untitled at this time

A single candle flickered until it lit the far wall then another candle lit up and another and another until the whole of the room was a light. A large oak table was centered in the room; the candlelight sending strange shadows across it's surface. the far wall, where the first candle flame came alive, was centered with a large stone fireplace. Book shelves lined the side walls, not that the books were read much these days. The old wooden door, with it's rusty hinges, faced the fireplace. The room smelled musty and earthy. The floor held no decoration of rugs or carpet just footprints in the dirt. With a glance around the room, he could see everything was in order. Now the waiting.  The wait shouldn't be long for once the first arrives it was only a matter of time before the room would be filled and all the seats at the table taken. Barring any fights, it should be an interesting meeting.









JoBeth looked up from her test. Another failure. She just couldn't grasp the concept of geometry. What in the world will she ever use it for anyway?  She tucked the test insider her folder with a sigh and glance out of the window. the dark clouds hung low to the ground creating a shroud over the landscape. The storm had been brewing all day but the rain had yet to start falling. It suited her mood. The dream was still on her mind; but she couldn't dwell on it; not now anyway.
"Some of you are not doing well. Your classwork is not up to par and your testing is deplorable. Those of you who scored poorly on this last test must bring your grades up or you won't be graduating in a few months. Please see me after class for some extra credit ideas." Mr. Fenn was watching JoBeth as he made his announcement.

JoBeth stood slowly as the bell rang announcing the end of class, and for her, the end of the day. She waitied behind two other students at Mr. Fenn's desk. She smiled slightly in the knowledge that she wasn't the only on with problems in geometry. As she made her way to his desk she listened to the details of the extra credit procedures and how they would bring her grades up to passing. She picked up the papers and made her way to the door.
"Ms. Lynley?"
"Yes, Mr. Fenn."
"I'm not sure if what your issues are but you need to bring these grades up or graduation will not be likely." Mr. Fenn looked at her with sympathy in his eyes.
"Yes, Mr. Fenn," as JoBeth slid out the door she saw Mr. Fenn shake his head from the corner of her eye.

JoBeth took a deep breathe and headed towards her locker. She had to get out. Throwing her books in her locker she grabbed her jacket and purse and headed for the stairs. She didn't see anyone on her way out. The advantage of having half days. Everyone else had gone on the their last class while she slipped out the door at the bottom of the stairs and headed toward student parking. JoBeth moved around a lot growing up, but stood firm when her parents want to move again right before Christmas.

"Why? We've been here a month and a half! I would like to finish one year in the same school. Especially my senior year!" JoBeth remembered hollering at her parents. Her mother and father looked at her and then walked out of the kitchen. JoBeth sat at the kitchen table staring after them. She sat there until they came back. Her mother, with her strawberry blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes, head bent, watching the floor came in first. Her father followed with his green eyes on JoBeth.
"JoBeth, we undertand how you feel but you need to understand as well." Her father was standing behind her mother who had sat down across the table from JoBeth. His red head shaking.
"moving as often as we have is what is needed for you. We've explained this before and eventhough we've not been here long it's still dangerous. At least until you come of age then we can stay longer."

"I will be 18 in less that two months. I just want to finish my senior year in one school!" JoBeth yelled again, her voice thick with unshed tears.

The argument had been an ongoing one ever since JoBeth turned 13. "Grandmother is not expecting me until the end of June. I can finish my senior year and graduate then be off to Grandmother's afterwards."
"True, but you do remember that other issues will arise once you turn 18 and that will make staying that much harder?" Her mother looked at her through lashes.
"Yes, I remember." Jo Beth worried about seeing her grandmother after she turned 18 but she had won the fight to not see her until after graduation. That bought her four months.
Her father stepped around the table to kneel at JoBeth's side. "I understand your concern and if we stay close then we can stay until school's end if this is truly what you want."

JoBeth closed her eyes and offered a silent prayer before turning to her father. "Thank you."

