Mirror in the Forest: Book One (3 page)

“Hello Jessica,” it said.

Jessica jumped back in alarm. She turned and looked around frantically wondering what this thing was, and how it knew her name. She tried to tell herself that she imagined it, but she knew she heard it.  

“Do not fear me, child,” it implored.

She didn’t care what happened or where she went. She had to get away from this thing.

For a moment her mind did not want to work. She tried with all of her might to move her feet, but they were not listening.

She gulped hard, frantically shaking her head until her feet finally decided to work again.

She turned to run off into the forest without looking back at the mirror. She didn’t realize she wasn’t following the right path back to her house until she came out to a street with a few houses dotted around it.

She was so panicked that she didn’t know where she was at first. She was trying to gather her thoughts and calm down, when she jumped at the sudden noise behind her. Realizing it was a siren, she turned to see a Sheriff’s car drive up beside her.

Sheriff Mark McKenzie driving around, making his usual rounds for the night shift.

He was already bored out of his mind, and actually hoped some teenagers were making some trouble to give him something to do. Nevertheless, the radio had been quiet since he started his shift not even two hours ago.

He was hoping he would get out of this small town soon, move to Seattle, and join the Seattle Police Department. He had put his time in for his hometown, but he was anxious to move on and up. He thought he would spend a couple of years in Seattle before he started training for the FBI.

The only reason he stayed a Sheriff in his hometown right now, was because his mother had been ill with cancer. He was able to have time to care for her as she had become increasingly sick, and now that she passed six months ago, he was anxious to get through his election years, and then get out.

He was only twenty-five, but had been elected Sheriff right after becoming a deputy, because his uncle was Sheriff here before him. He was one of the youngest ever elected in Washington State’s history.

He knew once he was able to move to Seattle he would never be bored, and could learn a lot more about law enforcement out there instead of in this small mountain town.

Mark sighed when radio suddenly made some static noise, and he heard a bit of his dispatcher’s voice.

Ahhh old Marge. She had been with the department forever. Hell, she had been old when he was young. He really thought the woman was over a hundred years old, and too stubborn to retire.

“Mark?”  Her raspy voice came through the radio again. She always used his first name on the radio. Well…..they all went by first names. There were only four of them who patrolled the town; the rest of the deputies ran the county jail or were assigned the courthouse.

Mark picked up the receiver and pressed the button. “Yes?”

“There’s been a report of a possible fire over by the old park near that resort that used to be by Mona Lake,” she said.

Mark had to laugh at the directions. The woman knew her way around town, but never said streets, and sometimes gave the wrong directions. Luckily, Mark had learned to decipher her radio transmissions, though the other deputies would curse her out.

“Do you remember the street Marge?” He asked patiently.

He knew she was probably sitting there huffing in frustration at him. Since she knew where everything was she expected all of the deputies and him to know as well. Mark grew up here, but that didn’t mean he knew every street.

Mark felt a smile tug at his lips as he pictured her pouting at her desk.

“By 96
th
Street,” she answered obviously annoyed.

“The fire department are on their way,” she added.

“Ten-four,” he answered.

He hoped it wasn’t the start of a major wildfire. They had one a few years back, and practically wiped out the whole west side of town.

He flicked on the lights and sirens, taking off down the road to the reported fire.

Mark pulled up to 96
th
street and looked around. The firefighters in this town were volunteers, so it took them a little longer than most other towns. There was talk about putting in firefighters from the state if the slow response time became an issue.

Mark looked around, but didn’t see any smoke rising towards the sky anywhere in the area.

Confused, he drove the cruiser around a few blocks, but still did not spot any smoke rising from the forest.

The surroundings were quiet, and he didn’t see anyone around to ask about it.

There were a few houses scattered around the wooded road, but nothing seemed out of place. The lights were on in most of the houses, and cars in the driveway. People were home for the night with their families.

He still could not see anything as he drove around the old ski resort parking lot. He returned to the street, still peering into the sky.

Then something caught his eye from the woods. A figure was moving fast through the woods. Was that a person in there?

He squinted trying to focus on the figure moving from the deep forest.

He put his hand on his gun, and readied it just in case.

Mark was surprised when a young girl emerged from the forest.

The girl did not see him sitting in the street, when she came out. Instead, she hunched over for a moment looking like she was trying to catch her breath.

He sat there for a minute, waiting for her to acknowledge him, except her back was facing him.  She never even looked his way after she recovered, and then started walking really fast in the other direction.

Mark wanted to know why she came running out of the woods, and if this was some teenager having fun. He thought maybe things might have gotten out of hand. He could tell by her body language that she looked upset about something.

Mark lightly pressed on the gas of the cruiser slowly creeping forwards towards the girl. He was finally close enough to her, and flicked the siren for just a second.

The loud shrill sound of the siren made her jump, and then turn around really fast to face him.

