Authors: Jonas Saul
Tags: #paranormal, #suspense action, #crime action, #automatic writer
DARK VISIONS
by
Jonas Saul
PUBLISHED BY:
Imagine Press
ISBN: 978-0-9869376-4-4
Dark Visions
Copyright © 2010 by Jonas Saul
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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of this author.
This is a work of fiction. All of the
characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are
either products of the author's imagination or are used
fictitiously.
Dark
Visions Book 1 - A Synopsis
Sarah Roberts has a unique problem. Routine
blackouts occur to her on a random basis. What's different about
her temporary unconsciousness is she wakes to various notes written
by her own hand.
These notes are prophecies. Dark Visions.
Future events with dire circumstances. Circumstances that she can
avert, for Sarah is what they call an Automatic Writer.
The novel begins with Sarah perched under a
bridge with no idea why she's there, except what the note said;
Sit under the Elizabeth St. Bridge at
10:18am. Bring hammer.
There's a car accident on the bridge,
plunging a vehicle into the river below. If Sarah wasn't there at
the right time, with the hammer to force her way into the car,
people would've died.
The novel's intensity increases as more
blackouts occur, causing her to note them down. Her next task is to
avert a kidnapping. She's done it before. Couldn't be that hard.
But on this one, the kidnappers recognize her and nab her instead
of their intended victim.
People are killed. Witnesses place Sarah at
the scene. The police find her notebook riddled with prophecies of
accidents and crimes.
They want answers. They want to know how she
has such information.
All this happens while the eighteen year old
star in this first novel of a trilogy suffers from
trichotillomania, which means she's a puller.
Most of her hair is missing.
The story has numerous twists and turns and
finally ends with a massive climax and a lead in to The Warning,
which is Part Two of this trilogy.
Overall a great read, combining the likes of
John Saul, and Dean Koontz.
To
my wife and all that she does
Other Titles by Jonas Saul
The Warning
The Threat - coming July 2011
Bad Vibes
Suicide Notes
Trapped - A Short Story
Contact Jonas Saul
Website:
http://www.jonassaul.com
Twitter:
@jonassaul
Email:
[email protected]
Chapter 1
Life and death was the difference of a
choice, a moment of indecision, an expensive thought that cast a
silky web around her. The snare was always set, gripping and
pulling, but would she be strong enough when the time came? Would
she be able to save whomever it is she's supposed to save?
Sarah Roberts looked at her watch again.
10:15am.
Three minutes until the precognition came
true.
She reached back and found a few stray hairs
above the nape of her neck. She massaged them until they were
firmly in the grip of her fingers. Then tugged them out. Her eyes
closed, she leaned back on the dirty cement. The sharp pain that
crawled over her skin soothed her, calming her nerves.
She could hear vehicles crossing the bridge
above her. Next time she had to wait under a bridge for whatever
was supposed to happen she would bring a pillow to sit on. The
piece of cement angled toward a small river at forty-five degrees.
The grass on either side looked more comfortable, but the message
had been specific. If there was anything Sarah knew, it was to
follow it with absolute precision.
Sit directly in the middle, under the St.
Elizabeth Bridge. 10:18 Am. Bring hammer.
Bring hammer.
She had no idea why, but she'd brought it.
The hammer sat beside her on the cement.
She lifted her wrist and checked the
time.
10:17am.
Some of the remaining hair on her forearm
stood. Within a minute something was going to happen. This
heightened state always made her hair rise in the anticipation of
what was to come. It also showed Sarah the location of more hair to
be pulled at a later time.
She lowered her right hand and picked up the
hammer.
Her pulse quickened. She looked down at her
feet where a pile of cigarette butts were scattered from previous
occupants who had loitered under the bridge too. Her focus was on
her breathing. Keep it regular.
Wait and see.
A dead fish smell wafted up from the
river.
The water made a soft curling, whooshing
sound. Any other time it would have been soothing.
Cars cruised by above her. Something louder
came and went.
10:18am.
A tire screeched. A horn blared. The sound
of metal hitting metal was surreal. It made her jump. Tires
squealed again.
A vehicle came into view at an impossible
angle. It fell towards the river, along with pieces of the
guardrail. The car's roof took the impact in the water. It was
upside down, angled at a slight degree on the passenger side.
