Visions: The Mystical Encounter Series (The Mystical Encounter Series Book 1) (11 page)

Giving Barry a peek, he wore an expression I couldn’t quite interpret, but made me sad. I couldn’t imagine what went through his mind. Betrayal, perhaps, that dated back ten years. With the heartbreaking glance, he nodded as if in agreement with my thoughts. I replied with a tight smile before we began searching through Mr. Barton’s belongings. Barry started with the file cabinet while I tackled the desk. Pressed for time, we worked quickly. The search shouldn’t take long, since there was only two pieces of furniture, but we were close to getting the truth. But not knowing quite what to expect, I knew something had to be there.

We continued searching, hoping to find anything that would connect everything together. Our tension escalated at the absence of anything incriminating. I honestly thought with that room being secret, we would have found something by now, but most of the drawers were empty. That didn’t make any sense to me. Barry wasn’t having any luck either and had actually finished. He came over to stand by me while I had one last drawer to snoop through.

“Well, this is it,” I said, taking in a deep breath as I opened the last drawer. Disappointment loomed over me again as the drawer revealed nothing but emptiness. Anger mounted quickly, at the thought of wasting a big portion of our time for nothing. In my frustration, I let out an “ugh,” while slamming the drawer shut.

“Wait,” Barry yelled out as soon as the drawer closed, echoing the slamming sound.

Startled, I asked, “What?” as he went to reopen it.

“Look, this drawer isn’t as deep as the others,” he said, pointing out the discrepancy. Upon closer inspection, the drawer did appear shorter. Barry made a fist and knocked it against the back of the drawer. The wood shifted. Whipping our heads toward each other, our eyes grew at the astonishment of our find. Collecting our thoughts, we quickly focused our attention back on the drawer. Barry hit it harder that time, and it shifted enough where he could move it out of the way.

With a gasp, I stared at the faux drawer in bewilderment. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Inside the hidden compartment was a meager, cigar–style box.

“Barry, you found it,” I exclaimed. Afraid to touch it, I stood there for a second, envisioning what could be inside. That was it, what we’d been searching for. Barry reached down swiping it up. He placed it carefully on the desk and inhaled deeply. His eyes drifted toward me for a second before lifting up the lid.

I held my breath before peeking in. Expecting to see something about Johnny, I was surprised to see a driver’s license, passport, and social security card. I wanted to scream. Clearly disappointed, my eyes flashed to Barry with the intent to complain, but stopped short. With a solemn face, Barry was staring down at the forms of identification.

Thinking perhaps I missed something, I inspected the driver license closer. Then I noticed why Barry looked so serious. “Is that…‌Mr. Barton?” I asked, already knowing the answer. It was those eyes…‌The same eyes that haunted my visions.

“That’s his picture, but that’s not his name. What’s going on here?”

“He must be planning on changing his name to…‌Samuel Bates.” Our eyes drew towards each other for a second, and I knew we shared the same thought.
Why would he need to change his identity?

Barry asked, “Do you know what this means?” I stared at him, too dumbfounded to speak, as he continued, “I think he’s planning on escaping, and he’s changing his identity when he leaves. Heather, innocent people don’t have spare identities lying around.” Raising his voice, he continued, “And they certainly don’t have them hidden in secret compartments in a secret room.”

Nodding, I reread the name one more time. “Barry, I think we should get down to the basement before it gets too late.”

Agreeing, he placed everything back carefully and was closing the drawer when we heard the front door shut.

Our heads snapped toward the sound, then back toward each other. I mouthed
crap
, knowing full well that it was Mr. Barton coming home early. I didn’t know what to do. We were stuck in that room with only one way out.
How on earth are we going to get out of here?
Barry placed his finger to his mouth, signaling for me to keep quiet as he crept over to the hidden doorway. Peeking out, he grabbed its side and closed it slightly, leaving only a sliver of an opening. Being sealed in here would be the last thing we wanted to happen.

Moving wasn’t an option for me as I stood there paralyzed by fear. I didn’t know what we were going to do. Barry looked back at me and must have seen the panic on my face because he mouthed, “It’ll be okay.”

