Sofia shivered as she squeezed her eyes shut tight. The biting icy wind whipped across her back, and the feel of her breath freezing in mid-air sent a shudder of terror up her spine. She knew where she was and this recognition caused new shivers that matched the cold.
Intellectually, she knew she was asleep and this was only a dream, but she was still scared. Her rational brain told her she was safe in her bed in her hotel room, but, it made no difference. This was a new vision from beyond the grave. Soul crushing fear kept her eyelids sealed, afraid to face it. What terrible sight would she see this time? What new horrible abomination would she witness? What terrible harbinger would be revealed to her tonight? She could only imagine, but her spine bristled as she braced herself.
Her lungs ached as the subzero air sank down deep into her body and she quivered in the cold. She tried to will her eyes open, but they remained shut. She was too afraid of what she would see, and her reptilian instincts tried to wake herself into consciousness and wake her. She didn't. In the back of her brain, flickering like a candle buffeted in a strong breeze, lingered a thought that put iron in her spine. This is the only way to save Jenny. She needs to show you something important and that is why you were brought here. Jenny needs you to know something; something only she can show you..., now, and in this way.
With her eyes screwed tight the rest of her senses compensated by heightening in intensity. As her ears burned and her skin crackled, she felt an electric charge flow over her flesh, as a new truth was revealed. This was like no dream she had ever had before. It wasn't just real, she had had plenty of lucid dreams in the past, but it was too real. It was if her body and soul had actually infused into the ground.
Her teeth chattered as a fresh blast of cold blew across her face, and the damp, aching cold of deep snow clutched at her ankles. Her pulse quickened and a fresh coating of gooseflesh crawled up her arms, stopping to stab her in the neck. Her body was warning her. There was no point waiting any longer. She had to face this and she opened her eyes.
As before, she was outside, snow up to her knees with heavy snow falling all around her. She glanced down to the ground, and felt her stomach drop as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Her legs were not visible. In a panic, she lifted her hand up to her face, and like her legs, she saw nothing. Whatever else was going to happen in this vision, it was obvious she was to meant to remain unseen. Perhaps she was now in spirit form too.
She squinted in the bright light. Her eyes were very sensitive, as if her vision had been adjusted too far over on the contrast, like an old TV set. It was hard to see in the glaring, swirling white snow. Her hands flew up to her ears to block the sound too. Everything was too loud. Like the ache in her eyes, her ears ached in air that was too frigid. As she tried to adjust to this new reality, she struggled to block her eardrums as her ears picked up the racket of individual snowflakes thudding onto the ground, like miniature explosions of shattered crystal. What the hell is this? How can I hear that? Is this how spirits sense the world? It must be awful.
After her eyes adjusted and her ears settled, she was able to focus and she glanced down into the valley below her. Her stomach dropped at the sight. It was that same house from before.
Her ears tingled again as she picked up new sounds. It was the sound of singing. "I..., am a man of constant sorrow, I've seen trouble all my days. I..., bid farewell, to Ole Kentucky, the place where I..., was born and raised."
She could not tell where the singing was coming from, but the voice she heard was unearthly. It was melodious, yet hollow; croaking, yet sweet; haunting and sad, and yet oddly gleeful. A corkscrew of fear slivered its way up her spine like a snake crawling up a tree. She turned her head towards the singing and her eyes narrowed as she focused on the barn to the left of the enormous house. The singing was coming from in there.
Terror gripped her gut as she started slowly walked through the snow, her legs tingling in the cold and yet leaving no tracks. As she approached closer to the house, she saw tracks in front of her, and stopped. There was a shock of red on the ground, the only color in the swirling sea of gray and white. It was blood. Lots and lots of blood, and as she felt her jaw tighten, she saw the sanguine trail ran straight towards the barn.
She bent down to study the tracks more closely as that icy corkscrew tightened its grip on her back. Her ears rang as the singing continued and grew clearer. "For six long years..., I've been in trouble, no pleasure here, on earth I've found. For in this world, I'm bound to ramble, I have no friends to help me now."
She continued to walk and then stopped again. Now she saw two tracks. The ones on the left were obviously made by a man. His heavy boot prints clearly marked in the fresh snow. The ones on the right, however had stopped and what they had turned into made her stomach churn. They weren't tracks anymore. They were a long furrow made by something that had been dragged in the fresh snow. Seeing the thin smear of red filling the ditch in the snow, her mind raced at the logical horrifying conclusion. That man she had seen before had killed that woman, Jenny, and dragged her body out to the barn.
She continued to walk slowly towards the barn, her heart pounding faster and faster as she approached, the singing growing louder and louder. "It's fare thee well, my old true lover. I never expect, to see you again. For I'm bound to ride, that northern railroad, perhaps I'll die upon this train."
As she reached the door, she paused before opening it as she sniffed the air and frowned. Her heightened sense of smell caught everything in her fully flared nostrils, and it was too much for her mind to process. She could smell the pine off in the forest behind her. She jerked her head to the right as she caught a whiff something else. It was the scent of fresh, wet earth. It was an odd odor to encounter in this wintry landscape. Her eyes narrowed again when she glanced across the clearing and saw a patch of newly tilled ground. This was even stranger, especially as it was winter. It was a perfect square of evenly planted leafless trees all spaced out perfectly in rows. She counted the trees: one, two..., and finished at eight, with a new hole recently dug for the 9th. Nine! What are you showing me, Jenny? What are you showing me? Her mind reeled as she tried to make sense of this. It had to mean something.
She swallowed hard when her nose filled with a new scent, one that caused her to nearly retch. It was that sickening warm coppery smell, and it was overpowering. Oh yes, she knew that odor well, and knew what it meant. It was blood, fresh blood, and her hand trembled as she lay her hand on the handle to the barn and prepared to open it. What awful sight would she see behind this door. She closed her eyes and tried to drill up courage from her gut, her mind chanting, it's only a vision, remember. It's only a dream. Visions cannot hurt you. You must do it. You must do it for Jenny. With every ounce of courage she could muster, she pulled open the barn door.
"You can bury me, in some deep valley, for many years, where I may lay. And you may learn, to love another, whilst I am sleeping in my..." As the door opened, the man spun back to see who was entering and smiled. His grin grew wide as he finished his last note, "grave!"
"I knew you would come back. I just knew you would," Tim said. "I am so sorry Jenny. You must believe that I am sorry."
"He can see me!" Sofia thought to herself as her blood chilled.
"I am going to make it right, Jenny," Tim said. His withered thin lips curled into smile as he nodded his head. "You'll see! I am going to make it all right. You will live forever now. Beautiful and serene. You will like that won't you?"
"I..., uh?"
"Now..., this might get a bit messy," Tim said. "I hadn't really intended on you visiting me for..., this."
