Soul Mates Read online

  SOUL MATES

  By

  John R. Little

  JournalStone

  San Francisco

  Copyright © 2015 by John R. Little

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  JournalStone books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

  JournalStone

  www.journalstone.com

  The views expressed in this work are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

  ISBN: 978-1-942712-41-1 (sc)

  ISBN: 978-1-942712-42-8 (ebook)

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2015942297

  Printed in the United States of America

  JournalStone rev. date: August 14, 2015

  Cover Art and Design: M. Wayne Miller

  Cover Photograph © Shutterstock.com

  Edited by: Dr. Michael R. Collings

  There was only one possible choice of dedication for this book:

  To my soul mate, my amazing dream girl,

  Fatima Monteiro.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to my pre-readers, who constantly notice things I can’t see myself: Tod Clark, Dave Solow, Shelley Milligan, and Sydney Leigh. Special gratitude to Dr. Michael Collings, who edited this novel and helped make it much better than it was before he got out his red pencil.

  Endorsements

  Prolific fantasy and horror author Little (DarkNet) revels in the dark recesses of the mind and the pull of the forbidden in this tangled novel. Savannah and Alannah are identical twins who move to Seattle to escape their parents’ tragic past. Alannah soon finds love with the magician Jeremiah, who has his own demons to wrestle with. Meanwhile, both sisters are plagued by the hauntings of an unknown boy. Little writes with vivacity and a sharp eye for detail, recalling Hitchcock in his use of twists and turns and the unexpected; his characters are layered and intriguing. The book has a decidedly nonlinear narrative, which heightens suspense, but some of the places where Little weaves the separate strands together feel rushed. Readers will find the sense of immediacy refreshing and enjoy the complex, horrific story.

  —Publishers Weekly (Aug.)

  "Soul Mates is an exquisitely haunting novel of deeply etched characters and bone-chilling terror. It's impossible not to fall under its magic spell. A superb book from one of the genre's finest talents."

  —Brian Pinkerton, author of Rough Cuts and Anatomy of Evil

  “There are two words you don’t often, if ever, hear when describing a “horror” writers’ work – Wordsmith & Elegant. But, that’s exactly what kept running through my mind as I read John R. Little’s Soul Mates. If you’ve never read any of Little’s work, you’re really missing out. Not only does he weave a wonderfully horrific tale, but commands his prose like so few in the writing community can do on a consistent basis. I’m dead serious about that and Soul Mates is no exception. I’ve read everything Little writes and you should too. You’re most certainly in for tasty treat with this one!”

  —Ty Schwamberger, author of The Fields, Deep Dark Woods & Escaping Lucidity

  “John R. Little takes readers on a journey into the dark corridors of the psychic in his novel, Soul Mates. Prepare for a wild ride of suspense, mystery, romance, and horror. This is a book that stays with you long after you finish reading. Highly recommended!”

  —Kenneth W. Harmon, author of The Amazing Mr. Howard.

  SOUL MATES

  Prologue

  1992

  It should have been a wonder-filled, lazy, summer afternoon. Late July. Hottest day of the year so far, with the thermometer bursting up to ninety, only a few wispy cirrus clouds floating by, and the water in the bay was calling to Charlie Harrison like an ancient siren.

  Charlie had been sitting out on the deck of his rented cottage in Nowhere, Minnesota, soaking in the sun, when he realized it was a perfect day to take Luke out for his first canoe run.

  “Mary, can you watch Dylan?”

  Mary Lamot was an older woman, maybe sixty, who was renting the cottage next to Charlie’s. She and her husband were retired and loved nothing more than to live each summer out in the wilderness. Over the past three days, she’d hit off a friendship with Dylan, and she beamed with pleasure at the thought of watching him.

  “Of course I will!”

  “I’m going to take Luke out on the water.”

  Mary took Dylan by the hand and they walked over to her cabin. Ricky, her husband, was napping inside, but he’d sleep through anything, so she poured some lemonade she’d prepared earlier, and she and Dylan sat on the steps, sipping the cool drinks while she asked Dylan about his latest hobbies and adventures. He barely noticed that his dad and older brother would be leaving soon.

  * * *

  “Luke! Today’s the day.”

  Ten-year-old Luke Harrison brushed his long, sandy hair back. “Really? Cool!”

  They’d rented the cottage from a campground that also rented canoes. Charlie had hired a canoe and now helped Luke into a bright pink life jacket. Luke pretended not to be bothered by the color.

  The canoe was sunshine yellow and in good condition. There were a few scratches from it being pulled up over rocks to ground it during bad weather, but it was solid and safe. Charlie hadn’t been in a canoe for years, but he wasn’t bothered by that. He knew what he was doing.

  As they pushed out from shore, the canoe started to teeter side to side, but Charlie steadied it and started to paddle.

