Showcase Magazine - Central and Southwest Virginia's Exclusive Entertainment Magazine

July 7, 2005

The doctor thought it would be a good idea to keep Jess a few days for observation. She had a mild concussion. She also started having headaches. Her parents stayed with her, I had to travel back home due to a meeting that could not be postponed.

On the evening of the 6th, I called the hospital to check on Jess and spoke with her mother. She asked me if Jess had been having nightmares lately. Her mother said that Jess had been talking about a Mrs. Williamson in her sleep. Jess would start crying and saying something similar to “I didn’t mean to hurt you” in her sleep. I felt sick to my stomach when I heard this, but I assured her mother that it must have been a side effect of the concussion.

I could not sleep that night. All that I could think about was Jess. I knew that there was something very real about those nightmares. A feeling of hopelessness surrounded me like an ominous cloud. I finally dozed off at about 4:30 AM. Sleep wasn’t meant for me that night though. I was awoken at 5:15 by a blinding light. Assuming that daybreak had arrived, I sat up. To my shock it was still dark out and there was a transparent figure hovering above my bed. Normally, this would scare the hell out of anyone but there was a sense of peace around the figure. I actually felt safe. A soothing female voice came from the figure and said “she is in trouble, you have to save her.” Then the figure just vanished. Needless to say I was not going back to sleep. Was my mind playing tricks on me from the lack of sleep? I remembered the other day when the car stalled mysteriously. It almost seemed like I had something resembling a guardian angel. If the car had not stalled, I would be dead. I am not religious but I do believe in God. Could it be possible?

So much was running through my mind. Who was the “her” that the voice warned me of? I had a disturbing feeling that the voice was referring to Jess. There was nothing remotely dark about the experience that I had, so I knew it was not referring to “Mrs. Williamson”. Not that this made me feel any better. If the voice was talking about Jess, I had no idea how to help her. I decided I would start by giving Jeffrey another call. It was 8 in the morning and I caught Jeffery as he was walking out the door for work. The conversation was short and to the point. Surprisingly he was not even curious as to why I wanted to know Cassandra’s last name. He told me it was Withers and that she now lives in Kingsport Tennessee.

I felt relief now that I knew her name. After about fifteen minutes of searching on the Internet I found her phone number. I picked up the phone and there was no dial tone. Immediately, I thought that something was interfering with the lines and I was right. I looked out the window and a phone repairman was on the pole next to my house. My mind was really starting to get the best of me. An hour later I called Cassandra. I was not sure how I was going to go about asking her about her mother. Luckily, she knew my sister, who was about her age. Cassandra answered, I introduced myself and told her that my sister had been asking about her. I told her that my sister would be coming to town in the fall and she was wondering if Cassandra would be in town for a reunion of sorts. Cassandra informed me that she would be in town to visit family around Thanksgiving. I mentioned her mother and she said “you know it’s still hard after all these years visiting her grave.” I sat in silence. She even asked me was I still there. I made up an excuse that someone was at my door to get off of the phone. It was then that I realized there was no doubt that Jess had not been speaking with Mrs. Williamson.

-William