Rian started to fall as JoBeth climbed into her car. She didn't think of the extra credit that she needed to do but turned her thoughts to the dream that robbed her of sleep last night. It wasnt' that she remembered much of it but it seems that she gets more and more as the dream reoccurs.
The dream started when she was about 8, which happened to be the first time her family had moved for the first time. The same sens of terror was always involved with the dram. She always woke exhausted as if she'd run the 100 yard dash in less time than the best athlete. She could never remember why she was running or what frightened her so. And she never realized until just a couple of years ago that her dreams chnaged with each move her family made.
But last night.....last night the dream was far more intense than ever. It was the first time 2 things happened--she knew that she was running for her life and a face appeared. The face is was had haunted her since she woke this morning. A man's face at that. Eyes hooded and as blue as the Caribbean waters, a nose straight over a full mouth, which was set in a hard straight line, and hair black as the night. The eyes are what she had seen throughout the day. A mirror to the soul so the saying goes and JoBeth had believed it true as of last night. Sunch intensity , fear and hatred she saw in those eyse but there was something else as well and she couldn't figure out what it was.
JoBeth slammed on her brakes. So lost in her thoughts she almost ran the red light. She took a deep breath as she watched the little kids cross in front of her. They were on their way to the ice cream shop to pick up their supplies for their Valentine's party. Ms. Ginger started the tradition years earlier when she started teaching third grade. JoBeth sighed, she wished she had lived in Littleton back in 3rd grade. The children, bundled up, finished crossing and the light changed. JoBeth eased forward watching the last of Ms. Ginger's class slip into the store. Next door, JoBeth's mother was coming out of the pharmacy, talking on her cell. She pulled over and got out and crossed the street, stepping in front of her mother.
Gwendolyn Lynley as a petite woman all of five foot nothing with beautiful long hair to her waist; the perfect contrast of blonde and red coloring, and green eyes the color of spring grass. Her dad would say that her eyes reminded him of the hills behind his childhood home in Ireland. If her hair had been more red she would be the perfect leprechaun for the Saint Patrick's Day, although curvy leprechauns are not heard of.  If she had to compare herself to her mother she was huge. JoBeth stood eight inches taller than her mother, curvy but not like her mother, and her hair...dark red and a nightmare to tend to. When they had lived in New Orleans, JoBeth couldn't keep her hair in check, curls springing everywhere in the humid climate. But here in Littleton, the cooler climate made it so much easier to tame. Her dad wouldn't let her get it cut growing up other than a trim here and there; so now at 17 it hung to the back of her thighs. Her eyes, a shade darker than her mom's, looked at her as her mother hung up from her call.
"Hi baby!  Your grandmother is very persisant."
"What now?"
"She still wants you to come over in April for a visit. I told her that we had discussed this and you would come over after graduation instead."
"She was the one who agreed to this, Mom. Why come over early?"
"I know but listen...what if we do a family trip over spring break and visit the family? That way it allows us to get away for a bit and gives your grandmother a chance to see you?"
"I can understand that. What I'm worried about is once we get there, since I will be 18 then, what will she do to get me to stay?"
Mom shook her head as if to say "I don't know" and linked her arm in mine. "Come on I will treat you to ice cream and then you can give me a ride home. I don't feel much like walking in the rain today."







Once back home, JoBeth helped her mom prepare dinner. Since it was a rainy afternoon, her mother decided on irish stew for dinner. JoBeth started peeling potatoes. They worked in peace for a time, which they have done many times in the past. "I had the dream again last night," JoBeth said. Her mother was anxious when JoBeth had told her about the dream the first time. Her mother froze for just a second then started working again. JoBeth watched her mother's back. Her mother was scared, she was never plagued with dreams but she was told the stories when her and her dad got married years earlier. And then told the other stories when she found out she was pregnant with JoBeth.
Gwen turned to her daughter, and with a forced smile on her face said, "Again? Well I'm not surprised you've been having that dream for ages now. You know we can still go to the doctor and get something so you won't have them and sleep through the night."
JoBeth shook her head. They had been through this countless times and for a while tried it. But for that year when she was on the pills she was like a walking zombie, of course that was when they spent most of that year in Louisiana and most of it in New Orleans. But when she stopped taking the pills, the dream came back more powerful than ever it seemed. Her sleep was spent off and on tossing and turning, waking up exhausted. She decided that she would not go back on the pills since coming off of them was gruesome. Like an athlete training for a long run, having the dreams every night prepared her better and she was able to function the next day. "It was different this time."
"How?" Gwen's face went white as she dried her hands and sat to the kitchen table across from JoBeth.
"I know now that I'm running for my life. Something or someone is chasing me and I feel threatened but I'm still not sure as to what or why. And I saw a face."
Gwen dropped the tea towel and her hands flew to her throat. "I need to call your father."
JoBeth watched as her mother went into the living room and grabbed the phone. Her face was pale and her hands shaking as tried to dial the phone. JoBeth sat back in her chair and watched her mother.
"You need to come home."
"No, now. The dream has changed."
"No I haven't asked yet, I think it would be best if both of us are here. I'm not sure of what questions to ask and I really don't know how I will react. She's already told me that she's running for her life but doesn't know who or what from."
"Yes."
"Okay we will see you in an hour then."
JoBeth heard her mother's side of the converstaion and can pretty much guess as to what her father is saying. She got up and cleaned up her work space and walked out the back door.

The rain had stopped and the mountains looked like a watercolor in the faint sunlight that appeared. JoBeth always loved the mountains and the few she had the pleasure to view from her back yard were breathtaking. She followed the walk from the back door to the gate marking the end of the backyard. She crossed the dirt driveway and stepped on the pine needle path that lead into the woods. She walked for a bit until she came upon the clearing that she had found when they had first moved here. The circular area had a fallen pine tree in the center, although most of it had rotted away over the years there was enough there for a place to sit. So JoBeth walked to the tree and sat down.
She listened to the rain drops falling out of the trees and the animals and bugs coming out from their shelter. She loved the peace and quiet she found in the woods. If she sat here long enough the animals would come and investigate. She's had deer, squirrels, rabbits, even a skunk come and see who was in the circle. She usually has seeds or nuts in her pockets for such a time but today she just needed the peace and didn't pack her pockets with food for the animals.

The stories that were told by her grandmother were meant to teach although they scared JoBeth. She never really understood them and dreaded going to visit her grandmother to finish her training. She was to start her training at 13 but because the dreams started when she was eight so had her training. Her grandmother told her parents that her training had to start then because of the dreams. Something in a story she had yet to be told, stated that training started at 13 unless the dreams started first, or at least that was the explaination she was given. Training for what she was never sure. Her parents have taught her many things and JoBeth never looked at it as training. There were times when she didn't go to school and learned at home but school was for reading and adding, according to her grandmother, the real learning was when you walked in the woods or beside the ocean. Grandmother Lynley was an old fashioned healer. Although here most people call her a witch which is why she went back to Ireland to her home where she was regarded as a wisewoman, a healer.