Page 49 of In Her Shadow
As the car slowed to a halt in front of Jake’s house, Jenna turned to face him.
“Whatever comes next,” she said, a small smile playing on her lips, “I’m glad I’ve got you watching my back, Jake.”
He met her gaze, and in his expression, she saw her own feeling mirrored.They were partners, yes, but it was more than that—they were two halves of a whole in more ways than one.
“Always, Jenna,” he replied, then stepped out of the cruiser.As Jenna drove on toward her home, she knew that this case was but one thread in the intricate tapestry of local history—a story that she and Jake would continue to unravel, together.
***
Jenna’s breath came in slow, even rhythms as she lay sleeping.The darkness around her thinned, revealing a familiar scene.A woman stood before her, cradling a sandpiper tenderly.Jenna’s mind sharpened as lucidity dawned upon her.This vision had visited her before.
“Follow,” the woman whispered.The word lingered, an echo fading into the stillness of Jenna’s mind—a command, a plea, a beacon guiding her into the unknown.
Obeying the hushed directive, Jenna watched as the sandpiper unfurled its wings, breaking free from the woman’s hold.It ascended with a silent grace, and Jenna willed herself to fly after it, as lucidity sometimes allowed her to do.She soared after the bird, her spirit liberated in the world of the dream.
She saw a park entrance below, the wooden sign “Whitmore Lake State Forest.”The sandpiper glided effortlessly ahead, leading her through the archway.Jenna followed, her feet finding he ground once more.
Trees rose high on either side of her, casting dappled sunlight onto a path that wound its way toward the bank of a lake.The bird flew ahead and landed on the wooden post at the end of a dock, looking back at her, cocking its head.But as Jenna walked onto the dock toward it, the bird launched into the air with a flutter of wings that sliced through the dream’s fabric.
As she began to awaken, Jenna could no longer fly.“Wait,” she murmured, but she had lost the ephemeral connection.
Jenna’s eyes snapped open, the morning’s gray light a jarring change from the vivid hues of her dream.She felt despair at losing the dream before it had given her the answers she needed.But then, as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed, the words on the sign came back to her—”Whitmore Lake State Park.”
***
A day off was a rare commodity, but today Jenna had cleared her schedule, driven by an intuition too strong to ignore.As she approached the weathered sign that marked the entrance to Whitmore Lake State Forest, this time it was undeniably real.
She eased her foot on the accelerator, guiding the cruiser smoothly through the entrance.A gravel road snaked ahead, leading her deeper into the forest, and Jenna followed it towards the lake along the exact same route as in her dream.When she caught sight of a dock jutting out into the water, she recognized it from her nocturnal vision.
Jenna’s cruiser rolled to a stop, and she stepped out, her movements almost reverent in the quiet that surrounded her.The dock was deserted, save for the intermittent flutter of dragonflies skimming the lake’s surface.Jenna moved toward the post at the far end, the same one where the dream sandpiper had perched.
There, she saw characters carved into the grainy wood: “P.G.7/29/2010”
Jenna gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.It was as if time had stilled, the hot breeze and the buzz of insects fading into nothingness.The lines of the carving were weathered but unmistakable and real.
“Did Piper...?”
Jenna’s voice trailed off as she traced the initials with a trembling finger.If Piper had indeed stood on this very spot, carving her mark five years after vanishing from their lives, then the implications were staggering.It meant that Piper had been here, alive, breathing the same air of freedom that now filled Jenna’s lungs.