Cammie opened her eyes, but, instead of finding herself in her hotel room alone, she found herself in a dimly lit room. A lone light souce hung from the ceiling, though it flickered at odd intervals. A lone door was wedged in the wall across from her. The walls were grey and the floor was covered in inky black fluid. Cammie took a step down and prodded the odd floor with her foot. The fluid reacted and violently shook, slowly growing up the walls stopping once it reached the ceiling. From the inky darkness, a humanoid figure emerged from the floor.
It was tall, about the same height as Cammie. It had no eyes or nose, but a mouth and pale skin. Its hair flowing down and connected to the inky darkness. The arms of the figure stretched haphazardly and the chest was an empty hole. The legs were shaped much like a cricket or a grasshopper. It turned its empty face towards Cammie and, if it had eyes, would have been starting right through Cammie. Cammie opened her mouth, but was unable to speak, no sounds came out. Her eyes stared, wide in terror at the ghoulish figure before her. It spoke in a twisted and wicked voice, garbled with only a few legible words. ".........You..........Darkness.....Learn.......Darkness.......Dispell..........Truth........Avoid........Evil....Darkness......."
For what felt like hours, nothing happened. There was no sound from anything, no movement from either of them, and no feeling on the skin. Finally, Cammie broke the frozen picture by rushing into the figure and shoving it aside. She bolted for the door will all her strength, but as she neared the door, the figure grabbed Cammie's leg and caused her to fall to the ground. The inky fluid quickly wrapped itself around Cammie's arms and legs and slowly started to drag her down into the darkness. She struggled with all her might, but to no avail. At that very moment, she found her voice and managed to make out one word before she was taken under the darkness.
"HELP!"
And the, there was silence again. She saw darkness and emptiness, unable to move. She felt tears start to fill her eyes and she paniced, hoping to wake from this nightmare. Then, a light from above came down and pulled her from the darkness. The shining light blinded Cammie temporarily, though her eyes adjusted. Standing before her, the one who pulled her out, was none other than Snipe. Beside him was Mikayla, smiling.
"Cammie, listen, you need to learn the secrets of everyone. Some one kidnapped me and is holding me hostage, but, if their secret comes out, they'll release me. Trust me Cammie, why would I lie to you darling?"
As those last words were uttered, the world shook and the figure rose from behind Cammie. Cammie turned around and stared at the figure. Its mouth had enlarged two-fold and quickly engulfed Cammie whole.
Cammie woke up screaming, sweating, and in a panic. She was hyperventilating and quickly held her head, which had a slight throbbing pain to it. She looked around the room to assure herself she was out of that nightmare. This only further increased her panic from last night. She went to grab her glasses when the door to her room opened up.
"Cammie! You alright!? Ack!" yelled a familiar voice. Cammie glanced over and saw Yarren, who had collapsed over into a heap after bursting in.
"Yarren!" Cammie quickly jumped out of bed and ran over to Yarren. "You alright?" A quick precursory glance showed that Yarren had fallen asleep. Cammie sighed and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Wha-? Oh! Hey, everything alright in here?" Yarren asked, snorting awake.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bad dream. That's not important. What are you doing out of bed? You know you are supposed to keep resting. Honestly, I thought that would be easy for you." Cammie joked, but she knew how serious Yarren's injuries from last night was.
"Ran out of ice in my room. Went to go get some, but then I heard you scream. Took me a bit to get out my key." Yarren chuckled and slid his key back into his pocket. Cammie sighed and helped him back up.
"You know you are in no condition to be out of bed, and you know that." Cammie walked Yarren back to his room, which was only about seven rooms from hers. Yarren brought out his key and opened his door. She brought him inside and helped him lie back down. "Now stay put, got it?" Yarren nodded and cammie stepped back outside, shutting the door behind her. She calmly walked back to her room and shut the door behind her. She took a deep breath, and then proceeded to slump against her door in a panic.
That dream, she had it again. The nightare she had when she first came to Swan Valley. Before, she took it as a sign of what to do, as if she unconsciously knew what to do to help Snipe, but now it made no sense. She knew that Snipe was dead, his corpse was just north of Swan Valley. So why did she have that dream? What could it have possibly meant this time? She shook her head and decided not to think about it too much. She shrugged it off as her thinking about the dream too much yesterday, along with the panic of what happened.