  It’d been a long time since he’d been on the water. He’d loved boating with Finn, and the summer they met—1980—they practically lived on the water. When she had died two years earlier, though, it had left a hole in his soul as well as his heart, and canoeing was one of the activities he’d avoided. Her cancer had killed a huge part of him, too.

  Don’t think about it, he told himself.

  But once the memories started, they were impossible to banish. He paddled farther from shore, images of his beautiful wife filling his mind.

  Long flowing brown hair, eyes that stole his heart, the most amazing laugh and sense of humor.

  “Dad?”

  “Hmm?” He knew he was barely paying attention to Luke, but he couldn’t help it. Finn captured his attention. The boy was sitting in front of him so Charlie knew he was doing fine. He was looking around the water, clearly enjoying himself.

  “It’s so quiet,” Luke said.

  Charlie nodded at the ghost of Finn.

  I miss you, babe.

  He knew she’d reply, I miss you, too, if she was able.

  The canoe pulled out farther into the lake. The water near the campground was still, as it formed a harbor for small boats to tie up. Now, away from land, the lake water rushed quickly from Charlie’s right to his left. He had no trouble controlling the boat, though. The time he’d invested in canoeing with Finn was paying off as he navigated into the rougher water and smiled as Luke’s head bobbed. He grabbed the sides of the canoe and laughed. Charlie knew that sensation and he smiled.

  “Are you sure this is safe, Dad?” Luke looked back, and Charlie realized his son was getting a little too nervous.

  “It’s okay. I’ll turn around and head back to the calmer waters.”

  He maneuve
red the oar down and used it to shift them to the left.

  That’s when he heard the cries. At first they were indistinct, barely audible. He glanced at Luke, but everything was fine there. Then he looked back to shore and his world collapsed.

  What the hell?

  On shore, he could see Mary Lamot. She was near her cabin, just at the edge of visibility. She was screaming.

  She had Dylan in her arms, holding the three-year-old as high as she could.

  It wasn’t doing any good.

  At Mary’s feet were two dogs. Charlie recognized them instantly—Jack Russell terriers owned by a twenty-something camping at the far end of the park. The dogs barked incessantly whenever Charlie and the boys happened to walk near them, and more than once he’d wondered why anyone in his right mind would want to own animals that just seemed mean.

  The owner had just shrugged and smiled, as if the growling dogs straining to get loose from their leashes were normal, everyday pets.

  Now they were loose and jumping onto Mary in a frenzy. Even from this distance, Charlie could see that her face was dripping with blood.

  “Oh God . . .”

  She was losing the fight. With the scent of blood being spilled, the dogs were becoming even more violent.

  In her upstretched arms, Dylan looked like a rag doll. The dogs were biting and clawing him non-stop.

  Charlie froze. His son was being ripped to shreds in front of him, and he was 500 feet away, unable to do a damned thing.

  I’ll never get there in time.

  But he had to try. Panic spread through him, and in a decision he would regret for the rest of his life, for some reflex reason, he stood up, forgetting where he was.

  The canoe capsized, and Charlie was under water. Although he’d forced Luke to wear a life jacket, he hadn’t worn one himself. It took him a moment to realize what had happened. It may have been a hot summer day, but the lake water was as frigid as it had been in March. His body fought the cold, and he splashed frenetically to try to find the surface.

  When he did, he was staring toward the shore, and once again he saw Dylan’s body being attacked by the half-crazed dogs.

  Mary was unable to hold the boy any longer, and they both fell to the ground. Charlie couldn’t see them anymore, but he heard the screams and the dogs barking.

  No, not Dylan. Don’t take him from me, God.

  “Dad!”

  Shit.

  He swiveled in the water but couldn’t see Luke.

  “Dad!” The sound was quieter now, but Charlie could finally make out Luke being swept away by the rushing current. He disappeared from view.

  Once again Charlie froze. He needed to go after Luke, but he needed to rescue Dylan from the dogs.

  Luke had a life jacket.

  With little conscious thought, he swam as fast as he could toward shore.

  * * *

  Three months later, Luke’s body was found twenty miles downstream. By the time the original search party had started to look for him, he had been lost for almost an hour, and they never had a chance. The only people available to search were the handful renting cabins. The guy who owned the Jack Russells wasn’t around. Later, he’d swear he’d had them tied up but they somehow got loose.

  Dylan lived, but he lost one eye and had fifty stitches snaking over his body. It took him six months to recover physically, and he never did recover emotionally. He never spoke a word the rest of his life, and his remaining eye always seemed haunted.

  Charlie in turn was haunted by the ghost of Finn and—now—of Luke.

  They followed Charlie wherever he went.

  Part 1

  Introducing!

  “For centuries, magicians have intuitively taken advantage of the inner workings of our brains.”