Grabbing a hold of me, he backed us up against the wall. He must have been assertive enough because my body responded to his authority without hesitation. Seemingly convinced I was secure, he stood in a protective stance, guarding me. I wasn’t sure what he was planning on doing if Mr. Barton came through the door because he didn’t have any weapons on him aside from his fists. The only thing that room had to offer was the table lamp. Regardless, Barry was ready to pounce.

As Mr. Barton took off walking down the hallway, I tried slowing my rapid breathing. His footsteps sounded closer until they came to a stop, silencing the entire house. Barry’s arm tightened against my chest, pressing me behind him. Standing there seemed like a lifetime when I finally heard his footsteps start again. That offered no comfort since the shuffling sound of his feet was getting louder. It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was in his bedroom. A creaking sounded as the closet doors opened, vibrating through the walls, which placed him just a few feet away from us. I held my breath, trying to be as quiet as possible. It felt like my chest was going to explode, my heart was racing. I feared any minute he would decide to burst through the hidden door.

Barry stood there like a soldier, protecting me with his arm still pressed against me. I would have thought he’d be tired, holding that position for so long, but he stood there solidly. Shifting my eyes over toward the lamp, I was definitely going to grab a hold of it as soon as Mr. Barton came in here. Barry would, no doubt, lunge for him giving me ample enough time to grab it.

Being able to tell the two apart may be a problem since darkness had definitely settled in. The light from the outside streetlamps shone through the window, but didn’t offer much help. It danced around the room, emitting shadows and further heightening our awareness of the danger we were in.

The sound of the closet door closing made me relax a bit, and I slowly let out the air I was holding as his footsteps started to rescind. But then silence prevailed. My breath hitched as the noise shifted toward escalating footsteps. He was heading back toward the closet. Barry positioned himself a little more in front of me as I noticed his hands balled up into fists. This is it, I thought. Any second, he’d come in here and find us. Eyeing the lamp, I mentally pictured myself grabbing a hold of it and smashing it over his head.

As the footsteps sounded a few feet away, I swallowed hard. He stopped, pausing for a minute. I wondered what he could be doing.
Did he realize we’re in here and he’s toying with us
? The closet door opened again, rippling fear through my entire body. I took a deep breath and held it. Holding as still as I could, I mentally prepared myself to lunge for the lamp. He went to the secret door and opened it slightly. Then for some reason, he slammed it shut trapping us in here for however long. As we heard his footsteps leading out of the bedroom, I let out my breath in relief. Shifting slightly, for my body started to cramp from being still too long, I felt somewhat relieved.

Barry moved his arm down, away from me. “We’ll have to escape through the window,” he whispered.

Turning toward the window, I didn’t think that was a doable option. But since we certainly couldn’t leave the way we came, our choices were pretty limited. Straining to hear where Mr. Barton was headed to, it sounded as if the bathroom door opened.

As the slamming of the door vibrated through the air, Barry whispered, “Now.”

Surprisingly my body responded by taking off toward the window, without saying a single word. Barry rushed over there carefully moving the curtains away. He quickly unlatched the lock and tried pulling up on the window. Of course it barely budged. As feared, it was sealed shut. Those older–style windows, that had been painted multiple times, never wanted to comply. Immediately, he pulled out a pocket knife and began cutting through the layered paint. With another hard push, it finally raised. Relief washed over me as I let out a breath. He didn’t mess around with the screen, immediately kicking it out of our way.

Climbing out, I eyed the ground, which caused me to hesitate before jumping. It really wasn’t that far down, but it made me nervous nonetheless. Sucking in a huge breath, I jumped off the ledge, landing on the ground with a big thud. Pain jolted through the right side of my body, but I was elated to be free from that room. Barry jumped next, a little more gracefully than me.

As he caught up to me, I started off toward the direction of my house, but staggered backward when Barry grabbed a hold of my arm. Flipping me around, he pushed me toward the direction of the woods. We ran until we got to the edge and Barry yelled, “Wait.”

Stopping, I turned toward him and said, “We need to go farther.”

“I have to go back and get that tool. I need to return it to school tomorrow, and it’s still on the step.”