Cammie glanced over at her nightstand, where the letter she got lay. She took a deep breath and tried to make sense of everything. It had all happened so fast that a lot of the details became a blur. She just remembers getting the letter, chasing the mysterious figure, and then helping Yarren after she saw he was attacked by a taser. She sighed again, knowing that lying on the floor wouldn't help her get anywhere with this case.
She went about her daily routine. She brushed her teeth and her hair, after she took the curlers out. Cammie was never one for make-up, so she didn't have to bother with it. in the mornings. She changed into a fresh outfit and grabbed her jacket. Cammie draped and buttoned it like she did before, in the fashion of a cape. Her plain grey T-shirt fitted well with her dark blue pants. She grabbed some cash and made sure she had her four important things: her journal, her sCAn pad, her Cloaking Device, and that letter. Once she was certain she had it all, she left her room and locked it behind her. She heard someone walking behind her and turned around, startled.
"Whoa! Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." Staring back at her was none other than Yolanda, carrying a bag of ice under her arm. The bags under her eyes clearly haven't gotten better and Yolanda clearly hadn't gotten any more useful sleep. Yolanda yawned and rubbed her eyes and stared at Cammie. "I overheard Yarren said he was going to get ice, so I got some for him." She stared down at the ground and gave a soft smile. "Always knew I'd have to pick up his slack sometime." It didn't take long after for her smile to fade, and Cammie could understand why. Despite how annoying or lazy Yarren is, Cammie could tell that Yolanda cared deeply about Yarren. Cammie smiled and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. He just needs some rest and he'll be fine." Yolanda smiled back at her and nodded. Without needing to say another word, Yolanda walked around Cammie and continued on her way. Cammie also continued on her way, walking to Mikayla's office. It didn't take her very long. She knocked on Mikayla's front door and waited for her.
"Who is it?" Mikayla asked from somewhere in her house.
"It's me, Cammie." Cammie replied.
"Oh, come right on in! Door's open!"
Cammie opened the door and looked around to find Mikayla. She looked to the left into the waiting room and into Cammie's office, but she wasn't there. Cammie began to walk back when she began to over hear something from the right side of Mikayla's house. It was between Mikayla and two other people who's voice Cammie didn't recognize.
"Now you listen, and you listen good." spoke the first voice, which was definitely male.
"We're only going to say this once, you got it?" spoke the second voice, which was another male voice.
"Yeah, get on with it." spoke Mikayla. Cammie hid behind the wall, trying to stay out of sight. She didn't want to use her Cloaking device just yet. It was too bright outside and her shadow would give her away.
"We're through playing, girlie. Give it up." spoke the first.
"We just want the goods." the second chimed in.
"Like hell you're going to get them!" Mikayla nearly shouted.
"Come on. Look at our history together."
"You know this was bound to happen."
"Oh, don't even start with that." Mikayla retorted.
"Come on. You're going to have to make a choice."
"And you know what the right answer is."
"Don't you dare..." Mikayla started.
"You know what's coming."
"And there's only one way out."
"No no no no.." Mikayla's voice was clearly getting more panicked.
"Make a choice. Think carefully."
"Actually, enought thinking! We're making the choice for you!"
"No!" Mikayla yelled. That was enough for Cammie.
"Freeze! Don't move!" Cammie yelled, holding her hand in her jacket to simulate having a gun, but what she saw shocked her. Mikayla stared back at her, wearing her vest with a light gray undershirt and blue jeans. She shifting her gaze from Cammie to the TV soap opera she was watching. She looked back at Cammie and, without breaking eye contact, paused the soap opera.
"Umm...I can explain Cammie, very easily." Mikayla got up and lowered Cammie's hand. Cammie still had a shocked expression on her face and was clearly still trying to process what just happened. "What you most likely just overheard was the TV and me, uh, yelling at it." Mikayla grinned sheepishly.
"So, all that, was just a TV show?" Cammie sighed and relaxed. "What, what is this TV show? I've never seen this before." Granted, Cammie normally spent most of her time researching, not watching TV.
