Chapter 8
Adanna awoke to Nessa nudging her. Protesting, she sat up and glared at Nessa, "Whatcha' want?" She asked, groggily.
"There's breakfast in the dining area, come on girl, lets go get our pancake on." Nessa pulled her to her feet.
The five friends filed into the warm, sweet-smelling breakfast room and picked a booth closest to the large, floor to ceiling windows. The boys filed in on one side, while Nessa and Kate slid into the open side. Adanna was about to follow them when Dave grabbed her by her waist and pulled her next to him.
"Hey!" She protested.
Dave laughed, "You always leave extra bacon, and I call first dibs." He looked at Kate, "And Kate loves to steal bacon."
Kate rolled her eyes, "I can't help the hunger for bacon, it's the superior breakfast meat!"
Everyone chatted around the table, and ordered when the waitress came over. Taking short sips of her boiling hot coffee, she listened intently to the conversion that followed. Kate excitedly brought up the similarities in Nessa and Dave's supernatural experience, obviously prodding for more chilling information from the two.
Dave relented and began to go into detail about the girl he had actually seen. As Nessa and Dave discussed the similarities and Kate lapped up all the juicy details, Adanna noticed that Dottie was sitting at a table close by, she could tell she had turned her head towards the group to hear what they were talking about. At the mention of the description of the girl, her face went pale. Adanna watched, eyebrows raised, as Dottie stood up, glanced at the group, hesitated, and then walked towards the entrance.
Her interest had now peaked, so Adanna stood up to follow Dottie out of the room. Dave, confused, followed her after observing Adanna watching Dottie.
"Dottie, wait!" Adanna speed walked to catch up to her, "Wait, please. What's going on?"
Dottie stopped when Adanna put her hand on her shoulder, and slowly turned around.
"Okay, I'll tell you everything."
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Returning to the table, Adanna clutched the piece of paper with Dotties' address on it. The deal was, they were going to finish their morning and walk over to Dotties' for mid morning tea.
"What was that all about?" Kate grilled the pair as they sat down.
"Yeah, why did you go harass that nice old lady?" Kasem raised an eyebrow.
Adanna showed them the address and explained the lady's strange behavior while they were talking about their strange experiences.
"I just wanted answers. I'm tired of the weird things happening."
Everyone agreed with her, slightly excited that they were going on a mysterious adventure to get their questions answered.
Nessa straightened up as she made eye contact with the waitress bringing them their food.
"Okay, but first, we get to eat now!" She rubbed her hands together as the large plate of pancakes was set in front of her.
Nobody brought up the old lady, or the strange girl plaguing their dreams. Everyone just wanted to enjoy being normal, and saved their burning questions for the only lady who could answer them.
Nessa was the first to break the silence, "So, I got a call from Holden's front office this morning, sounds like the truck just needed a new battery. They're sending someone into the closest city to pick one up for us, we should be on our way after lunch."
Kasem nodded, "Sounds perfect. We can get camp set up before it gets dark, and get a fire roaring."
"Easy there Smokey Bear. Not too crazy, the pine needles this time of year are super dry, one ember could light the whole forest up." Dave shook his head.
Kate scrunched her nose, "As long as it lets off heat, and is able to cook s'mores, I don't care how small or big it is."
Adanna laughed, "I agree!"
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An hour later, the group was walking down the sidewalk towards the small wooded subdivision near the downtown area. Adanna had discovered, after Googling the address on the hotel Wi-Fi, that this was a small retirement area the town provided. It was a quiet and secluded street with maybe five or six houses peppered along the short road.
Birds chirped around them as the intoxicating smell of lilacs and pine needles floated up their nostrils. Each house was adorned with an immaculate yard. The flowers were bursting with color while the sharp green grass was pruned to almost an exact two inches. Lawn ornaments and seating areas were tucked away into each yard's perfect foliage. The insulation provided by the dense pine trees made the air humid and the sound of everything else muffled. It truly felt like they were in a completely different world.
"Wow," Nessa said, almost whispering, "This place is incredible. I feel like it's a sin to even talk too loud!"
Adanna nodded as she checked her instructions, according to the map, Dottie's house was the third from the entrance. As they walked up to the small cottage, they noticed a small white dog jumping up on the fence to get a good sniff. He let out a little "arf" and ran up to the front door to alert his master.
Dottie swung open the door and smiled a huge grin while opening her arms wide.
"Welcome, my young children! Please, do come in!"
The group filed into the cozy house, relishing in the aroma of freshly baked cookies. Dottie ran into the kitchen to fix some tea while everyone got comfortable on the old floral couches. Adanna noticed that there was a ton of British memorabilia scattered around the house. Old pictures and mementos of a life once lived. A picture caught her eye, there were two girls sitting next to a lake, one clearly about twelve, and the other was younger, possibly eight.
"Oh, I see you've met my sister," Dottie was standing in the doorway, a sad smile twitched at her lips. She handed out some tea while everyone looked at the pictures.
"Th-thats her." Nessa said certainly. "That's the girl."
Dave took the picture from he hands and agreed. "This is the girl, only happy."
"And alive." Dottie was standing, looking sadly at the group as they fawned over the old pictures of the beautiful girls. "That was Dani, before she was murdered."
The air grew cold, as everyone realized what that meant.
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