Dream Land Chapter Two

Joven walked out of the campgrounds visitor center of Cheoah Point. The soft thunk of her hiking boots on the wooden porch and stairs made her smile. By the time she hit the dirt parking lot she was almost skipping. She had decided to take the summer and work before going to school. This would give her money of her own, and a chance to meet friends in her week old new home. An opening at the state park was listed in the paper, and she felt like working out in the open would be perfect. The job would be easy, she would be in the campgrounds making sure everyone had the correct passes and giving directions to the many hiking trails and other must see locations.

Off to her right was the beginning of one such trail and Joven decided to check it out before heading home. She didn't look forward to being in such a large home alone until her mother finished her shift at the hospital. It made her feel as if she was the last person on the earth and her time was more limited then she knew. At Cheoah Point she felt as if the whole world was waiting for her to walk through it so it might reveal all the secrets she hadn't even thought to ask. The forest was blooming with color, tattooed on a living canvas of plant and animal life. It was a place she could lose herself in for awhile and not think about the night her father was murdered.

Her intention was to take a twenty minute walk and then come back since she had no supplies. By the time she did that and drove the ten or so miles home she wouldn't be left in the house more than an hour before her mother returned. Erasing the thought of home from her mind she headed up the trail at a brisk pace and rapidly came to a curve in the path that began a steep incline. Her tempo slowed as her boots dug into the dirt path and slid on the small rocks.

Ten minutes into Joven's spontaneous hike the trail narrowed, and off in the distance she heard the tail-tail sound of a dirt bike closing in at high speed. She looked for a place to step off the trail before she became dirt bike road kill. At the top of the hill she was currently climbing was a twenty foot oak tree and she headed for it hoping to hide beside it until the dare devil had passed and she could turn around and head for home.

She made it to the top and reached for the low hanging branches of the tree. Using them as ropes she pulled herself up the few steps remaining and listened trying to judge how close the dirt bike was and when it would fly passed. The revving of the engine screamed a warning seconds before the bike jumped the small hill and Joven jumped in surprise. Her feet slipped out from under her on the gravel leaving her arms whirling wildly grasping for tree limbs. Grabbing air she had no time to think before her body lost its upright position and she was free falling, more like rolling, her way back down the hill.

Joven heard a scream in her head and wondered who else had her bad luck. She expected someone's body to hit hers at an moment. A loud skidding sound filled her ears, “Oh God!” she was sure something else was said but she had rolled with her back towards the voice and couldn't understand the words. Coming to a sudden stop by using a tree off the trail as a break, she felt a sharp pain in her head. Drowning her in waves of black and white light.

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was black curls and a white forehead. Her eyes closed again and she struggled to lift the bricks blocking her sight. Her head was pounding like an untrained marching band made louder by the bright sunlight when her eye lids decided to lift on their own. Then she saw black brows arched over sea blue eyes. Attempting to bend her neck to see more, pain shot down her spine with the force of a hot fire-poker being shoved through concrete. She moaned and wished she hadn't shown her stomach the exit she hadn't realized it was looking for, forcing blue eyes to flip her roughly on her side. Unwillingly she heaved the contents of her lunch and was flipped back onto her back. “If your going to be sick again let me know, I don't want you choking on it."

Her eyes followed the voice and met the instigator of her current situation. He was white, around twenty, standing five foot eleven, short black curly hair with strange sea blue eyes. A heart shaped face held a slender nose and thin upper lip followed by a thicker bottom lip that contoured into a pinched worried look. “What are you doing walking up the end of a bike trail? Feeling a little suicidal today?

Great, all my fault, she thought. “I didn't know it was a bike trail.” She struggled to sit up while rubbing the left side of her head. Her hand came back doused in red and her stomach turn again in revolt.

“Did you not see the sign before you started up the hill? Sorry, I guess I shouldn't give the injured a hard time.” A hand shot out of nowhere, “I'm Devlin Roberts. If you can stand I will give you a lift down to the center.”

“Thanks, I would rather walk then ride on the bike that almost killed me.”

Devlin smiled, “Okay, then I will walk with you in case you change you mind.” His hand was still extended and Joven took it allowing him to pull her to her feet. “Lean on me if you need to. By the way, what's you name? In case your pass out again and all.” His face had broken into a large grin.