"Oh, this is the greatest TV drama of all time, To Love, From Tomorrow." Mikayla's eyes lit up as she began just mentioned the name. Cammie smiled at Mikayla's fangirlism, but she as entertaining as she knew the TV could be, she had to get Mikayla focused.
"Mikayla, umm, breakfast, and then Tyler?" Cammie reminded her. Mikayla quickly snapped out of her daydream.
"Oh! Right! Let's go." Mikayla turned off her TV and grabbed her hat and lead the way to Carlos and Catalina's Diner.
"So, tell me about that soap opera, Mikayla. You seem to be very into it, given how you were yelling at the TV." Cammie mentioned as they walked along the road.
"Oh, it's this wonderful drama about these three friends who are in a love triangle of sorts and have to deal with life and all that. It's my favorite TV show." Mikayla's eyes lit up again. "There's Sarah, the sweet girl stuck between two great guys. There's Vincent, a tough street guy who lives life on the edge, always daring and risking his life for those he cares about. Finally, there's Roger," Cammie could hear Mikayla swoon when saying his name, "The smart, studious, by-the-book gentleman. He's so attractive." Cammie smiled again at Mikayla, going from the tough sheriff to this head-over-heels fan girl. "You know, they actually film To Love, From Tomorrow just to the east of Swan Valley."
"You sound almost like you're trying to persuade me to go to the film set, Mikayla." Cammie retorted and Mikayla looked sheepish again.
"Well, I mean, you know, it'd be nice to visit, sometime. Maybe we might get a clue that leads us there."
"Okay, well, now you're just fantasizing, Mikayla. Besides, this is a film set for a TV show we are talking about. I highly doubt it has anything to do with the murder." Mikayla sighed and they continued on their way. It didn't take them long to reach the diner. "It'll probably be a little packed because it's breakfast time." They opened the door, and to their surprise, they ran into Tyler, who was exiting the diner. "Oh, hey Tyler."
"Morning ladies." He was wearing a navy blue, long sleeved shirt and a plain black shirt underneath. His arm was still in the sling and he had on a lighter shade of blue jeans on today.
"Good morning Tyler. Looking very blue today, I see." Cammie responded.
"Eat up, you'll have a full day. I expect you two in my office once you are done. There are matters to be discussed. I will see you then." With that, he walked out of the diner, past Cammie and Mikayla, and walked off in the direction of his office. Mikayla, no doubt, had told him of the events that had transpired yesterday.
"Huh, I wonder if Harley will be our waitress, or it will be a new face." Cammie asked aloud to no one particular.
"Sorry, not Harley for yous today. She's got her hands full with her part of the diner. I will be." said the voice of a woman who was approaching the two of them.
She had rich, blue hair and a somewhat fierce expression. She wore her ordering note pad in her right side of her hair. She had ruby red lips and had lightly tan skin. She wore a sapphire blue blouse underneath her waitress smock and a deeper blue skirt that came down to her knees.
"You're new. Haven't seen you around here." the woman stated, looking at Cammie.
"Cammie, this is Catalina. Catalina, this is Cammie." Mikayla said, introducing them to one another.
"Sorry Mikayla, but you know that Cameron and Carlotta are my only children. And no, neither of us are interested in having a sister." Catalina replied, crossing her arms. Cammie gave a puzzled look to Mikayla.
"Oh, it's just a little something about the family system here. I'll explain later, after we get some good stuff to eat." Mikayla said, licking her lips.
"Well, if it's good stuff or eating you want, you came to the right place." Catalina chuckled and showed them to their table. "Here are your menus," she said, handing them each a menu, "Call me over when you're ready." With that, she went off to go serve more customers.
"Well, she seems nice." Cammie stated, remembering how downright nasty Darla had gotten.
"She certainly is. Catalina's a very well respected member of our close society." Mikayla mentioned. "Oh good. Sage and blueberry tea today, my favorite."
"Is her hair naturally blue, or does she dye it?" Cammie asked, remembering a certain green haired girl who had a big impact on her life recently, but there wasn't time to dwell on that. Before Mikayla could reply, however, Catalina came back with a stern look on her face.
