Salem's Sight (18 page)

I fell forward and hugged him tighter.
“I’m not sure if the accident started all this or just being in
this house, but once it started… I just can’t seem to shut it off.
I had a vision of the mill fire, and then I knew they’d find a
body.”

“
Did you tell
anyone?”

“
No, I didn’t understand it
until it was too late to help. But now,” I couldn’t go on. The
tears were falling freely down my face.

“
What is it that you see
happening now?”

“
Oh Robby, my mom is going
to be shot. I know it, but I don’t know how to stop it. My
grandmother… I know this sounds crazy, but I heard my grandmother
while you were painting.”

He gave me a half smile and nudged my
chin with his hand. “Did she say anything about me? About what a
great guy I am?”

I punched him in the arm, but it did
help lighten the mood a bit.

“
Seriously Robby. She told
me to hurry and it’s making me scared. Like I won’t be able to stop
it in time. Can you believe I not only have visions, but I also
hear ghosts?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, I can.
Don’t forget my mother died in my house. I know it’s not the same
as you, but sometimes I just sort of … feel her there. I just know
it. So yeah, I believe you.”

My heart soared. No doubt about it I
was crazy for the dude.

Skyler started meowing and prancing
around our feet. Then he stopped and looked up at the ceiling. Eyes
fixated, focused.

“
Find her!” echoed through
my brain so loudly I looked at Robby to see if he had
heard.

Skyler bolted out of the room and
headed for the bathroom with me at his heels. I stopped short and
Robby bumped into me with a force that sent me sprawling on the
bathroom floor.

“
Sorry, I didn’t
mean…”

“
No problem,” I said as he
lifted me from the tile floor. My knees throbbed and it took me a
moment to notice Skyler perched at the trash mewling.

“
What does he want?” Robby
asked.

“
Probably looking for
Q-Tips. He loves those.”

Robby saw the box on the counter to
the left of the sink and took one out to try to tempt
him.

“
You have to use it.” I so
did not want to explain Skyler’s little fetish.

“
Use it?” He said it like
he was trying to figure out what you’d use a Q-Tip for.

I rubbed my knee and tried to figure
out why I’d run after Skyler. “It’s the ear wax he
likes.”

“
That’s just gross.” He
handed me the unused Q-Tip and I put it on the sink.

“
Yeah, I know. He’s always
pulling them out of the trash.”

Skyler mewed again and pulled a yellow
post it out of the garbage instead and started chewing on
it.

“
Looks like he likes paper
too.”

“
Not usually, unless you
roll it in a ball. Then he bats it around,” I said as I picked it
up and looked at it. A ‘to do’ list of my mother’s. Must have
fallen out of her purse. Either that or it had a little help from
my grandmother.

Right after the mall she had ‘Lil
General. That meant she wasn’t coming straight home. Then it made
sense. There would be no reason for anyone to shoot my mother
unless she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The
convenience store. And there had been a string of robberies
throughout the state.

I really didn’t have much
time.

“‘
Lil General, Robby. We
have to get to ‘Lil General. It’s going to happen
there.”

“
Are you sure?”

I stopped and concentrated as hard as
I could. My grandmother’s voice came through, “It’s not her time,
Salem. Hurry, please.”

“
Yup, and Grandma thinks so
too,” I said as I pushed him to get going.

“
You hear from her
recently?”

“
Yeah, just a second ago.”
He was wasting time and we couldn’t afford it.

“
And she wants you to go to
the convenience store. Anything in particular she
wants?”

“
She’s going to the
convenience store.”

I saw the light bulb go on. “Your
mother?”

“
No, my grandmother, she’s
craving chocolate.”

Robby stared for a second before he
realized I was being sarcastic. “Right, funny.”

The last few words distorted and were
warbled. Then I heard him.

“
Give me your money,” he
said to the attendant. Only it wasn’t Robby’s voice. It was the
shooter. Deep, edgy, tense. I hadn’t heard the voice before, but it
was there now and I knew no matter how much time went by, I’d never
forget it.

Then I saw the gun, the arm, the body,
the face. Dirty. Unkempt. He had beard stubble that only meant he
hadn’t shaved in the past few days. His greasy hair limply wisped
over thinning spots on top of his head. The lines in his jaw were
tight with hatred. And eyes- cold hard eyes devoid of any mercy. He
was a man on the edge, a man who couldn’t think of the people he
victimized, but only of the money he wanted.

Then I saw my mother.

The shock in her eyes. The second of
recognition when she knew what was going to happen because she’d
already heard it from me.

Not fear. Not exactly. I knew she was
thinking of what would become of me.

And I panicked. What would I do if I
couldn’t prevent it?

“
Come on, Robby. We need to
leave now. There’s no more time to waste.”

CHAPTER
fifteen

The ‘Lil General convenience store was
only about seven minutes away. In a normal car, that is. In
Robby’s, however, it took a bit longer.

At one point I wanted to get out and
run figuring I’d get there faster. There was no telling how much
time we had to intervene. I eyed my cell phone wondering if I
should call information for the store’s number. But then what would
I say? You’re about to get robbed? Oh yeah, that’d go over
well.

“
I wish you could get this
car moving.”

Robby winced. “I’m trying, Salem, but
it’s a little temperamental.”

Talk about an understatement. But he
was trying his best. I shouldn’t have been taking it out on him,
but time was getting short.

Finally the store was in sight. I
strained my eyes to see the small parking area to detect my
mother’s car, but we were still too far away. Seconds seemed like
hours. There were a few cars in front of us and I willed them to
move faster while we still had the green.

