Silent Fall

feel as if she were seeing something he wasn’t? She was just repeating what they already knew. And maybe her pulse had quickened and her cheeks had reddened because she was faking it.
    "You have more than Erica to worry about," Catherine added. "Someone else is involved."
    "Yeah, that makes sense. I doubt Erica could have come up with this plan on her own. She’s not that clever." He paused as Catherine studied the room once more. Her body stiffened, and she gave a little shake of her head, as if she were trying to dislodge something from her mind. He could feel the tension emanating from her.
    "I... I need to get away from here," she said abruptly, letting go of his hand. She turned quickly and jogged down the steps. She was halfway to the lodge before he caught up with her.
    "Wait, Catherine." He grabbed her arm. "What the hell is going on? Is there something you didn’t tell me?" He studied her face, seeing the glittering light of fear in her eyes. Was this part of her act? His logical brain did not want to buy into the fact that she had any sort of extrasensory perception, but he had to admit that she looked as though she were feeling something pretty powerful.
    She cast a brief look over her shoulder, back at the cabin. "I felt like someone was watching."
    "Watching us?" he echoed, searching the area for someone hiding behind a tree or around the side of the building. But they appeared to be completely alone.
    "No -- Erica," she said.
    "What do you mean?"
    "It was last night. I could see the moonlight coming in through the open window. Someone was waiting, watching her through that window. I think. I don’t know." She shrugged. "I don’t want to do this."
    "Hey, you can’t start and stop. Tell me the rest."
    "I don’t know the rest. I feel too involved, as if my reality and my dreams are blurring. I’m outside of it, and yet I’m inside of it, too." She took a breath. "You don’t believe me, do you?"
    "It’s not a question of belief. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Inside, outside, what the hell does that mean?"
    "It means that for a moment I felt as if I were Erica, and I could see the shadow of a man watching me. I felt her fear, her surprise, her desire to flee. But then a second later I felt as if I were outside, hiding behind that tree across from the cabin, and I was waiting for my chance to get her." Catherine’s voice broke off, and she pulled away from him. "I just want to go home. I can’t help you. I’m sorry. It’s too hard."
    "You’re not afraid of something being hard," he told her.
    "You don’t know anything about me."
    "I know that two months ago, when Jake and Sarah were in danger, you were brave enough to knock down a man with a baseball bat. You showed more than a little courage in a difficult situation. I was very impressed." To this day he wondered if they would all still be alive if Catherine hadn’t been willing to put her life on the line the way she had.
    "That was different. I knew what was real and what wasn’t -- who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. I acted on instinct. But I can’t help you if you don’t believe me, and I can see in your eyes that you don’t. You think I’m conning you or something."
    "I’m a logical person. I believe in what I can see."
    "Sometimes you have to have faith."
    "I lost my faith a long time ago."
    "You don’t believe in anyone or anything?"
    "I trust my brother, Jake, because he’s never let me down. He’s the only one. And I’ve certainly never had any experience with the supernatural, so forgive me if it all sounds a little bizarre."
    "I understand. You’re not the first person to judge me. And I doubt you’ll be the last. To be honest, I don’t always understand the visions either. So I should just go home and leave you to get on with things. You can do this on your own."
    "You’re not the kind of woman to run away, Catherine." He didn’t know why he felt such a need to keep her with him, but all of his instincts were screaming at him to hang on to her.
    "I’ve been running away my whole life. You have no idea how good I am at it." She met his gaze head-on, and he saw nothing but truth in her eyes.
    "Then it’s time to stop running." He shifted his feet, searching for the right words. "Dammit, Catherine, you’re the one who started this with your prediction about Erica coming