,” he yelled at her.
The brunette girl shut up and lay frozen with fear.
He ripped opened her tee-shirt and was not surprised when he discovered she did not wear a bra over her C-cup breasts.
“I remember these sweet puppies,” the man said while he squeezed her breasts hard, causing Tiffany to cringe in pain.
Then he saw a gold chain around her neck that had a gold heart attached to it. He looked at the back of the heart and saw it had something engraved on it. “How fucking sweet,” he said with a sarcastic tone then yanked the chain hard. It broke off.
“Please don’t take that,” the brunette pleaded with him.
“Fuck you,” the man chuckled while he leaned over and shoved the chain, key and gold heart into one of the pockets of his overalls.
He opened up her legs and hopped on top of Tiffany. She tried to force him off her body, but he was too strong. He slapped her some more across her face.
She got scared to death then went limp giving in to his forced sex. She just had a blank, lifeless stare knowing she did not have a choice in this matter.
The man started to pleasure himself with the girl’s limp body.
“You feel so good fucking. Just the way I remembered,” the mysterious man said while he humped her.
Donovan lay on his back still in extreme pain in the dirt. He heard the grunting and moans of the mysterious man and glanced over. He saw him raping the girl he loved, and he was pissed. But he could not move to help her.
Donovan craned his neck in the other direction. The full moon was able to provide enough light to where he saw a red 1962 Buick Special parked in the clearing with the driver’s door still opened.
He looked back at that man on top of the brunette girl having his way with her.
“Stop,” he cried out with the loudest voice he could muster up.
Back in his motel room, Donovan still had his dream.
“Stop,” he cried out in his sleep in pain.
Donovan bolted up from his dream sweaty and shaking.
He frantically looked around the room for that brunette girl and that mysterious man raping her. The room was empty and quiet. It took a few seconds for it to dawn on him that he had another dream.
Donovan sat up in his bed, and this dream really bugged him. Then his curiosity started to nag at him, and he could not resist.
He looked at the digital clock on the bedside table. It showed it was 4:00 a.m.
Donovan’s curiosity got stronger, the more he thought about that dream. It felt so vivid and alive.
He rushed out of his bed and quickly got dressed.
He grabbed his car keys and iPhone off the small dresser. He shoved his iPhone into his left pants pocket.
He rushed out of his motel room.
Donovan got inside his Buick, started up the car then drove off through the dark parking lot.
He did not notice that white Impala that was parked in the parking lot.
Rock was inside, and he followed Donovan’s Buick but kept his headlights turned off.
Donovan drove his Buick west on Haneyville Road with Rock’s Impala following a safe distance behind. Donovan was clueless he was being stalked by the sheriff.
Donovan made a quick stop at the stop sign at the end of Haneyville Road.
He turned his Buick right and headed north on Stinson Road.
He slowed down then made a right turn down the dirt road.
He headed to the clearing down by the lake.
Rock drove his Impala down Stinson Road and headed past the dirt road.
Rock then turned left onto that other dirt road. Once his car was out of view from Stinson Road, he parked and turned off his engine.
Donovan parked his Buick in the clearing. He turned off his engine and got out of his car.
It was dark, and the sky was full of twinkling stars. There was a quarter moon tonight, so not much light was being offered from the sky this morning.
Donovan removed his iPhone from his pants pocket. He pressed the flashlight application. A light came on from his iPhone and acted like a flashlight.
Donovan used the iPhone flashlight and looked around the area.
He looked to the left of the Buick with the flashlight area of the woods started feeling spooky.
He looked to the right of the Buick with the flashlight and that area of the woods felt safe.
Donovan used that flashlight and walked off into that area of the woods off to his left. Even though it was spooky, he felt drawn to that area.
Donovan gingerly walked through the woods with his flashlight iPhone. He was more concerned with some critter attacking him than anything else.
He walked between trees, and for some strange reason, this part of the woods started to give him more déjà vu feelings. But these started to become a bit of a scary feeling while he walked deeper into the woods.
Donovan’s déjà vu feelings started getting stronger and stronger while he gingerly walked deeper into the woods.
A déjà vu feeling became overwhelming; the second Donovan walked upon a small clearing between the trees.
He scanned the area over and saw he was about fifty feet from his parked Buick.
His flashlight illuminated a dead black walnut tree. The tree looked like it had been dead for years and was about ready to crumble at any second.
Donovan kept on scanning the area over with his flashlight.
Then he scanned the ground below, and his déjà vu feeling became powerful and scary when he saw two small rocks in the dirt.
Sudden pain in his chest appeared, and it was excruciating. Donovan clutched his chest and buckled over. Then the pain suddenly disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He felt better.
He heard a twig snap on the ground behind him.
The second Donovan turned around to check out that sound, a fist smacked him hard in his left eye. He flew back while he lost his grip of his iPhone, and it flew off in another direction.
Donovan landed on his back in pain.
It was dark. He saw his iPhone with the flashlight pointing straight up at the sky.
Donovan looked up and saw a mysterious man wearing a black ski mask bearing down on him.
The man grabbed Donovan’s shirt then pulled him upward. The man immediately started punching Donovan repeatedly in his face.
After six punches, the man let go of Donovan, and he dropped to the dirt.