This time it wasn’t the fault of
Robby’s relic. We were stuck behind Methuselah. This woman had to
hold the Guinness World Record for oldest woman alive. Or at least
oldest woman still driving. The white hair on the lady in front of
us barely fringed the top of the seat. Then she moved her head a
little to the right and it disappeared altogether behind the
headrest.

It’s almost winter lady, go to Florida
with the rest of the people your age, I thought then hated myself
for thinking it. I wasn’t one of those anti-old people, so I was
ashamed the thought had even entered my mind. Normally, I’m fairly
patient.

Just not today.

“
Damn,” Robby and I said
simultaneously as the light turned red. But now we were close
enough to see. I scanned the lot again and was relieved when Mom’s
car wasn’t there.

My relief didn’t last long. From the
corner of my eye I saw a car approaching. Fear crept up my body
slow and steady like a spider until with sudden clarity you no
longer presume, but instead know it’s there.

Same make, same model, same color. The
vehicle stopped and I watched with horror as Mom exited the car and
headed for her destiny.

Just as I was about to jump out of the
car and make a run for her, the light changed.

“
Don’t do it,” Robby said
eyeing my hand on the door handle. “It’ll take you longer to run
over there. And… this is a bad intersection.”

I could’ve outrun the car in front of
us on one of my worst days. And with the way Robby’s car was
running, the geriatric in front of us might’ve beaten it in a race.
But he was right. It would be tricky to run out in
traffic.

“
What do we do when we get
there?” Robby asked. The car jerked and started to move.

“
Get her out of there,” I
said and then gasped as my worst fears came true. There he was –
the shooter - shuffling into the store.

I internally pleaded with my
grandmother to help.

She must have heard and used her
powers from the beyond because a patrol car was pulling into Dunkin
Donuts at the same time we were pulling into the lot at ‘Lil
General two stores down.

“
Salem?” He didn’t need to
ask the question. Robby saw the man walk into the store and knew
from my expression.

“
Police. Oh yeah, thank you
Grandma,” I said aloud. “Robby, go get the cop and tell him you saw
a man enter the store with a gun.”

“
But… I didn’t. What if
you’re wrong?”

“
I’m not. Please, Robby.
Tell him it looked like he had a gun, please.”

“
You come with me. You
can’t go in there alone. Or you tell the cop, I’ll get your
mother.”

“
Stop arguing. This isn’t
the time to act macho. She’ll come instantly with me. You’d have to
explain and there isn’t time,” I said as I jumped out of the car
and ran for the door before he even put it in park.

I tugged on the door. Nothing. Had the
gunman locked it? Too frightened to think clearly I stepped back
and was ready to start kicking it in when I saw the word
push.

The door opened in.

I entered the store and glanced
around. The set-up made it impossible to automatically see either
my mother or the perpetrator. There was a small group at the
checkout counter gabbing as their endless items were rung
up.

The shooter stood only a few feet
away. He leaned against the magazine rack with his back to the
counter. The bastard coolly thumbed through a magazine. Waiting
them out.

He didn’t see me enter. I snuck past
and down the aisle in search of my mother. It felt as if there were
a thousand aisles rather than just a few. Like I was in a bad dream
where I was running and running toward a door to safety, only the
door never came any closer. I could feel the blood coursing through
my veins, my heart pumping wildly.

Then there she was, crouched on the
floor looking through cans of cat food frowning. I could have told
her they didn’t have any kitten chow here. We’d have to go to the
market for that. If only she’d asked. If only…

I didn’t want to make a lot of noise
so I bent down beside her and placed my finger in front of my
mouth. “Shhh,” I whispered.

Before she could say anything I placed
my finger in front of her mouth as a warning not to say anything.
Then I mouthed, “The shooter is here. In the front of the
store.”

She looked like she was about to give
me an argument when my eyes began to tear up. She could tell, if
nothing else, she had to humor me.

I held out my hand and she placed hers
in mine. Slowly, we both stood. She placed the things she had
planned on buying on the shelf. Quietly we began our trek toward
the front of the store.

We needed to get out while the others
were still being rung up. By then the cop would be there or close
enough and he’d only have to think of saving the sales clerk. A
gust of air hit. My eyes zeroed in on the open door. My body froze
and I watched with horror as my hope walked out with all of their
bags.

It wasn’t fair. We were half way
there. Half way to freedom. But half way wasn’t good enough. The
criminal pulled out his gun and stuck it in the face of the
attendant. “Open the register and give me everything
inside.”

We were half way to hell.

“
Anything you want, man,
just don’t shoot. It ain’t my money. I got a family.” The attendant
was breathing hard and although it was hard to see for sure, it
appeared beads of sweat had formed over his brow. The poor slob
looked like he’d already wet himself and was ready to
collapse.

As soon as the gunman turned to leave
he would see us. We had to try to make it to the door and escape
before that happened. Once outside we could run toward the police
car. But it would be risky.

I pointed toward the door and my
mother shook her head and stepped back toward the aisle. Her
fingers slid from mine. The loss was so severe I panicked. I took
another step toward the door and again motioned frantically for her
to follow. Didn’t she realize we’d be cornered here? After all he
did have a gun. And if he did shoot the attendant like he did in
the latest robbery, then he would certainly look through the aisles
to make sure he left no witnesses.

There wasn’t enough time to debate the
issue. I continued toward the door hoping she’d follow. But as luck
would have it, mine ran out.