The smile aggravated her. She was hurt, and he found it funny. It didn't matter that it was her fault, just that he was silently laughing at her stupidity. Fighting the urge to snap at him she took a deep breath, “Joven Welch.”

He smiled again, “Sorry I tried to kill you. But it's nice to meet you. Considering your wearing your lunch can I pick you up somewhere and take you to dinner?”

Joven groaned, “Your trying to pick me up after you almost ran me down, are you serious?

“Picking you up was the polite thing to do. Dinner is on me since your stomach is obviously empty and cute girls should never go hungry.”

She sighed and then gave in, “ I'll have dinner with you, but only if you promise there will be no motorcycles involved.”

“Agreed, here's the center, are you okay to drive?”

“Yeah, I'm good.”

“Okay, well it's about four-thirty now, so how about I pick you up at seven? Where do I pick you up?”

Joven gave him the address and basic directions to her house. When she finished she pointed out the red mid-sized Ford truck half way across the lot. “I'm over there, so I will talk to you later.” Weaving slightly as she walked to her truck she thanked God softly while sliding safely behind the steering wheel. She looked out the drivers' window while starting the truck and watched Devlin load his bike into the back of a full sized black Chevrolet. A smile slipped across her face as she studied his backside. Putting the truck in reverse she slowly pulled out of the parking lot and turned the truck for home and a shower.

Fifteen minutes later she was standing in her room, stripping off her vomit stained shirt. Tossing it in the corner with a mental reminder to throw it in the washer after her shower. She kicked off her hiking boots and unzipped soiled jeans, tossing them on the pile. Next to fly was her underclothes, limping on her left ankle she opened the closet door and regarded herself in the full length mirror.

Her hair was matted and dirty, stuck to the left temple with dried blood. The shadow of a soon to be black eye stretched from the temple, across her cheek stopped by the bridge of her nose. Grime was smeared around various locations on her five foot five frame. Her left shoulder had a large red whelp starting at the top of her arm and ending right past her elbow, a large scrape zig-zagged through the middle of it. Joven's left knee had faired a bit better with only a bruise but no scrapes. “Oh yeah, your gorgeous. Devlin either has strange taste, or he's a serial killer. Lucky me, I have a date tonight.”

Turning away she walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Giving the water a moment to heat up she open the medicine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. Filling the small pink glass on the sink she swallowed three and crossed her fingers the marching band still trying to find a beat would take the hint to get off the field. Stepping into the shower she closed her eyes and let the cleansing spray wash off the misadventure of the afternoon.

Twenty-five minutes later Joven was facing the closet door again. She pulled out a brand new pair of black jeans and a white long sleeve blouse with small white beads lining the neckline. These would at least hide her bruises from the day. Sitting down at her desk she picked up her make-up kit from under it.

The front door opened and Linda called out, " I'm home Jo."

" Upstairs mom, believe that are not, getting ready for a date"

She made her way up to Joven's room, " who's the lucky boy? Where did you meet him at?"

" Well, I met him today when I went to the park to get a job. He tried to run me over with his dirt bike. Luck was with me, and instead, I fell down the hill and hit a tree with my head."

She picked up her pace, " you hit your head? Are you sure you're okay?" By the time she had finished her first question she was standing behind Joven. She turned her daughter around in the chair and began to study the damage. "Did you lose consciousness? Are you having any problems with dizziness or nausea?"

Joven's sighed, " mom I'm fine. If there had been an issue you would've been the first person I called." She reached for her makeup kit and began applying her base. " the only real problem is how I’m going to cover this black eye?" Moving gingerly she applied an extra layer of base to the bruise. " Maybe I'll get lucky again, and the place he takes me will be dark and shadowy. So you're on your own for dinner tonight."

" Fine, I will just change out of my scrubs and heat up some leftovers. But if you start to have any problems, promise to come straight home. How late do you plan to stay out?"

" I don't know, he just invited me to dinner."

Linda nodded her head, " Okay, I will leave you alone and let you finish getting ready. By the way, did you get the job?"

" Don't know yet, she said she would call me in a few days."

" I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you." Turning she headed down stairs to the kitchen.

Joven had covered the black eye as best as she could leaving a fait gray hue when the light hit it just right. Deciding it wasn't getting any better than that she finished the rest of her make-up. By this time it was already six fifteen. She went to the bathroom to finish blow drying her hair and then joined her mother downstairs in the kitchen.