  —Neil deGrasse Tyson

  Chapter 1

  2008

  Savannah Clark was sixteen years old when she left home. She didn’t think of it that way herself, because to her it felt much more like her home left her.

  What was left?

  She didn’t take much with her: her diary, of course, because that was her. Sometimes the diary felt more like her than her real body felt. She tossed the few clothes she liked into a travel bag, along with her toiletries, and, really, that was about it. A hairbrush. A Coke she stole from the fridge and one small stuffie: a fist-sized gray-and -white kitten she’d had since she was a baby.

  While Savannah was packing, Alannah was doing the same thing, but Savannah wasn’t thinking of her sister. She didn’t have to. They were identical twins, and they always marched to the same tune. They barely had to talk to each other to know what the other was thinking, and they always took the same approach to life, no matter how different they were.

  Savannah paused after filling the bag with her meagre belongings and listened. She thought she heard footsteps from the living room below.

  Dad.

  That would be the last thing she needed.

  But it was also impossible. He was behind bars where he belonged.

  She cocked her head to one side without thinking, like a lonely puppy, but she didn’t hear any further noises.

  Just paranoid after last night, she told herself.

  Even so, her body froze in place and she was breathing heavily. She wanted to ignore the imaginary sound but her body wouldn’t let her.

  “There’s nobody there,” she whispered. “Not even Alannah.”

  She blinked and licked her lips. Finally, she took a deep breath.

  “This is ridiculous.”

  She picked up the bag and walked to the door of her bedroom, pausing to take one last glance before leaving. She wouldn’t really miss the poster of One Direction hanging on the wall or the pink housecoat hanging on the bedpost. Even though Mom had given it to her three Christmases earlier, she’d never liked it.

  Mom.

  She did then remember one other thing she wanted. She went to the bottom drawer of her dresser and found an old photo of her mother and father.

  She ripped it in half and left her father’s image in the drawer. Savannah stared into her mom’s eyes as she carried the picture to the bag and slipped it inside.

  Then she really did leave, never looking back.

  There was nobody in the main floor of the house, as she logically knew, but she felt relief anyhow.

  Soon, the twins left their childhood home for the last time.

  * * *

  Savannah’s mother was Marianne Clark.

  Marianne had a bit of an obsession with the deep South, having watched Gone With the Wind dozens of times when she was a young teen. She imagined living in Atlanta or some other faraway southern city, dreamed of living in steaming summer heat and cool winters, wanted romance and adventure to be a part of her life the way it had been for Scarlett in the movie.

  She grew into a pretty teenager, hardly noticeable among hundreds of other pretty teen girls in her hometown. She would sometimes stare in the mirror and wonder how she could become the girl every guy wanted.

  Her hair was long and blonde, but it could never hold any curls. Her eyes were gray, not green or bright blue. Her figure was nice but ordinary.

  Then she found the secret she desired and found she could have any man she wanted.

  On her seventeenth birthday, she snuck into a neighborhood bar called The Wrong Number. The lighting was always dark, and as long as she carried herself with confidence and acted like she belonged there, nobody ever asked her for ID.

  It was the night she wanted to lose her virginity. She decided she’d waited long enough. In her mind, a southern belle should be worldly and experienced, and it was time to get some of that.

  She ordered a glass of the house white wine and sipped it at the bar as she looked around. The guys close to her were all her father’s age, nothing interesting there. She ignored them.

  Rock music blared through a hidden speaker system. Nobody was dancing.

  Part of her wanted to sneak out the do
or, but once she started down a path, she didn’t abandon it, no matter how foolish it started to look.

  She finished the wine and ordered another. In the dim light, Marianne wasn’t sure she’d find anyone, but then she walked to the far side of the room and saw him.

  Tall, dark-haired, muscular, dressed in jeans and muscle shirt, a white cowboy hat sitting on the table with his beer.

  He was alone, seemingly daydreaming. She sat down at the same table with him.

  “Well, hello there,” he said. He smiled and looked confused.

  Then she did her thing.

  She smiled. Not just an ordinary smile that you’d give a passing stranger. No, Marianne knew by now exactly how to get noticed. She opened her mouth when she smiled and widened her eyes. She knew that when she did that, no man could miss her. Then she moved her chair an inch closer.

  It was all to say: You’re special and I am dying to fuck you right now.

  Never failed.

  He leaned over and returned her smile, but his was tentative.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  “Brian Clark. You?”

  “Marianne.”

  She kept her smile focused on him; he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She licked her top lip.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” she added.

  He didn’t know how to reply, but after a few drinks together, they left the bar behind them. He was twenty-four and had an apartment nearby. Marianne’s wish to lose her virginity came true.

  Her first sexual encounter also brought her an unexpected surprise: she soon discovered she was pregnant.