"Now, look here Missy," Catalina said her arm crossed, starting at Cammie, "There are two things I don't tolerate: gossip, and losing efficiency with customers. If you want to talk about me, you can talk to me. Later. After the meal rushes are done, got it?" Cammie nodded and Catalina walked away. Cammie sighed a sigh of relief and looked back at her menu.
"So, what are you going to get, Cammie?"
It was tall, about the same height as Cammie. It had no eyes or nose, but a mouth and pale skin. Its hair flowing down and connected to the inky darkness. The arms of the figure stretched haphazardly and the chest was an empty hole. The legs were shaped much like a cricket or a grasshopper. It turned its empty face towards Cammie and, if it had eyes, would have been starting right through Cammie. Cammie opened her mouth, but was unable to speak, no sounds came out. Her eyes stared, wide in terror at the ghoulish figure before her. It spoke in a twisted and wicked voice, garbled with only a few legible words. ".........You..........Darkness.....Learn.......Darkness.......Dispell..........Truth........Avoid........Evil....Darkness......."
For what felt like hours, nothing happened. There was no sound from anything, no movement from either of them, and no feeling on the skin. Finally, Cammie broke the frozen picture by rushing into the figure and shoving it aside. She bolted for the door will all her strength, but as she neared the door, the figure grabbed Cammie's leg and caused her to fall to the ground. The inky fluid quickly wrapped itself around Cammie's arms and legs and slowly started to drag her down into the darkness. She struggled with all her might, but to no avail. At that very moment, she found her voice and managed to make out one word before she was taken under the darkness.
"HELP!"
And the, there was silence again. She saw darkness and emptiness, unable to move. She felt tears start to fill her eyes and she paniced, hoping to wake from this nightmare. Then, a light from above came down and pulled her from the darkness. The shining light blinded Cammie temporarily, though her eyes adjusted. Standing before her, the one who pulled her out, was none other than Snipe. Beside him was Mikayla, smiling.
"Cammie, listen, you need to learn the secrets of everyone. Some one kidnapped me and is holding me hostage, but, if their secret comes out, they'll release me. Trust me Cammie, why would I lie to you darling?"
As those last words were uttered, the world shook and the figure rose from behind Cammie. Cammie turned around and stared at the figure. Its mouth had enlarged two-fold and quickly engulfed Cammie whole.
Cammie woke up screaming, sweating, and in a panic. She was hyperventilating and quickly held her head, which had a slight throbbing pain to it. She looked around the room to assure herself she was out of that nightmare. This only further increased her panic from last night. She went to grab her glasses when the door to her room opened up.
"Cammie! You alright!? Ack!" yelled a familiar voice. Cammie glanced over and saw Yarren, who had collapsed over into a heap after bursting in.
"Yarren!" Cammie quickly jumped out of bed and ran over to Yarren. "You alright?" A quick precursory glance showed that Yarren had fallen asleep. Cammie sighed and smacked him on the back of the head.
"Wha-? Oh! Hey, everything alright in here?" Yarren asked, snorting awake.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bad dream. That's not important. What are you doing out of bed? You know you are supposed to keep resting. Honestly, I thought that would be easy for you." Cammie joked, but she knew how serious Yarren's injuries from last night was.
"Ran out of ice in my room. Went to go get some, but then I heard you scream. Took me a bit to get out my key." Yarren chuckled and slid his key back into his pocket. Cammie sighed and helped him back up.
"You know you are in no condition to be out of bed, and you know that." Cammie walked Yarren back to his room, which was only about seven rooms from hers. Yarren brought out his key and opened his door. She brought him inside and helped him lie back down. "Now stay put, got it?" Yarren nodded and cammie stepped back outside, shutting the door behind her. She calmly walked back to her room and shut the door behind her. She took a deep breath, and then proceeded to slump against her door in a panic.
That dream, she had it again. The nightare she had when she first came to Swan Valley. Before, she took it as a sign of what to do, as if she unconsciously knew what to do to help Snipe, but now it made no sense. She knew that Snipe was dead, his corpse was just north of Swan Valley. So why did she have that dream? What could it have possibly meant this time? She shook her head and decided not to think about it too much. She shrugged it off as her thinking about the dream too much yesterday, along with the panic of what happened.