*****



Devlin arrive promptly at 7:00 PM. He got out of the truck and walked to the front door while looking around the desolate property. Reaching the door he started to knock. Joven pulled it open before his hand made contact." I see you are ready and waiting on me. You clean up well“ He smiled broadly. “How long have you lived in the old Wilson place?"

She stepped onto the porch forcing him to take a couple steps back." Thanks, we've been here about a week, I don't even know who the Wilson’s are, mom dealt with the realtor." She closed the door behind her and turn to face Devlin. He was wearing blue jeans and a soft blue polo shirt. His white high tops looked brand new as if he had just pull them out of the box. His short black curls were as wild as they were earlier.

Motioning with his hand for her to go a head of him, he followed her down the stairs. As soon as they reached his truck he quickly moved to open the door for her. " I thought we would go to Lynn's Place Restaurant. They have a pretty good menu and it doesn't get so loud that you can't have a real conversation."

"Thank you.“ she said and slid onto the gray cloth covered seat. “Sounds good to me, I haven’t been to any of the restaurants here. So I will trust your choice.” She smiled as he closed the truck door. Devlin slid behind the wheel, “So tell me about the Wilson’s? Did you know them?”

“Everyone knows everyone in a small town,” he answered starting the truck. Backing down the driveway slowly he continued, “they were an older couple. When Mrs. Wilson passed away from a heart attack Mr. Wilson moved to Kentucky to be close to there only son and his kids. The place has been empty for about a year now. I had forgotten about it.”

“That’s so sad. Did she die in the house?”

“No,” he smiled. “You’re safe, I don’t think it is haunted. She had been sick for awhile and was in the hospital. Yeah, it was sad, she was a nice lady. It was really hard on Mr. Wilson. If I remember right, she designed the house and he built it for her when they first got married. Planned on a big family, had one kid. But they were married for about fifty-three years before she died. So I would say they were happy, and that’s something.”

Joven nodded in agreement. “Hope he is happy with his son and grandkids too.”

“I’m sure he is, but I want to learn more about the aerodynamic girl I met this afternoon. He glanced over with his trademark grin. “Where’d you move here from? Any brothers or sisters? What do your parents do?” He fired one question after another.

Joven stiffened at the question concerning her parents and took a deep breath to steady her stomach. “I thought this was a dinner date, not an interrogation?”

Devlin snuck another look at her. There was a rigid look on her face, shoulders squared, back straight and stiff. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I just want to know everything about you. I like tough girls,” he laughed, “ and you know how to take a hit.”

She relaxed and then wondered how he could put her at ease with one simple laugh. Sighing, “sorry, I get on edge easy. It has been a hard year and that is why we moved here. Guess we decided we needed to run away from the bad. So the quick version is I’m from Texas, an only child, and my dad was murdered. Can we not talk about it?”

His face softened and turned sad. “Sorry to hear that, I didn’t mean to bring up bad things. What would you like to talk about?”

She looked at her hands locked closed in her lap and mentally tried to relax. Forcing herself to unlace her fingers she rubbed her hands on her jeans to get the blood flowing again. “I’m open to most subjects, what do you do around here for fun?”

“We’re here,” he answered. “So I will tell you about the fun to be had inside. If you’re an outdoors kind of person this is heaven, if not, this is hell.” He grinned at her again and laughed. Shutting off the truck he open his door and jumped out. Hurrying around the front of the truck he opened the door for her and Joven slid out of the truck, standing beside him.

“Thank you,” she waited for him to close the door. Rotating away from the truck she faced a white brick building. It had three large glass windows in the front, displaying the patrons inside like caged zoo animals. The inside hostages paid no attention to being examined. On the center window, written in large red square letters, read Lynn’s Place Restaurant. The parking lot was uneven dirt and gravel, but well lit.

Devlin placed his hand on her left elbow and guided her towards the framed in glass habitat. “I hope you’re a carnivore?”

She laughed for the first time, “never heard it put quite like that, but yeah, I like meat.”

His grin was back, “that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh. You have a nice laugh, you should do it more often.”

She smiled shyly, “Thanks.”