He lay in the dirt in pain and on the verge of passing out.
He looked and saw the man pick up his cell phone off the ground. Donovan passed out.
The mysterious man walked off into the woods after he shoved Donovan’s cell phone into his pants pocket.
Thursday morning arrived across Tennessee.
The woods started to fill up with birds singing to the arrival of another beautiful sunny day.
Donovan still lay passed out in the woods.
He started to stir as the singing birds began to wake him.
Donovan’s eyes opened, and all he could see was the morning blue sky peeking between tree branches and tree leaves.
He got dazed and confused as to where he was while he sat up.
He looked around the area and remembered he went into the woods last night. Then he remembered being beaten up by a masked man previous night the second his face started hurting.
He got up. He remembered his iPhone and scanned the area over for it. Then he remembered that that mysterious man last night took it. He was pissed.
He slowly walked back through the woods and headed to his car.
He got in his car, started it up, turned around, and drove away from the clearing.
Donovan drove down the dirt road then headed south on Stinson Road.
He made the left turn and headed back down Haneyville Road.
A little while later, Donovan pulled up and parked in front of the police station.
He got out of his Buick and rushed to the front doors of the building.
Donovan rushed inside the police station and went to the counter.
He saw Kent working behind a desk.
Kent looked up from his paperwork. “Can I help you?”
“I was attacked in the woods last night,” replied Donovan.
“Attacked?” asked Kent not sure he heard correctly.
“Yes attacked.”
Kent got up from behind his desk and headed to the counter.
Rock heard the conservation from his office while he puffed on a cigar with a smirk.
He got out from behind his desk and walked out of his office. He stood by the doorway of his office puffing on a cigar not too far from the “No Smoking” sign on the wall.
“What happened?” Kent asked the second he arrived at the counter. He saw that both of Donovan’s eyes were a bit swollen.
“I was out by that clearing by Lake Haney early this morning,” said Donovan.
“Why were you out there so late?” asked Rock the second he arrived at the counter with his cigar in his mouth. He saw that Donovan’s eyes were a bit swollen.
“I’m Donovan Kirby. I’m a reporter from Melbourne, Florida for the Florida Today newspaper,” he replied then while he looked at Rock, something felt familiar about him. “Have we met before the sheriff?”
Rock looked at Donovan, and he suddenly appeared to be a familiar face. “I don’t believe so,” he said then thought for a few more seconds. “Unless you were at that police convention down in Orlando. I attended.”
Donovan looked at Rock then it dawned on him. “That’s right. I recall seeing you down in Orlando. I hope you liked the conference.”
“It was good, but now let’s get back to your issue at hand,” said Rock. “Now, what were you doing out in the woods early this morning?”
“I’m working on a story about those missing teenagers that went missing back in nineteen seventy.”
“Why?” Rock asked.
Donovan started to feel a little intimidated by Rock for some reason. “I don’t know. I became intrigued when I saw that story about that girl’s Buick Special being found in Lake Haney.”
“Intrigued. That’s interesting. Now, let’s get back to your story with being attacked. Did you get a good look of the individual that beat you?” asked Rock.
“No. He wore a ski mask.”
“Ski mask. Well, that’s not much to go on. Did you see him get into his vehicle?” asked Rock.
“No, I passed out, but I believe he took my iPhone. It has a GPS capability, so I can have it tracked to a location,” replied Donovan.
Rock looked a tad concerned. “GPS tracking. That’s interesting.”
“Isn’t technology wonderful these days,” added Kent.
Rock glanced at Kent and gave him a little disapproving look for his comment.
“Well Mister Kirby, some people around these parts don’t take kindly to strangers roaming in our woods. Some of these woods are their backyards. So, maybe you might want to consider heading back down to Florida. Now, as far as those two kids go, we still believe they’ve been living up in Canada for the past forty years. You see that Howie Anderson was a draft dodger. So he might be too ashamed of himself to come back to Haneyville,” said Rock and gave Donovan the eye that he really should leave town.
Donovan looked at Rock. “Thanks, sheriff.”
“I’ll tell you what, I’ll go out to that clearing and see what evidence I can find on your attacker. Are you staying at the motel six?”
“Yes.”
“Good. But I would recommend that you just forget this story, as it won’t be much of a story. And I can imagine you have more important crimes to write about down in your neck of the woods. Again, you might want to consider leaving town,” said Rock, and he looked dead serious.
“I’ll think about your advice,” replied Donovan as he had this feeling he should stay here in Haneyville a bit longer.
“I’ll be in touch if I find anything,” Rock said then he turned around and headed back to his office.
“I’m sorry about this Mister Kirby. The folks around Haneyville are typically upstanding, law-abiding citizens. Maybe one of them was out drunk this morning,” said Kent.
“Thank you, deputy,” said Donovan then he turned around and headed back to the front doors.
Kent turned around and headed back to his desk.
“I’m heading out to check out that clearing,” Rock said when he walked out of his office and put on his cowboy sheriff’s hat and puffed on his cigar.
“Want me to tag along?” asked Kent.
“Naw, stay here and mind the office,” Rock said then he headed to the front doors.
Kent returned to his paperwork while Rock left the office.