Dream Catcher

Chapter 16

The gentle notes of the piano wafted in the air along with the smell of ammonia.

"Momma, why don't you love me? Why won't you give me your heart?" he asked in the darkness. "All I ever wanted was to be loved."

"Jackson?" an older woman's voice echoed around him. "Jackson is that you? Is that you playing the piano for me?"

"No!" his throat ached from screaming. "Jackson's gone! He's not coming back Momma. He's never coming back. How many times do I have to tell you? You made him leave!"

He stepped forward and saw a young woman lying on the ground, her eyes wide with fear. A gloved hand reached out and caressed her shivering body, "Why must you break my heart, Momma?"

"I'm not your mother," the woman screamed. "I'm not your mother but if I was I'd never love you. Never!"

"Shut up!"

"You're not worth loving. You'll never be loved you worthless piece of—"

"Shut up!" the command was issued deep in his throat. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

His knife was raised and he felt the crimson liquid splashing against his face.

"Momma? What...what have I done?"

The sound of a woman weeping overpowered the piano. He heard deep guttural cries filled with pain.

"Momma? I'm coming for you."

Before he could stop himself, he reached out and picked up the knife from the floor to follow the sound of the sad cries.

"Stop!" Dani shouted into the air, as she sat up in her bed.

It was just another nightmare. Things were getting out of hand. The clock showed 3:15 AM and she cradled her face in her hands. She hadn't had another dream about Billy and she was worried about him. She was also racked with guilt. Ludicrous thoughts of him being hurt because he admitted to being her friend bothered her. She thought about Derek telling her to mind her own business but she couldn't. Billy was her friend. He even said so. How could she act as though nothing was wrong when Billy wasn't answering his phone?

She had tried calling Jax but her call had gone to voicemail. She sent him a quick text warning him that she was taking matters into her own hands. He had promised to talk to the officer in charge of Billy's missing person's case but so far she hadn't heard anything.

Dani decided she had to do something quickly if she wanted to know what really happened to the only nice person in her apartment building. In the early morning hours, after most people would be at work, she cracked her door open and waited for Derek to leave his apartment.

"I'm on my way. Right. I told you I'd be there, you don't have to try and meet me. Just stay put," Derek was talking into his cell phone. "Dammit, I said to stay put."

Dani shook her head in disgust as she watched him shove the phone in his back jeans pocket and head towards the building's exit.

"He should be a while," she assured herself as she quietly exited her apartment.

The apartment building was old and breaking past Derek and Billy's door was easier than she thought. All it took was an old maxed-out credit card and she was in. She closed the door behind her and turned the lock.

"This place isn't creepy," she said sarcastically as she ran a finger down the side of the large TV that was hanging on the wall.

Spotless.

The apartment felt sterile...almost lifeless. The scent of lemon cleaner tickled her nose as she continued to look around.

"I've never been in an apartment so neat," Dani said. There was no décor to speak of unless you considered college text books as decorations. White shelves filled with books on law, psychology, and music theory adorned the walls.

She made her way to one of the bedrooms and noticed a few musical instruments in the corner. An acoustic guitar, a small keyboard, and some kind of electronic drum set that was more of a toy than an instrument. To the right of the instruments was a table covered in stacks of CDs. Dani grimaced as she realized that most of the music was classical.

She chastised herself for automatically thinking of the Maestro.

She quickly looked through the closet and drawers in the room to see if she could find any information about Billy. She didn't find anything except old papers from a house sale in Colorado, flyers from The Pony House, and a thick leather jacket. Dani walked towards the bathroom and was amazed by how orderly it was. The shampoos were lined up in alphabetical order and even the shaving gear was organized nice and neatly.

"Can we say OCD, anyone?" Dani muttered under her breath, wondering if even their trash bin was tidy. Letting curiosity get the better of her, she quickly stepped on the footpad that lifted the lid of the trash bin.

"What the hell?" Dani leaned forward to see a dress shirt, spotted with dried blood. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and took a picture.

The sound of muffled yelling close by startled her. She took a step back, bumping into the plastic shelf that held the shampoos, causing them to tumble to the ground.

"Crap!" Dani panicked.

"I forgot my wallet. Don't you want the money? Isn't that why you keep bugging me? Just stay put! I'll be right there," Derek's voice penetrated through the paper-thin walls.

For once, Dani was grateful she lived in such a cheaply made apartment building. She didn't have time to pick up the shampoo bottles. Instead, she ran back to the bedroom with the musical instruments and dashed inside the closet, shutting the door behind her.

She heard someone rumbling around inside the apartment and held her breath. She looked at her phone and quickly put it on silent. God forbid it went off and alerted Derek that she was there.

Dani could feel her heartbeat quickening. She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from making any noise. All that separated her from Derek was a leather jacket and a thin closet door. The sound of Derek moving around suddenly stopped.

"What happened here? How did all of this fall?"

Dani covered her mouth with both of her hands to keep herself from gasping. Derek must've been referring to the shampoo bottles she had dropped. She tried her best to listen intently to his movements, but she couldn't hear anything. She was losing track of how long she had been hiding in that closet. Maybe he had already left and she didn't hear it? Dani was about to turn the handle of the closet door when she heard Derek's voice again. It sounded close. Too close.

"Is someone in here?"