His grin spread and he led her across the parking lot. Reaching the door, he opened and bowed slightly allowing her to walk in front of him. They stood in the entrance by the “please wait to be seated” sign giving her time to study the well lit room. The walls were lined with booths, the backs of the bench seats were covered with a colorful floral pattern, the rest of the booth was done in bright red vinyl. In the center of the room were six fake wood tables, with four chair circling around each one. The chairs were made of the same fake wood, the cushion of the chair was covered in light blue vinyl. The floor was carpeted in a dull brown showing wear and tear at the door, and around the tables. The walls had a light brown wall paper that looked as if it been redone recently and the large windows were trimmed in the same bright red of the bench seats. At the back of the room a small white wooden terrance fence had been erected to hide the restrooms from public view.

A young red haired waitress walked up and grabbed two menus from the wooden box attached to the desk hanging onto the register. “Table or booth?”

Devlin answered for both of them, “booth.”

“Follow me,” she turned and led them to the opposite side of the room to the middle booth overlooking the closed business next to the restaurant. “What can I get you to drink?”

He looked at Joven to give her the opportunity to speak first, “Just an ice tea.”

“I’ll have the same.”

Nodding, the waitress laid the menus in the center of the table and turned towards the kitchen. Her white blouse showed she was having a bad night by the mix of colored stains riding the right sleeve. The color vanished as the spill continued down the right leg of her black slacks. her right hand had several small red spots, the burns left by the spilled order. Her face was round and puffy matching the rest of her body making Joven think of the Stay Puff Marsh Mellow Man on a diet. “She is not a happy camper, from the looks of it she has the kinda luck that I do.”

“I would say you have good luck, you met me.” He handed her a menu as he spoke. “They have really good home cooked meals here. There is nothing bad on the menu.”

Joven smiled, “Good to see you don’t think to much of yourself.” She open her menu and studied the dinner section. “The grilled chicken breast, looks good. So I think I will go with that.” She closed the menu and laid it back on the table.

He nodded, “It is good. I’m going for the boiled trout their lemon butter sauce is the best in town.” Stacking his menu on top of hers, he scrutinize the bruise on the left side of her face. “Looks like you hit hard. How is your head feeling?”

“I took aspirin when I got home, so it is fine. She rubbed her left eye lightly and flinched. “My eye is a bit sore, but I think I will live.”

Devlin started to say something but the waitress returned with their drinks and sat them on the table. “Are you ready or do you need more time?”

“We’re ready,” they answered together and laughed. Joven gave her order first. Devlin followed it quickly and handed the menus back to the waitress before returning his attention back to the conversation.

“I’m glad your not feeling to bad to come out, I was a bit concerned you wouldn’t be up to eating. Then I would have had to stay at your house and make sure you were okay and not bored.” His eyes gleamed mischievously.” Now that I have you out and about… tell me everything your willing to share and I will sit here and hang on every word.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment and then took a sip of her tea. She sat still trying to think of something interesting or witty to say. Nothing came to mind and she took another sip of her drink. “I’m eighteen, just moved here last week, my favorite color is dark green, only child, and I’m not that interesting.”

Devlin started laughing, “but you are funny! Talk about a direct answer to an open question. You can relax you know. I’m not looking for all your deep dark secrets, just a bit of insight to who you are and what you want in life.”

“Well, since we moved here I have found one thing I want to do.”

“What? Maybe I can help you out with it.”

Joven smiled shyly, “I want to learn to ride a horse. I have seen several people around here riding so I figure there has to be a place around here to like rent a horse and take a lesson or two.”

He thumped the table with his left hand causing her to flinch. He didn’t noticed her small reaction. “Well then I have the perfect date for Sunday. My best friend, Mace, owns some horses. I’ll take you to meet him and we can get you on a horse.”

“Shouldn’t you call him and make sure it is okay?”

“I’ve known him since the first grade, we hang together basically every weekend. It’s kinda a standing arrangement that we will find something to get into. So I know he won’t have a issue. I’m sure the two of you will get along fine.”

“What if we don’t? What if we hate each other at first sight?”

“Now your just being difficult,” he chuckled. “I know him, you will get along. So say yes, and I will pick you up Sunday morning at ten a.m. sharp.”

Joven gave her okay as the waitress returned to their table with their order. The rest of the evening was spent talking about the area, the best places to go riding, and hiking.