Cammie glanced over at her nightstand, where the letter she got lay. She took a deep breath and tried to make sense of everything. It had all happened so fast that a lot of the details became a blur. She just remembers getting the letter, chasing the mysterious figure, and then helping Yarren after she saw he was attacked by a taser. She sighed again, knowing that lying on the floor wouldn't help her get anywhere with this case.
She went about her daily routine. She brushed her teeth and her hair, after she took the curlers out. Cammie was never one for make-up, so she didn't have to bother with it. in the mornings. She changed into a fresh outfit and grabbed her jacket. Cammie draped and buttoned it like she did before, in the fashion of a cape. Her plain grey T-shirt fitted well with her dark blue pants. She grabbed some cash and made sure she had her four important things: her journal, her sCAn pad, her Cloaking Device, and that letter. Once she was certain she had it all, she left her room and locked it behind her. She heard someone walking behind her and turned around, startled.
"Whoa! Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." Staring back at her was none other than Yolanda, carrying a bag of ice under her arm. The bags under her eyes clearly haven't gotten better and Yolanda clearly hadn't gotten any more useful sleep. Yolanda yawned and rubbed her eyes and stared at Cammie. "I overheard Yarren said he was going to get ice, so I got some for him." She stared down at the ground and gave a soft smile. "Always knew I'd have to pick up his slack sometime." It didn't take long after for her smile to fade, and Cammie could understand why. Despite how annoying or lazy Yarren is, Cammie could tell that Yolanda cared deeply about Yarren. Cammie smiled and placed her hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. He just needs some rest and he'll be fine." Yolanda smiled back at her and nodded. Without needing to say another word, Yolanda walked around Cammie and continued on her way. Cammie also continued on her way, walking to Mikayla's office. It didn't take her very long. She knocked on Mikayla's front door and waited for her.
"Who is it?" Mikayla asked from somewhere in her house.
"It's me, Cammie." Cammie replied.
"Oh, come right on in! Door's open!"
Cammie opened the door and looked around to find Mikayla. She looked to the left into the waiting room and into Cammie's office, but she wasn't there. Cammie began to walk back when she began to over hear something from the right side of Mikayla's house. It was between Mikayla and two other people who's voice Cammie didn't recognize.
"Now you listen, and you listen good." spoke the first voice, which was definitely male.
"We're only going to say this once, you got it?" spoke the second voice, which was another male voice.
"Yeah, get on with it." spoke Mikayla. Cammie hid behind the wall, trying to stay out of sight. She didn't want to use her Cloaking device just yet. It was too bright outside and her shadow would give her away.
"We're through playing, girlie. Give it up." spoke the first.
"We just want the goods." the second chimed in.
"Like hell you're going to get them!" Mikayla nearly shouted.
"Come on. Look at our history together."
"You know this was bound to happen."
"Oh, don't even start with that." Mikayla retorted.
"Come on. You're going to have to make a choice."
"And you know what the right answer is."
"Don't you dare..." Mikayla started.
"You know what's coming."
"And there's only one way out."
"No no no no.." Mikayla's voice was clearly getting more panicked.
"Make a choice. Think carefully."
"Actually, enought thinking! We're making the choice for you!"
"No!" Mikayla yelled. That was enough for Cammie.
"Freeze! Don't move!" Cammie yelled, holding her hand in her jacket to simulate having a gun, but what she saw shocked her. Mikayla stared back at her, wearing her vest with a light gray undershirt and blue jeans. She shifting her gaze from Cammie to the TV soap opera she was watching. She looked back at Cammie and, without breaking eye contact, paused the soap opera.
"Umm...I can explain Cammie, very easily." Mikayla got up and lowered Cammie's hand. Cammie still had a shocked expression on her face and was clearly still trying to process what just happened. "What you most likely just overheard was the TV and me, uh, yelling at it." Mikayla grinned sheepishly.
"So, all that, was just a TV show?" Cammie sighed and relaxed. "What, what is this TV show? I've never seen this before." Granted, Cammie normally spent most of her time researching, not watching TV.
"Oh, this is the greatest TV drama of all time, To Love, From Tomorrow." Mikayla's eyes lit up as she began just mentioned the name. Cammie smiled at Mikayla's fangirlism, but she as entertaining as she knew the TV could be, she had to get Mikayla focused.