With a glance at Mr. Barton’s house, my heart sank at the sight of it lying there on the bottom step. I had forgotten all about it and knew we couldn’t just leave it. My eyes flashed to the backdoor and a slight relief spread through me. Thank goodness, we had enough common sense to shut it.

A whole new batch of worry spread throughout my body as Barry said, “Stay hidden while I go get it.”

Before I could protest, Barry took off, sneaking back up to the Barton house. He stayed low to the ground as I stared wide–eyed at the kitchen windows. Barry snaked his way up there and just as he started to grab the tool, the kitchen lights flicked on. Barry snatched it up, dropped to the ground, and scurried toward the side of the house.

My breath caught, bringing my arm up to my chest. Placing my hand over my core, I thought my poor heart would never be the same. Quickly ducking behind a large white oak, I stood there, panting for a second. I sneaked my head around the tree trunk to get a glimpse of what was happening. Barry was still lying low against the ground, but right when I gazed back toward the window, Mr. Barton’s face popped in it. Sucking in a breath, I ducked behind the tree, praying to God he didn’t notice me.

It seemed to take forever, but the light finally clicked off, allowing Barry to hurry his way back over to me. Without missing a beat, we took off running through the woods, not slowing down for anything. The briars were snagging at my clothes and skin, and I kept tripping over roots, but I didn’t care. We just kept running.

Once out of sight from the backdrop of the houses, we finally came to a halt. Panting, I was trying to catch my breath as I whispered, “Oh my God, Barry. What was he doing home this soon? He almost caught us.”

“I know,” he said, equally out of breath. “I had us come in here because I was afraid he’d see us cut across the lawn and didn’t want him knowing it was us. He’ll know someone’s been in there, though, since the back door is still unlocked, not to mention what I did to the screen. He’s too neurotic not to notice.”

“Yeah…‌You’re right. What should we do?”

“Nothing…‌He can’t prove it’s us, and I don’t think he’ll want the police involved anyway.” With one last scan of the area, he placed his hand upon my back as he said, “Let’s get you home.”

With the darkness of the night upon us, it was difficult walking through the woods. A scant amount of moonlight filtered in through the tree branches, dancing along the ground, but everything seemed black regardless. We had a flashlight with us, which would have made it much easier, but we were afraid of being seen if we turned it on.

He held onto my hand as we slowly maneuvered ourselves through the woods. I couldn’t believe we ran that deep. Not exactly sure which way was out, I let him lead the way. The howling of nearby coyotes startled my already frayed nerves causing me to inch closer toward him. As the gap between us closed, his arm wrapped protectively around me. We edged our way through the brush, but being joined together made it more difficult. I didn’t care because I felt safer with his arms around me. Finally with his Grandmother’s house in sight, we walked out of the woods toward her back porch. We sat there for a second, letting our nerves calm down.

“We definitely need to see that detective tomorrow, in case Mr. Barton is planning on leaving. I mean, he has false identification for some reason.” I spoke, breaking through the silence. I think we were both too frazzled to speak at first and were sitting there waiting for something. I just wasn’t sure what that something was.

“I was thinking the same thing. But don’t you think we should have Nicole call him tonight?”

I hesitated before answering. Much to my disappointment, we didn’t prove that Mr. Barton was connected with Johnny’s disappearance. Finding false identification didn’t make him a killer, no matter how odd it seemed. But there wasn’t any doubt in my mind he was involved, I’d recognize those eyes anywhere.

I knew if we told the detective about my presumption, he couldn’t do anything about it without some type of proof. We needed to get into his basement, but I was afraid if we tried again tomorrow night, it might be too late. Besides, he’d be more alert now once he realized somebody had been in his house.

“Heather?” Barry prodded.

“Um, Can we wait until tomorrow?” I pleaded.

His eyebrows drew together, no doubt questioning my sanity. “Yeah, I guess so, but I think it’d be better to call now.”

I bit my lower lip, contemplating what to do. Once the call was made, there’d be no going back. My secret would be revealed, but how was that fair to Johnny? It wasn’t, and I was being selfish. “You’re right. We should have Nicole make the call, tonight.”