Vision of Serpents Read online

  Vision of Serpents

  Vincent Morrone

  Vision of Serpents

  Book 2 of The Vision Series

  Copyright © 2015, Vincent Morrone

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage system without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Publisher’s Note:

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First Printing, April 2015

  Edited by Conley Lyons

  Cover and interior design by Kelli Neier

  Silence in the Library, LLC

  Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

  www.silenceinthelibrarypublishing.com

  It’s hard to describe how amazing I feel knowing that after all these years, my lifelong dream of becoming a published author has finally come to life and that I’m able to present the world with a pair of books in the Vision series.

  However, that feeling pales in comparison to the immense sense of pride and amazement I have in my two greatest achievements ever.

  My daughters.

  Jessica & Danielle, being your Dad is the single thing that I am most proud of. I couldn’t ask for better daughters. It’s been an amazing journey watching you grow from a pair of preemie babies to the intelligent, strong and independent young ladies that you have become. As of this writing, I know you’re both anticipating starting college in a little over a year and a half, and I’ve no doubt that you’ll be a success there, just like you’ll conquer the rest of your lives.

  I want all of your dreams to come true and so much more. And I’m so proud to have been a part of your life.

  Vision of Serpents is dedicated to both of you.

  May your vision of your own dreams be all that you want it to be and more.

  Contents

  O.M.G.

  Bristol "Bam Bam" Blackburn

  Tastes Like Chicken

  Date Night

  Sugar

  The Snake Strikes

  Bam Bam vs. Balthazar

  The Wrath of Aunt Breanne

  Crash Test Dummy

  My Non-Boyfriend's Back

  Jared's Birthday Bash

  I Didn't Know This Was Going To Be A Surprise Party

  Boom

  Have You Met Bristol?

  Cutting Class

  Crazy Happens Here

  Facing The Serpent

  Three Little Words

  Moving On

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  Kickstarter Backers

  About Silence in the Library

  - one -

  O.M.G.

  Journal of Bristol Blackburn

  Just woke up after another vision. All I can say is wow.

  I know I’ve gotten hung up on the idea of being able to say I love you to Payne. I should be able to say it. Lord knows he loves me.

  But what I don’t understand is how. How could he love a girl who might have a ghost tag along as a third wheel on any of our dates? Or one he can’t surprise with a romantic picnic date under our favorite willow tree, because I’d seen it already in a vision?

  And yet, clearly he does love me.

  It’s been just under four months since his Great-Uncle Jasper tried to kill me. Four months since Payne, possessed by his uncle, who I knew as Jay, nearly killed himself protecting me. Four months since he told me he loved me, right before being set ablaze and getting impaled through the chest.

  Four months, and I haven’t been able to say it back. I can’t even refer to the two of us as boyfriend and girlfriend. I correct other people who call me his girlfriend. Like I’m afraid I’ll break out in hives by being the girlfriend of the most gorgeous boy on the face of the Earth.

  There’s just something holding me back.

  I’ve told Zach and Simon that I love them. And though I may not have said it to him, I can admit that I love my Uncle Mark. I can even admit I love Grandpa, although I guess that depends on the day.

  But when it comes to Payne? I just can’t say it. I know he’d like me to, and he’s been so patient. He hasn’t pressured me at all, but I know he wants to hear me say it back.

  So I have this vision. I’m in that perfect spot, by our willow tree, and I’m finally able to get those words out.

  I say, “I love you.”

  You’d think that would make me happy. The pressure’s off, right?

  It might, if I were saying it to Payne.

  The new guy in my dream is tall and muscular, with dark blond hair and such pretty gray eyes. He has a goofy, lopsided grin on his beautiful face, and I can tell that he has a great laugh. He looks like a nice guy. What’s worse is that when I say I love you, he looks like he loves me back.

  Like I said: WOW.

  “No, no, no!” I was standing on my front porch, waiting to go to school, talking on my cell phone with Maggie.

  “I promise Payne and I did not get married over the summer break.”

  Every year, Maggie’s family went away on a long vacation. She’d just gotten back the night before, and had already missed our first week of school. Lucky girl. Now, she wanted me to catch her up to speed on everything she’d missed.

  By everything, I meant what was happening with me and Payne. But she wouldn’t accept my word that nothing had changed. He and I were still . . . well, whatever it is that we were.

  “Listen,” I said, rolling my eyes as she babbled. “I swear you didn’t miss anything. I wouldn’t run off to have a Vegas wedding. And if I did, I wouldn’t do it without you. I’d need a maid of honor.”

  I pulled the phone away from my ear to keep from hearing the screech I knew would follow.

  “I mean it. I would choose you over Hunter. I love Hunter, but you’re my best friend.”

  Damn, I didn’t move the phone fast enough that time.

  “No, Maggie, don’t start planning a bachelorette party. We just started our senior year! I’m not even thinking marriage.”