Sarah hustled and reached the car in
seconds. She kneeled close and glanced in the window on the
driver's side. A woman who looked to be in her twenties was trapped
in the seat belt. She was inverted, her arms dangling toward the
water that was slipping in where it could. A small line of blood
was on her forehead. She appeared to be unconscious. There were no
passengers.
The river was quite shallow in this area.
The water rushed by just below Sarah's knees. But it was high
enough to cover the head of the woman. An odd thought struck her.
How come the precognition didn't say anything about proper
footwear for wading through water? Mom's going to be pissed that I
soaked my new shoes.
Sarah grabbed the handle and tried to open
the door. It didn't move. She reached over and tried the back door.
It was also stuck, or locked. She glanced in the window and looked
across to the other side of the car. The doors on that side were
bent inward. That was the side that hit the river first, buckling
it a little.
Her stomach churned when she looked at the
woman. The water had risen to her hair line and was swirling around
the top of her head.
She could hear people yelling from the
bridge behind her. Someone was asking if everyone was all
right.
Water was touching the woman's eyebrows.
Sarah had to act and she had to do it now.
The hammer.
She looked at the hammer in her right hand.
If she bashed the driver's side window it would shatter and could
hurt the woman. It would have to be the back door window.
She raised the hammer and whacked the
pane.
Nothing happened.
She looked back at the woman. Her eyes were
submerged now. Sarah guessed she had less than a minute before the
woman's nose started taking water on.
She brought everything she could muster to
the next blow. The back window shattered and blew inward. She used
the hammer to remove stray pieces of glass still attached to the
door frame.
The water was tolerable when she stood in
it, but it was cold on her arms and stomach when she dropped down
on all fours. She went as fast as she could while being careful to
maneuver around the shards of glass.
She was completely inside the back, lying
down in the water that rushed in faster now. A book that must have
been in the back seat floated by. She brushed it aside while
reaching for the woman.
From the back, she angled herself between
the front seats. She reached out and lifted the woman's head just
as water flirted with her nostrils.
That was where she stopped.
Sarah reasoned it would be difficult to undo
the seatbelt that suspended the driver. How could she push or drag
her from the car? Impossible for Sarah alone. Especially since she
couldn't go through the driver's side door.
She would have to stay here leaning on her
side, holding the woman's head up against her shoulder. She used
her free hand to cling to the steering wheel.
The water level inside the car matched the
outside now.
Until help arrived, she had done all she
could do. It was over.
Another unknown reality had become
known.
Minutes later, she could hear sirens.
And
not soon enough
, she thought. The adrenaline rush was ebbing
and the shivering had started. With her strength diminishing, Sarah
held the woman's head above the water until firemen showed up. The
firemen went to work on the driver's side door. They cut the
seatbelt and then lifted the driver out.
Another fireman reached in and helped Sarah
out and up to the bridge. A Paramedic provided a blanket for her.
She sat on the bumper of an ambulance. They asked her if she'd been
a passenger. Did she see the accident? How was she involved? As
before, in situations like these, she was evasive. She hated cops.
Even the sight of them. She told a police officer she would answer
his questions after she warmed up.
Paramedics were attending to a minivan where
a man in the driver's seat was being fitted in a neck brace. A
garbage truck had lost one of its wheels, which looked to be the
cause of the accident.
In the confusion of people, some hurt, some
helping, Sarah dropped the blanket and disappeared behind the
ambulance. She removed the red bandana she wore to cover her
missing hair. She never wanted to be identified as the girl with no
eyebrows and hardly any hair on her head. She knew without the
bandana she would stand out a lot more.
She started to run a little. She had to get
home before her mother began asking questions of her
whereabouts.
She hated it when she had to lie to her.
Chapter 2
Sarah pushed the doors open after having
paid her fee at the main desk and entered the Psychic Fair.
Why
was she here?
She clutched her notebook against her chest
and held it tight. Within four strides she was around an aisle
corner and hustling down through a throng of people.
She woke this morning and found a note on
the floor with these three words;
Dolan save yourself
. On
the back of the note it said to go to the psychic fair in town to
find him.