The Follower

The Follower

August 23, 1971

"Is there anything you believe in Billy? Do..Do you believe in anything at all?" The boy looked at her, "Yes, mom I do believe in something, or someone. He's sitting right there." The mom looked over there and saw a plate half-eaten, and a napkin half torn. "Go to your room." She said as she started eating her food.

Billy went into his room, and sat on his bed, he stared out the window, and lightning started to strike. He would hear it say things, he thought it was God talking to him, or a family member who died.

It was a Saturday, Billy and Jake were playing with each other. They were at Billy's house. They were watching T.V. "Hey Billy, I got to get something out of your room, ok?" Jake looked at him, "yeah sure go ahead."

Billy had blond long hair, he was scared of alot of things from snakes to spiders. It was about 30 minutes later, and Jake still didn't return. Billy finally got up and walked slowly up to his room. "Jake? Jake are you there?" Billy said as the shiver went even further down his spine. He walked slowly to his door. "AHHHHHHHH!" Jake screamed. Billy jumped out of his shoes. "Ha ha ha ha! You fall for that everytime man. I haven't seen you that scared since you watched The Wizard of OZ." Billy got up and was putting his shoes on. "I wasn't that scared, man."

They went back into the room with the television. Jake started looking outside at the pool. "You want to go swimming?" Jake asked with a sarcastic tone. Billy looked at him with disgust, "we arn't allowed! Mom and Dad said not to!" "What could happen?" Jake said as he was still looking outside.

Next thing you know they were swimming. It was a pretty big size pool, because, well, they were pretty rich. They swam for about an hour, and Jake saw something underwater. He went under and saw that the drain was open and not covered. He got closer and closer. "Jake! Jake! Don't go down there! Jake! Stop!" Jake started to come back up and he got his foot stuck, he couldn't get it out. Billy saw that it was stuck and went under to save him. He budged and budged. Jake lost conscienceness before Billy got him out. I'm afraid it was to late, he was, dare I say it, dead.

Billy buried Jake in the field, in a secret place, where his parents didn't know about. This was the last time he would see Jimmy again or so he thought.........

August 23, 1991

Bill was 34 now, he has never forgotten Jake. He hasn't left his room in over a year, and people believe he's been paranoid since he died. His parents are afraid to talk to him, and he has no friends. He doesn't believe in anything, not even himself...

Billy was drawing as he always did, he draws stuff like like his past. When he draws Jake though, he disappears, no one knows why though. Billy thinks it's because since he's dead, he doesn't exist on Earth.

There was a knock on the door, he walked up very cautiously to it and opened it. It was his mom. She came in not daring to look at him. "Bill, um... the police called and said um........ that you burned down the Tannehill's house down the road or something?" Billy who's name is now Bill looked into her eyes, and didn't say a word. She started shivering, and she walked out.

A week or so passed, and he did the same old thing. He sat and drew, and still Jake's drawings disappeared. He started hitting his pencil on his desk. It was raining outside, and you could hear the loud roar of lightning. He walked towards the windows and heard the lightning roar, and he heard it say something. He didn't care though, he was just hearing things.

Things started coming into his mind that night. It wasn't joyful things either, it was bad stuff happening. He walked up a hill, and saw that a building was on fire. He saw the back of a boy's head, and the culprit started to turn around, and Bill woke up.....

The next morning, Bill found a yearbook from 1971. He turned to the page when it showed the 9th grade, he saw everybody in his class. He saw Peter Ahmad, Sara Beshear, Timmy Cunar, and the next picture was Jake Dagarmo. Bill looked and looked at his picture, it wasn't there..... All he saw was the background of the picture. He looked at FFA, 4-H, and Teens for Christ. His picture was gone, Bill was amazed.

All of the sudden there was a knock on the door. It was his mom, she was crying. He looked out his room for the first time in a very long time, and he saw the police in the hallway. The police came, and pushed him into the wall. You could hear the mom scream. The police put handcuffs on Bill, and took him to the police car. As it was driving off, he looked at his mother, and put his hand on the window.

August 23, 1998

He was 41 now, and he finally got out of prison. He got a ride to his house, and he saw that it wasn't there. It was burnt down, it was gone. He yelled as he got out of the police car, and he ran to his house. He stepped on top of all the ash, he looked and looked for stuff he could use to live with. He found the yearbook from 1971, Jake Degarmo reappeared in his picture. He turned over a table and looked very slowly. He saw a piece of hair, and he dropped the table. He breathed and thought for a moment. He was shaking, and he put his hands on the table, and he lifted it again. There was nothing there, he dug and dug. He could see nothing. he started walking off when he stepped on something. He looked down in horror, it was his mom. "Ahhhhhhhh!" He yelled as he ran off as fast as he could.

He was running and crying, he ran like he never ran before. He stopped at a cave, he lived there by himself. He felt in his pockets, and he looked at his drawing..........He saw that his drawing of Jake had reappeared. He looked confused, he walked out of the cave. He had just enough money to stay at a cheap hotel for maybe a week.

It was that night, and he was at the hotel. He turned on the television, and all the channels didn't work, it was all fuzz. He looked confused, and the window opened by itself. The drawers started opening and closing. He heard a knock on the door. By this time he had a cold shiver down his spine. He opened the door, and he saw a note. He opened it with terror, it said........I'M BACK!

He heard laughing and the lights all over the hotel were flickering on and off. He started running down the hall, and he saw Jake!!!! Jake was walking slowly to him, he had his blue shivering hand reaching towards Bill.

Bill started walking back very slowly. He started walking faster, and soon he was running. He started running his fastest. He saw that he was gone, and he caught his breath. He turned his head the other way and Jake was right in front of him!

"What do you want from me!?!" Billy screamed. Jake looked at him, and all of the sudden they were back in the hotel room. Bill tripped and fell on the bed, and Jake stood there. "You stopped playing with me." Jake said with no emotion. "What! Umm....you died!?!" Jake took a step closer. "I can't die, I'm not real........I was your imaginary friend. You know why I disappeared, because you stopped believing in me after I so-called died." Bill looked at Jake with the most disgust he could think of. "What about the pictures? Why were you disappearing and reappearing? Jake smirked, "I reappeared because you started believing again. You thought about me, yes, I know, but you didn't believe in me. I am all you have, and I will always be!"

Bill looked at Jake in horror,"Are you the one who talks to me when lightning strikes?" The lights started to flicker, "No Bill, that's when I would try to talk to you, but God would give you a distraction. Well, God, I got to him!!! Ha ha ha!!

Bill got up, and walked towards the door. "It was you, you burned my house, and the Tannehill's house, It was you!!!" Bill barely turned the doorknob. Jake knew what he was doing, "I had to make you realize that I'm all you had. I'm your life Billy, and I'm your special friend." Billy opened the door really slowly. "Your not my life, and my name is Bill", he walked up to the dresser and opened it. He saw that there was a Bible there. He opened the book, and he didn't know what he was doing. He heard voices in his head:"Is there anything you believe in Billy? Do..Do you believe in anything at all?" He finally realized what they were talking about. He looked at a passage and read:

I am the way,
the truth and the life,
and no one come to the Father,
but by me.

After reading that, he felt a tug on his heart. He looked at Jake, "only God can be my life." Jake looked at Bill astonished. "Bill Paxton? Bill is believing in something?" Bill smiled, "yes, Jake, yes I did.

August 23, 2004

Bill was 47, and he was a preacher. He preaches at Collinwood Baptist Church. He has cancer, but keeps going with his studies and dedication to God.