  I rolled my eyes again as I looked up and saw Eric Wilson walking toward the house. Eric and his family had moved in across the street a couple of months ago, right after the Jay incident. He’d been getting bullied at his old school pretty badly. His luck hadn’t been much better here. I watched as he stopped short on the curb; Mrs. Hickle from down the block didn’t even bother to hit the brakes as she drove past. Eric looked both ways, which he should have done to begin with, and finally crossed.

  “Maggie!” I yelled into the phone. I needed to get her off her rant. “I’ve got to go, or I won’t see you at school. Yeah, okay. Bye.”

  Eric climbed the steps of the front porch, already laughing. I decided to explain myself.

  “Maggie’s hatching up crazy ideas about me and Payne.”

  “Of course,” Eric said as he sat on the bench across from me. “Maggie without a crazy idea would be as sad as, well . . . Maggie not dressed in one of her colorful ensembles.”

  I laughed. I did look forward to seeing Maggie’s outfits.

  “I’m guessing,” Eric said, “you haven’t checked your email yet?”

  “No,” I answered, glancing down at my phone. “Why?”

  “I sent you something last night. Don’t worry. It’s probably better that I say it in person.”

  “Say what?” I asked,
as I started to check my email.

  “Nothing important,” Eric answered. He motioned for me to put my phone away as he nervously tapped his feet on the floor of the porch. “Mostly, I wanted to thank you and Payne. Meeting the two of you, and Maggie and Hunter, has been the best thing about moving here. Especially since you guys drive me to school every morning so I don’t have to take the bus.”

  “Please, Eric, it’s no big deal. I love hanging out with you. Especially on mornings like today. Payne looks like he’s going to take his sweet time getting here.”

  “Well,” Eric said with a shrug. “I know what you’ve been doing.”

  I tried to sound like I had no idea what he was talking about. “I haven’t been doing anything.”

  “I’ve heard you read the riot act to anyone who even looked at me funny.”

  I just shrugged again.

  “Bristol,” Eric said. “I want you to know I appreciate it.”

  “It’s nothing,” I replied. “Really.” Where the hell was Payne, I thought. I didn’t like mushy gratitude, especially first thing in the morning. “It’s not like I went around the entire school, telling everyone to shut their traps about you if they didn’t have anything nice to say.”

  “Well, did I tell you what happened Friday with Archer McKnight?”

  “No,” I said. “What?”

  Payne had a legion of cousins, and Archer was one of them. Most of them had names just as interesting as Payne’s: Archer, Hunter, Chase, Blasé, Tobias. Some of these cousins, like Hunter and Toby, were really nice. Others, like Chase, Blasé, and Archer, could be more than a little full of themselves. Archer was still on the fence. He’d never gotten over the fact that while possessed, he had nearly killed me and Hunter, so he was more or less nice to me. But, if Archer had been harassing Eric again, Payne was going to have one less cousin, because I was going to kill him.

  “It was after gym class,” Eric continued. “Everyone else had cleared out of the locker room. I hadn’t realized we were alone, and I was trying to get out without him seeing me. I tried to sneak. I don’t sneak well.”

  “And then what?” I asked.

  Eric blushed. “I tripped over some gym equipment and fell on my face. I didn’t go down easy. It must have been pretty comical.”

  He stood up, rolled his arms in wild circles and pretended to fall down. We both laughed. That was one of the things I loved about Eric. He always made me laugh.

  “I felt like such an idiot,” he said. “I figured the fall would give Archer plenty of ammo, but he didn’t give me a hard time. He just shook his head. Then he gave me a hand to get up.”

  “Did he?” I asked. “Well, that’s good.”

  I guess Archer could live.

  “Yeah, then when I was on my feet, he took it a step further. He actually told me he was sorry for giving me such a hard time last year. Said it was stupid.”

  “I might have to allow myself to believe in miracles.”

  “Of course, then Blasé came in,” Eric said.

  I groaned. Blasé was an idiot.

  “Yeah,” Eric turned red as he recalled whatever happened. “Blasé started to make kissing sounds and made some . . . rude suggestions. Archer just told him to shut up and left. I tried to follow, but Blasé just kept on . . . you get the idea.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’ll deal with him.”

  “Bristol, you can’t keep doing that. He’s Payne’s cousin. You don’t want to upset his family.”

  “Payne won’t mind, trust me. He likes it when I tear into them.”

  “I like Payne,” Eric said. “He never makes me feel like he’s doing me a favor by hanging out with me.”

  “That’s because he’s not,” I said. “Payne thinks you’re cool.”

  Eric smiled. “I know. You’re both great friends. It’s meant so much.”

  “Look,” I interrupted. “You really need to stop. We love hanging with you. I know that Blasé must have ruined your weekend, but you have to look at the good stuff. Maggie’s back. Archer might be growing up. It’s our senior year. It’s all going to get better. Just give it time.”

