“Lou.” The voice said. “Lou, listen to me your in trouble.” She panicked and tried to wake up. Who was in the room with her? She tried to call out, but then she saw him. She had her eyes closed but she was still able to see him. Was he in her head? Was she hallucinating? She wondered if whoever was in the room with her could see him too. She tried to call out again.
“Someone’s here! Quick someone’s here!” She screamed, but then the voice hushed her.
“Lou, you can’t talk, you can’t do anything. You’re sick right now. I made you this way so that I could talk to you. Don’t worry you’ll get better the minute we finish. Then you’ll wake up tomorrow morning and tell Lynn all about this. She’s the one sitting next to you right now.”
Lou knew that voice. That voice came from someone that she thought she had left years ago.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“You know who I am Lou.” The man chuckled. Lou got mad, she didn’t want to be laughed at she wanted answers and now!! “Think Lou, think.” Lou contemplated for a moment then she gasped she knew who it was.
“JJ!”
“Yup it’s me old girl.” Lou smiled at the old nickname that she hadn’t been called in so long.
“I thought you died. That’s what Lynn told me.”
“I had to pay you back. I betrayed you Louise.”
“What!! You we’re the one?”
“Yes, when you and Charlotte we’re getting ready to leave that one night I betrayed you. I told Wicks that you we’re leaving because he had…..well you know.”
“I can’t believe it was you.”
“I’m so sorry Lou. I was the one who caused you to stay their all those years.”
Lou thought for a moment and then spoke.
“I forgive you. Because you tried to make it up to Charlotte by trying to run away with her.”
“I loved her you know. She was one of the greatest people I have ever met. Caring, she tried to take care of everyone but she couldn’t.”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
“But you’re in trouble Louise. You are in so much trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
“Wicks is here, he’s still alive.”
“No, I saw that boy kill him!! I saw it!! No you’re wrong!! You’re….”
“Lou you have to believe. He’s here and he’s got his companion Sanes. The doctor that came and checked on you, he works for Wicks and he took Kid over there. That was two hours ago and then just a few seconds ago Kid left for St. Joe.”
“So I did hear Kid’s voice.”
“Yes you did girl, now they have him and your brother and sister, Jeremiah and Theresa.”
“What! They can’t have them! What’s he gonna do with them? What’s his plan? JJ you have to tell me, I know you know…. Please?”
“Louise I have to go now. You are going to wake up and you’re going to go find Kid do you understand me?”
“Of course I do, I have to find Kid.”
“But you will not tell the sheriff, you will not say anything. Do you understand? You will only tell Lynn.”
“I’ll go…I’ll go get the boys.”
“No, I’m going tonight and visiting an old friend of mine, he just happens to be there.”
“Who?”
“My old friend Buck, Buck Cross.”
“How do you know Buck?”
“Well, I’m kinda ashamed of myself, but did Buck ever tell you about those guys who picked on him ‘cause of the half-breed stuff?”
“Yeah, and then Ike came to the rescue, and that’s how they became friends.”
“Yup, well I was one of those guys that we’re picking on him. We became friends after words, for just the short time that Buck was they’re after that. He had to leave though, he never told me why, just said he did.”
“That’s when he came to the station.”
“I figured so.“
“What are you going to tell him.”
“You don’t need to know that right now. You just have to wake up. You have to go help Theresa and Jeremiah and Kid. You have to. You don’t know what Wicks is going to do to them.”
“I don’t know because you won’t tell me.”
“Don’t worry Lou. I’ll come back and tell you everything you need to know. Right now you have to wake up and go save Kid. Wait until the boys get their tomorrow morning and then you go.”
“Of course JJ, but please, please do something. I can’t do this by myself and Lynn won’t be much help since she’ll be so scared of Wicks. I’m afraid.”
“Of course I’ll help you. I’ll do anything to help you.”
“JJ, you don’t know how much it means to me to have you back around, even if it’s just for a second.”
“I know old girl, I know.” The vision of JJ started to disappear. Lou sighed she wanted to call out to him to stay. Then her eyes started to flutter open and she didn’t even realize it. She heard Lynn gasp.
“Lou? Lou are you okay?”
“Lynn we have to go help the Kid he’s in trouble.”
“Lou honey you’ve been sick. Your fever just broke and….”
“Lynn I didn’t have a fever, JJ made me go out like that ‘cause he needed to talk to me, to tell me about Kid and Theresa and Jeremiah.”
“Lou, you’ve been sweating and tossing and turning. I think that you have a disease or something. You we’re definitely hallucinating if you saw JJ.”
“No, he’s come back to help me. He was the one who told on Charlotte and me in that night. He’s trying to repay me. He told me everything. That Wicks has him and Theresa and Jeremiah. That the doc that came and saw me is really working for Wicks. How else do I have to prove to you that he came and told me all this.”
“Fine if I do say I believe you, then what are we gonna do?”
“JJ went to go tell the boys about all of this.”
“You mean Mr. Cody and all them?”
“Yup, the probably be here by tomorrow afternoon. We have to think up a plan before then.”
“If they come…”
“When they come.”
“Okay, when they come than I’ll believe you, but until then I’m just going to think that you are delusional and that’s all because your sick.”
“What did the doctor say about me.”
“That you we’re sick because you haven’t been sick lately and it was just starting to catch up to you.”
“What else did he say?”
“What do you mean?”
“What was his diagnosis!”
“Huh?”
“Are you that stupid! Did he give you medicine or did he say I had the pox or something like that.”
“I’m not stupid Louise! Just ‘cause you got more schooling then me don’t mean that you’re smarter. I have seen a lot more than you have young lady and if you would like to test that one day then just ask your ghost Mr. Wicks!” Lynn stormed from the bedroom. Her face was beat red.
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