“Sean!”

I know that voice, but it makes no sense. Why is Doug out here?

“Sean, wake up.”

My torso shakes so hard that my teeth rattle in my skull.

Doug: “Snap out of it, man.”

His bent form comes into hazy focus over me. Cold stones. Wet pant legs. “Whuh?” My lips don’t want to work.

His muscular arm hooks under my armpit and lifts my chest off the damp cobblestone driveway. “What happened?”

The angular wooden frame of the covered bridge looms overhead. “I dunno. How did I get here?”

Doug: “You don’t remember walking out here last night?”

I shake my head. Throbbing. Shit that hurts.

“Nope.”

Jake takes me under the other arm and they hoist me to my feet. “Your footprints lead down the creek bank. What were you doin’ out there?”

“Creek?” The cold damp fabric of my pants clings to me. I reach down and take a handful of sogginess. “What the hell is going on?”

Doug slings my jacket over my shoulders. “Do you recall dreaming about anything at all?”

Jake: “Yeah. Sometimes, visions can make your body do weird stuff. (Chuckles) This one time, Doug and me…”

Doug shakes the story away and redirects his intense stare back on me.

“I--” My head won’t stop pounding. Memories shrouded in dullness. “I can’t remember anything about last night.”

Doug: “Not one thing? Not even what you did before bed?”

I gaze off into the wooden planks, hoping that they’ll give me some divine inspiration. Thanks for nothing. “Nope. Nothing.”

The two childhood pals help me back down the stone driveway back in the direction of the mansion. Stabbing prickles all over. I force my legs to press on through the numbness.

Doug: “Something had to have happened in that creek.”

Jake: “That or something was trying to off you.”