  Eric seemed to be really thinking about what I was saying when Payne finally pulled into the driveway, driving a silver Lexus. He climbed out of the driver’s-side door, wearing blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket. His deep blue eyes found mine and he grinned.

  Man, it should be illegal to be that hot.

  “Good morning,” Payne said, as he came up onto the porch and gave me a long, slow kiss that made my toes curl. Then he looked around. “We need to hurry if we’re going to make it to school without breaking all the speed limits. That wouldn’t go over well with your uncle. Where’s Eric?”

  “He’s right here,” I said. I glanced over to Eric, who was standing in plain view.

  “Bristol,” Eric said. “I think I did something stupid.”

  “Eric, what are you . . . ?”

  My voice trailed off. Payne and I turned to stare at each other.

  In a moment, he understood, and took off running across the street as I followed, barely hearing Eric yell how sorry he was.

  We both heard his mother scream as we reached their front porch.

  My uncle’s voice was calm. “Tell me what happened.”

  He’d arrived to find me holding Eric’s mother as she wept, while Payne was being held back from the body by the EMS workers who had arrived moments before.

  “It was a suicide note. I was checking my emails as I waited for Payne to pick me up. When I realized what he’d sent, we came running.”

  From her place on the sofa, his mother continued to sob.

  “I f-f-found him this morning,” she managed to get out. “I thought he’d left to go with Payne and Bristol. I didn’t even think to look . . . ”

  She broke down again.

  “Mom,” Eric said from the corner. “Don’t cry. Bristol, tell her that it’ll be all right. I know how worried she was. She doesn’t have to worry anymore.”

  My heart broke for Eric, but I couldn’t tell her that. I wouldn’t.

  “Mrs. Wilson,” I said as I sat down on the sofa and took her hand. “I’m so sorry. I know Eric loved you and Skyler so much.”

  “Oh, god, Skyler. How am I going to tell his sister that her big brother—”

  She was unable to say it out loud.

  “Bristol,” Eric pleaded over his mother’s cries. “You have to explain. She had no idea how bad things were. She just didn’t understand. Help her to understand, please.”

  “Mrs. Wilson,” Uncle Mark said. “Had Eric given you any indication that he was thinking about harming himself?”

  Mrs. Wilson shook her head.

  “No. Nothing I ever picked up on . . . ” She let out a sob. “I—at his last school, he was bullied all the time. They even started prank calling the house. When we moved, I thought it would be different. It was different. He made friends.”

  Payne came into the room. His hands were steady as he handed her a cup of tea he’d made for her in the kitchen, but I could feel the grief within him.

  “Thank you,” Mrs. Wilson said as she took the cup with trembling hands. “I—I know he was still having a hard time. Kids can be so cruel. I didn’t know what else to do. I just tried to tell him that I loved him, no matter what. I just wanted my baby to be happy . . . ”

  She started to sob again. “How could I have let this happen? How could I be such a failure as a mother?”

  “No!” Eric shouted. “No, no, no, no! Bristol, this is all wrong! You can’t let her think that! That’s not true! She was a great mother. I loved her. I knew she loved me! I was just . . . it’s just that I . . . oh, no.” Eric wept as the weight of what he had done came crashing down on him.

  “Mrs. Wilson,” I said, “I don’t think Eric did this to hurt you. He loved you.”

  “He was my baby boy,” she cried, “and he’s gone. I told h
im I loved him no matter what, but maybe I didn’t tell him enough. Maybe I should have said more. Or done more.”

  She broke off again, physically shaking from her grief.

  In the corner, Eric looked just as shaken. I wanted to comfort him. I wanted to yell at him. I wanted to do so much.

  All I could do was hold his mother as she wept.

  I was at the house long enough to see Skyler’s reaction. One of the deputies had gone to get the thirteen-year-old from school. While Eric reminded me of his mother, with his dark, brown hair and round face, Skyler must have looked more like her father. She was tall for her age, with soft blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. She had a splattering of light freckles on her cheeks and nose, and a thin figure. When Mrs. Wilson told her what had happened, those blue eyes filled with angry tears.

  Eric was silent. He stood in a corner, his arms crossed, cradling himself.

  “I hate this,” his sister whispered. “I hate him for doing this.”

  With that, she burst into tears, and Eric faded away.

  It was nearly one in the afternoon by the time we left Eric’s home. We walked back across the street in silence.

  “Bristol,” Uncle Mark began, as we got to the steps of the front porch, “Did Eric really send you an email?”

  It was weird that after so many years of hiding my secrets from everyone, even my parents, both Payne and Uncle Mark were aware that I could talk to ghosts. If this question had been asked months ago, I would have lied about the real reason.

  “He did,” I answered. “I didn’t open it until after we found him.”