Her eyes widened with a mixture of surprise, and fear. She looked awful guilty of something, and Mark was going to find out what it was.

She just stood there and peered at him, and he could tell she was wondering what she should do next.

He pulled up beside her, and noticed she was having a hard time catching her breath still. Almost as if she had been running from something. Sweat covered her brow and her thick hair was coming out of what was once a ponytail.

“Everything alright?” He asked, watching her carefully.

The girl nodded a little too fast for Mark’s taste.

Finally, the girl spoke and said, “Yeah, I was just walking around the lake and thought I spotted a bear.”

What was this girl doing walking around the lake this late in the day?

“Are you sure? I just had a report of possible smoke in the area. Do you know anything about that?” He asked.

The girl blinked a few times, and Mark knew she was debating on what to tell him. Yep, he thought, teenagers.

“No….no..I don’t know anything about a fire,” she finally answered stammering a little.

She’s lying about what she saw out there, he thought.

“Really? Because it was reported in the area where you came from,” he said, prodding her a little.

The girl shook her head, and he could tell she was still thinking about what to do and what to say.

“You didn’t see anyone or anything on your little walk?” He asked with sarcasm, obviously not trusting her answers.  

“No, nothing,” she answered with doubt in her voice.

The girl looked up as she noticed something down the street, and Mark looked in his rearview mirror. One of the volunteer fire trucks was approaching them.  

The truck stopped, and one of the firefighters leaned out of the window acknowledging Mark, but glowering at the girl.

“What’s up Sheriff?” He asked.

“Nothing much. Anything on that smoke?”

“I was coming to find you and tell you that nothing has been spotted, but we’ll keep an eye out the rest of the night,” he answered, but kept a suspicious eye on the girl standing with Mark.   

“Alright, I will patrol around here for a while,” Mark answered.

“Sure thing,” the firefighter answered, putting the fire truck in gear, and then driving away.

“See? I told you I didn’t see anything. May I go now?” She pleaded.  

It was obvious she was grateful the fireman showed up. She obviously didn’t want to say anything more to him.

Mark sat back in his seat, and thought for a moment. He didn’t see anyone else, and this girl didn’t seem to be in any danger, so he knew he had to let it go. She seemed innocent enough. She didn’t look like the type to start fires.

“What’s your name?” He asked, giving her a slight smile to relax her a little.

“Jessica Winters,” she answered.

She still looked disturbed, her brown eyes kept darting back and forth between the street and the forest, but Mark figured she wasn’t going to tattle on her friends, if that what this was all about. Unless something happened, he couldn’t do much.

“Where do you live Miss Winters?” He asked after a moment.

Mark had a sudden thought that if this girl were dressed up she would be stunning. She had a slightly curvy figure, but he never had a problem with that.

Pushing that ridiculous thought out of his head, Mark asked again after she didn’t answer right away. “Where do you live Jessica?”

“Over on Briarwood,” she finally answered, knowing she wasn’t going to get away that easy from him.

“Why don’t you get in, and I’ll give you a ride home,” he said.

Jessica thought for a moment, and then nodded.

She started to go for the passenger seat, but protocol dictated she had to get into the back seat. She did not put an argument about it. In fact, she seemed relieved she didn’t have to sit next to him.

Mark recognized her name right away, but didn’t say anything. She didn’t seem like a talker. In fact, she never looked at him the whole ride back to her house. She seemed to pretend that he wasn’t there at all, and just stared out of the backseat window.

Though he wanted to try one more time, he knew he would not get anywhere.

“Jessica, I am going to ask you one last time. Did you see anything out there besides the bear?”

Jessica finally looked up and met his eyes in the rearview mirror. She shook her head furiously.  

“No Sheriff,” she answered with conviction.

“Alright.”

Mark pulled up to the simple two-story home with a porch wrapping around the perimeter of the house. The home was dark blue in color, with white shutters accenting each window on both floors. It looked like a cozy, middle-class family kind of place.

Jessica practically jumped out of the cruiser when he opened the door for her, and saying a quick “thank you.” Mark spied a figure rise moving around inside the huge front window of the house, and then a man came out of the door. The two spoke for a moment, and Jessica quickly walked inside.

“Hello, Sheriff. Did she do anything wrong?” The man, whose name was Donald Winters, asked with concern as Jessica went into the house, leaving the door open behind her.

Mark could smell the beer on his breath, and thought he wanted one now.

“No, sir. She said she spotted a bear when she was taking a walk, and ran the wrong way from where she was walking, I think,” he answered scratching his head in question.

Donald shook his head in frustration, looking back towards the house in thought.  

“Maybe, you should tell her not to go out there so late,” Mark suggested.

Donald cursed a little, and said, “She does that a lot, but I will let her know.”

“Thank you. Goodnight, sir,” Mark said, nodding.

“’Night, Sheriff,” Donald answered, walking back into the house.