"Mikayla, umm, breakfast, and then Tyler?" Cammie reminded her. Mikayla quickly snapped out of her daydream.
"Oh! Right! Let's go." Mikayla turned off her TV and grabbed her hat and lead the way to Carlos and Catalina's Diner.
"So, tell me about that soap opera, Mikayla. You seem to be very into it, given how you were yelling at the TV." Cammie mentioned as they walked along the road.
"Oh, it's this wonderful drama about these three friends who are in a love triangle of sorts and have to deal with life and all that. It's my favorite TV show." Mikayla's eyes lit up again. "There's Sarah, the sweet girl stuck between two great guys. There's Vincent, a tough street guy who lives life on the edge, always daring and risking his life for those he cares about. Finally, there's Roger," Cammie could hear Mikayla swoon when saying his name, "The smart, studious, by-the-book gentleman. He's so attractive." Cammie smiled again at Mikayla, going from the tough sheriff to this head-over-heels fan girl. "You know, they actually film To Love, From Tomorrow just to the east of Swan Valley."
"You sound almost like you're trying to persuade me to go to the film set, Mikayla." Cammie retorted and Mikayla looked sheepish again.
"Well, I mean, you know, it'd be nice to visit, sometime. Maybe we might get a clue that leads us there."
"Okay, well, now you're just fantasizing, Mikayla. Besides, this is a film set for a TV show we are talking about. I highly doubt it has anything to do with the murder." Mikayla sighed and they continued on their way. It didn't take them long to reach the diner. "It'll probably be a little packed because it's breakfast time." They opened the door, and to their surprise, they ran into Tyler, who was exiting the diner. "Oh, hey Tyler."
"Morning ladies." He was wearing a navy blue, long sleeved shirt and a plain black shirt underneath. His arm was still in the sling and he had on a lighter shade of blue jeans on today.
"Good morning Tyler. Looking very blue today, I see." Cammie responded.
"Eat up, you'll have a full day. I expect you two in my office once you are done. There are matters to be discussed. I will see you then." With that, he walked out of the diner, past Cammie and Mikayla, and walked off in the direction of his office. Mikayla, no doubt, had told him of the events that had transpired yesterday.
"Huh, I wonder if Harley will be our waitress, or it will be a new face." Cammie asked aloud to no one particular.
"Sorry, not Harley for yous today. She's got her hands full with her part of the diner. I will be." said the voice of a woman who was approaching the two of them.
She had rich, blue hair and a somewhat fierce expression. She wore her ordering note pad in her right side of her hair. She had ruby red lips and had lightly tan skin. She wore a sapphire blue blouse underneath her waitress smock and a deeper blue skirt that came down to her knees.
"You're new. Haven't seen you around here." the woman stated, looking at Cammie.
"Cammie, this is Catalina. Catalina, this is Cammie." Mikayla said, introducing them to one another.
"Sorry Mikayla, but you know that Cameron and Carlotta are my only children. And no, neither of us are interested in having a sister." Catalina replied, crossing her arms. Cammie gave a puzzled look to Mikayla.
"Oh, it's just a little something about the family system here. I'll explain later, after we get some good stuff to eat." Mikayla said, licking her lips.
"Well, if it's good stuff or eating you want, you came to the right place." Catalina chuckled and showed them to their table. "Here are your menus," she said, handing them each a menu, "Call me over when you're ready." With that, she went off to go serve more customers.
"Well, she seems nice." Cammie stated, remembering how downright nasty Darla had gotten.
"She certainly is. Catalina's a very well respected member of our close society." Mikayla mentioned. "Oh good. Sage and blueberry tea today, my favorite."
"Is her hair naturally blue, or does she dye it?" Cammie asked, remembering a certain green haired girl who had a big impact on her life recently, but there wasn't time to dwell on that. Before Mikayla could reply, however, Catalina came back with a stern look on her face.
"Now, look here Missy," Catalina said her arm crossed, starting at Cammie, "There are two things I don't tolerate: gossip, and losing efficiency with customers. If you want to talk about me, you can talk to me. Later. After the meal rushes are done, got it?" Cammie nodded and Catalina walked away. Cammie sighed a sigh of relief and looked back at her menu.
"So, what are you going to get, Cammie?"